Jazz
Original recordings from the Empress of the Blues
Smith was known at her peak and forevermore as "The Empress Of The Blues", possibly the first and greatest of the blues divas and certainly the first to have hit records. A protege of the great Ma Rainey, by the early 1920s, she was already a superstar, backed on record by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith, James P. Johnson and Charlie Green. Her elaborate live shows, Harlem Frolics and Mississippi Days, were smash hits though out the decade. The Blues were in, trendy, and Bessie Smith was at the top of her game. |
