Nine Original Issue Classic Bessie Smith 78 RPM Records - Each Sold Separately

$

50

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was often referred to as the "Empress of Blues". Bessie Smith was born around 1892 Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1912, she joined the entertainment troop with Ma Rainey who was her mentor and close friend. Smith began her recording career in 1923. Bessie Smith was signed to Columbia Records in 1923 by Frank Walker, a talent agent who had seen her perform years earlier. When the company established a "race records" series, Smith's "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

As her popularity increased, Smith became a headliner on the Theatre Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter and performing in tent shows the rest of the year, Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day and began traveling in her own 72-foot-long railroad car. Columbia's publicity department nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues," but the national press soon upgraded her title to "Empress of the Blues." Smith's music stressed independence, fearlessness, and sexual freedom, implicitly arguing that working-class women did not have to alter their behavior to be worthy of respect.

Smith had a strong contralto voice, which recorded well from her first session, which was conducted when recordings were made acoustically. The advent of electrical recording made the power of her voice even more evident. Her first electrical recording was "Cake Walking Babies", recorded on May 5, 1925. Smith also benefited from the new technology of radio broadcasting, even on stations in the segregated South. For example, after giving a concert to a white-only audience at a theater in Memphis, Tennessee, in October 1923, she performed a late-night concert on station WMC, which was well received by the radio audience. Musicians and composers like Danny Barker and Thomas Dorsey compared her presence and delivery to a preacher because of her ability to enrapture and move her audience.

Columbia Records

Columbia Records, from December 1923 to June 1927, introduced a new label and numbering system. 10Inch 78 rpm records were now numbered 1xxxxD. Often called the "Flag Design" label, it included two colorful flags on opposite sides on the label. There were three color types, copper, gold and green depending on genre. The change to the “Flag” label was considered to be more patriotic.

There are nine records available. You are bidding on ONE record. Please state which record you are bidding on. Just submit the Record Number(s). Detailed close up photos of individual records will be provided upon request. You will be bidding on which ever record(s) you prefer.  

Please E-mail me also if you are interested in a discounted price more than one record or for the entire set.