Similarities Between Noble Sissle And Eubie Blake

Before the musical team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, it was rare for a black entertainer to gain acceptance along the “Great White Way,” also known as Broadway. The duo obtained unparalleled success, and reopened the door for black performers on the Broadway stage during the early 1920s. At the end of World War I, African American culture was prospering in Harlem, and the country was tentatively sampling the black rhythms of jazz. However, Sissle and Blake’s 1921 production Shuffle Along became the first black production on Broadway since 1910. The collaborators presented a succession of songs, dances, and sketches that were attuned to the new musical sounds of the day, which broke through the color bar on Broadway. Shuffle Along inspired

Sissle and Blake remain one of the most prominent musical pairs in musical theatre history.

The jazz pianist and composer James Hubert "Eubie" Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1883. The son of former slaves, he began organ lessons at the age of six and was soon creating the tunes he heard in his mother's Baptist church. While still in his teens, Blake began to play in the ragtime style, which was popular in Baltimore sporting houses and saloons due to its syncopated rhythms (Kantor, 86). Without the knowledge of his parents, Blake worked in Aggie Shelton's bordello at age fifteen, entertaining customers with classics and popular rags such as Michigan Frog’s “Hello, Ma Ragtime Gal” and Charles Harris “After the Ball.” With little interest in school, Blake decided to become a full time musician, and at age sixteen performed professionally in a Baltimore nightclub. In 1899 he composed his first piano rag later titled the “Charleston Rag” (Gale). The piano roll of "Charleston Rag", observed Mark Tucker in “Ellington the Early Years”, “features a walking bass in broken octaves, flashy appreciated breaks, chromatic seventh chords, and certain rhythmic tricks.” In

Back in America the pair broke up in 1927, since Blake wanted to return to the U.S., and Sissle hoped to pursue opportunities in France's jazz scene. In October of the same year, Blake organized a new act with Broadway Jones for the Keith circuit. After launching the show Shuffle Along Jr. in 1928, Blake earned $250 a week with the 1930 production of Lew Leslie's Blackbirds, billed as “Glorifying the American Negro (Rose).” Songwriter Cole Porter helped Sissle put together a band of top jazz artists that included clarinetist Sidney Bechet. Touring with this group as a singer, Sissle remained in Europe for years, sometimes returning to the U.S. for brief performances. Sissle and Blake reunited for the Broadway show Shuffle Along of 1933; it was less successful than its 1921 production but inspired another significant career, of Nat "King" Cole, who performed on keyboards