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Bessie Smith

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“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her older brother Clarence, who later arranged an audition for Smith with the traveling Moses Stokes Show where she was hired as a dancer in 1912. She became friends with Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, a blues singer, who became her mentor

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Article: Album Review

Nina Simone: You've Got To Learn

Read "You've Got To Learn" reviewed by Scott Gudell


Socially conscious black troubadours such as William Warfield, Harry Belafonte, Odetta and many others were challenging the U.S. government's questionable policies on numerous things including war, civil rights, equality and more, by the mid-20th century. R&B soul master Marvin Gaye would follow in the early 1970s and pointedly ask “What's Going On" while the Temptations were ...

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Article: Album Review

Roots Magic Sextet: Long Old Road

Read "Long Old Road" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The poet Jayne Cortez once wrote “I'm taking the blues back to where / the blues stealers won't go / I'm talking the blues back home." For Roots Magic, back home isn't the crossroads where Robert Johnson made that infamous deal with the devil, but the peninsula in Southern Europe we call Italy. Long Old Road ...

Article: Live Review

Roots Magic al Pinocchio di Firenze

Read "Roots Magic al Pinocchio di Firenze" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Roots Magic Pinocchio Live Jazz Firenze 18.3.2023 Come secondo appuntamento del programma primaverile, è salita sul palco del Pinocchio Live Jazz una delle formazioni predilette dal pubblico del jazz club fiorentino, Roots Magic, per presentare Long Old Road, il suo ultimo lavoro appena uscito per Clean Feed. Originariamente ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

New Releases, Bistro Awards, Birthday Shoutouts To Bessie Smith & More

Read "New Releases, Bistro Awards, Birthday Shoutouts To Bessie Smith & More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast includes new releases from Allegra Levy, Champian Fulton and John Pizzarelli, with singles from Nicky Schrire and Nicole Zuraitis, plus birthday shoutouts to Empress of the Blues Bessie Smith, Haruna Fukazawa, Nancy Winston, Michele Brourman and Herbie Hancock, among others with a salute to some of this year's Bistro Award winners. Thanks for listening ...

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Article: Profile

Mary Lou Williams: Into the Zone of Music

Read "Mary Lou Williams: Into the Zone of Music" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


Few musicians have embraced the entire history of jazz like Mary Lou Williams, and at the same time shaped its development compositionally and instrumentally. She brought jazz into contact with classical music and played spiritual jazz before it became hip, but she was also a treasured teacher and mentor. Mary Lou Williams was born ...

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Article: Bailey's Bundles

October 2022: Smile

Read "October 2022: Smile" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Tawanda Smile Resonance Records 2022 Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, known professionally as Tawanda, tied for first place in the 9th annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition held in June 2021. That is fresh talent. Tawanda won this award only a year after making her stage debut, a feat, surpassed only by ...

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Article: Live Review

Sue Foley: A Witness to Certainty in a World Gone Mad

Read "Sue Foley: A Witness to Certainty in a World Gone Mad" reviewed by John Ephland


Sue Foley Old Dog Tavern Blues Bash Live 2022 Kalamazoo, MI July 16, 2022 It was a variation on what one might see at a contemporary classical music concert. Lots of grey heads, lawn chairs, not much movement. But there were numbers, lots of them, out to see and ...

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Article: Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12

Read "String Quartets Nos. 1-12" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Wadada Leo Smith's seven CD boxset String Quartets Nos. 1-12 summons two words, epic and ineffable. The 5½ hours of music chronicle three of his four periods writing for string quartets from 1965 until 2019. The remaining work, “String Quartets Nos. 13, 14, and 15" inspired by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US ...

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Article: Radio & Podcasts

New Releases Plus Birthday Celebrations for Charles Mingus, Bessie Smith and More

Read "New Releases Plus Birthday Celebrations for Charles Mingus, Bessie Smith and More" reviewed by Mary Foster Conklin


This broadcast presents a burst of new releases from saxophonists Jessy J and Bill Kirchner (a 2013 live concert featuring Carol Fredette), vocalists Deanne Matley (her tribute to Oscar Peterson), Mark Winkler and a single from Robin McKelle, pianist Lynne Arriale and the USAF Airmen of Note featuring Diane Schuur, with birthday shoutouts to Charles Mingus, ...


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