| Biography | Edythe Baker was an American jazz pianist.
Baker was born in poverty in Kansas. After her mother died around 1910 she was sent to Kansas City, Missouri to live, and attended a convent. There she was trained in piano fundamentals, eventually working for a music store. After touring with a vaudeville troupe in 1918, Edythe moved to New York City in 1919. There she made piano rolls (for Aeolian and Duo-Art) between 1919 and 1926; these included ragtime and pop pieces. She worked on Broadway in musicals and performed with vaudeville troupes such as the Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1926, Baker relocated to England, and recorded twenty two pieces there between 1927 and 1933. She became a star there after appearing in revues in 1927. Constant Lambert saw her perform, and suggested to Harold Rutland that she might be the soloist for the premiere of his jazz-influenced choral piece The Rio Grande in 1930. However, Hamilton Harty was the eventual soloist. |