Connee Boswell

One of the finest jazz singers of the 1930s, Connee Boswell (who was always cited by Ella Fitzgerald as her main early influence) originally rose to fame as a member of the Boswell Sisters, one of the premiere jazz vocal groups. Boswell contracted polio as an infant and always used a wheelchair, although her disability was usually well covered up on-stage. Early on she played cello, piano, alto sax, and trombone but unfortunately never recorded on any instruments. The three Boswell Sisters (with Martha on piano and Vet on violin) did have an opportunity to perform with the New...