bertrand Posted January 9, 2004 Report Posted January 9, 2004 (edited) According to Leonard Feather's liner notes to Bossa Nova Bacchanal, she's a dancer friend of Rouse's. She co-wrote 'Un Dia', the lone original on this session. Who is she? She also co-authored some of the Jazz Modes tunes with Rouse, but she is NOT the vocalist on these dates - that would be one Eileen Gilbert, also unkown to me. Anyone have any info on her? Is she still living? I will do a google search, but will probably come up empty-handed. Thanks in advance, Bertrand. Edited January 9, 2004 by bertrand Quote
Tom Storer Posted January 9, 2004 Report Posted January 9, 2004 Bonne chance, Bertrand. I just tried a Google search and got ZERO hits for "Princess Orelia Benskina," for "Princess Orelia" AND for "Benskina" by itself. If anyone would know, it would be Christiern. Chris? Quote
brownie Posted January 11, 2004 Report Posted January 11, 2004 Who is she? She also co-authored some of the Jazz Modes tunes with Rouse, but she is NOT the vocalist on these dates - that would be one Eileen Gilbert, also unkown to me. Bertrand, I have no information on the Princess beside the mention by Leonard Feather in the liner notes to 'Bossa Nova Bacchanal' that she suggested the melodic line of 'Un Dia' to Rouse. As for Eileen Gilbert she was a pretty busy backup singer. She also sang on other 'Jazz Modes' albums (the two Dawn records). She also did backup vocals on Blue Note albums (Lou Donaldson's 'Sweet Lou' and Bobby Hutcherson's 'Now') and on some Verve albums (including George Benson's 'Giblet Gravy' and Jimmy Smith's 'Stay Loose'). Quote
Dmitry Posted January 4, 2011 Report Posted January 4, 2011 Is a psedonym a possibility? That is indeed the case, imho. Orelia Benskina sounds Russian, but neither the first nor last names are Russian. Benskin sounds more Eastern European Jewish to me. I used to know a Dominican chick named Orelia. My guess would be since the name Rouse can be pronounced R-o-o-s-e, sounding like Russe' [a French way of saying 'Russian'], someone came up with a pun on that. Quote
bertrand Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Robin Kelly's bio has quite a bit of info in her which I saw by looking in google books. I'll check my copy of the book another day. She was real and was Rouse's manager for a while. She was indeed a dancer. Bertrand. A photo: Kelly pages 251 and 346. Edited January 5, 2011 by bertrand Quote
romualdo Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 What a coincidence - I'm currently reading Kelley's Monk text Margarita Orelia Benskina was Panamanian born & an Afro Cuban dancer in the 40's. She was Rouse's & The Jazz Modes manager but also a practitioner of West African divination & owned/operated a "Botanica". In her later years she had a career as a poet, scholar, socialite & Harlem celebrity. She passed away in 2002. Quote
aparxa Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 coincidentally, I've mentioned her name one month ago in the name three people thread after reading a document about Julius Watkins. Quote
Ted O'Reilly Posted January 5, 2011 Report Posted January 5, 2011 Is there any possibiity of a relationship of Princess Benskina and swing pianist Sammy Benskin? Could the 'a' have been added for some reason? Sammy worked with a lot of singers... Quote
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