DARDANELLE HADLEY

Dardanelle or Marcia Marie Hadley (December 27, 1917 in Avalon, Mississippi, U.S. - August 8, 1997 in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.), was an American jazz artist known for performing with Lionel Hampton and early performer using a single name Dardanelle.

Dardanelle was a talented pianist, vibraphonist, and singer who was raised in a musical family. She studied music at Louisiana State University, holding a major, and worked as a house pianist at a local radio station. By the late 1930s she started to appear professionally on the national jazz scene. During the 1940s she led her own Dardanelle Trio, with various collaboraters, initially with bassist Paul Edenfield and guitarist Tal Farlow. The trio recorded much music and became a regular fixture at New York's Copacabana. By the 1950s Dardanelle moved to Chicago and paused music in favour of raising a family.

By the 1970s, Dardanelle reappeared at the jazz scene. She relocating to the East Coast and formed a new trio including her son, the drummer Skip Hadley. Now she worked with the likes of Bucky Pizzarelli and George Duvivier, contributing on records, and appearing in a number of venues including the Carnegie Hall, until the nineties.