Customer Reviews

Empty Bed Blues

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Featuring in the history of North American music, and flourishing between the two world wars was the Negroid song known as the "blues". Its origin is usually attributed to W C Handy. A "blues" song has its own tonality, harmony, duple time and other requisite features, and its singer usually laments, with little restriction on bawdy detail, the absence or loss of a lover. Ma Rainey was an early and influential exponent, and also a friend and teacher of Bessie Smith (1895-1937). We, in our turn, may lament the fact that Bessie Smith's life was short, tempestuous and tragic, but we can be grateful for at least two things. Firstly, she received the advantage of superb technical quality recording during the years 1925 to 1933. Secondly, she attracted or was accorded some of the best jazz musicians of her day to participate in her recordings - Charlie Green trombone, Fletcher Henderson, piano, Eddie Lang, guitar, Jack Teagarden trombone, etc.

A generous selection of her blues recordings is offered in excellent reproduction on this "Living Era" CD. Here are some of the classic, narrative blues, the more "commercial" items, and several in which she had a hand in writing the lyrics. You'll find characteristic "double entendre" in the famous six minute "Empty Bed Blues", in which Bessie laments the absence from her bed of her current lover, a miner who is so skilled and tireless at plumbing the depths, drilling etc.

Elsewhere in this space I have mentioned that in the early days of the blues, at least the recorded blues, women vocalists dominated the market. One thinks of Mabel Smith and Ma Rainey in that regard. But the queen of the hill, and the one still best remembered, for roaring out those barrel house blues is Bessie Smith. This little album gives a very nice beginner cross section of the kind of subjects that she sang about-mainly broken-hearted love, no good men and the trials and tribulations of being a black woman on her own.

Bessie's music also represents the place, as with Blind Willie McTell on the male side, where the blues go from the Saturday night juke joints of the farm, make that cotton, country to the more sophisticated Southern city locales. Furthermore, she along with Memphis Minnie were the queens of the now lost art of sexual double entendre- you know, 'put a little sugar in my bowl', 'take me for a buggy ride' and other classic lines of that type.

Be aware that listening to Bessie is rather an acquired taste but once you have the Bessie in your head you will not want to turn the damn thing off. Unlike compilations that start with her earlier material like Aggravatin Papa where the quality of the recording gets in the way of your listening pleasure this one is mainly later material with better sound quality. Top selections here are a moanful , weary St Louis Woman, the jump two parts of Empty Bed Blues of the title, the down and dirty Me and My Gin and the novelty song Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town. Are these recordings all the essentials to bring you up to speed on Bessie? No way, but go back the first sentence of this paragraph you will be saving your pennies to get the next album.

Bought the CD for two reasons: (1)I was teaching a class about jazz to Seniors who are members of the Veritas Society at Bellarmine University. Course title: Explorations in Jazz, and learning about the Blues is a major part of such a course. (2) I wanted to replace a lost tape of Bessie where she sang "Kitchen Man" a song my wife enjoys -- as did the class. The lyrics are cool. The CD provides a wide range of experiencing the Blues through the original vocal interpretations of Bessie Smith. Rick E.