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Bessie Smith

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Wikimp3 information about the music of Bessie Smith. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Bessie Smith. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Bessie Smith represents Blues genres.

Biography

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The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day and still communicates easily to today's listeners (which is not true of any other singer from that early period). At a time when the blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no competition.

Back in 1912, Bessie Smith sang in the same show as Ma Rainey, who took her under her wing and coached her. Although Rainey would achieve a measure of fame throughout her career, she was soon surpassed by her protégée. In 1920, Smith had her own show in Atlantic City and, in 1923, she moved to New York. She was soon signed by Columbia and her first recording (Alberta Hunter's "Downhearted Blues") made her famous. Bessie Smith worked and recorded steadily throughout the decade, using many top musicians as sidemen on sessions including Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith (her favorite cornetist), James P. Johnson, and Charlie Green. Her summer tent show Harlem Frolics was a big success during 1925-1927, and Mississippi Days in 1928 kept the momentum going.

However, by 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 also contain her five alternate takes, the soundtrack of St. Louis Blues, and an interview with her niece Ruby Smith. "The Empress of the Blues," based on her recordings, will never have to abdicate her throne.

Title: Bessie's Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Chartbreaker

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: A Quartette

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz, Pop

Title: Dream Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Pop

Title: The Hottest Ever

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Jazz

Title: Chameleon

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Listen This Music

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Sorrowful Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Rock, Pop

Title: Do Your Duty

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Hip Hop/R&B

Title: Hard Working Girl

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Pop

Title: Work House Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Pop

Title: A Night With Bessie

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Jazz

Title: The Gin House Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Pop

Title: Happy Sounds

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Confectioner's

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Jazz

Title: Hop Scop Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Pop

Title: Guitar Town Music

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Sweet Mistreater

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz

Title: Hard Time Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz

Title: Lakeshore Town

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Art Collection

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Blue Spirit Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz

Title: A New Friend

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: Queen of the Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz

Title: Wasted Life Blues

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues, Jazz

Title: Through The Area

Artist: Bessie Smith

Genre: Blues

Collections

Title: Blues Sisters

Genre: Blues

Title: Voodoo Jazz & Blues

Genre: Jazz

Title: Divine Divas Vol 7

Genre: Jazz

Title: Black Nite Blues

Genre: Blues

Title: Blues Anthems

Genre: Blues

Title: 100 Blues Classics

Genre: Blues

Featuring albums

Title: Best Of The Blues

Artist: Clara Smith

Genre: Blues

Title: The Great Gatsby

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Jazz

Title: Cool Blues

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Blues

Title: Rude Dudes

Artist: Various Artists

Genre: Blues

Title: Gaudy Colours

Artist: Big Bill Broonzy

Genre: Jazz

Genres