Mary Ann McCall

Photo of Mary Ann McCall

A jazz vocalist with a bluesy tone, Mary Ann McCall rarely stayed anywhere for very long. She landed her first band job inauspiciously with Tommy Dorsey in January 1939. When Dorsey singer Edythe Wright announced she was leaving the orchestra to get married, Dorsey selected the unknown McCall, then singing in her hometown of Philadelphia, as Wright’s replacement. McCall’s tenure with the band lasted exactly one night.

Opening at a theater in Hartford, Connecticut, some reports at the time said McCall was booed off the stage, with the audience demanding Wright’s return. The real story, however, involved a contract dispute. Dorsey’s contract with the theater specified that the popular and well-known Wright was to appear, and when she didn’t the theater manager pressed the term. McCall was out, and Wright returned the next night, saying she was only on vacation and hadn’t really left the band. Some in the trade press suggested it may have all been a publicity stunt on Wright’s part.

Whatever the circumstances revolving around McCall’s time with Dorsey, the attention she received from the incident worked in her favor, and she quickly landed a job with Woody Herman. In early December, she left Herman for Charlie Barnet’s orchestra, debuting with the band during their record-breaking run at the Apollo Theater. She remained with Barnet until June 1940. According to Barnet’s representative at that time, McCall was put on notice so that Barnet could bring in singer Harriet Clark to replace her. McCall took exception with that report, headlined “Bounced by Barnet” in Down Beat magazine with her picture prominently displayed underneath it. She wrote a letter to the editors, which they published, stating that she hadn’t been put on notice. According to McCall, she’d heard rumors that Barnet was seen around town with Clark, in whom he had a romantic interest, and asked him if she should be concerned. He told her not to be, but she soon discovered that he’d lied to her and intended to replace her. McCall said she was the one who gave notice upon learning the truth.

After leaving Barnet, McCall joined Herbie Woods and his orchestra. By the first of August, though, she was on her own. She opened at Buffalo’s Century Theater on August 9th, set for a buildup by New York radio station WOR, part of the Mutual network. Bluebird, Barnet’s label, showed interest in signing her but nothing came of it, and her attempt at a solo career fizzled.

Also that August, McCall tipped Down Beat that she would marry Jimmy Dorsey in a couple of months—not the famous bandleader but an old acquaintance of hers from her hometown whom she had met again while singing with Woods. This Jimmy Dorsey was an aviator. A gossip columnist at the time, though, reported that she was marrying Jimmy Dorsey trumpet player Jimmy Blake.

In September 1940, McCall joined Tommy Reynolds’ orchestra, leaving in April 1941 to return to Barnet. By mid-1941, though, she had disappeared from the limelight, prompting Down Beat to put her name in their monthly “Where Is?” column. The answer was Philadelphia, where she appeared on radio station WCAU in August 1942 and in October joined Billy Marshall’s society orchestra at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel. She left Marshall in early March 1943 to sing with Reynolds again but by the end of the month she’d rejoined Barnet, who’d just organized a new band, where she initially shared female vocalist duties with Dell Parker. She remained with Barnet until at least July but was single again in September when it was rumored that Charlie Spivak had made her an offer. She rejoined Barnet once again in November when Virginia Maxey left. Barnet and McCall both appeared on the cover of Down Beat’s Christmas issue in a posed photo of Barnet stuffing war bonds down McCall’s stockings while she was wearing them.

By January 1944, McCall was back on her own, singing in theaters, but in February she returned to Barnet one final time, staying only briefly. She had sufficiently disappeared by September that Down Beat once again asked where she was. She reappeared in February 1945 as part of Lew Gray’s orchestra in Los Angeles, and in mid-1946 she was with Allyn Cassel’s band. In September 1946, she joined Herman’s Herd once again. When Herman disbanded in December, she remained with the band’s Columbia label as part of their increase in popular jazz waxings, where she often worked with the Ralph Burns Orchestra. In late 1947, she joined Herman’s new progressive jazz band, staying into summer 1949. That year, she overwhelmingly topped Down Beat’s poll for best female band vocalist. While still a member of the Herd in late 1948 and early 1949 she also recorded solo on the Discovery label.

McCall married Herman tenor sax player and arranger Al Cohn in 1949. In 1949 and into the early 1950s, she recorded several albums under her own name. She also recorded with Artie Shaw’s newly-reorganized Gramercy Five. McCall developed a serious heroin habit in 1949, eventually losing her home before being arrested in San Francisco on possession of narcotics in 1953.

McCall retired from the music business in the 1960s as work become more sporadic. In 1987, she came out of retirement to perform at a Woody Herman tribute concert just a few days before the bandleader’s death. Mary Ann McCall passed away in 1994, age 75.

Sources

  1. Simon, George T. The Big Bands. 4th ed. New York: Schirmer, 1981.
  2. “Edythe Wright Rejoins Dorsey After 'Vacation'.” Down Beat Feb. 1939: 2.
  3. “Here's The True Story Of The McCall-Wright Mixup in Hartford.” Down Beat Mar. 1939: 2.
  4. “Bert Lown Dusts Off Baton.” Down Beat Mar. 1939: 14.
  5. “Vaudeville Reviews: Paramount, New York.” Billboard 29 Jul. 1939: 20.
  6. “Movie Views and Reviews.” Reading Eagle [Reading, PA] 22 Sep. 1939: 21.
  7. “The Reviewing Stand: Woody Herman.” Billboard 9 Dec. 1939: 12.
  8. Hendrickson, Verna. “Dorothy Maynor Recording Made.” Berkeley Daily Gazette 19 Dec. 1939: 8.
  9. “Bounced by Barnet.” Down Beat 1 Jul. 1940: 2.
  10. “Wildwood Spot Cuts Former Name Policy.” Billboard 13 Jul. 1940: 15.
  11. “Talent and Tunes On Music Machines.” Billboard 27 Jul. 1940: 84.
  12. “'Barnet Didn't Fire Me,' Says Ex-Vocalist” Down Beat 1 Aug. 1940: 3.
  13. “Vaudeville Reviews: Century, Buffalo.” Billboard 10 Aug. 1940: 22.
  14. “Talent and Tunes On Music Machines.” Billboard 10 Aug. 1940: 73.
  15. “Mary Ann McCall Out On Her Own.” Down Beat 15 Aug. 1940: 19.
  16. “Jimmy Dorsey And Mary Ann McCall to Wed.” Down Beat 1 Sep. 1940: 21.
  17. “Mary Ann McCall With Reynolds.” Down Beat 1 Oct. 1940: 2.
  18. Fidler, Jimmie. “Hollywood Shots.” Reading Eagle [Reading, PA] 27 Nov. 1940: 6.
  19. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 19 Apr. 1941: 12.
  20. “Where Is?” Down Beat 1 Jun. 1942: 17.
  21. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 29 Aug. 1942: 27.
  22. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 31 Oct. 1942: 23.
  23. “Night Club Reviews.” Billboard 14 Nov. 1942: 12.
  24. “Bands Play Two Philly Theaters.” Down Beat 15 Dec. 1942: 34.
  25. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 6 Mar. 1943: 23.
  26. “Orchestra Notes.” Billboard 27 Mar. 1943: 23.
  27. “Barnet Using Two Canaries.” Down Beat 1 Apr. 1943: 2.
  28. “Bands Dug by the Beat: Charlie Barnet.” Down Beat 1 Aug. 1943: 12.
  29. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 1 Oct. 1943: 5.
  30. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 1 Dec. 1943: 5.
  31. “Gives Present With a Future.” Down Beat 15 Dec. 1943: 1.
  32. Kardale, Chick. “Along Chicago's Melody Row.” Down Beat 1 Feb. 1944: 12.
  33. “Strictly Ad Lib” Down Beat 1 Mar. 1944: 5.
  34. “Where Is?” Down Beat 1 Oct. 1944: 10.
  35. Holly, Hal. “Los Angeles Band Briefs.” Down Beat 1 Mar. 1945: 6.
  36. “Record Reviews.” Billboard 16 Nov. 1946: 27.
  37. Levin, Michael. “Here's News Capsule Of Music World For 1946.” Down Beat 1 Jan. 1947: 3.
  38. “Col's Pop Jazz to Use Cab Ork.” Billboard 26 Apr. 1947: 19.
  39. “Devine Chortles; Woodrow Points; Mary Ann Beams.” Down Beat 31 Dec. 1947: 2.
  40. “On the Stand: Woody Herman.” Billboard 8 May. 1948: 44.
  41. “Music as Written.” Billboard 22 Jan. 1949: 20.
  42. “Record Reviews.” Billboard 5 Feb. 1949: 34.
  43. “Herman Outfit to Play at Nat.” Spokane Daily Chronicle 24 Aug. 1949: 16.
  44. “Girl Singer—With Band.” Down Beat 30 Dec. 1949: 12.
  45. “Torch Singer Says Reach for Gun Instead of Heroin.” The Telegraph [Nashua, NH] 6 May 1953: 1.