Similar Albums:
- Artist: Bessie Smith
- Rating:
- Release Date: February 22, 1996
- Total Time: 69:58
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Blues
Review
Bessie Smith had her own traveling variety show, complete with canvas tent and roustabouts. During the mid-'20s she toured with her troupe throughout the southeastern United States, working her way across North Carolina and much of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Some of the material she performed in front of live audiences was vaudeville-oriented, and a few titles were right out of the jazz book. In 1993 the Jazz Archives label assembled a fine collection drawing upon Smith's most theatrical, popular, and jazz-oriented recordings. Backed at times by members of Fletcher Henderson's rapidly rising jazz orchestra, the singer calmly tackles each song as if it had been composed with her in mind. The bluesy numbers, often brimming with sexual energy, seem to have been included as tokens of the stage-show aspect of her repertoire. There are five selections from the Clarence Williams catalog, most notably Fats Waller's "Squeeze Me." The Empress interacts marvelously with Louis Armstrong on W.C. Handy's "Careless Love." "Oh! Daddy Blues" was first popularized in 1921 by Ethel Waters and revisited in 1927 by Ma Rainey as "Oh Papa Blues." Bessie Smith's 1923 recording of this tune was probably a direct challenge to Waters, who Smith liked to dismiss as "one of them Northern bitches." "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home)," and especially "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" are thrilling examples of what Smith could do with a pop/jazz tune. This excellent collection bristles with great jazz players -- Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, James P. Johnson, and Eddie Lang -- in addition to Armstrong. While not at all chronological, it closes with two of her last recordings, waxed in November 1933 with a band led by pianist Buck Washington. With a front line of Frankie Newton, Jack Teagarden, and Chu Berry, this was a real jazz ensemble. It is a pity that the producers didn't include the other two titles from this session, as "Gimme a Pigfoot" and "Take Me for a Buggy Ride" would have rounded off the Bessie Smith jazz book to perfection. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight | Bessie Smith | (3:22) | |
| I Ain't Got Nobody | Roger Graham, Spencer Williams, Dave Peyton | Bessie Smith | (3:12) |
| Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town | Bessie Smith | (3:22) | |
| Lock and Key | James P. Johnson, Henry Creamer | Bessie Smith | (3:00) |
| Sweet Mistreater | James P. Johnson, Henry Creamer | Bessie Smith | (3:02) |
| Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) | Clarence Williams, |
Bessie Smith | (3:12) |
| Baby Doll | Bessie Smith | Bessie Smith | (3:02) |
| 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness if I Do | Percy Grainger, Clarence Williams, |
Bessie Smith | (3:29) |
| You've Got to Give Me Some | Clarence Williams, Spencer Williams | Bessie Smith | (2:44) |
| Careless Love | W.C. Handy, |
Bessie Smith | (3:28) |
| Baby Won't You Please Come Home | Clarence Williams, |
Bessie Smith | (2:58) |
| Oh! Daddy Blues | Bessie Smith | (3:08) | |
| Alexander's Ragtime Band | Irving Berlin | Bessie Smith | (2:59) |
| Yes Indeed He Do! | Porter Grainger | Bessie Smith | (3:16) |
| I Want Every Bit of It | Clarence Williams, Spencer Williams | Bessie Smith | (2:37) |
| After You've Gone | Henry Creamer, Turner Layton | Bessie Smith | (2:57) |
| Squeeze Me | Fats Waller, Clarence Williams | Bessie Smith | (2:52) |
| What's the Matter Now? | Clarence Williams | Bessie Smith | (2:46) |
| It Won't Be You | Bessie Smith | Bessie Smith | (2:48) |
| Keep It to Yourself | Clarence Williams | Bessie Smith | (3:30) |
| He's Got Me Goin' | Bessie Smith | (3:14) | |
| I'm Down in the Dumps | Bessie Smith | (3:11) | |
| Do Your Duty | Wesley Wilson | Bessie Smith | (3:23) |
