Blues

Bessie Smith – Classic Blues - The Blues Collection Vol.9

2012-05-01T20:05:22Z

Bessie Smith – Classic Blues - The Blues Collection Vol.9


1 Alexander's Ragtime Band 	3:02 		play	
2 Careless Love 	3:28 		play 	
3 Cake Walkin' Babies From Home 	3:12 	
4 After You've Gone 	2:59 	
5 Trombone Cholly 	3:13 	
6 Me And My Gin 	2:52 	
7 Safety Mama 	3:24 	
8 In The House Blues 	2:59 	
9 Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out 	2:59			
10 Take It Right Back 	3:22 	
11 He's Got Me Goin' 	3:14 	
12 Kitchen Man 	2:57 	
13 Do Your Duty 	3:26 	
14 Gimme A Pigfoot 	3:28 	
15 Take Me For A Buggy Ride 	2:36 	
16 I'm Down In The Dumps 	3:10

The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day and still communicates easily to today's listeners (which is not true of any other singer from that early period). At a time when the blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no competition.

Back in 1912, Bessie Smith sang in the same show as Ma Rainey, who took her under her wing and coached her. Although Rainey would achieve a measure of fame throughout her career, she was soon surpassed by her protégée. In 1920, Smith had her own show in Atlantic City and, in 1923, she moved to New York. She was soon signed by Columbia and her first recording (Alberta Hunter's "Downhearted Blues") made her famous. Bessie Smith worked and recorded steadily throughout the decade, using many top musicians as sidemen on sessions including Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith (her favorite cornetist), James P. Johnson, and Charlie Green. Her summer tent show Harlem Frolics was a big success during 1925-1927, and Mississippi Days in 1928 kept the momentum going.

However, by 1929 the blues were out of fashion and Bessie Smith's career was declining despite being at the peak of her powers (and still only 35). She appeared in St. Louis Blues that year (a low-budget movie short that contains the only footage of her), but her hit recording of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" predicted her leaner Depression years. Although she was dropped by Columbia in 1931 and made her final recordings on a four-song session in 1933, Bessie Smith kept on working. She played the Apollo in 1935 and substituted for Billie Holiday in the show Stars Over Broadway. The chances are very good that she would have made a comeback, starting with a Carnegie Hall appearance at John Hammond's upcoming From Spirituals to Swing concert, but she was killed in a car crash in Mississippi. Columbia has reissued all of her recordings, first in five two-LP sets and more recently on five two-CD box sets that also contain her five alternate takes, the soundtrack of St. Louis Blues, and an interview with her niece Ruby Smith. "The Empress of the Blues," based on her recordings, will never have to abdicate her throne. ---Scott Yanow, Rovi

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Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.5 (1931-1933)

2011-04-23T19:32:51Z

Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.5 (1931-1933)

CD I: 
1) Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl; 
2) Safety Mama; 
3) Do Your Duty; 
4) Gimme A Pigfoot; 
5) Take Me For A Buggy Ride; 
6) I'm Down In The Dumps; 
7) The Yellow Dog Blues; 		play
8) Soft Pedal Blues; 
9) Nashville Women's Blues; 
10) Careless Love Blues; 		play
11) Muddy Water; 
12) St. Louis Blue Soundtrack — Band Intro; 
13) Crap Game; 
14) St. Louis Blues; 

CD II: 
Ruby Smith interviews.

The last installment in the Bessie Smith saga, just as all the previous ones, is a fully priced 2-CD package, out of which the non-historian really needs a grand total of six songs. Of course, it would have been fairly easy to squeeze those six onto the remaining disc space of Vol. 4 — but would that count as the true raffinated sparkle of Columbia's marketing genius?

Let us see what else we have here. First, a bunch of crappy-sounding outtakes from a 1925 session: five crackling cuts, all of which we have already heard in superior versions on Vol. 2. Just what we need to hear in order to truly comprehend the giant stature of the Empress. Second, three tracks that reproduce, in complete form, the soundtrack to the short film St. Louis Blues, shot in 1929 and featuring Bessie's only preserved live appearance. The footage (which you can, and should, see on Youtube) is obviously priceless, and the semi-live rendition of 'St. Louis Blues' itself, on which Bessie is backed not by Armstrong, but a huge black choir instead, is nice to have on CD, but the six-minute dialog sequence ('Crap Game') is a complete waste of space unless you want to have a crash course in African American Vernacular as spoken in the 1920s (except the sound quality is so awful you would still need subtitles).

Finally, the entire second disc is only indirectly related to Bessie; it is an interview CD, where Bessie's niece-by-marriage, Ruby Smith, recounts her memories of Bessie in a grueling seventy-minute session. Which is fine and dandy, but you might just as well read a book about Bessie rather than spend all this time trying to sort the wheat from the chaff and separate objective fact from biased personal feeling — never for one moment able to understand why exactly does this need to co-exist in one package with Bessie's actual music.

Unfortunately, what with all the ripping-off, the six real songs that make this «Final Chapter» worth owning are all classics, unexpendable for even the casual Bessie lover. Two date from a lonesome super-short session in 1931, four more from a similarly brief stunt in 1933; this is all that Bessie had the opportunity to produce in her last decade, before a complete goodbye to the recording industry and, eventually, a tragic death in a car accident in 1937.

The songs are pure vaudeville, no blues — urban blues was not something the people took to as lightly in the hungry 1930s as they did in the booming 1920s (it is, after all, one thing to listen about someone being miserable when you yourself are reasonably content, but a whole different story when your own misery is comparable). 'Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl' is arguably the dirtiest song Bessie ever did (she also needs a hot dog between her rolls, and other delights too scandalous to mention), yet somehow she manages to transform this pure anthem of lust into a song of soulful mourning, almost as if all the sugar and hot dog references had some further spiritual connotations attached. Accustomed as we are to all the cock rock hits on classic rock radio, it is hardly surprising to see words of love used as a metaphor for sex — but using culinary words as metaphors for sex and meta-metaphors for love, that is something else totally.

The last four songs from 1933 almost play as a mini-musical: Bessie demands of her man that he 'Do Your Duty' (same one as above, apparently), lets it all hang out on 'Gimme A Pigfoot' (and a bottle of beer, even though Prohibition was still in action), after the hangover, gets unusually sentimental ('Take Me For A Buggy Ride'), and, finally, gets dumped by both the guy and whoever else she could possibly be dumped by ('I'm Down In The Dumps'). Everything Bessie ever had is in these four tunes: arrogance, recklessness, sweetness, misery, determination, humour, sadness, the whole palette. Obviously, she had no idea this was going to be her musical testament, but that's how it turned out, and these four tunes are as perfect a swan song for the lady as Abbey Road would be for the Beatles.

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Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.4 (1928-1930) 2003

2011-04-22T20:16:10Z

Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.4 (1928-1930) 2003

CD I: 
1) He's Got Me Goin'; 
2) It Won't Be You; 
3) Spider Man Blues; 
4) Empty Bed Blues (part 1); 
5) Empty Bed Blues (part 2); 
6) Put It Right Here (Or Keep It Out There); 
7) Yes Indeed He Do!; 
8) Devil's Gonna Git You; 
9) You Ought To Be Ashamed; 
10) Washwoman's Blues; 
11) Slow And Easy Man; 
12) Poor Man's Blues; 						play
13) Please Help Me Get Him Out Of My Mind; 
14) Me And My Gin; 
15) I'm Wild About That Thing; 
16) You've Got To Give Me Some; 
17) Kitchen Man; 
18) I've Got What It Takes (But It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away); 
19) Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out; 
20) Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here).

CD II: 
1) Standin' In The Rain Blues; 
2) It Makes My Love Come Down; 
3) Wasted Life Blues; 
4) Dirty No-Gooder's Blues; 
5) Blue Spirit Blues; 					play
6) Worn Out Papa Blues; 
7) You Don't Understand; 
8) Don't Cry Baby; 
9) Keep It To Yourself; 
10) New Orleans Hop Scop Blues; 
11) See If I'll Care; 
12) Baby Have Pity On Me; 
13) On Revival Day; 
14) Moan, You Moaners; 
15) Hustlin' Dan; 
16) Black Mountain Blues; 
17) In The House Blues; 
18) Long Old Road; 
19) Blue Blues; 
20) Shipwreck.

These recordings reaching from the height of Bessie Smith's fame into her decline in popularity are required listening, covering the years 1928 through 1931. Not only was her voice stronger than ever, but her control over the material was topnotch; she balanced on the fine line between seductive charm and overt sexuality with apparent ease. Some of her best material ever appears on volume 4 of this 5-volume set, including "Standin' in the Rain Blues," "Empty Bed Blues" (speaking of overtness...), "Devil's Gonna Git You," "I'm Wild About That Thing," "Blue Spirit Blues"... but it's useless to even try to list favorites. Smith's voice is so rich and expressive despite the primitive recording technology of the day, one can only imagine what it must have been like to hear her live. And trombonist Charlie Green and pianist James P. Johnson are featured prominently here as well. --Genevieve Williams

This is quite a nice set. Columbia was Bessie's own label, and Sony has done a nice job of issuing her tracks on CD: the sound is great. Nice booklet too. I always like the Chronological Classics (Melodie label), and they have five discs of Bessie; still, the Complete Recordings on Columbia is a really nice set at a really good price. Can't go wrong here: includes the three great tracks Bessie recorded on 8 May 1929 with Clarence Williams (piano) & Eddie Lang (guitar): "I'm Wild About that Thing," "You've Got to Give Me Some," and "Kitchen Man." Highly recommended. ---Sebastien Melmoth

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Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.3 (1925-1928) 1992

2011-04-19T18:44:52Z

Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings Vol.3 (1925-1928) 1992

CD I: 
1) Red Mountain Blues; 
2) Golden Rule Blues; 
3) Lonesome Desert Blues; 
4) Them Has Been Blues; 
5) Squeeze Me; 
6) What's The Matter Now; 
7) I Want Every Bit Of It; 
8) Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town; 
9) The Gin House Blues; 
10) Money Blues; 
11) Baby Doll; 
12) Hard Driving Papa; 
13) Lost Your Head Blues; 
14) Hard Time Blues; 
15) Honey Man Blues; 
16) One And Two Blues; 
17) Young Woman's Blues; 
18) Preachin' The Blues; 			play
19) Backwater Blues; 
20) After You've Gone; 
21) Alexander's Ragtime Band.

CD II: 
1) Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan); 			play
2) There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight; 
3) Trombone Cholly; 
4) Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair; 
5) Them's Graveyard Words; 
6) Hot Spring Blues; 
7) Sweet Mistreater; 
8) Lock And Key; 
9) Mean Old Bed Bug Blues; 
10) Homeless Blues; 
11) Looking For My Man Blues; 
12) Dyin' By The Hour; 
13) Foolish Man Blues; 
14) Thinking Blues; 
15) Pickpocket Blues; 
16) I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama; 
17) I'd Rather Be Dead And Buried In My Grave; 
18) I'd Rather Be Dead And Buried In My Grave (alt. take).

Listening to this collection, recorded from 1925 to 1928 as Bessie Smith's popularity grew, one only wishes that the recording technology of the day were a match for Smith's incredible voice. Naturally, this two-disc set contains many of her classic recordings, including "Back Water Blues," "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair," "Lock and Key," "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," and "After You've Gone." This collection's also worth hearing for the backing musicians, who include Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Coleman Hawkins, and other luminaries of the day. To listen to Bessie Smith is to hear the blues unadulterated, and to understand what inspired so many contemporaries and later singers, from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin. --Genevieve Williams

Bessie Smith, "Empress of the Blues," is largely known today because alcoholic blues-screamer Janis Joplin based her style on her. As a result, Bessie went from the province of the specialty collector to being a mainstream "blues" artist with almost as many imitators as the Beatles. (Elvis is a whole different galaxy.) In the year 2003, then, Bessie Smith - not Enrico Caruso - is the most-listened-to early recording artist. In a way this is good, since we went from a recreative artist to a very creative one; but this has also skewed our perspective on the blues-singing era.

Bessie had a huge, bronze voice of enormous expressivity and power. On some of these records, just listening to her delivery will send goosebumps down your spine. But truthfully, she only had one good octave in the voice, a deficiency she hid quite well by pitching her songs a certain way and then "playing around" with the notes so she didn't have to go too low (or, in some cases, too high). This is why other artists during this era were more highly prized by others. Bix Beiderbecke once threw $50 at his idol, Ethel Waters; Connee Boswell based her style on Mamie Smith (no relation); Alan Ginsburg preferred Bessie's mentor, Ma Rainey; and other singers and musicians like Ida Cox, Clara Smith and Victoria Spivey better. Bessie was a huge star and could hypnotize an audience, but she was NOT as universally admired as we now believe.

This compilation covers her best years, 1926-28, and has the highest percentage of excellent recordings. The sad thing is that no one- or two-disc compilation covers her best recordings. One can usually spot the "great" Bessie Smith records not just by how well her voice recorded but also by the fire and commitment of her delivery, and sometimes that happened in pop or show songs like "Squeeze Me," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town" (written by the Gershwin brothers and DuBose Heyward, NOT by "G. Brooks" as listed on the CD label!) or "At the Christmas Ball." Too many Bessie recordings (like too many female blues recordings in general) fall into the "my-man-done-beat-me-and-treat-me-like-dirt-but-I-love-him-anyway" category.

The shame of it is, Bessie's best recordings can be boiled down to three CDs, but no one has done this so far. Columbia's repackaging is both wasteful and expensive, allowing only 18 or 19 tracks per CD when they could have allowed 24 and done the whole project in 7 CDs instead of 10. The booklets are lavish, however, and include rare photos of some of Bessie's best accompanists, including the great cornetist Joe Smith and the elusive pianist Fred Longshaw. ---madamemusico

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Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol.2 (1924-1925)

2011-04-19T08:42:42Z

Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol.2 (1924-1925)

CD I: 
1) Frankie Blues; 
2) Moonshine Blues; 
3) Louisiana Low Down Blues; 
4) Mountain Top Blues; 
5) Work House Blues; 
6) House Rent Blues; 
7) Salt Water Blues; 
8) Rainy Weather Blues; 
9) Weeping Willow Blues; 
10) The Bye Bye Blues; 
11) Sing Sing Prison Blues; 
12) Follow The Deal On Down; 
13) Sinful Blues; 
14) Woman's Trouble Blues; 
15) Love Me Daddy Blues; 
16) Dying Gambler's Blues; 
17) The St. Louis Blues; 
18) Reckless Blues; 			play
19) Sobbin' Hearted Blues.

CD II: 
1) Cold In Hand Blues; 			play
2) You've Been A Good Ole Wagon; 
3) Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home); 
4) The Yellow Dog Blues; 
5) Soft Pedal Blues; 
6) Dixie Flyer Blues; 
7) Nashville Women's Blues; 
8) Careless Love Blues; 
9) J. C. Holmes Blues; 
10) I Ain't Goin' To Play Second Fiddle; 
11) He's Gone Blues; 
12) Nobody's Blues But Mine; 
13) I Ain't Got Nobody; 
14) My Man Blues; 
15) New Gulf Coast Blues; 
16) Florida Bound Blues; 
17) At The Christmas Ball; 
18) I've Been Mistreated (And I Don't Like It).

Bessie Smith's greatest collaborations with Louis Armstrong--need I say more? Two of the greatest artists of their time working together to create some of the greatest music of the entire century. This is the best of the Complete Bessie Smith volumes to have--this is the artist in her (recording) prime. ---Marc Dolan

Rough, rowdy, and precious was our dear Bessie. Treat your ears to a woman who still blows the competition away. Featuring nearly 2 hours of Bessie's best, this double disc collection contains 37 tracks and is a "must" for those who love early 1920s blues and jazz. A real treat here, for those who also love Armstrong's early cornet work (as mentioned in the other review) are seven tracks she did with Louis: St. Louis Blues (Jan. 24, 1925) Reckless Blues (Jan. 24, 1925) Sobbin' Hearted Blues (Jan. 24, 1925) Cold in Hand Blues (Jan. 24, 1925) You've Been a Good Ole Wagon (Jan. 24, 1925) Careless Love Blues (May 27, 1925) I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (May 27, 1925) ---M.Watkins

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Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 (1923-1924)

2011-04-15T09:32:25Z

Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 (1923-1924)

CD 1: 
1) Downhearted Blues; 				play
2) Gulf Coast Blues; 
3) Aggravatin' Papa; 
4) Beale Street Mama; 
5) Baby Won't You Please Come Home; 
6) Oh! Daddy Blues; 
7) 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do; 		play
8) Keeps On A-Rainin' (Papa, He Can't Make No Time); 
9) Mama's Got The Blues; 
10) Outside Of That; 
11) Bleeding Hearted Blues; 
12) Lady Luck Blues; 
13) Yodling Blues; 
14) Midnight Blues; 
15) If You Don't, I Know Who Will; 
16) Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine; 
17) Jailhouse Blues; 
18) St. Louis Gal; 
19) Sam Jones Blues.

CD 2: 
1) Graveyard Dream Blues; 
2) Cemetery Blues; 
3) Far Away Blues; 
4) I'm Going Back To My Used To Be; 
5) Whoa, Tillie, Take Your Time; 
6) My Sweetie Went Away; 
7) Any Woman's Blues; 
8) Chicago Bound Blues; 				play
9) Mistreatin' Daddy; 
10) Frosty Morning Blues; 
11) Haunted House Blues; 
12) Eavesdropper's Blues; 
13) Easy Come, Easy Go Blues; 			play
14) Sorrowful Blues; 
15) Pinchbacks — Take 'Em Away!; 
16) Rocking Chair Blues; 
17) Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down; 
18) Bo Weavil Blues; 
19) Hateful Blues.

Bessie Smith wasn't the first of the classic blues singers to record, but once she did, she became the form's dominant force, with a voice that combined clear diction, great power, and a unique capacity to convey complex emotions. Weariness gives way to resilience and sorrow to joyous triumph in Smith's performances, and there's nobility in her delivery of even the sometimes tritely comic lyrics she sang. This is the first of five two-CD sets that gather all her known recordings. The first 38 songs, from February 1923 to April 1924, are here. Smith was a presence when she first arrived in the studio: "Downhearted Blues," her first record and already a hit for its composer, Alberta Hunter, would sell nearly 800,000 copies in its first six months of release. It's a riveting performance, but there's greater substance just a couple of months later in the bending notes of "Oh Daddy Blues." There are many majestic performances here, with Smith usually accompanied by just piano, played by songwriter Clarence Williams, her working accompanist Irving Johns, or Fletcher Henderson. When her accompaniments begin to expand, Don Redman makes an appearance on clarinet, but the great band recordings with Louis Armstrong remain in the future. The liner notes, by Smith's biographer, Chris Albertson, are excellent, filled with illuminating background and details of Smith's career during her first year of fame. --Stuart Broomer

Anyone who wants to know how the blues are sung should listen to Bessie Smith. Or anyone who already knows and wants the complete recordings should get out the wallet for this "Volume 1." Bessie's the mother of them all. With a voice like a pipe organ belting out sad songs of betrayal, abuse, violence, and rough love she defined blues singing back in the '20's and '30's Nobody's ever done it better. Engineering substantially reduces the old '78 hiss. These 2 CD's and the well-written informative booklet included are well worth the price. One hopes the succeeding volumes will be as well done. ---dimitri138

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Bessie Smith – Mother of the Blues (1993)

2010-10-20T18:58:21Z

Bessie Smith – Mother of the Blues (1993)


1. I’m Down in The Dump
2. Take Me For a Buggy Ride
3. Gimme a Pigfoot
4. Do Your Duty
5. Blue Spirit Blues                  play
6. He’s Got Me Goin’
7. Kitchen Man
8. You’ve Got To Give Me Some
9. I’m Wild At That Thing
10. Standing In The Rain Blues
11. I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama
12. Devil’s Gonna Get You
13. Thinking Blues
14. Foolish Man Blues
15. Dyin’ By The Hour
16. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
17. Lock And Key
18. Send me To The ‘Lecric Chair
19. Trombone Cholly
20. Alexander’s Ragtime Band           play

Bessie Smith was an American blues singer who started her career thanks to another artist, Ma' Rainey. It was in fact Ma' Rainey who discovered Bessie in Chattanooga, and after hearing her singing in 1912 she took her on the road to perform on her show. Bessie stayed with Ma' Rainey's show until 1915, then she moved on for a solo career. Her voice was powerful, passionate and moving: she was one of the most popular blues singers in Vaudeville during the early 20's. Unfortunately Bessie Smith passed away in 1937. Her untimely death was caused by a car accident.

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Bessie Smith - Bessie's Best (2009)

2010-03-28T21:43:14Z

Bessie Smith - Bessie's Best (2009)


1. Alexander's Ragtime Band
2. Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle O
3. Do Your Duty
4. Cold In Hand Blues
5. A Good Man Is Hard To Find
6. Squeeze Me
7. St.Louis Blues
8. Take Me For A Buggy Ride
9. One And Two Blues
10. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
11. Nobody's Blues But Mine
12. Send Me To The Lectric Chair
13. Careless Love Blues
14. Downhearted Blues
15. Empty Bed Blues
16. Yellow Dog Blues
17. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
18. Them's Graveyard Words

Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. She was also the greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920s. Bessie started out as a street musician in Chattanooga. In 1912 Bessie joined a traveling show as a dancer and singer. The show featured Pa and Ma Rainey, and Smith developed a friendship with Ma. Ma Rainey was Bessie's mentor and she stayed with her show until 1915. Bessie then joined the T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuit and gradually built up her own following in the south and along the eastern seaboard. By the early 1920s she was one of the most popular Blues singers in vaudeville. In 1923 she made her recording debut on Columbia, accompanied by pianist Clarence Williams. They recorded "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues." The record sold more than 750,000 copies that same year, rivaling the success of Blues singer Mamie Smith (no relation). Throughout the 1920s Smith recorded with many of the great Jazz musicians of that era, including Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Coleman Hawkins, Don Redman and Louis Armstrong. Her rendition of "St. Louis Blues" with Armstrong is considered by most critics to be one of finest recordings of the 1920s.

Bessie Smith was one of the biggest African-American stars of the 1920s and was popular with both Whites and African-Americans, but by 1931 the Classic Blues style of Bessie Smith was out of style and the Depression, radio, and sound movies had all damaged the record companies' ability to sell records so Columbia dropped Smith from its roster. In 1933 she recorded for the last time under the direction of John Hammond for Okeh. The session was released under the name of Bessie Smith accompanied by Buck and his Band. Despite having no record company Smith was still very popular in the South and continued to draw large crowds, although the money was not nearly as good as it had been in the 1920s. Bessie had started to style herself as a Swing musician and was on the verge of a comeback when her life was tragically cut short by an automobile accident in 1937. While driving with her lover Richard Morgan (Lionel Hampton's uncle) in Mississippi their car rear-ended a slow moving truck and rolled over crushing Smith's left arm and ribs. Smith bled to death by the time she reached the hospital. John Hammond caused quite a stir by writing an article in Downbeat magazine suggesting that Smith had bled to death because she had been taken to a White hospital and had been turned away. This proved not to be true, but the rumor persists to this day. ---redhotjazz.com

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Bessie Smith – Blue Spirit Blues (1990)

2009-10-27T16:26:57Z

Bessie Smith – Blue Spirit Blues (1990)


01. I'm down in the dumps
02. Blue spirit blues
03. Kitchen man
04. Foolish man blues
05. Thinking blues
06. Devil's gonna get you
07. Send me to the 'lectric chair
08. I'm wild at that thing
09. You've got to give me some
10. Standing in the rain blues
11. He's got me goin'
12. Do your duty
13. Dyin' by the hour
14. Lock and key
15. Gimme a pigfoot
16. Take me for a buddle ride
17. I used to beyour sweet mama
18. Trombone cholly
19. Alexandre's ragtime band
20. A good man is hard to find

Musicians:
Bessie Smith  Vocals
Ed Allen 	Cornet
Louis Bacon 	Trumpet
Chu Berry 	Sax (Tenor)
Garvin Bushell 	Clarinet, Sax (Alto)
Demas Dean 	Trumpet
Ernest Elliott 	Clarinet
Bob Fuller 	Clarinet
Benny Goodman 	Clarinet
Porter Grainger 	Piano
Charlie Green 	Trombone
James P. Johnson 	Piano
Eddie Lang 	Guitar
Fred Longshaw 	Piano
Frankie Newton 	Trumpet
Cyrus St. Clair 	Brass, Sax (Bass)
Steve Stevens 	Piano
Billy Taylor, Sr. 	Bass
Jack Teagarden 	Trombone
Greely Walton 	Sax (Tenor)
Buck Washington 	Piano
Clarence Williams 	Piano

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