Dardanelle Breckenbridge

Dardanelle was a pianist, vibraphonist, and singer who was raised in a musical family. She studied music at Louisiana State University, holding a major, and worked as a house pianist at a local radio station. By the late 1930s she started to appear professionally on the national jazz scene. During the 1940s she led her own Dardanelle Trio, with various collaborators, initially with bassist Paul Edenfield and guitarist Tal Farlow. The trio recorded much music and became a regular fixture at New York's Copacabana. During this time she was featured in the 1946 short theatrical musical Soundies Presents Happy Cat directed by William Forest Crouch and distributed by RCA Records.[3] By the 1950s, Dardanelle had moved to Chicago and paused music in favour of raising a family.[1]

Dardanelle had reappeared on the jazz scene by the 1970s. She relocating to the East Coast and formed a new trio including her son, the drummer Skip Hadley. Now she worked with the likes of Bucky Pizzarelli and George Duvivier, contributing on records, and appearing in a number of venues including the Carnegie Hall, until the 1990s.[1]

• The mystery of Dardanelle