The legend of the tumper, Kitty Daniels, played with the biggest jazz star, leaves a permanent heritage

It doesn’t matter if you can hold the song -song. When Kitty Daniels sat in the key, she was able to hear everyone well.

A lounge singer known to his friends as “Miss Kitty”, and the pianist was a constant equipment of Donatello Italian restaurant in the tumper, attracting guests late in the evening.

She didn’t need to fill out the time of the dizziness guilelesspie or the drummers of the almost married Ray Charles, for the Etta James pianist. You were able to hear the year of jazz history with her voice. And when someone starts running, she quickly slides into the right key and shines.

“She wants to make people feel good about himself,” said Michael Reed, her grandson. “Even if she didn’t believe they were singers, they found it in them … you see them bright. Kitty is like that. I felt.

She died on January 2 at the age of 90 due to lung cancer complications. The tumper she left is a more musical place for her.

Tampa girl

Kitty was born and raised in Ever City. Among the youngest of the three children, she grew up in a parent’s room where the Palm Avenue parked garage is accommodating.

She was originally named Dorothy, but everyone called her kitten from a young age.

“When she was afraid of something, or when she was angry with someone, her (her voice) was really high and sounded like a cat,” said her daughter Tammy Daniels.

According to Kitty Rore, her music originated when she was eight months old. Kitty was sitting on her mother’s knees and listening to the radio. She reached a small hand to the nearby piano key and began to stick out the theme song for radio programs.

Her parents registered her in a piano lesson by the age of six, said Louise Clickolian, a local singer and film director. As a student at the tumper Middleton High School, she started playing at local churches and schools.

When Kitty grew up, the tumper was part of the Chitrimsarkt, a network of the music venue where black performers can play during the isolation of Jim Crow. She met many famous blue and jazz stars at the Central Avenue cotton club.

“She heard that she was playing the wrong chords, and she would say,” What if I play the piano in the next song? “

After studying music at Hunter College in New York, Kitty returned to the tampa where he joined the local band.

She once told Tampa Bay Times that her favorite song was the standard, especially “the story.”

“Play with your right hand with your right hand, tap the base pedal with her feet, gently adjust the rhythm box, and she has a complete sound,” wrote in 1977.

“The tone and tone of her voice sounds like a (Billy) holiday,” said her review in the tribune the year. “She says her style is based on the influence of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaun, and Mel Torume.”

A local performer, a local performer who became a friend with Miss Kitty in 1979, said that when she left, she wanted to take Miss Kitty on the road when she left. She played with everyone from Sam Cook to Jackie Wilson.

“She was so good. She was able to play all kinds of music with any key. Forget the score, forget it,” said Womak. “She was able to read it better than the people who wrote it, but she just played anything and she was surprised.”

While playing in Florida, Kitty discovered that discrimination in the local musician union blocked black players from high wage gigs. According to Times Archives, Miss Kitty wrote a letter calling for the union to reversing the policy.

They heard her story.

Donatello era

Since the late 1990s, Kitty played most of the evening in Donatello. She frequently joined the drummer Majid Shabazz romantic and music partner frequently.

“Of course, she was beautiful … it was just a human,” said Shabaz. “Kitty is jazz.”

Gino Thizzo, the owner of Donatello, remembers Miss Kitty as a constant being behind the piano.

“Her music, voices and sounds have just become a part of the air in the restaurant,” said Tiazzo. “She had a bitter, humid, drunk, and the softest touch on the piano. Few people, like her, are on this planet.”

Kitty loved receiving requests -and she always remembered them. Six months have passed since Patron visited the restaurant. When she saw your face, she began to play your song.

“I’ve seen it over and over again for 25 years,” said Tiazo. “She did not forget who song. Until now.”

She gave almost everyone a microphone, including college students, jazz legends, tipsy diner. She loved teaching young musicians such as Womack and Krikorian.

“I was able to know if you were a singer just by looking at you,” said Clickolian.

Ever City’s mother

Kitty had some marriage and five children. But her grandson, Reed, said she was a mother for many.

Every morning, despite the late night as a lounge singer, Kitty woke up the lead for school. She offered the same breakfast every day to him: bananas, oatmeal, guaba paste, cheese and cuba bread.

In the evening, Kitty took him to work. The lead remembers what she remembers when she is taking a nap under the bench on the piano.

“It was cool, but I didn’t notice what I had at the time,” he said. I always knew she was a good musician, a singer and an entertainer. I was quite late and didn’t notice the icon part. “

According to the Times Archive, Kitty also worked as a legal secretary of the Mars brothers’ linen category, a teacher, a teacher, and a sales representative. As a result, she had some property by the 1960s, according to Reed. Needless to say, black women are unusual for women.

Lead said that everyone in the neighborhood would come to Kitty’s mistake and would come to use her pool. She hosted the cookout and lent money to help her neighbors. During the spring and holiday season, she went to Metropolitan Province and played for staff and residents.

If people need help, she will explain to the lead, you should help them.

“She didn’t get in the way to confirm that all the children in the neighborhood were okay,” said the lead that collects money to preserve the Miss Kitty of Ybor’s house where he lived recently. I said. Even if people can’t see it on their own. “

Save her heritage

Kitty confirmed the lung cancer early in 2023. She still wanted work. Even if it ultimately play on Sunday instead of 4-6 nights a week.

“She always said that she would always live in Donatello,” said Lead.

By then, several people worked to record Kitty’s contribution. In 2018, Womak persuaded Bob Backhorn, the mayor of the Tampa at the time, and persuaded the official Kitty Daniels day in the city on August 27.

In 2020, Clickolian produced a short film “Kitty Daniels and Maddybaz, Jazz -Legend”. Another PBS segment starring Miss Kitty included some scenes that outlook collaboration with musicians, famous for Chitlin Sharkits, and efforts to create space for Florida’s black musicians.

KRIKORIAN created a website Kittydaniels.com to emphasize Miss Kitty’s live recording and achievements. She is also working at South Florida University to create permanent kitten Daniels scholarships for music students. Soon, some interviews will be permanently archived into the USF library special collection.

“She wasn’t about Stardom. She wasn’t to travel around the world and make as much money as possible,” said Clicolian. “She was at home, stayed in a tumper, was with my family, and enjoyed others enjoying her music.”

Just two weeks after the last performance in Donatello, Kitty died. The restaurant held a tribute jam night with a local musician who had been playing with her for many years. Tizzo plans to make it a tradition every year.

“Everyone talks about her heritage, but the heritage is us,” said Lead. “The person she touched and left behind.”

In this article, information on Times Archive was used.

Details of Kitty Daniels

For more information about Kitty Daniels, see Kittydaniels.com. Michael Reed, Daniels’s grandson, works to store Ever City’s home. To donate or donate, access gofundme.com/f/kitty-daniels-cost-home-previsiony-service-popular.