Paul Robeson

I've recently been featuring records by the bass-baritone William Warfield, who cited Paul Robeson as one of his inspirations. It occurred to me that many of you may not have heard Robeson, one of the most remarkable people of the last century.

This post of three 78s and an early LP will be devoted to his singing, but Robeson also was a famous actor and professional athlete - as well as an activist who was blacklisted for his beliefs.

Some accounts say that Robeson began singing professionally at the urging of Eubie Blake, who added him to his production of Shuffle Along in the early 1920s. (Blake and that show will be featured here soon.) By this time, Robeson had already been valedictorian of his class at Rutgers University, and was working his way through law school by playing professional football, then in its infancy.

It wasn't long before Robeson, who had a magnificent bass voice, began making records for Victor, starting with an April 1925 session that included "Water Boy" (also on this Warfield LP). His recorded repertoire at this time was spirituals and folk material. He already was being accompanied by pianist and arranger Lawrence Brown, who would work with him for the next several decades.

Housing in the Central neighborhood

Among this group of Victor recordings is our first 78: a coupling of "Deep River" (also recorded by Warfield) with an outstanding version of "I'm Goin' to Tell God All o' My Troubles", recorded in either March or May 1927 (discographies differ). My copy of this recording has a sticker identifying it as coming from Robinson's Pharmacy, which was in the residential Central neighborhood near downtown Cleveland. During this period, Central had become heavily African American and this drug store was near the heart of that community.

Within a year, Robeson would record the song most associated with him - "Ol' Man River", from Show Boat. The part of Joe was written for Robeson, but he was unable to be in the original production, which opened in late 1927. He was, however, in the 1928 London production and recorded "Ol' Man River" with Paul Whiteman. I've included a version he made in London, at about the time he appeared in the 1936 film version of Show Boat. The role of Joe was expanded for the film, and Jerome Kern added the song "Ah Still Suits Me" for Joe and Queenie. On this wonderful 1936 recording, Robeson duets with Elisabeth Welch. In the film, Queenie was played by Hattie McDaniel. (The movie duet can be found on YouTube.)

Richard Wright, Paul Robeson, Bill Basie

In 1941, Robeson joined forces with the Count Basie band for a tribute to heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. This unusual double-sided recording of "King Joe" has lyrics by Richard Wright, who had achieved some fame the previous year with the publication of his novel Native Son. Basie's verdict was reputedly that Robeson was no blues singer, but the record is entertaining nonetheless.

We move ahead to 1953 for our final recording, a 10-inch LP on Othello Records. By this time, Robeson had become increasingly controversial for his leftist political beliefs - to the extent of having his passport revoked - and major record labels would not record him. Othello Records, run by his son, was established to give him an outlet, and this is the first of three Robeson LPs it issued. (Strange cover - presumably it was not intended to suggest that Robeson's voice would peel paint off the walls.)

Its songs are fairly typical of his concert programs, which mixed material from a variety of countries and sources, and are described on the back cover (below). One small correction - I don't believe the 1944 revival of Meet the People made it to Broadway.

My copy of this LP is weather beaten, so there are a few momentary patches of distortion on the transfer. The cover was damaged, so I have borrowed an image from this site, which contains scans of many rare Robeson recordings.

After you listen to this post, you may recognize that Robeson and William Warfield were very different artists, although they had some repertoire in common. Warfield, a bass-baritone, had a lighter voice and was primarily a classical and opera singer. Both were distinguished artists, and I am happy to have had a chance to write about them.