Bessie Smith - The Gold Collection - 40 Classic Performances / In association with the International Jazz & Blues Atrists Foundation

Sound Recordings: The Museum of Old Masters, BCE, Sound Archives.

UPC 076119700926

Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith was young when her parents died, and she and her six siblings survived by performing on street corners. She began touring and performed in a group that included Ma Rainey, and then went out on her own. Her successful recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 43.

Tracklist:

Disc: 1
1. The St. Louis Blues
2. Careless Love
3. Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home)
4. Downhearted Blues
5. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do
6. Sing, Sing Prison Blues
7. Sinful Blues
8. Reckless Blues
9. Yellow Dog Blues
10. Nashville Women's Blues
11. I Ain't Got Nobody
12. I Want Every Bit of It
13. Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town
14. Honey Man Blues
15. Trombone Cholly
16. There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
17. Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair
18. Mean Old Bed Bug Blues
19. Lock and Key
20. After You've Gone

Disc: 2
1. Alexander's Ragtime Band
2. Backwater Blues
3. It Won't Be You
4. Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 1
5. Devil's Gonna Get You
6. Poor Man's Blues
7. I'm Wild About That Thing
8. Kitchen Man
9. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. He's Got Me Goin'
11. Wasted Life Blues
12. Keep It to Yourself
13. On Revival Day (A Rhythmic Spiritual)
14. Moan, You Moaners
15. Hustlin' Dan
16. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
17. Long Old Road
18. Safety Mama
19. Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)
20. Do Your Duty