Bessie Smith - Bessie Smith Sings the Jazz

Bessie Smith had her own traveling variety show, complete with canvas tent and roustabouts. During the mid-'20s she toured with her troupe throughout the southeastern United States, working her way across North Carolina and much of the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. Some of the material she performed in front of live audiences was vaudeville-oriented, and a few titles were right out of the jazz book. In 1993 the Jazz Archives label assembled a fine collection drawing upon Smith's most theatrical, popular, and jazz-oriented recordings. Read More