There are a handful of albums or boxed sets that are essential to truly understand American music, as well as this thing we call jazz. This 10 cd set recently released by Sony Music is definitely one of them. Yes, you can argue that Ma Rainey was the Queen of the blues, and came before Miss Bessie Smith, but The Empress was the one that took the blues not only to a higher plateau, but made it accessible to the American public and set the foundation for every type of blues (and jazz, and rock!) that has become its offspring. What you have here is pure unadulterated blues, before swing, before country , before rock, and just at the time when ragtime was the avant garde of the culture. This music has been available before, but in inferior sounding 2cd piecemeal sets, or in double album formats. This package here is how you want it.
What you get here is not only essentially everything Bessie Smith recorded in the studio from 1923-1933, but also the soundtrack to the classic two reel “St. Louis Blues” film from 1929 with Smith backed by the Hall –Johnson choir and a band that includes James P. Johnson/p, Russell Smith/tp, Joe Smith/tp, Charlie Green/tb and Kaiser Marshall/dr. A few previously unissued takes of material like “Nashville Women’s Blues” are included as well, making this a collector’s dream. But the reason you want this set is simply for the honesty and earnestness that Smith delivers her material with.
She’s usually backed by the most stark of accompaniment, so you feel like you’re in some small club. The supporting cast is like a Who’s Who of the Jazz Hall of Fame: Don Redman/cl, Clarence Williams-Jimmy Jones-Fred Longshaw-Fletcher Henderson take up most of the piano chores, while the horns are provided by Charlie Green/tb, Louis Armstrong/tp, Joe Smith/tp, Buster Bailey/c and Don Redman/cl-as for most of her earlier sessions. A few of the last sessions include proto-swingers like Frank Newton/tp, Jack Tagarden/tb and Chu Berry/ts, but the real meat and potatoes are heard with her having the barest of support, such as a piano, harpsichord or horn. To go over a list of essential songs would take hours, but a handful of the ESSENTIAL essential have to include the 1925 take of “The St. Louis Blues” (with Red Longshaw on the reed organ and Louis Armstrong delivering spell binding support on the cornet), a 1925 “Careless Love” (with the addition of Charlie Green/tb), a following day recording of “I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle (with bone chilling vocals) and a 1927 take of “After You’ve Gone” that is the standard by which all others are measured. But, in actuality, every song could bear that description, as since Miss Smith has essentially no recorded history of music to refer to; she gives Edenic performances of songs that have no influence from anything else except her life, heart and experience. Such open nerve veracity is a rare thing to encounter, and in one sense needs to be taken in small doses here, as we filtered members of the 21st century aren’t used to such a full force of life. Take it in, and imbibe deeply.
Sony Music
www.legacyrecordings.com