THE SLOW, SOULFUL ROOTS

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Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1936 (Van Vechten Trust / Library of Congress, public domain)

Classic

Bessie Smith

This artist is no longer with us.

Born: April 15, 1894, Chattanooga, Tennessee (disputed — the 1900 census suggests July 1892) · Died: September 26, 1937, Clarksdale, Mississippi (injuries from a car accident on U.S. Route 61)• United States

Classic BluesVaudeville Blues

Instruments

Voice

Labels

Columbia

from

Tennessee / TOBA vaudeville circuit

Born

April 15, 1894, Chattanooga, Tennessee (disputed — the 1900 census suggests July 1892)

Bessie Smith was the highest-paid Black entertainer in America in the 1920s, and the record that made her that way sold three-quarters of a million copies inside six months — an almost unthinkable number for a blues record at any point in the decade (Kilde: Wikipedia). She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee — the exact date is disputed, with the 1900 census suggesting July 1892 and later documents citing April 15, 1894 — to Laura and William Smith, a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (Kilde: Wikipedia). Her father died when she was a small child, and by the time she was nine, her mother and one brother had also died; her older sister Viola took over raising the remaining children, and young Bessie and her brother Andrew earned money performing on Chattanooga street corners (Kilde: Wikipedia). In 1912 her brother Clarence arranged an audition for her with the Stokes traveling troupe, which already featured a well-known singer named Ma Rainey. Smith was hired as a dancer rather than a vocalist, since Rainey already had the singing role covered — and while the two toured together and Rainey likely helped shape Smith's stage presence, contemporary accounts contradict the popular legend that Rainey personally taught Smith to sing (Kilde: Wikipedia). Columbia Records talent agent Frank Walker, who had seen her perform years earlier, signed her in 1923. Her first session, on February 15, 1923, produced "Downhearted Blues" — a song written by Alberta Hunter and Lovie Austin, not by Smith herself — and it became the commercial breakthrough that made her name (Kilde: Wikipedia). Over the following decade she recorded roughly 160 sides for Columbia and a handful more for Okeh, working with Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson and Coleman Hawkins along the way. The January 1925 session that paired her with a 24-year-old Armstrong on cornet, playing "St. Louis Blues," remains one of the most celebrated blues-and-jazz recordings of the era (Kilde: Wikipedia). She married a security guard named Jack Gee on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was hitting stores. It was, by every account, a stormy marriage — mutual infidelity, physical violence on Gee's side, and at least one occasion where Smith fired a gun at him — and she maintained relationships with women throughout, including a long-running one with her friend Ruby Walker, alongside her marriage (Kilde: Wikipedia). Her final years were spent in a common-law relationship with Richard Morgan, an old friend and the uncle of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. On September 26, 1937, Morgan was driving her along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis and Clarksdale, Mississippi, when he misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck and struck its rear at high speed. Dr. Hugh Smith (no relation), the first physician on the scene, later gave a direct account of her injuries and firmly denied the widely circulated legend — later dramatized in Edward Albee's 1959 play — that she died after being turned away from a whites-only hospital: "The Bessie Smith ambulance would not have gone to a white hospital; you can forget that," he said. She was taken to the segregated G.T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital, where her arm was amputated, and she died there without regaining consciousness (Kilde: Wikipedia). Ten thousand mourners filed past her body in Philadelphia. Her estranged husband Jack Gee blocked repeated efforts to buy a headstone for her grave at Mount Lawn Cemetery — by some accounts even pocketing money raised for the purpose — and it remained unmarked for 33 years, until singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, a woman who had done housework for Smith as a child, paid for a proper stone in August 1970 (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Musical Influence

Smith's phrasing, dynamic control and sheer emotional directness became the template for nearly every blues, jazz and soul vocalist who followed — Billie Holiday cited her as a primary influence, and the line runs onward through Janis Joplin (who literally paid to mark her grave), Aretha Franklin and Etta James. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted her as an Early Influence in 1989, credits her recordings as some of the direct source material for the entire vocabulary of blues singing on record (Kilde: Wikipedia).

Influences

Ma RaineyTOBA vaudeville circuit

Family and personal life

Husband

Married June 7, 1923; a stormy, often violent marriage marked by infidelity on both sides.

Later partner

Common-law partner in her final years; uncle of vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. Was driving the car at the time of her fatal accident.

Parents

Laura & William Smith

William was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher; both parents died while Bessie was a young child.

Formative experiences

•By age 9: Both parents and a brother had died; raised thereafter by her older sister Viola. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•1912: Hired as a dancer (not singer) by the Stokes troupe, which also featured Ma Rainey. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•February 15, 1923: First Columbia recording session produces breakout hit "Downhearted Blues." (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•January 1925: Recorded "St. Louis Blues" with a 24-year-old Louis Armstrong on cornet. (Kilde: Wikipedia)
•September 26, 1937: Died from injuries sustained in a car crash on U.S. Route 61, Mississippi. (Kilde: Wikipedia)

Stories & Anecdotes

"A widely believed story claimed Smith died after being turned away from a whites-only hospital — inspiring Edward Albee's 1959 play "The Death of Bessie Smith." Dr. Hugh Smith, the first physician on the accident scene, directly denied it: "The Bessie Smith ambulance would not have gone to a white hospital; you can forget that." (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

"Her grave went unmarked for 33 years after her estranged husband Jack Gee reportedly blocked — and pocketed money raised for — a proper headstone. Janis Joplin and Juanita Green (who had done housework for Smith as a child) finally paid for one in August 1970. (Kilde: Wikipedia)"

Collaborators

Louis Armstrong

Played cornet on her January 1925 recording of "St. Louis Blues," one of the most celebrated blues-jazz sessions of the decade.

Toured together in the Stokes troupe from 1912; likely shaped Smith's stage presence, though contemporary accounts dispute that Rainey taught her to sing.

Fletcher Henderson

Bandleader who backed Smith on multiple Columbia sessions.

Watch & Listen

Featured

Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1925) Louis Armstrong

Recorded January 14, 1925 with a 24-year-old Louis Armstrong on cornet — one of the most celebrated blues-jazz sessions of the era.

warholsoup100

Downhearted Blues - Bessie Smith (1923)

Downhearted Blues - Bessie Smith (1923)

Bessie Smith - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (1929)

Bessie Smith - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (1929)

Watch & Listen

Henter videoer fra YouTube…

Discography

Year	Title	Producer	Studio	Label	Chart	Sales	Musicians	YouTube	Notes
1923	First Columbia session, New York	Frank Walker	—	Columbia Records	—	—	Clarence Williams (Piano)		February 15, 1923, engineered by Dan Hornsby — produced breakout hit "Downhearted Blues," which sold roughly 750,000 copies in six months. Accompanied by pianist Clarence Williams, who arranged many of her earliest sides.
1925	"St. Louis Blues" session, New York	Frank Walker	—	Columbia Records	—	—	Louis Armstrong (Cornet), Fred Longshaw (Pump organ)		Recorded January 14, 1925, with Louis Armstrong on cornet and Fred Longshaw on pump organ — her first electrical-era session.
1925	"Cake Walking Babies (From Home)" session, New York	Frank Walker	—	Columbia Records	—	—	Fletcher Henderson (Piano, bandleader), Joe Smith (Cornet)		Recorded May 5, 1925, her first fully electrical recording; backed by Fletcher Henderson's orchestra with Joe Smith on cornet.
1927	"Backwater Blues" session, New York	Frank Walker	—	Columbia Records	—	—	James P. Johnson (Piano)		Recorded February 17, 1927, accompanied by stride pianist James P. Johnson; released just before the Great Mississippi Flood, giving the song an eerily prophetic resonance.
1929	"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" session, New York	Columbia Records	—	Columbia Records	—	—	—		Recorded May 15, 1929; released September 13, 1929, days before the Wall Street Crash — its lyrics proved eerily prophetic.
1933	Final session, New York	John Hammond	—	Okeh Records	—	—	Benny Goodman (Clarinet), Jack Teagarden (Trombone)		November 24, 1933, produced by a 22-year-old John Hammond for Okeh; her last recordings, featuring a young Benny Goodman on clarinet.

Famous songs

01Downhearted Blues

02St. Louis Blues

03Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out

04Empty Bed Blues

External links

YouTube Music Wikipedia Blues Hall of Fame (Blues Foundation)

Sources

Bessie Smith — Wikipedia

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