Bessie Smith
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! /TiVo
Similar artists
-
BD Music Presents Bessie Smith
Blues - Released by BDMUSIC on 25 Jun 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Bessie Smith
Vocal Jazz - Released by Columbia - Legacy on 27 Aug 1997
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Bessie Smith
Blues - Released by Columbia - Legacy on 8 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 5: The Final Chapter
Blues - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 6 Feb 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Empress of the Blues (40 Original Tracks Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Ornithology Rec. on 21 Feb 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
15 Essentials of Bessie Smith (Mono Version)
Jazz - Released by BNF Collection on 8 Sep 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
-
The Complete Recordings (Volume 1)
R&B - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 5 Apr 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 2
Blues - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 6 Sep 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 4
Blues - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 23 Apr 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Quintessence 1923-1933: The Emperess
Vocal Jazz - Released by Frémeaux & associés on 30 Jul 2002
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Recordings, Vol. 3
Blues - Released by Legacy - Columbia on 22 Sep 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Bessie Smith Story, Vol. 1
Blues - Released by Roots on 1 Jan 1951
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Empty Bed Blues (1927-1928)
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Oct 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bessie Smith Selected Favorites, Vol. 8
Blues - Released by Charly Records on 21 Mar 2011
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Columbia Recordings Vol. 9)
Pop - Released by Blues Classics on 1 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fats Waller & Bessie Smith
Jazz - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 22 May 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All That Jazz, Vol. 57: Bessie Smith - A Decade of the Blues (24 Bit HD Remastering 2016)
Blues - Released by Jube Legends on 4 Mar 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Masters
Blues - Released by Master Classics Records on 18 Dec 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues Heritage
King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith
Dixieland - Released by Olympic Records on 10 Aug 1973
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
SMITH, Bessie: Downhearted Blues (1923-1924)
International Pop - Released by Naxos on 4 Feb 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo