American Ragtime: Sophie Tucker - Jig Walk, 1922

Sophie Tucker w. Orchestra – Jig Walk, (Creamer-Vodery), OkeH 1922 (USA)

NOTE: This entity - danceable and full of fun – was written in 1922 for the comedienne Sophie Tucker by two Black authors: Henry Creamer and Will Vodery and should not be confused with later Duke Ellington and Joe Trent instrumental composition. I so much enjoy Sophie’s strong and clear voice in her earlier recordings, when she was called the “Mary Garden of the Rag-Time” (Mary Garden was a famous American soprano). The dance “Jig” which Sophie sings about was one of the popular early 1920s and rather ephemeral dances, which preceeded the triumphant appearance of the Charleston around 1925. The term “jig” was probably derived from the French giguer, meaning 'to jump' or the Italian giga. It was known as a dance in 16th-century England, often in 12/8 time and the term was used for a post-play entertainment featuring dance in early modern England, but which later employed a variety of dances, solo, paired, round, country or courtly. During the 17th century the dance was adopted in Ireland and Scotland, and the jig is now most often associated with these countries. In 19th-century America, the jig was the name adopted for a form of step dancing developed by enslaved African-Americans and later adopted by minstrel show performers. Danced to five-string banjo or fiddle tunes in 2/2 or 2/4 meter played at schottische tempo, the minstrel jig (also called the "straight jig" to distinguish it from Irish dances) was characterized by syncopated rhythm and eccentric movements. The most famous early jig dancer was Master Juba, an African-American who inspired a host of white imitators, many of whom performed in blackface (e.g. Al Jolson). Minstrel jigs were crucial to the evolution of 20th-century tap and soft-shoe dancing.
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This note is a good chance to remind also some facts from the life of Sophie Tucker. She was born as Sonia Kalisz in 1887 in a little town of Tulczyn in region of Winnica (Vinnitsa) in the Polish Ukraine (now belonging to the independent state of Ukraine). For centuries, Tulczyn belonged to the Polish aristocratic families Kalinowski and Potocki and the most magnificent of the Potockis' residences was built in Tulczyn by count Franciszek Salezy Potocki in the 18th century. However, after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 that region was captured by the Soviets and never returned to Poland. In 1919, during the post-revolutionary turmoil, the terrible anti-Jewish pogrom was organized in Tulczyn by the Ukrainian nationalists, during which 520 Jewish citizens were cruelly murdered. Fortunately, the Kalisz family with little Sophie, emigrated from Ukraine long before that.