Literary Perspectives of Bessie Smith
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BESSIE SMITH: AN AMERICAN ICON FROM THREE PERSPECTIVES Matthew Keeler A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC December 2005 Committee: Steven Cornelius, Advisor David Harnish ii ABSTRACT Steven Cornelius, Advisor Bessie Smith: an American Icon from Three Perspectives examines biographies, literary studies, and black feminist writings about the quintessential blueswoman of the 1920s American recording industry. Problems have arisen from each group of scholars interpreting Smith’s contributions and importance to American culture differently, often at the expense of someone else’s viewpoint. Historically, biographers tried to dispel myths in order to determine the true events of Smith’s life, but dismissed the necessity of myth in shaping her legacy. Literary scholars analyzed Smith’s lyrics for deeper social meanings and contributions to literature, but overlooked her role as a performer. Black feminists acknowledged Smith as a model for strong African-American womanhood among the urban working-class, but neglected her innovations as a musician. All of these perspectives contribute to our overall understanding of Smith, but possess fundamental flaws. I have examined nearly fifty years of Bessie Smith scholarship, considering the socio- cultural backgrounds, time periods, genders, and research limitations of scholars representing these various groups. Ultimately, their biases compromise our understanding of Smith. To address this problem, future researchers need to look beyond individual histories to understand the reasoning and research processes that created them. iii I dedicate this manuscript to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to my wife and best friend, Jennifer, to my steadfast church and family, and in loving memory of Douglas Thayer, Maxine Wolfe, and Gus. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Steven Cornelius, my advisor, who devoted more time to this project than he had to give; I could not have finished it without his guidance, sincerity, and hard work. Also, thank you to David Harnish for his keen eye and worthy criticism, both of which increased the readability of this manuscript immensely. Finally, I extend my overwhelming gratitude to any volunteers who offered their input to this project at one time or another (you know who you are). v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II. BIOGRAPHICAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF BESSIE SMITH................. 5 The Biographers....................................................................................................... 5 The Life of Bessie Smith: Paul Oliver, Chris Albertson, Elaine Feinstein.............. 9 Conclusions............................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER III. LITERARY UNDERSTANDINGS OF BESSIE SMITH.......................... 21 The Literary Scholars................................................................................................ 21 Samuel Charters........................................................................................................ 22 Paul Garon................................................................................................................ 25 Mary Ellison............................................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER IV. BLACK FEMINIST UNDERSTANDINGS OF BESSIE SMITH............ 30 Black Feminist Interest in Blueswomen................................................................... 31 Hazel Carby.............................................................................................................. 36 Daphne Duvall Harrison........................................................................................... 44 Angela Davis............................................................................................................. 47 Conclusions............................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER V. CLOSING REMARKS................................................................................ 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................. 56 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION Ethnomusicologists are interdisciplinary researchers who address a broad range of socio-cultural concerns through the study of music. Generally speaking, these scholars maintain that studying the context in which music takes place is more revealing than studying its sound forms. This thesis looks neither at music as a sonic phenomenon, nor at music in its cultural context, but rather at a shared musical topic seen through the changing perspectives of scholars over time. By turning the lens towards the research itself, we see how ethnomusicologists and other scholars have historically valued music for different reasons. The vast majority of scholars do not study music to understand its musicality (how it has been written down, organized, or performed). Instead, they study the ideas people express through music, and how their expression has changed the world. Invariably, these scholars look through the lenses of their own particular interests and place in time. For this project I have chosen to focus on blueswoman Bessie Smith, an icon of American popular music since her untimely death in 1937. Her name is known to people of all social strata and walks of life (musicians as well as laymen). During the 1920s, when women’s public expression was often stifled, Smith expressed herself freely through music. She represented the concerns of black America, the urban working-class and women in general. She toured continuously, sang some of the first recorded blues, became the highest-paid performer of her generation, and influenced subsequent generations of musicians and vocalists. I have chosen to analyze three groups of scholars—biographers, literary scholars, and black feminists—whose presentations of the singer differ considerably. I investigate the unique 2 qualities of each group’s scholarship as well as how these various perspectives offer us different understandings of Smith. For those who value musicality, the omission of analysis and criticism of Smith’s music is significant; it shows a lack of concern for her vocal technique and its influence upon American music. Jeff Todd Titon was the only scholar I found who provided transcriptions of Smith’s melodies and commented on their musical attributes and, admittedly, he did this only to contrast them with country blues melodies.1 I, however, would contend that his comments about Smith’s life, career, and audience reception are far more interesting and revealing than his transcriptions, for they help to explain Smith’s impact on American society as a whole. Although they are not ethnomusicologists, the researchers presented in this thesis can inform ethnomusicologists about Smith. Ethnomusicologists long ago developed the habit of borrowing from other disciplines. Early researchers of “exotic music” adopted physicist Alexander Ellis’ cents system to quantifiably measure musical pitch across cultures. Béla Bártok’s morphemic cataloguing of melodies was initially derived from linguists’ morphemic classification of words. Steven Feld’s exploration of Kaluli mythology2 as it relates to music resembles a folklorist’s approach to studying culture. Timothy Rice adopted hermeneutics from theology and applied it to understanding Bulgarian music.3 Manuel Peña and Jane Sugarman, when writing about Mexican-American tejano music4 and Albanian wedding music5 respectively, both included thorough historical research. When Margaret Kartomi wrote about 1 Jeff Todd Titon, Early Downhome Blues: a Musical and Cultural Analysis, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press; 1st ed., 1977), 104-107. 2 Steven Feld, Sound and Sentiment: Birds, Weeping, Poetics, and Song in Kaluli Expression (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982). 3 Timothy Rice, “Dancing in the World’s Scholar,” in May It Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 3-15. 4 Manuel Peña, The Mexican American Orquesta: Music, Culture, and the Dialect of Conflict (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999). 5 Jane Sugarman, Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa Albanian Weddings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). 3 Minangkabau tiger-capturing songs,6 she discussed, as an anthropologist might, the ritual and method of catching tigers West Sumatran style. Mellonee Burnim needed to become a performing musician (a piano accompanist) at two different churches before she could conduct fieldwork on black gospel music there.7 The breadth of familiarity with other disciplines among ethnomusicologists hints at the real nature of ethnomusicology—more than a discipline devoted to understanding music, it is a collective of interdisciplinary researchers for whom music is meaningful. The Bessie Smith scholarship covered in this study spans roughly fifty years. Smith’s biographers represent three decades: Paul Oliver (1959)8, Chris Albertson (1972),9 and Elaine Feinstein (1985).10 The literary scholars’ dates are similar: Samuel Charters (1963),11 Paul Garon (1975),12 and Mary Ellison (1989).13 Black feminist writing on Smith is more recent and its span, much more compact: Hazel Carby (1987),14