Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith (July, 1892 or April, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was the most popular and successful female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, and a strong influence on subsequent generations, including Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone and Janis Joplin.

Life

Birthdate and Early Life

Bessie was the daughter of Laura (Owens) Smith and William Smith, a Baptist minister. For the 1900 census, Bessie Smith's mother reported that Bessie was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States in July, 1892. However, for the following census (1910), her sister, Viola Smith, reported the date as April 15, 1894. It was the later date that was observed by Bessie and her family and which appeared on all subsequent documents. While there is no reason for Bessie Smith to alter the date of her birth, the year is a different matter with some reports citing her year of birth as 1896 and 1898.

Due to the unreliability of early census figures and sometimes incomplete biographical interviews the size of Smith's family remains the subject of serious debate. However, most believe her to be one of seven children.

Smith's mother passed away when she was seven years old followed by Bessie's father who died two years later. The care of Bessie was then left in the hands of her older sister, Viola.

Early Career

As a way of earning money for their impoverished household, Bessie and her brother Andrew began performing on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo, she singing and dancing, he accompanying on guitar; their preferred location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud, "that's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."

Bessie's turn came in 1912, when Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe and arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give her an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included Ma Rainey. Bessie traveled with the troupe across the South and earned the opportunity to appear in her own show, Liberty Belles Revue in Atlanta, Georgia, in which she appeared as a male impersonator.

Bessie continued on the the Moses Stokes traveling show until 1921, when she appeared in the musical comedy How Come being staged at the Dunbar Theater in Philadelphia.

Recordings

In 1923, Smith was denied record contracts with both Okeh and [[Black Swan Records Black Swan]] for sounding 'too rough.' Ironically both companies were founded to represent black artists, with W. E. B. Du Bois and John Nail serving on Black Swan's board of directors whose motto was 'The Only Genuine Colored Record-Others Are Only Passing.'

Later that year, however, Smith signed a recording contract with Columbia where her first single, "Down Hearted Blues" sold a record-breaking 780,000 copies. She followed that success in 1925 with W.C. Handy's song "St. Louis Blues," which she recorded with Louis Armstrong.

In addition to her recordings Smith became a headliner on the black Theater Owners Booking Association (T.O.B.A.) theater circuit and was its top entertainer in the 1920s.

Her popularity with black and white audiences alike led her to be deemed the "World's Greatest Blues Singer" and eventually the "Empress of the Blues," and led her to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Smith recorded 160 songs while with Columbia, until in 1931, the effects of the Great Depression made it difficult for the record company to survive. However, Smith continued to tour with her own show The Bessie Smith Revue until her tragic death in 1937.

Musical Style and Influence

Smith's subject matter was key in defining her songs and style. Always focusing on the female perspective of African American life Smith recorded songs about abuse, lost lovers, female rivalry and jealousy voodoo, and race relations. Her grassroots and traditional black sound cost her early record contracts but ultimately earned Smith her success and help to create a bridge between former and contemporary black identity.

One of Smith's most famous recordings "Back-Water Blues," which she wrote and recorded told the emotional reaction of a woman after a flood ravages her town. Originally thought to have been inspired by the flood of the lower Mississippi River in mid-April of 1927 it has since been discovered that the song was recorded in February of that year. The legend was supported by the records release in March, when the rains began. However, given the early recording date it is now believed to have been inspired by the flooding of the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee on December 25, 1926. Despite this discrepancy the song has come to be the definitive blues song following all floods.

Smith's rise coincided with the Harlem Renaissance leading to such writers as Langston Hughes and later James Baldwin to pay homage to her in their works.

Film

In 1929, Bessie Smith made her only film appearance in an adaptation of the song "St. Louis Blues." Smith, who recorded the song four years earlier, was chosen for the role by the song's composer W.C. Handy, who was also a collaborator on the film. In the film she played the scorned and beaten lover of a handsome gambler who leaves her for a lighter-skinned woman. The film has drawn much contemporary criticism for its use of racist and sexist stereotypes. But beyond that many have commented on the films inability to capture the same spirit of Smith's recording of the song. While the film outlines the same events that are related in the song's lyrics, without Smith's vocal interpretation the emotion and power of the female is not fully communicated in the film.

Race Relations

Being a black artist in the 1920s and 1930s led Smith to face situations that equally successful white artists did not encounter. This included Columbia having to buy her a personal train car because she was not permitted in the 'whites only' first-class car. Also, in July 1927 robed members of the Ku Klux Klan appeared at one of her tent performances and began to pull up the tent stakes. When Smith heard of what was happening she left the tent and confronted the men shaking her fist at them and ordering them to "...pick up them sheets and run!" After continuing to curse at them the KKK members left and Smith returned to her performance.

Personal Life and Reputation

Bessie Smith was married twice. Her first marriage was to Earl Love in 1920, which ended a year later when he died. Smith married three years later, this time to Jack Gee. The two were married for six years, during which they endured a violent and tumultuous relationship.

While Ghee took credit for managing Smith's tours and for writing some of the songs Smith recorded and performed, it is now believed that his role was minimal, and that Smith wrote the songs herself. However, because of Smith's love for Ghee and his violent temper, those that were part of the show were terrified of him and allowed him to take credit.

When Ghee left Smith in 1929 she was left broken hearted, but did become involved with Richard Morgan, a Chicago bootlegger, before her death.

In addition to these heterosexual relationships it is believed that Smith also engaged in relationships with Lillian and Marie, two female dancers from her show, Lilian Simpson, and others. However, it was her relationship with Ruby Walker, Ghee's niece, which was the most intensely emotional. While many of Smith's biographers believe her affair with Walker to be purely emotional, Walker's interviews with biographer Chris Albertson, prove the relationship to have been sexual as well.

In addition to Smith's open bisexuality she also had a reputation for heavy drinking and lewd behavior.

Death

On September 26, 1937, Smith was severely injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis and Clarksdale, Mississippi with Richard Morgan, at the wheel. She was taken to Clarksdale's black Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was amputated. She did not regain consciousness, dying that morning. For some time it was believed that Smith's died as a result of being refused admission to a "Whites Only" hospital in Clarksdale. The myth, which is now discredited, began when jazz writer/producer John Hammond wrote an inaccurate article that appeared in the November 1937 issue of Down Beat magazine. The article went on to be the basis for Edward Albee's 1959 one-act play The Death of Bessie Smith.

Smith was buried in an unmarked grave eight days after her death. However, in August 1970 Juanita Greene, President of the North Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP and Janis Joplin purchased a gravestone for Smith. It had been Greene's mother who had served as a housekeeper for Smith.

Digital Remastering

Given the technical faults in the majority of her original gramophone recordings — especially variations in recording speed, which raised or lowered the apparent pitch of her voice, misrepresented the "light and shade" of her superb phrasing, interpretation and delivery, and altered the apparent key of her performances (sometimes raised or lowered by as much as a semitone) and, also, the fact that the "centre hole" in some of the master recordings had not been in the true middle of the master disc, meaning that there were wide variations in tone, pitch, key and phrasing as the commercially released record revolved around its spindle — there is a very significant and very positive difference in the performance that Smith delivers in the current digitally remastered versions of her work.

References in Other Works

• The rock and roll group The Band, popular during the 1960s and the 1970s, wrote a song about Bessie Smith named after her. Singer Norah Jones included the song in a 2002 concert performance at the House of Blues. Excerpt of the lyrics to The Band's "Bessie Smith":

"Bessie was more than just a friend of mine
We shared the good times with the bad
Now many a year has passed me by
I still recall the best thing I ever had

I'm just goin' down the road t' see Bessie
Oh, See her soon
Goin' down the road t' see Bessie Smith
When I get there I wonder what she'll do.."

• The 1996 album of Seattle punk band The Gits, Kings and Queens, included a live piano-accompanied improvisation cover of Smith's "Graveyard Dream Blues" named "Graveyard Blues" sung by blues-influenced vocalist Mia Zapata. The song starts with Zapata telling the audience that "This is a song by (...) Bessie Smith. This is from her to you..." The track is held in high regard by Gits fans and music critics.

• In early 2006, UK alternative Rock/Hip Hop act Bad Music Inc. paid tribute to Smith with their song Bessie. Excerpt of the lyrics to Bad Music Inc's "Bessie":

"It's easy to forget, or not to be aware
So let me take a moment, I've a legacy to share
Bessie, Bessie sing through your pain..."

• Singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone dedicates her blues-song "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" to Bessie Smith on her live-album It Is Finished (1974), stating "Bessie Smith, you know?..." before commencing with the song. Ironically, the song title was changed to "I Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl" on the album, and credited to Ms. Simone.

• Often the subject of concept albums, Bessie has been paid such a recorded tribute by numerous singers, including Juanita Hall, Dinah Washington, and Teresa Brewer.

• The character of Shug Avery in Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple' is reportedly inspired / based on Smith.^{[citation needed]}

• Smith is mentioned in Dory Previn's song A Stone for Bessie Smith on her album Mythical Kings & Iguanas. It refers to the fact that Smith's grave remained unmarked until Janis Joplin and Juanita Green bought a headstone.

References and further reading

• Albertson, C., Liner notes, Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Volumes 1 - 5, Sony Music Entertainment, 1991.
• Albertson, C., Bessie, Stein and Day, (New York), 1972.
• Albertson, C., Bessie (Revised and Expanded Edition), Yale University Press (New Haven), 2003. ISBN 0-300-09902-9.
• Albertson, C., Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, Schirmer Books (New Haven), 1975.
• Brooks, E., The Bessie Smith Companion: A Critical and Detailed Appreciation of the Recordings, Da Capo Press (New York), 1982.
• Davis, A. Y., Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, Pantheon Books (New York), 1998. ISBN 0-679-45005-X. Contains 100 pages of lyrics recorded by Smith.
• Eberhardt, C., Out of Chattanooga, Ebco (Chattanooga), 1993.
• Feinstein, E., Bessie Smith, Viking (New York), 1985, ISBN 0670806420.
• Grimes, S., Backwaterblues: In Search of Bessie Smith, Rose Island Pub. (Amherst), 2000, ISBN 0970708904.
• Kay, J., Bessie Smith, Absolute (New York), 1997. ISBN 1-899791-55-8.
• Manera, A., Bessie Smith, Raintree (Chicago), 2003. ISBN 0739868756.
• Martin, F., Bessie Smith, Editions du Limon (Paris), 1994. ISBN 290722431X.
• Moore, C., Somebody's Angel Child: The Story of Bessie Smith, T. Y. Crowell Co. (New York), 1969. A children's book that is largely fiction.
• Oliver, P., Bessie Smith, Cassell (London), 1959.
• Welding, P., and Byron, T., eds., Bluesland: Portraits of Twelve Major American Blues Masters, Dutton (New York), 1991. ISBN 0-525-93375-1. Includes "T'Aint Nobody's Business If I Do" by Chris Albertson.

External links

• Interview with Bessie Smith biographer Chris Albertson
• Listen to Bessie Smith at Jazz Old Time On Line

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