Alice Leslie Carter

Alice Leslie Carter, b. ca. 1884-1887, d. unknown, classic female blues singer, was active as a recording artist in the early 1920s, and her best known tracks were "Decatur Street Blues" and "Aunt Hagar's Children Blues". Although Carter was a contemporary of better known recording artists of the time, such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith, Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace, and Bertha "Chippie" Hill, little is known of her life outside of her music. She is not to be confused with Alice Carter, another blues singer, who recorded four songs in 1923.

Carter recorded eleven sides in 1921, with musical accompaniment led by James P. Johnson on piano. She recorded at a time when record labels were keen to sign up anyone capable of singing a blues song, such was the market demand. However, while some of these performers were less than capable, Carter's work showed her strong vocal abilities. Her output included the first vocalised recording of the W. C. Handy and Tim Brymn co-written song, "Aunt Hagar's Children Blues." On January 20, 1922, Carter competed against Lucille Hegamin, Daisy Martin, and the eventual winner Trixie Smith, in a blues singing contest at the Inter-Manhattan Casino in New York City. In the printed programme she was billed as "The International Blues Star", from which David Evans infers that she may have toured in Europe with an American band after World War I. All of her recorded output was included on the compilation album, Female Blues Singers, Vol. 4: C (1921-1930), released in 1997 by Document Records.

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By Eugene Chadbourne

While many people carry their middle names around like an unnecessary extra identification card, there are times when the use of a middle name clearly saves the day. Such is the case with Alice Leslie Carter, who made a series of excellent classic blues sides in 1921 including the perilous "Dangerous Blues", the demanding "I Want Some Lovin' Blues" and the demonstrative "Also Ran Blues". If she had remained just plain Alice Carter there would have inevitably been confusion with another female blues singer who recorded a scant four sides in 1923--although the resulting imbroglio might have been considered minor in a genre where some artists recorded under dozens of pseudonyms, sometimes even pretending to be each other.

Alice Leslie Carter came along at a time when record companies were eager to record her type of performance, so eager that in some cases singers who were not even that comfortable with the blues genre were pressed into service. The collection of Alice Leslie Carter recordings made available by the Document label on the fourth volume of its Female Blues Singers shows this not to be the case, despite the fact that she recorded at least one composition by the sometimes less than authentic W.C. Handy. While some listeners may find her material a trifle stale, more from the passing of time and subsequent developments in the genre than because of her original performances, there is no denying her vocal ability nor the talent of her accompanists, which include the masterful stride pianist James P. Johnson. The recordings of Alice Carter, the one without the middle name from 1923, are featured on the third volume in the same Document series.