Bessie Smith - Bessie Smith 1923 (23 tracks) +Album Reviews

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Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith 1923
Genres: Blues, Jazz

Track Listings (23) - Disc #1
1. Downhearted Blues - Bessie Smith, Austin, Lovie [1]
2. Gulf Coast Blues - Bessie Smith, Williams, Clarence
3. Aggravatin' Papa - Bessie Smith, Britt, Addy
4. Beale Street Mama - Bessie Smith, Robinson, J. Russel
5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Bessie Smith, Warfield, Charles
6. Oh Daddy! You Won't Have No Mama at All - Bessie Smith, Herbert, E.
7. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do - Bessie Smith, Grainger, Percy
8. Keeps on A-Rainin' (Papa, He Can't Make No Time) - Bessie Smith, Kortlander, Max
9. Mama's Got the Blues - Bessie Smith, Martin, Sara
10. Outside of That - Bessie Smith, Trent, Jo
11. Bleeding Hearted Blues - Bessie Smith, Austin, Lovie [1]
12. Lady Luck Blues - Bessie Smith, Weber, William
13. Yodling Blues - Bessie Smith, Hill, A.
14. Midnight Blues - Bessie Smith, Henry, John "Shifty
15. If You Don't, I Know Who Will - Bessie Smith, Brymn, Tim
16. Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine - Bessie Smith, Williams, Clarence
17. Jailhouse Blues - Bessie Smith, Hopkins, Lightnin'
18. St. Louis Gal - Bessie Smith, Robinson, John [Sax
19. Sam Jones Blues - Bessie Smith, Bernard, Al
20. Graveyard Dream Blues - Bessie Smith, Cox, Ida
21. Cemetery Blues - Bessie Smith, Cook, Lawrence J.
22. Far Away Blues - Bessie Smith, Brooks, George
23. I'm Going Back to My Used to Be - Bessie Smith, Cox, James

CD Details

All Artists: Bessie Smith
Title: Bessie Smith 1923
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Classics
Release Date: 1/6/1998
Genres: Blues, Jazz
Styles: Vocal Blues, Traditional Blues, Traditional Jazz & Ragtime
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 3307517076120

CD Reviews

Bessie's First Tracks...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 05/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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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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