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Bessie Smith

Title: Blues Queen

Label: Phoenix Jazz

Cat No:131538
Format:CD

Our price £ 8.99
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Discovery Records
specialist music - mail order

• A ‘best of’ compilation covering Bessie Smith’s whole career - and featuring an all-star cast : Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell, Jack Teagarden, Buster Bailey, Chu Berry, Fletcher Henderson & Clarence Williams, among many others.

• This 24 track selection begins with her first session and ends with her last. It also includes all the masters she recorded with the great Louis Armstrong in 1925 and many other jewels. Total time: 78 min. 12-page booklet with detailed and insightful liner notes. (This collection was previously released on the Definitive label in 2007).

• Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894. As one of ten children of a black family stricken by poverty in the segregated South, Bessie overcame tremendous odds to become the Empress of the Blues – the best blues singer of her era, and the source of numerous legends.

• Above all, Bessie had a powerful and beautiful voice, and a strong personality which she imposed on every tune she chose to sing. Some of the tunes from her repertoire were composed by or for her, while she selected others from the vaudeville shows she often performed in. Most of the songs were blues about lost lovers and personal problems. She died in a car crash in 1937, an event that became another source of legend.

Track Listing for Blues Queen
01. Downhearted Blues 3:27
02. Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do 3:26
03. My Sweetie Went Away 3:13
04. Weeping Willow Blues 3:11
05. St. Louis Blues 3:10
06. Reckless Blues 3:10
07. Sobbin’ Hearted Blues 3:00
08. Cold In Hand Blues 3:11
09. You’d Been A Good Ole Wagon 3:28
10. Cake Walkin’ Babies (From Home) 3:11
11. The Yellow Dog Blues 3:04
12. Nashville Women’s Blues 3:45
13. Careless Love Blues 3:27
14. J.C. Holmes Blues 3:05
15. I Ain’t Goin’ To Play No Second Fiddle 3:23
16. Young Woman’s Blues 3:10
17. Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) 3:08
18. Mean Old Bedbug Blues 3:13
19. Empty Bed Blues (Part 1) 3:03
20. Empty Bed Blues (Part 2) 3:22
21. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out 2:59
22. Black Mountain Blues 3:09
23. Do Your Duty 3:20
24. Gimme A Pigfoot 3:20

Total Time: 78 Min.

Discovery catalogue available for
Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith 1925-1933

The Quintessence (2CD)

Greatest Hits (2CD)

Blues Queen