The Bessie's Songbook (20 great covers of songs related to Bessie Smith)

       

Por muy odiosas que puedan resultar las comparaciones, siempre es buena idea contrastar lo que pueden llegar a hacer con el mismo material diferentes músicos de categoría, en este caso vocalistas femeninas. Que el repertorio asociado a Bessie Smith ha dado buen juego en este sentido es cosa sabida ¡Por algo estamos ante la más grande entre las llamadas cantantes de blues clásico, caramba! Quedan aún por ahí, sin embargo, unas cuantas versiones y voces que merecerían ser escuchadas más a menudo y, bueno, para eso estamos. Aunque no pretendemos ser exhaustivos ni mucho menos (hemos dejado fuera al menos dos de sus temas más conocidos "Tain't Nobody's Bizness" y "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out") creo que tenemos aquí un abanico estilístico más que entretenido, desde el down-home sureño más puro de los años 20  (Virginia Childs Betty Gray y Virginia Liston en grabaciones "acústicas" -o sea anteriores a 1925- incluso con acompañamiento de guitarra) hasta el ímpetu soulero de Lavern Baker o Linda Hopkins, pasando, pues bueno, por casi todo: blues clásico genuino contemporáneo de Bessie (la notable Elizabeth Johnson junto a King Oliver, nada menos) swing, blues urbano, jazz tradicional, en fin. Algunas voces no necesitan presentación alguna (Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Dinah Washington) pero otras, como la infortunada Teddy Grace (la única mujer blanca en esta recopilación) merecen igualmente todo nuestro respeto -de hecho, es muy probable que volvamos a referirnos a algunas de ellas en próximas entregas.       

-Jay Bee Rodríguez

01. Elizabeth Johnson - Empty Bed Blues-Part 1
02. Coot Grant and Kid Wilson - Take Me for a Buggy Ride
03. Betty Gray - Mean Old Bed Bug Blues
04. Virginia Childs - The St. Louis Blues
05. Virginia Liston - Jail House Blues
06. Teddy Grace - Gulf Coast Blues
07. Lil Green - Aggravatin' papa
08. Lil Green - You've been a good old wagon
09. Billie Holiday - Do Your Duty
10. Juanita Hall - Baby Won't You Please Come Home
11. Little Brother Montgomery - Oh Daddy
12. Alberta Hunter - Downhearted Blues live
13. Turk Murphy Jazz Band - Cakewalkin' Babies
14. Nina Simone - Gimme a pigfoot
15. Nina Simone - I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl
16. Lavern Baker - On Revival Day
17. Odetta - Weeping Willow
18. Odetta - Oh, Papa
19. Dinah Washington - You've Been A Good Ole Wagon
20. Linda Hopkins - Preachin' The Blues                                                                                     

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Alberta Hunter and others: Better Boot That Thing - Great Women Blues Singers of the 1920's

Alberta Hunter - Bessie Tucker - Victoria Spivey - Ida Mae Mack

There's remarkable variety among these four singers from the classic era of blues, when women dominated and urban and rural styles were a world apart. The most varied and versatile is urbanite Alberta Hunter, with her lilting voice, sweet vibrato and early-jazz rhythm. A vaudeville veteran, Hunter offers a delightfully actresslike delivery and a cheerful, warming personality; she writes interesting songs, too, and she negotiates difficult lines with ease. Ida May Mack proves quite Bessie Smith-inspired, though with a smaller voice and nothing even faintly like Smith`s rhythmic sophistication. Bessie Tucker is penetrating and primitive, with a stark alto voice and stark pentatonic lines casting a spell of dark desperation; note especially the long, low moan with which she opens ``Penitentiary.`` Urban blueswoman Victoria Spivey, despite lingering vaudeville in her setting and delivery, is in some ways the most rewarding, hard-core blueswoman here. Powerful vignettes like "Blood Hound Blues" and "Dirty Tee Bee Blues"` are near-masterpieces of blues documentary-few other blues composers have revealed such an original, tough-minded yet compassionate point of view. -John Litweiler (Chicago Tribune)


Alberta Hunter
01. I'll Forgive You 'Cause I Love You 2:53
02. I'm Gonna Lose Myself Way Down In Louisville 3:07
03. My Daddy's Got A Brand New Way To Love 2:53
04. Sugar 3:18 (Organ - Fats Waller)
05. Beale Street Blues 3:15 (Organ - Fats Waller)
Bessie Tucker
06. Fort Worth And Denver Blues 3:21
07. Penitentiary 3:31
08. Better Boot That Thing 2:38
09. Bogey Man Blues 2:47
10. Whistling Woman Blues 3:11
Victoria Spivey
11. Blood Hound Blues 2:36
12. Dirty Tee Bee Blues 3:06
13. Moaning The Blues 3:00
14. Telephoning The Blues 3:08
15. Showered With Blues 2:54
Ida May Mack
16. Wrong Doin' Daddy 3:16
17. Elm Street Blues 3:17
18. When You Lose Your Daddy 3:09
19. Mr. Forty Nine Blues 3:04
20. Good-Bye Rider 3:12


Vocals:
Alberta Hunter (tracks: 1 to 5)
Bessie Tucker (tracks: 6 to 10)
Victoria Spivey (tracks: 11 to 15)
Ida Mae Mack (tracks: 16 to 20)

Saxophone [Soprano] - Charlie Holmes (tracks: 11 to 14)
Saxophone [Tenor] - Teddy Hill (tracks: 11 to 14)
Trombone - J.C. Higginbotham (tracks: 11 to 14)
Trumpet - Henry Allen* (tracks: 11 to 14)
Bass - G. Foster (tracks: 11 to 14)
Organ - Fats Waller (tracks: 4 to 5)
Guitar - Jesse Thomas* (tracks: 8 to 10) , W.K. Johnson (tracks: 11 to 15)
Piano - K.D. Johnson (tracks: 6 to 10, 11 to 15) , Lewis Russell* (tracks: 11 to 15)
Mike Jackson (4) (tracks: 1 to 3)

Recorded from 1927 to 1930.
Transferred to digital tape from metal parts at BMG Recordings Studios, May 1992. Digitally remastered at BMG Recordings Studios, New York City, June 1992.

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