Details
Track Listing
1. Yellow Dog Blues, The
2. Nashville Woman's Blues
3. Careless Love Blues
4. I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
5. I Want Ev'ry Bit of It
6. Money Blues
7. One and Two Blues
8. Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan)
9. Lock and Key
10. Good Man Is Hard to Find, A
11. Dyin' by the Hour
12. Foolish Man Blues
13. I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama
14. Standin' in the Rain Blues
15. I'm Wild About That Thing
16. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
17. Blue Spirit Blues
18. Do Your Duty
19. Gimme a Pigfoot
20. I'm Down in the Dumps
| Details | | Distributor: | Allegro Corporation (Dist | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Mono | | SPAR Code: | ADD |
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Bessie Smith (vocals); Lincoln Conaway, Bobby Johnson, Ed Lang (guitar); Charlie Dixon (banjo); Buster Bailey, Benny Goodman (clarinet); Garvin Bushnell (alto saxophone); Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone); Demas Dean, Frank Newman, Tommy Ladnier (trumpet); Ed Allen, Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith (cornet); Charlie Green, Jimmy Harrison, Jack Teargarden (trombone); June Cole, Cyrus St. Clair (brass bass); Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Fred Longshaw, Buck Washington, Clarence Williams (piano); Billy Taylor (bass).
Includes liner notes by Norman Field.
The self-styled "Empress of the Blues"(not that anyone would disagree), Bessie Smith was the music's first truly great female performer. On a series of chronological CDs released by the European reissue label Nimbus, nearly the complete oeuvre of this iconoclastic singer is made available, and a treasure trove it is.
An enormous influence on nearly every blues and jazz singer to follow, Smith possessed inimitable phrasing that reshaped even familiar songs into startling new forms. Not to be overlooked are the enormously talented backing musicians featured here, including a young Louis Armstrong. This 20-track compilation includes such Smith classics as "Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer," "I Want Ev'ry Bit of It," and the lesser-known but nonetheless remarkable "Nashville Woman's Blues." The sound throughout is remarkable, especially in light of the age and relative unpolished quality of the recordings.
Industry Reviews
4 Stars - Very Good - ...Bessie Smith sang with authority equal to mentor Ma Rainey's, but with more flexibility and variety of storytelling techniques, greater tonal range, and finer articulation...The empress did no wrong...
Down Beat (08/01/1992)
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