ORIGINAL BESSIE SMITH 78 MIDNIGHT BLUES / BLEEDIN HEART BLUES COLUMBIA A 3936 V
£
30
$
40
Favourite Auctions
To save auctions to your favourites, please login
If you don't have an account, please register
Description
A CLASSIC BLUES 78 FROM THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES - BESSIE SMITH!
MIDNIGHT BLUES
b/w BLEEDIN' HEART BLUES
ON AN ORIGINAL US COLUMBIA 78
Bessie Smith earned the title of “Empress of the Blues” by virtue of her forceful vocal delivery and command of the genre. Her singing displayed a soulfully phrased, boldly delivered and nearly definitive grasp of the blues. In addition, she was an all-around entertainer who danced, acted and performed comedy routines with her touring company. She was the highest-paid black performer of her day and arguably reached a level of success greater than that of any African-American entertainer before her.
Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1894. Like many of her generation, she dreamed of escaping a life of poverty by way of show business. As a teenager she joined a traveling minstrel show, the Moss Stokes Company. Her brother Clarence was a comedian with the troupe, and Smith befriended another member, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (a.k.a. the “Mother of the Blues"), who served as something of a blues mentor. After a decade’s seasoning on the stage, Smith was signed to Columbia Records in 1923. Her first recording - “Down Hearted Blues” b/w “Gulf Coast Blues” - sold an estimated 800,000 copies, firmly establishing her as a major figure in the black record market. Smith sang raw, uncut country blues inspired by life in the South, in which everyday experiences were related in plainspoken language - not unlike the rap music that would emerge more than half a century later.
Some of her better-known sides from the Twenties include “Backwater Blues,” “Taint Nobody’s Bizness If I Do,” “St. Louis Blues” (recorded with Louis Armstrong), and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” The Depression dealt her career a blow, but Smith changed with the times by adapting a more up-to-date look and revised repertoire that incorporated Tin Pan Alley tunes like “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” On the verge of the Swing Era, Smith died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, in September 1937.
RECORD DETAILS:-
RECORD DETAILS:-
BESSIE SMITH (WITH FLETCHER HENDERSON PIANO)
US COLUMBIA A 3946 10" 78rpm SHELLAC
RECORDED ON 15th JUNE 1923
A SIDE:- MIDNIGHT BLUES
B SIDE:- BLEEDIN' HEARTED BLUES
Condition = V-/V
There is a wide scratch on the A side which makes a slight sound on the record. b side label is worn (see scan)
A CLASSIC ORIGINAL BLUES 78 FROM THE EMPRESS HERSELF
DON'T MISS OUT
DON'T LEAVE IT TOO LATE - BUY NOW!
price rating
