Helen Gross

Helen Gross (b. Hellen R. Gross, May 1896, d. unknown) was a classic female blues singer, active as a recording artist in the mid-1920s, and her best-known tracks were "I Wanna Jazz Some More", "Bloody Razor Blues", and "Strange Man". All of her recorded work took place in New York, between May 1924 and March 1925. Gross recorded 27 songs in total which were originally released on the Ajax Records label. Her songs included "a preponderance of often baffling noise effects, which at times gives her songs the feel of a carnival sideshow." Little is known of her life outside of music.

Artists such as Gross, Rosa Henderson, Edna Hicks, Viola McCoy, Monette Moore, and Fletcher Henderson were amongst those who recorded for Ajax Records. Gross' work was notable for the quality of the jazz musicians that accompanied her. These included trumpet and cornet players James "Bubber" Miley and Louis Metcalf; the stride piano player Cliff Jackson; other pianists Lou Hooper and Porter Grainger; plus the noted saxophonist and clarinetist, Bob Fuller. Gross was not a conventional blues singer and approached her work from a vaudeville performer's angle. In addition her arrangements heightened this style, giving a rare and unusual take on standard blues material. The results were sketchy, although AllMusic critic Steve Leggett noted that on "Haunted House Blues," "Gross sounds as if she's wandered into a carnival funhouse.... The same technique of using goofy Halloween sound effects makes the similar-sounding "Ghost Walking Blues" work wonderfully, however, with just the right balance between odd and eerie". A more sinister element is evident on "Bloody Razor Blues", which contained the Spencer Williams lyrics; "I want to bleed him until his heart runs dry." Gross' 1924 rendition of "I Wanna Jazz Some More", became more notable because of songwriter Tom Delaney's rhyming line of "Miss Susan Green from New Orleans." Joe Davis worked, in an A&R capacity, in placing artists and songs towards Ajax, which included both Gross and some of Delaney's work.