Essential Bessie Smith

Read About This Recording

Bessie Smith was the most powerful singer on record in the 1920s and one of the most dynamic performers of all time. Known rightfully as The Empress of the Blues, Smith mostly sang classic blues but was also versatile enough to excel on popular standards of the era. She was documented fairly extensively during 1923-33 and, even on the most primitively recorded selections of 1923, she was able to overcome both the technical limitations of the recording equipment and some indifferent playing from her accompanists to create performances that still sound relevant and timeless to today's listeners.

Bessie Smith recorded enough material in her career to fill up nine CDs. This two-CD set has the very best selections from her career. Most of her classics are here including 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do, St. Louis Blues, Cake Walkin' Babies From Home, Careless Love Blues, Backwater Blues, Trombone Cholly, Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out and Gimme A Pigfoot. With assistance from many of the top players of the era (including Louis Armstrong, trombonist Charlie Green, cornetist Joe Smith and pianist James P. Johnson), Smith is heard throughout at the peak of her powers.

No jazz collection is complete without some Bessie Smith, and this two-fer is quite definitive.

-Scott Yanow

Extended Article

Few, if any, ever possesed the voracious appetite for life, love and music as the great Bessie Smith. Perhaps it is this very fact that led to her quick emergence as one of the most successful recording artists and performers of her time. Surely it is this very fact which continues to sustain her legacy. Stories of Bessie's antics continue to amuse and entertain but beyond them all are her magnificent recordings, all made for the Columbia label, many among the most important and influential in the history of popular music.

Features preformances with Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman, Chu Berry, Jack Teagarden and many more.

Contents

Aggravatin' Papa; Baby Won't You Please Come Home; 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do; Jail-House Blues; Graveyard Dream Blues; Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down; Boweavil Blues; Weeping Willow Blues; Dying Gambler's Blues; St. Louis Blues; You've Been A Good Ole Wagon; Cake Walkin' Babies From Home; Careless Love Blues; I Ain't Goin' To Play Second Fiddle; At The Christmas Ball; Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town; Backwater Blues; After You've Gone; Alexander's Ragtime Band; There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight; Trombone Cholly; Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair; A Good Man Is Hard To Find; Dyin' By The Hour; My And My Gin; Kitchen Man; Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out; On Revival Day (A Rhythmic Spiritual); Moan, You Moaners; Black Mountain Blues; Shipwreck Blues; Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl; Do Your Duty; Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer; Take Me For A Buggy Ride; Down In The Dumps.

Bessie Smith, Vocals; Ernest Elliot, Buster Bailey, Benny Goodman, Clarinets; Clarence Williams, Irving Johns, Fletcher Henderson, Steve Stevens, Porter Grainger, Pianos; Buddy Christian, Charlie Dixon, Banjos; Robert Robbins, Violin; Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Ed Allen, Louis Metcalfe, Cornets; Charlie Green, Jimmy Harrison, Jack Teagarden, Trombones; Fred Longshaw, Piano/Reed Organ; Bob Escudero, June Cole, Cyrus St. Clair, Tubas; Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Greely Walton, Tenor Saxes; Garvin Bushell, Alto Sax; Eddie Lang, Eddie Lang, Bobby Johnson, Lincoln M. Conaway, Guitars; The Bessemer Singers; Floyd Casey, Drums; Frankie Newton, Trumpet; Buck Washington, Piano/Leader; Billy Taylor, String Bass.

CD Special Features

• The ultimate "best of" collection from the Empress of the Blues...

• 36 remarkable songs capturing the very best of one of the greatest blues artists of all time

• 20-Bit digitally remastered from the finest available sources for stunning sound quality

• Includes detailed notes and loads of great photos

• Accept no substitutes! Here are the original Columbia records!

• Beware of second-rate bootlegs and imports!