Home » Search Center » Results: Bessie Smith
Results for "Bessie Smith"
How the Other Half Swings

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
If there has been a frequent criticism of the Genius Guide, besides the fact that it's hard to tell what the hell I'm going on about most of the time, it would be that I have largely ignored the contributions of women to Our Music. One would think, from the body of my work to this ...
Flame Keepers: National Jazz Museum in Harlem

by Karl Ackermann
On 129th Street, in the heart of Harlem, Loren Schoenberg emerges from a crowded back room with an unusual looking recording. Aluminum discs like the one he holds, were the first instant, electrical means of recording. Invented in 1929 they were a means of allowing radio stations to record and archive live programs that could be ...
Margrete Grarup: Denmark's jazz secret is out

by Chris Mosey
The Copenhagen daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende in 2015 called Margrete Grarup the best kept secret in Danish jazz." In 2017, with two albums released in rapid succession on Storyville, that secret is out... and a star is born. Grarup has a wonderfully rich and expressive voice. She comes to jazz via the Scandinavian ...
Philadelphia Jazz: A Brief History

by Jack McCarthy
This article was first published at the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia website. Jazz began to emerge as a distinct musical style around the turn of the twentieth century, a merging of two vernacular African American musical stylesragtime and blueswith elements of popular music. New Orleans, the cradle of jazz," was the most important city ...
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today! “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 ...
Amina Claudine Myers

by Paolo Peviani
Il tratto principale della mia musica. Il piano e la voce gospel delle origini, che suonavo da ragazza. Questo era durante il periodo del Gospel classico, in cui gruppi al femminile come Clara Ward, The Davis Sisters e le Gospel Harmonettes' andavano in radio e facevano concerti. La qualità che desidero nei musicisti ...
Cloudland Re-Revisited: Think of One

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
In the nearly sixteen years I've been at my post as resident Genius here at AAJ, the question has often come up as to how I came to be the Dean of American Jazz Humorists®. As most of you know, I was born in Kentucky to West Virginia hillbillies and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains ...
Kim Nalley's Tribute to Nina Simone

by Walter Atkins
Kim Nalley Tribute to Nina Simone Freight & Salvage Berkeley, CA March 3 2017 Popular San Francisco vocalist Kim Nalley skillfully painted a stunning portrait of the iconic Nina Simone, using her voice like an artist's brush and Simone's songbook like a sonic canvas. The captivating ...
19th Annual Healdsburg Jazz Festival, June 2-11, 2017 – Lineup Announced

Nineteen years is quite a long time for an underdog festival to exist, but with determination and ambition, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival has become a beloved cultural fixture of the Sonoma County area. With artistic director Jessica Felix at the helm, this yearly gathering of some of the very best jazz artists currently playing continues to ...
Bill Dahl's The Art of the Blues: A Visual Treasury of Black Music’s Golden Age

by C. Michael Bailey
The Art of the Blues: A Visual Treasury of Black Music's Golden Age Bill Dahl 224 Pages ISBN: # 978-02263966992 University Of Chicago Press 2016 A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring... There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,