Jazz Articles about Buster Bailey

About Buster Bailey

Album Review

Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928

Read "Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 18, 2026

Many music writers and historians consider Gertrude “Ma" Rainey the matriarch of American blues. Beginning her career in the dust of Southern tent shows and minstrel circuits, she became one of the first professional entertainers to bridge the raw, rural folk traditions of the deep south with the theatrical polish of vaudeville. Known for her commanding contralto voice, gold-capped teeth, and openly bisexual lyrics--most famously in “Prove It On Me Blues"--Rainey did not just perform the blues; she codified them ...

Album Review

Buster Bailey: All About Memphis

Read "All About Memphis" reviewed by Andrew J. Sammut

by Andrew J. Sammut
March 7, 2013

Buster Bailey's skill as both an improviser and section man made him a shoo-in for some of the best gigs in jazz history. Starting, from his teenage years, with W.C. Handy, steady employment under King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, John Kirby and Louis Armstrong also left the clarinetist little time (perhaps need) to record as a leader. Fortunately jazz raconteur Stanley Dance saw fit to put just Bailey (and some of his original compositions) in front of a rhythm section on ...