frankie half pint jaxon

Biography

Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon, born Frank Devera Jackson on March 3, 1896 or 1897 in Montgomery, Alabama, was an African American vaudeville singer, comedian, stage designer, and female impersonator known for his diminutive 5'2" stature that earned him his nickname. Orphaned and raised in Kansas City, he began his career as a teenager around 1910-1915, joining touring companies at age 15, performing in variety shows, clubs, and revues. By 1919, he was producing shows at the Apollo Theatre, and in 1927, he settled in Chicago, where he became a key figure in the vibrant blues and jazz scene of Bronzeville during the Great Migration era.[2][4][1][6]

Jaxon's musical style was eccentric and versatile, blending ragtime, hokum blues, and vaudeville with heavy sexual innuendo, double entendres, and a high-pitched feminine voice often used in female impersonation acts. He recorded extensively from 1927 onward for labels like Decca and Vocalion, showcasing songs like 'I'm Gonna Dance Wit De Guy Wot Brung Me,' where he voiced both male and female parts, and 'My Daddy Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)' for Tampa Red's Hokum Jazz Band, noted for its queer undertones and possible first recorded allusion to orgasm. As WWII approached and raids on queer clubs intensified, Jaxon retired from music in 1940 after recording 'Be Your Natural Self,' a plea for queer authenticity, later working for the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.[1][2][4]

Little is known of his later life, but he died on May 15, 1953, in Los Angeles, California, leaving a legacy as a pioneering queer performer in early blues whose disappearance after the mid-1940s adds to his mystique. His work captured the discreet yet vibrant gay culture in Chicago's Black communities.[3][4][8]

Fun Facts

• Jaxon frequently performed as a female impersonator, incorporating it into recordings like 'Operation Blues,' where he played a 'female' patient in a sexually charged doctor sketch that was unreleased at the time due to its explicit content.
• His 1929 track 'My Daddy Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)' is considered by some historians the first recording to allude to an orgasm, enhanced by his feminine voice, grunts, and moans.
• In his final recording 'Be Your Natural Self' (1940), Jaxon advised queer men to live freely without apology amid rising police raids on clubs.
• He was versatile enough to sing both male and female parts in sketches, as in his 1927 debut 'I'm Gonna Dance Wit De Guy Wot Brung Me.'

Musical Connections

Key Collaborators

• Tampa Red - sang vocals on recordings for Tampa Red's Hokum Jazz Band ('My Daddy Rocks Me (With One Steady Roll)' (1929)) [1920s-1930s]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. You Got To Wet It (Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 2 1926-19309-1937)
2. I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone (Those Dirty Blues, Vol. 2)
3. Jive Man Blues (Come On Mama Do That Dance (1928-1932))
4. You Know Jam Don't Shake (Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 3 1937-1940)
5. Jive Man Blues (The Roots Of Rap: Classic Recordings From The 1920s & 30s)
6. Wasn't It Nice (Red Allen and the Blues Singers, Vol. 2 (Original Recordings 1940))
7. Be Your Natural Self (Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 3 1937-1940)
8. Willie The Weeper (Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 1 1926-1929)
9. Down At Jasper's Bar-B-Que (Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 1 1926-1929)
10. Mortgage Blues Parts 1 & 2

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia