120732bk Bessie5 10/8/06 9:15 PM Page 2 1. I’m Wild About That Thing 2:48 9. See if I’ll Care 3:25 17. Do Your Duty 3:23 19. Take Me for a Buggy Ride 2:35 (Spencer Williams) (Clarence Williams–Alex Hill) (Wesley Wilson) (Wesley Wilson) Columbia 14427-D, mx W 148485-3 Columbia 37576, mx W 150458-3 OKeh 8945, mx W 152577-2 OKeh 8949, mx W 152579-2 Recorded 8 May 1929 Recorded 12 April 1930 Recorded 24 November 1933 Recorded 24 November 1933 2. Kitchen Man 2:56 10. Baby Have Pity on Me 3:20 18. I’m Down in the Dumps 3:09 20. Gimme a Pigfoot 3:32 (Andy Razaf–Alex Bellenda) (Billy Moll–Clarence Williams) (Wesley Wilson) (Wesley Wilson) Columbia 14435-D, mx W 148487-4 Columbia 37576, mx W 150459-3 OKeh 8945, mx W 152580-2 OKeh 8949, mx W 152578-2 Recorded 8 May 1929 Recorded 12 April 1930 Recorded 24 November 1933 Recorded 24 November 1933 3. You’ve Got To Give Me Some 2:45 11. On Revival Day (A Rhythmic Spiritual) (Spencer Williams) 2:56 Transfers & Production: David Lennick • Digital Restoration: K&A Productions Ltd Columbia 14427-D, mx W 148486-2 (Andy Razaf) Original 78s from the collections of Roger Misiewicz, John Wilby, Joe Showler Recorded 8 May 1929 Columbia 14538-D, mx W 150574-4 Original monochrome photo of Bessie Smith from MaxJazz/Lebrecht 4. I’ve Got What It Takes 3:09 Recorded 9 June 1930 (But It Breaks My Heart to Give It Away) 12. Moan, You Moaners 3:12 (Clarence Williams–Harold Jenkins) (Spencer Williams) The Naxos Historical labels aim to make available the greatest recordings of the history of recorded Columbia 14435-D, mx W 148533-2 Columbia 14538-D, mx W 150575-4 Recorded 15 May 1929 Recorded 9 June 1930 music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to 5. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down 13. Hustlin’ Dan 3:31 produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. And Out 2:58 (James Crawford) (Jimmie Cox) Columbia 14554-D, mx W 150657-1 Also available in the Naxos Folk, Blues and Gospel Legends series ... Columbia 14451-D, mx W 148534-3 Recorded 22 July 1930 Recorded 15 May 1929 14. Black Mountain Blues 3:05 6. It Makes My Love Come Down 2:58 (H. Cole) (Bessie Smith) Columbia 14554-D, mx W 150658-2 Columbia 14464-D, mx W 148904-1 Recorded 22 July 1930 Recorded 20 August 1929 15. Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl 2:48 7. Wasted Life Blues 3:05 (Clarence Williams–D. Small–J. Brynn) (Bessie Smith) Columbia 14634-D, mx W 151883-1 Columbia 14476-D, mx W 149074-3 Recorded 20 November 1931 Recorded 1 October 1929 16. Safety Mama 3:25 8. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues 2:54 (Bessie Smith) (George W. Thomas) Columbia 14634-D, mx W 151884-1 8.120725 8.120731 8.120742 Columbia 14516-D, mx W 150132-2 Recorded 20 November 1931 Recorded 27 March 1930 These titles are not for retail sale in the USA 5 8.120732 6 8.120732 120732bk Bessie5 10/8/06 9:15 PM Page 1 BESSIE SMITH Smith, whose career was only just beginning to such songs as I’m Wild About That Thing, on ‘modern’ band that Bessie ever had. While fairly regularly in Harlem clubs. There was talk of Vol.5 slow down, seems to be predicting both her 9 June 1930 Bessie Smith recorded a pair of clarinettist Benny Goodman, the future King of a major comeback and Benny Goodman showed ‘I’ve Got What It Takes’ Original Recordings 1929-1933 future and that of the United States. pseudo-spiritual pop tunes. With exuberant Swing, is only on Gimme A Pigfoot (the most an interest in having her record with his big band James P. Johnson, the perfect accompanist for playing from James P. Johnson and backup by the famous and outrageous of the four numbers), as did Lionel Hampton on his all-star sessions. If Bessie Smith was still very much in her prime in but Smith was such a passionate and popular Bessie, is in typically swinging form behind her Bessemer Singers, she is roaring and quite such notables as trombonist Jack Teagarden, she had survived, she would have undoubtedly 1929, the point where this collection begins. She singer that she outlasted most of her competitors. vocals on It Makes My Love Come Down and expressive on often-overlooked versions of On trumpeter Frank Newton and tenor-saxophonist been featured at John Hammond’s From Spirituals was still just 35 but, considering how famous she However by 1929 she knew full well that the blues Wasted Life Blues, a pair of songs written by the Revival Day and Moan, You Moaners. Thirty Chu Berry all excelled in their lone opportunity to To Swing Carnegie Hall concert in 1938, which was was and how powerful she still sang, it is were considered passé, particularly by record Empress herself. While It Makes My Love Come years before Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, the record with the Empress. They give her a small- dedicated to her. surprising how little time she had left. company executives. She sought to alter her Down is similar to I’m Wild About That Thing Empress displayed the similarities between singing group swing feel on Do Your Duty (where they But tragically she was killed in a car accident The Empress Of The Blues had been at the repertoire while still remaining based in the blues. musically while being a bit more subtle, Wasted blues and gospel music. sound like a Teddy Wilson-led all-star band), I’m on 26 September 1937 while riding as a passenger. top of the black music world for nearly fifteen For the recording date of 8 May 1929, Bessie Life Blues is bluish without being a blues, a little With assistance from cornetist Ed Allen and Down In The Dumps, Take Me For A Buggy The Empress Of The Blues was just 43. Even years. Born on 15 April 1894 in Chattanooga, Smith was joined by the premier stride pianist self-pitying without being hopeless. Not strictly the forgotten but effective pianist Steve Stevens, Ride and the exuberant Gimme A Pigfoot. after the passing of nearly seven decades, there Tennessee, she became an orphan by the time she (James P. Johnson) and the top guitarist in jazz autobiographical, it does hint at Bessie’s future. Bessie’s versions of Hustlin’ Dan and Black This final record date hints at the music that has never been another singer like Bessie Smith. was ten. To fight poverty, she sang on street (Eddie Lang). The three songs that she recorded Although Wall Street had crashed a few months Mountain Blues look back stylistically to her glory Bessie Smith was performing live during her last corners, accompanied by her brother on guitar. are all single-entendre songs whose lyrics make no earlier and it was now 1930, Bessie’s rendition of days. But the times were now different and the years. She had reinvented herself as a bluish Scott Yanow – author of nine jazz books including Jazz Things began to look up in 1912 when Bessie effort to disguise the subject matter. Hokum, New Orleans Hop Scop Blues is in the style of the Empress was not in such great demand anymore. jazz/pop swing singer and, after weathering the On Film, Swing, Classic Jazz, Trumpet Kings and Jazz started working as a dancer with the Moses fuelled by the success of “It’s Tight Like That”, mid-1920s. Charlie Green (her favourite From eighteen recordings in 1928, her output worst years of the Depression, she appeared On Record 1917-76 (www.scottyanow.com) Stokes troupe, a revue whose star was Ma Rainey, was becoming popular and, while these three trombonist), former Ellington trumpeter Louis shrunk to fourteen songs in 1929, eight in 1930 the first famous blues singer. Learning from songs are less subtle, the style is similar. I’m Wild Metcalfe, Garvin Bushell on reeds and pianist and just six in 1931. Personnel Rainey’s example on how to sell a song to an About That Thing has some forceful singing from Clarence Williams were all veteran associates of On Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl and audience, within a couple of years Bessie was a Bessie along with light-hearted playing from her Bessie’s and she excels in this setting, celebrating Safety Mama, Bessie Smith is accompanied by Bessie Smith, vocals on all tracks Tracks 11–12: James P. Johnson, piano; The major attraction in the South. Her singing was two accompanists. Kitchen Man, a song revived a now-forgotten dance. Williams and Green pianist Clarence Williams, her lone accompanist Tracks 1–3: Clarence Williams, piano; Eddie Bessemer Singers, vocals remarkably passionate and sensuous, practically by Alberta Hunter in the 1970s, is the most return for the next two songs. See If I’ll Care has during her debut session on 16 February 1923, Lang, guitar Tracks 13–14: Ed Allen, cornet; Steve Stevens, hypnotizing audiences. By 1919 she was inventive and humorous of the three, featuring a simple but effective message while Baby Have less than nine years earlier. There was nothing piano headlining her own travelling shows in the South.