Viola Wells & Miss Rhapsody

While Herman Lubinsky's Savoy label is remembered for having recorded such bebop giants as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie at their peak, the Newark, NJ-based company also recorded a number of hometown musicians in the 1940s, one of them being Viola "Miss Rhapsody" Wells. Wells' first gig was at the Minis Theater in Newark; she worked with traveling shows in the '20s and a certain Banjo Bernie's Band in the '30s before going on the road with singer Ida Cox. In the late '30s, Wells moved to Kansas City, where she ran a nightclub and led her own band. She moved back to Newark...