Bessie Smith was the most celebrated blues vocalist of the 1920s and one of the most powerful singers in the history of American music. Known as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith recorded prolifically for Columbia Records between 1923 and 1933, leaving behind a body of work that remains the definitive document of classic blues singing at its peak.
Bessie Smith’s recordings capture a voice of extraordinary range and emotional depth – capable of raw, earthy blues expression one moment and sophisticated jazz phrasing the next. Her sessions paired her with the finest jazz musicians of the era, including Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, and Fletcher Henderson, creating recordings that stand at the crossroads of blues and jazz at the moment the two forms were defining themselves. Bessie Smith’s delivery – her timing, her dynamics, her ability to inhabit a lyric completely – set the standard against which every blues and jazz vocalist that followed would be measured.
The Bessie Smith recordings featured on this channel date from the heart of her Columbia years, representing the Empress of the Blues at the height of her commercial popularity and artistic power. These are essential documents of 1920s American music, recorded at a time when the blues was transitioning from regional folk tradition to national phenomenon.