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Bessie Smith
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[B]y 1929 the blues were outoffashion 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 lowbudget 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 foursong 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 twoLP sets and more recently on five twoCD box sets that ... contain her five alternate takes, the soundtrack of St. Louis Blues, and an interview with her niece Ruby Smith.
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Bessie Smith was the only child of Walter E. and Frankie Giles Smith. She was born December 26, 1907, on a farm outside Central City, Nebraska. Walter was a farmer, but he was called to the ministry, so when Bessie was still quite young, they moved from one community to another as her father was tranferred to larger pastorates. Finally Walter decided he wanted a college degree, quite a rarity in those days, so he began looking for a pastorate close to a college. He chose Union Township Presbyterian Church in LeMars, Iowa, and made plans to attend Western Union College. Robert Geddes Eyres was a member of the church, and soon a friendship, then love, developed, for Bessie.
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Bessie Smith had her own traveling variety show, complete with canvas tent and roustabouts. During the mid-'20s she toured with her troupe throughout the southeastern United States, working her way across North Carolina and much of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Some of the material she performed in front of live audiences was [V]audeville-oriented, and a few titles were right out of the jazz book. In 1993 the Jazz Archives label assembled a fine collection drawing upon Smith's most theatrical, popular, and jazz-oriented recordings. Backed at times by members of Fletcher Henderson's rapidly rising jazz orchestra, the singer calmly tackles each song as if it had been composed with her in mind. The bluesy numbers, often brimming with sexual energy, seem to have been included as tokens of the stage-show aspect of her repertoire.
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Bessie Smith began her professional career in 1912 by singing in the same show as Ma Rainey, and subsequently performed in various touring minstrel shows and cabarets. By the 1920s, she was a leading artist in black shows on the TOBA circuit and at the 81 Theatre in Atlanta. After further tours she was sought out by Clarence Williams to record in New York. Her first recording, Down-Hearted Blues, established her as the most successful black performing artist of her time. She recorded regularly until 1928 with important early jazz instrumentalists such as Williams, James P. Johnson, and various members of Fletcher Henderson's band, including Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green, Joe Smith, and Tommy Ladnier. During this period she ... toured throughout the South and North, performing to large audiences.
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[B]y 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 ... contain her five alternate takes, the soundtrack of St. Louis Blues, and an interview with her niece Ruby Smith.
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Bessie Smith, The Empress of Blues, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her influence stretches far beyond the reaches of middle America, or the 1920s-30s, or even Blues music. In fact, she is known to be an inspiration and influence to Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson and Janis Joplin. This record is a celebration of her many accomplishments as a Blues writer and singer: 22 recordings of the highest quality, a rarity among the many that exist today. Guest artists and collaborators here include Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Joe Smith, Charlie Green, Benny Goodman and Buck Washington.
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Bessie Smith