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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
Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues, The Complete Paramount Recordings, 1923-1928
by C. Michael Bailey
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 ...
Mike Westbrook: The Piano in the Room and the Blues
by Vincenzo Roggero
Pubblicato in occasione del novantesimo compleanno e circa un mese prima della sua scomparsa, The Piano in the Room and the Blues testimonia un concerto per piano solo, evento piuttosto raro nella sconfinata discografia di Mike Westbrook, leggendario musicista britannico noto per aver composto musica per ogni tipo di formazione, dal duo a varie combinazioni orchestrali, avventurandosi ...
In Circuses and Carnivals, Sideshows Brought Black Music To The Heartland
by Arthur R George
Black musicians in circus and carnival sideshow bands from the late 1800s well into the Twentieth Century brought ragtime and what would become jazz and rhythm and blues to white audiences deep into Midwest agricultural regions. Trumpeter Lester Bowie, later known for the avant-garde Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), ...
Ron Wilkins & Rebecca Patterson, Catherine Russell, Danny Sinoff, Miho Hazama, Hendrik Meurkens, Jaana Narsipur & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast passes the midway mark of Jazz Appreciation Month with new music from Ron Wilkins & Rebecca Patterson, Catherine Russell, Danny Sinoff, Miho Hazama, Hendrik Meurkens and Jaana Narsipur, plus birthday shoutouts to Bessie Smith, Brenda Russell, Rosa Passos, Madeleine Peyroux, Judy Wexler, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them ...
Introducing Vocalist Kate Kortum
by Sanford Josephson
Growing up in Houston, Texas, Kate Kortum shared a computer with her five siblings. “Somehow, the Ella Fitzgerald recording of 'How High the Moon' from her Live in Berlin album ended up on the computer," she recalled. “I had no idea you could sing like that. I heard that and became obsessed." Despite her ...
The Philosophy Of Jazz
by Ian Patterson
The Philosophy Of Jazz Kevin Le Gendre 105 Pages ISBN: 978 0 7123 5503 2 British Library 2025 If you had to recommend just one book on jazz history to a neophyte, which would it be? Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz (Oxford University Press, ...
The Black Entrepreneurs of Early Jazz
by Karl Ackermann
Preamble: In 2020, I published A Map of Jazz: Crossroads of Music and Human Rights (WS Publishing), a book that looks at the culture of jazz on a timeline with cultures of the world. At more than 500 pages, the book is incomplete by necessity; there is no well-marked path, and the history is sometimes nebulous. ...
Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo': Room On The Porch
by Frank Housh
In 2017 blues legend Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo' recorded TajMo, (Concord Records), which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Eight years later, the two follow up with Room On The Porch, released May 23, 2025, also on Concord Records. Its ten tracks feel like a cool dive into a swimming hole, long forgotten ...
Trilogy, Jose Luiz Martins, Jeff Libman, Medler Sextet, Nancy Kelly Plus Celebrations For Carline Ray, Bessie Smith & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast continues the celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month with new releases from Trilogy, Jose Luiz Martins, Jeff Libman, Medler Sextet and Nancy Kelly, with birthday shoutouts to Carline Ray (100!), Bessie Smith, Madeleine Peyroux, Judy Wexler, Roxy Coss and Tia Fuller, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy ...
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