Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2009 - (Page 47) musical talents and abilities because he was a very good musician. He was a self-taught person. At least I got some training in school but papa just was like a lot of musicians used to do.” Bill Millar wrote that Nellie’s skill and experience shifted her into a new place where she was able to “alter a melody in subtle, ingenious and unexpected ways.” As lead pianist for the Southern Rhythm Band, her income increased with her skill, and she was soon drawing a percentage of the door. After a short hiatus from the band during which she returned to Lake Charles to care for her mother who was ill, in 1935 Nellie, only 22 years old, moved to Los Angeles, where the promise of greater opportunity called. During the twelve years between Nellie’s arrival in Los Angeles and her “discovery” in 1947 by Dave Dexter of Capitol Records, Nellie continued to develop her craft. Within a few days after arriving in California and moving in with her mother’s sister, Nellie landed a job at the historic Dunbar Hotel. The posh hotel opened originally in 1928 to a REACHING FOR THE MOON Bill Millar says t “ during the t hat en or so crowd of over 5,000 people as Hotel Sommerville, built to provide years in the accommodations for AfricansemiAmericans who had no comparable obscurity o f Los Angele place to stay. Sold after the stocks market crash of 1929, the hotel reclubdom, Nel opened as the Dunbar Hotel, named lie explored after African-American poet Paul the infinite flex Dunbar, and quickly became the ibility of th e blues, haunt of jazz and blues musicians the bitters and aficionados. Surrounded by jazz weet melodie clubs for three decades, the Dunbar s of the torch s was the center of nightlife for blacks ong, showy and whites alike well into the 1950s. Broadway tu Accommodating such guests as Duke nes and jazz Ellington, Count Basie, Bill “Bojangles” y Robinson, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, novel ies in t Lena Horne, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. keeping with DuBois, the Dunbar flourished until the swing er integration removed the barriers preventing a.” African Americans from seeking other Publicity shot of Nellie Lutcher, 1940s. accommodations in the downtown areas. Nellie arrived at the Dunbar in 1935 while it was still in its heyday. Spring 2009/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 47
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