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The senseless death of young pianist Johnny Ace while indul-ging in a round of Russian rou-lette backstage at Houston's City Auditorium on Christmas Day of 1954 tends to overshadow his relatively brief but illustrious re-cording career on Duke Records That's a pity, for Ace's gentle, plaintive vocal balladry deser-ves reverence on its own merit, not because of the scandalous fallout resulting from his tragic demise.
John Marshall Alexan-der was a member in good standing of the Beale Streeters, a loosely knit crew of Memphis young bloods that variously in-cluded B.B. King, Bobby Bland, and Earl Forest. Ace scored his biggest hit of all posthumously. His haunting "Pledging My Love" |
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