Everything about Bessie Smith totally explained
Bessie Smith (July, 1892 or April, 1894 –
September 26,
1937) was an
American blues singer.
The most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and '30s,. Smith is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with
Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent
jazz vocalists.
Life
For the 1900
census, Bessie Smith's mother, Laura Smith, reported that Bessie was born in
Chattanooga, Tennessee in July, 1892. However, for the following census (1910), her sister, Viola Smith, reported the date as
April 15,
1894; that date appears on all subsequent documents, is more plausible, and was the one observed by the entire Smith family. There also remains a census-based debate regarding the size of Bessie Smith's family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, but the 1900 census reports data that's at odds with the recollections of her family and contemporaries.
That she was the daughter of Laura (Owens) Smith and William Smith isn't in dispute. William Smith was a laborer and part-time
Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a minister of the
gospel, in
Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama) who died before Bessie could remember him. By the time she was nine, she'd lost her mother as well, and her older sister Viola was left in charge of caring for her sisters and brothers.
As a way of earning money for their impoverished household, Smith and her brother Andrew began
performing on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo, she singing and dancing, he accompanying on guitar; their preferred location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.
In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she'd have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."
In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give her an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included
Ma Rainey.
By the early 1920s, Smith had starred with
Sidney Bechet in
How Come?, a
musical that made its way to
Broadway, and spent several years working out of
Atlanta, Georgia's 81 Theater, performing in black theaters along the
East Coast. Following a run-in with the producer of
How Come?, she was replaced by
Alberta Hunter and returned to
Philadelphia, where she'd taken up residence. There, she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first recordings were being released by
Columbia Records. The marriage was a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides. During the marriage, Smith became the biggest headliner on the black
Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit, running a show that sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers and made her the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, especially not Smith's
bisexuality. In 1929, when Smith learned of Jack Gee's affair with another performer,
Gertrude Saunders, she ended the marriage, but never sought a legal
divorce. Smith eventually found a
common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was
Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.
Career
All contemporary accounts indicate that Rainey didn't teach Smith to sing, but she probably helped her develop a stage presence. Smith began forming her own act around 1913, at
Atlanta's "81" Theatre. By 1920 she'd established a reputation in the
South and along the
Eastern Seaboard.
In 1920, sales figures for "Crazy Blues," an
Okeh recording by singer
Mamie Smith (no relation) pointed to a new market. The recording industry had never aimed its product at blacks, but now the door had been opened and the search for female blues singers was on. Smith was signed by Columbia in 1923 when the label decided to establish a "race records" series.
She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of "Gulf Coast Blues" and "
Downhearted Blues," which its composer,
Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the
Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year (eventually traveling in her own railroad car), Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues", but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to "Empress".
She made some 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably
Louis Armstrong,
James P. Johnson,
Joe Smith,
Charlie Green, and
Fletcher Henderson.
Broadway
Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the
Great Depression (which all but put the recording industry out of business) and the advent of "talkies", which spelled the end for
vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a
Broadway flop called
Pansy, a
musical in which, the top critics agreed, she was the only asset.
Film
In 1929, Smith made her only film appearance, starring in a two-reeler titled
St. Louis Blues, based on
W. C. Handy's
song of the same name. In the film, directed by
Dudley Murphy and shot in
Astoria, she sings the title song accompanied by members of
Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, pianist
James P. Johnson, and a string section — a musical environment radically different from any found on her recordings.
Swing era
In 1933,
John Hammond saw Smith perform in a small
Philadelphia club and asked her to record four sides for the Okeh label (which had been acquired by Columbia).
These performances, for which Hammond paid her a non-royalty fee of $37.50 each, were recorded on
November 24,
1933. They constitute Smith's final recordings and are of particular interest because Smith was in the process of translating her blues artistry into something more
apropos to the
Swing Era. This session gives us a hint of what was to come.
The accompanying band included such Swing Era musicians as trombonist
Jack Teagarden, trumpeter
Frankie Newton, tenor saxophonist
Chu Berry, pianist
Buck Washington, guitarist
Bobby Johnson, and bassist
Billy Taylor.
Benny Goodman, who happened to be recording with
Ethel Waters in the adjoining studio, dropped by for an almost inaudible guest visit. Hammond wasn't pleased with the result, preferring to have Smith back in her old blues groove, but "Take Me For A Buggy Ride" and "Gimme a Pigfoot" (in which Goodman is part of the ensemble) remain among her most popular recordings.
Death
On
September 26,
1937, Smith was severely injured in a car accident while traveling along
U.S. Route 61 between
Memphis and
Clarksdale, Mississippi with her lover (and
Lionel Hampton's uncle), Richard Morgan, at the wheel. She was taken to Clarksdale's black Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was
amputated. She didn't regain consciousness, dying that morning.
Bessie Smith's funeral was held in
Philadelphia on
October 4,
1937. It was attended by about seven thousand people, according to contemporary newspaper reports. Far fewer mourners attended the burial at Mount Lawn Cemetery, in nearby
Sharon Hill,
Pennsylvania.
Jack Gee, her husband from whom she'd been separated, thwarted all efforts to purchase a stone, once or twice even pocketing money raised for that purpose. The grave remained unmarked until
August 7,
1970, when a new tombstone was placed, paid for by singer
Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who, as a child, had done housework for Smith.
The Afro-American Hospital, now the
Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, was the site of the dedication of the fourth historic marker on the
Mississippi Blues Trail.
Selective awards and recognitions
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Bessie Smith were inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special
Grammy Award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
National Recording Registry
Smith's recording of the single "
Downhearted Blues" was included by the
National Recording Preservation Board in the
Library of Congress'
National Recording Registry in 2002. The board selects songs in an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
"Downhearted Blues" is included in the list of
Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the
National Endowment for the Arts in 2001, and is in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped
rock 'n' roll.
Inductions
U.S. Postage Stamp
Digital remastering
Given the technical faults in the majority of her original
gramophone recordings -- especially variations in recording speed, which raised or lowered the apparent
pitch of her voice, misrepresented the "light and shade" of her phrasing, interpretation and delivery, and altered the apparent
key of her performances (sometimes raised or lowered by as much as a
semitone) and, also, the fact that the "centre hole" in some of the master recordings hadn't been in the true middle of the master disc, meaning that there were wide variations in tone, pitch, key and phrasing as the commercially released record revolved around its spindle -- there's a very significant and very positive difference in the performance that Smith delivers in the current
digitally remastered versions of her work.
References in other works
- The rock and roll group The Band, popular during the 1960s and the 1970s, wrote a song about Bessie Smith named after her (the song is included on the album The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan & The Band, first released in 1975). Singer Norah Jones included the song in a 2002 concert performance at the House of Blues. Excerpt of the lyrics to The Band's "Bessie Smith":
"Bessie was more than just a friend of mine
We shared the good times with the bad
Now many a year has passed me by
I still recall the best thing I ever had
I'm just goin' down the road t' see Bessie
Oh, See her soon
Goin' down the road t' see Bessie Smith
When I get there I wonder what she'll do.."
Kings and Queens, a 1996 album by the Seattle punk band The Gits, included a live piano-accompanied improvisation cover of Smith's "Graveyard Dream Blues" named "Graveyard Blues". The song starts with lead singer Mia Zapata telling the audience that "This is a song by (...) Bessie Smith. This is from her to you..."
In early 2006, UK alternative rock/hip hop act Bad Music Inc. paid tribute to Smith with their song "Bessie". Excerpt of the lyrics to Bad Music Inc's "Bessie":
"It's easy to forget, or not to be aware
So let me take a moment, I've a legacy to share
Bessie, Bessie sing through your pain..."
Singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone dedicates her blues song "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" to Bessie Smith on her live album It Is Finished (1974), stating "Bessie Smith, you know?..." before commencing with the song. Ironically, the song title was changed to "I Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl" on the album, and credited to Simone.
Often the subject of concept albums, Smith has been paid such a recorded tribute by numerous singers, including Juanita Hall, Dinah Washington, and Teresa Brewer.
Smith is mentioned in Dory Previn's song A Stone for Bessie Smith on her album Mythical Kings & Iguanas. It refers to the fact that Smith's grave remained unmarked until Janis Joplin and Juanita Green bought a headstone.
The 1948 short story "Blue Melody" by J.D. Salinger and the 1959 play The Death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee both deal with Smith's death and whites-only hospitals' refusal to treat her. The Salinger story refers to a fictional blues singer named Lida Louise Jones, whose life and death have similarities to Smith's.
Her Song "See If I'll Care" was used by the early 1990s Screamo band Indian Summer for their song "Angry Son", in which they play their own instruments over her version.Further Information
Get more info on 'Bessie Smith'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://bessie_smith.totallyexplained.com">Bessie Smith Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
