Complete Recordings, Vol. 7

Performer: Bessie Smith
Distributor: City Hall

Notes: British reissue label Frog Records has undertaken the task of reissuing the complete recordings of Bessie Smith in chronological order, and this installment is the seventh of eight single-disc packages. The series as a whole essentially duplicates Columbia's nine-disc coverage of the same material, so it really comes down to a matter of preference, since Smith's amazing and confident singing shines through in both cases, and the digital transfers are virtually identical. The rare highlight in this volume is a movie soundtrack version of "St. Louis Blues" that clocks in at close to nine minutes in length and features a massive assembled chorus and choir that threaten to completely overtake Smith's lead vocal. ~ Steve Leggett

The original tough-mama prototype for nearly every female blues singer to come, hard-living, big-voiced Bessie Smith was also the first blues singer with a mega-hit recording career, achieved in part via collaborations with some of the most notable musicians of her era. In her prime in the 1920s and 1930s, she was the highest-paid black entertainer in the U.S., and her influence persists to this day.

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