1923

Bessie Smith

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 19, 1996)
• Original Release Date: July 13, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Classics
• ASIN: B000001NP6
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #903,710 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Downhearted Blues

2. Gulf Coast Blues

3. Aggravatin' Papa

4. Beale Street Mama

5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home

6. Oh Daddy! You Won't Have No Mama at All

7. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do

8. Keeps on A-Rainin' (Papa, He Can't Make No Time)

9. Mama's Got the Blues

10. Outside of That

11. Bleeding Hearted Blues

12. Lady Luck Blues

13. Yodling Blues

14. Midnight Blues

15. If You Don't, I Know Who Will

16. Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine

17. Jailhouse Blues

18. St. Louis Gal

19. Sam Jones Blues

20. Graveyard Dream Blues

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bessie's First Tracks..., May 21, 2008

By	Jules César (Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 1923 (Audio CD)

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Bessie Smith was a powerful vocalist with a big clear alto timbre and excellent English diction.
She had a great sense of humour, invoking both urban and rural observations.
In her song-art she expresses facets of her strong personality: a justified indignation over the Jim Crow abuse of Negros in the United States; a certain fatalism concerning her own life under such conditions; and a raw sexual vitality.
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This 1994 issue from the great Chronological Classics series from France features Smith's first recorded tracks. (She had only about a decade of record productivity: 1923-33.)
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On the first eight sides Bessie is accompanied by the great Clarence Williams whose measured pianism is extremely attractive, making "Down-Hearted Blues" and other songs sound more like a duo for alto and piano, rather than mere background for a vocalist.
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"Aggravatin' Papa" includes a skilled banjoist and a goosey clarinettest which, combined with the humorous lyrics, make for a very fun-filled song.
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"Baby Won't You Please Come Home Blues" (with the flip-side of "Oh, Daddy Blues") are some of Smith and Williams' most catchy tunes--not to mention the famous "'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (later redone by Billie Holiday).
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"'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" in fact sums up Bessie Smith's ethos and life most succinctly: rough, sad, but independent and defiant.
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Reissued on: 1923.
Seek too:
1923-1924
1924-1925 (reissued) 1924-1925
1925-1927 (reissued) 1925-1927
1928-1929 (reissued) 1928-1929
1929-1933 (reissued) 1929-1933
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