St. Louis Blues (Original 1924-1925 Recordings) - Bessie Smith > Reviews > Musical Royalty - a true Empress

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Original  .  earthy , leaves you wanting more  .
Disadvantages:	May not be to everyones taste  .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Bessie Smith-born 15th April1894-died 26th September1937.
Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee . She started her career in minstrelsy & vaudeville , she went on to record The St Louis blues & was accompanied by Louis Armstrong on the cornet & Fred Longshaw on the harmonium. The track was written and recorded by the great W.C. Hardy.

Bessie Smith ,Vol 2 - St Louis blues is a C.D of original recordings from 1924-1925-featuring Fletcher Henderson .

When you listen to this C.D. you can imagine yourself sitting in the front row of the audience watching & listening to some of the greatest musiciansof all time-including :-

Fletcher Henderson/piano
Don Redman/clarinet
Robert Robbins/violin
Irving Johns/piano
Charlie Green/trombone
Joe Smith/cornet
Fred Longshaw / piano
Louis Armstrong /cornet and piano.
Buster Bailey/ clarinet
Coleman Hawkins/ tenor sax
Charlie Dixon/ banjo
Ralph Escudero / tuba

The very first track `Haunted House Blues` gets you swinging to
Bessie's voice with Don Redman's clarinet and Fletcher Henderson's piano. Following on from this :-

Track 2- Eavesdropper's blues
3 -Frankie blues.
4 -Rainy weather blues.
5 -Salt water blues.
6 -Weeping willow blues.
7 -Sinful blues.
8 -The St Louis blues.
9 -Reckless blues.
10 -Sobbin` hearted blues.
11 -Cold in hand blues.
12 -You`ve been a good old wagon.
13 -Cake walkin` babies(from home).
14 -Yellow dog blues.
15 -Soft pedal blues.
16 -Careless love blues.
17 -Dixie flying blues.
18 -I ain`t goin` to play no second fiddle.

Now if anyone fancied listening to the blues and some fine lyrics, they would find it hard to beat `Bessie Smith`. She was known as the Empress of the Blues and I can see why . This album isn't just Bessie singing the blues , it also includes some very fine musicians , making it a treat to listen to .

My favourite track on the C.D. is the title track , St. Louis Blues , just listen to the mournful rendition of Bessie and to the great cornet sound of Louis Armstrong.

This review is only a small account of what Bessie Smith brought to the blues . She lived the blues and died with the blues. What she sang about happened to her every day of her life

She earned some good money at times and she used most of it on drugs and booze , to kill the pain of the blues . She eventually was involved in a horrific car crash , in which she lost one of her arms . She subsequently lost her life a few days later and was buried in an unmarked grave . Much later , in 1970 , Janis Joplin commissioned a headstone to be placed on Bessie's grave.

Bessie was loved in life for her music and still is today. If you can get a copy of this C.D .then I would advise you to do so . Listen to the old blues of Bessie Smith and I`m sure you`ll want to hear more. If , like me , you enjoy this original blues C.D , then there are lots more where this came from . Be it on vinyl / tape / c.d.`s etc. you can also read various publications about Bessie Smith - truly the `Empress of the Blues`.

Bought for £ 7.99 from HMV
Running time 58 mins and 38 seconds

Thanks for reading