Queen of the Blues 1 [Box set, Original recording remastered]

Bessie Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Jsp Records
• ASIN: B000M5B3RW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,440 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Downhearted Blues

2. Gulf Coast Blues

3. Aggravatin' Papa

4. Beale Street Mama

5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Whoa Tillie Take Your Time

2. My Sweetie Went Away

3. Any Woman's Blues

4. Chicago Bound Blues

5. Mistreatin' Daddy

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Weeping Willow Blues

2. The Bye Bye Blues

3. Sing Sing Prison Blues

4. Follow The Deal On Down

5. Sinful Blues

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Nobody's Blues But Mine

2. I Ain't Got Nobody

3. My Man Blues

4. New Gulf Coast Blues

5. Florida Bound Blues

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Bessie Smith was not the first to record a blues - indeed her early career was not even as a blues singer - yet she stands astride the genre like a colossus. As well as her fame as an entertainer, she was a formidable human being. She simply refused to recognise opposition - incredibly, one night in 1927, she faced down the feared Ku Klux Klan. She was born poor in 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Both parents died while Bessie was still young and she was raised by her older sister, Viola. To augment Viola's meagre earnings as a laundress, Bessie and her older brother Clarence took to the streets as entertainers. In time, Bessie obtained regular work as a dancer and chorus girl. By 1921, when she was living in Philadelphia, Bessie was a star. She had several unsuccessful tests for recording companies. In February 1923, after she'd moved to New York, Columbia gave her a chance. Her first cuts, made on February 15th, are lost. However, the next day she recorded Gulf Coast Blues and Down Hearted Blues with piano backing by Clarence Williams, who had written the former.This combination was released as Bessie's first disc. It sold 750,000. All her skills are on display. Initially, Gulf Coast was the A-side, but it was the honesty and clarity of Down Hearted that people flocked to buy. Soon after her recording debut, Bessie and new husband, Jack Gee, discovered that she was signed not to Columbia, but to Clarence Williams, who was appropriating half Bessie's recording fee. The angry pair confronted Williams, who released Bessie from her contract. With Williams temporarily out of favour, a new piano accompanist was needed. Fletcher Henderson stepped in. He's featured on ten sides here and shows himself to be as self-effacing, if a little subtler, than Williams. By the end of June, with a decent supply of material in the can, Walker released Bessie for a Southern tour. Her hit record had preceded her and the shows were sell-outs. During this tour, Bessie also discovered the emerging power of radio. Most shows were then transmitted `live' so, while earning a fee for performing, she promoted her records. The final two cuts on CD:A feature Bessie duetting with fellow blues singer Clara Smith. Bessie generally kept other blueswomen at bay, but Clara was an exception. Her voice here is plaintive and flexible, but Bessie dominates. Having mainly confined her to piano accompaniment, Columbia now began adding extra instruments. The first two tracks on CD:B, have the singer in the company of a decent clarinettist and pianist. Presumably Fletcher Henderson was needed elsewhere because he was back the next day. From Bessie's January 1924 sides, Frosty Mornin' Blues is surely a gem - its more traditional blues instrumentation, with Harry Reser on guitar, draws a performance of feeling from Bessie - once she and Reser accommodate to to the slow rhythm. Reser returned to help Bessie deliver an ironic interpretation of Easy Come Easy Go Blues. After this session, it was back to live work in Nashville. She was popular with both white and black audiences in the south, although they were, of course, segregated. Other black performers seem to have modified their acts for whites, cleaning them up if necessary. Not Bessie. She was in the vanguard of a generation of black performers which wouldn't conform to the `yassuh' stereotype.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Recordings Given New Life in Wonderfully Re-mastered Set, May 31, 2008

By 

Gregory M. Wasson (Pinole, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queen of the Blues 1 (Audio CD)

JSP records has long been known for its meticulously re-mastered reissues of vintage blues, jazz, country, and popular recordings. These "78s" were made before the introduction of magnetic recording tape around 1948, which ushered in the age of "High Fidelity". The earliest recordings were entirely "acoustic," with the performers playing or singing into a large bell whose acoustic vibrations were cut by an attached stylus into wax or metal "masters." The introduction around 1925 of "electronic recording" using microphones improved the sound of records considerably, but the acoustic vibrations picked up by the mics were still "cut" directly onto master discs which were pressed into retail copies, and much of the richness and detail of the sound was lost.

Until his death in 2004, JSP regularly used the services of John R.T. Davies to restore the sound of its collections of reissued music originally recorded on "78's." Davies was regarded by many as the best sound restoration engineer of his generation. "Bessie Smith -- Queen of the Blues Volume 1," presented in a very affordable 4 -- disc box set, continues to uphold the standard set by John Davies. The sound quality of these CDs, which cover Bessie's entire catalog for Columbia records from 1923 until 1925, easily surpasses the Columbia's own sets, which were first issued in the early 1990s. Although the written notes are thin and there is no booklet of info about the music which is typically included in box sets, for pure sound you cannot do better than the JSP Bessie Smith. I have both the Columbia and the JSP sets, and listening to these new JSP boxes is like hearing these records for the first time.

As most readers will know, Bessie Smith was unquestionably the greatest blues singer of her day, and is arguably the greatest of all-time. When artists as diverse as Billie holiday, Mahalia Jackson, and Janis Joplin (who before her own death helped pay for a headstone for Bessie's grave) cite Smith as inspiring their own remarkable careers, you know that this is a voice that deserves to be listened to closely and often. These are legendary recordings from a masterful singer.

Bessie Smith's voice has always commanded attention. It is deep, strong, and above all heartfelt. But the JSP boxes for the first time clearly reveal the nuance, shading, and superb phrasing that were often obscured in previous reissues. Perhaps just as important, these new sets bring to life the contributions of the many famous jazz and blues musicians who accompanied Bessie throughout her career. For the first time we hear the full range of sound produced by such outstanding artists as pianist James P. Johnson, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, clarinetist Buster Bailey, and trombonist Charlie Green, to name but a few. It is not the sound of digital or analog tape recordings, but it is probably the best that we will have for many years.

The price is unbeatable. For under $30 you can have the best available set of the all the records Smith made between 1923 and 1925. A second box set covering the balance of her career has just been released, and is also highly recommended. Jazz and blues enthusiasts, and music lovers generally, have cause for celebration with the issuance of these box sets by JSP. They are essential and loving presentations of a woman who, over 60 years after her death, continues to teach us about the "soul" that is the foundation of all great music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as great as volume 2, but still worth it!, April 10, 2010

By 

M. A. Casey (Las Vegas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queen of the Blues 1 (Audio CD)

Bessie Smith, the most well-known and imitated (but never duplicated) female blues singer ever. This four CD, 90-track box set spanning from 1923-1926 is a slightly mixed bag. That is because a few of the songs on the first CD (A) are slightly repetitive. It is really nothing more than a piano to keep Bessie company. Of course, Bessie's voice is the main attraction here. It keeps the songs from becoming boring. Her voice is always superb, and really, if it wasn't such an excellent voice these songs wouldn't even be worth listening to twice. The lone bad song that I always skip over is Far Away Blues, a duet with Clara Smith. This particular song is awful, and it's because of Clara. She sounds terrible here, and you'd never know it from this song that Clara was actually a great singer. Too bad.

CD B, however, has quite a few repetitive and/or dull songs. Charlie Green's trombone is very dull and one-note on the last few songs on CD B. There is nothing awful here, but yet nothing great either. CD B is the CD I have the least interest in and play the least.

The action really picks up, however, on the second two CDs, (C and D). The songs here are mostly superior to most of the songs on the first two CDs, and there is the introduction of more backing insturments other than the piano. Good move. Bessie was off to better work now, and on My Man Blues Clara comes back and duets with Bessie here, and finally sounds like Clara---as in great!

The sound on these CDs is mostly good, considering how old these recordings are. Although two songs, Yellow Dog Blues and Soft Pedal, the sound at times is a bit muffled when Bessie hits a high note. This is remedied by the extra cuts on the volume two box set, which I recommend purchasing before this particular box set. But I personally like these two songs on this box set better, for some reason. I'm no audiophile.

In short, this box set is pretty much worth it, even though the first two CDs aren't as interesting as the second two, and the liner notes aren't as extensive as any box set from Proper. But I far prefer the volume two box set.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carmel's opinion, May 12, 2007

By 

Peter Carmel "Classic jazz lover & collector" (Melbourne, Vic.,Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queen of the Blues 1 (Audio CD)

Excellent sound quality of the earlier recordings of the most important of all blues singers.