Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings Vol 1-5 [10 CD, 1991-1993]

 

The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day and still communicates easily to today's listeners (which is not true of any other singer from that early period). At a time when the blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no competition.

Back in 1912, Bessie Smith sang in the same show as Ma Rainey, who took her under her wing and coached her. Although Rainey would achieve a measure of fame throughout her career, she was soon surpassed by her protégée. In 1920, Smith had her own show in Atlantic City and, in 1923, she moved to New York. She was soon signed by Columbia and her first recording (Alberta Hunter's "Downhearted Blues") made her famous. Bessie Smith worked and recorded steadily throughout the decade, using many top musicians as sidemen on sessions including Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith (her favorite cornetist), James P. Johnson, and Charlie Green. Her summer tent show Harlem Frolics was a big success during 1925-1927, and Mississippi Days in 1928 kept the momentum going.

However, by 1929 the blues were out of fashion and Bessie Smith's career was declining despite being at the peak of her powers (and still only 35). She appeared in St. Louis Blues that year (a low-budget movie short that contains the only footage of her), but her hit recording of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" predicted her leaner Depression years. Although she was dropped by Columbia in 1931 and made her final recordings on a four-song session in 1933, Bessie Smith kept on working. She played the Apollo in 1935 and substituted for Billie Holiday in the show Stars Over Broadway. The chances are very good that she would have made a comeback, starting with a Carnegie Hall appearance at John Hammond's upcoming From Spirituals to Swing concert, but she was killed in a car crash in Mississippi. Columbia has reissued all of her recordings, first in five two-LP sets and more recently on five two-CD box sets that also contain her five alternate takes, the soundtrack of St. Louis Blues, and an interview with her niece Ruby Smith. "The Empress of the Blues," based on her recordings, will never have to abdicate her throne.

• The Complete Recordings Vol.1 (1923-1924)
• The Complete Recordings Vol.2 (1924-1925)
• The Complete Recordings Vol.3 (1925-1928)
• The Complete Recordings Vol.4 (1928-1931)
• The Complete Recordings Vol.5 (1931-1933)

The Complete Recordings Vol.1 (1923-1924)

Disc 1:

1. Down Hearted Blues

2. Gulf Coast Blues

3. Aggravatin' Papa

4. Beale Street Mama

5. Baby Won't You Please Come Home

6. Oh Daddy Blues

7. 'Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do

8. Keeps On Rainin' (Papa He Can't Make No Time)

9. Mama's Got The Blues

10. Outside Of That

11. Bleeding Hearted Blues

12. Lady Luck Blues

13. Yodling Blues

14. Midnight Blues

15. If You Don't, I Know Who Will

16. Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine

17. Jail House Blues

18. St. Louis Gal

19. Sam Jones Blues

Disc 2:

1. Graveyard Dream Blues

2. Cemetery Blues

3. Far Away Blues

4. I'm Going Back To My Used To Be

5. Whoa, Tillie, Take Your Time

6. My Sweetie Went Away

7. Any Woman's Blues Listen

8. Chicago Bound Blues

9. Mistreating Daddy

10. Frosty Morning Blues

11. Haunted House Blues

12. Eavesdropper's Blues

13. Easy Come, Easy Go Blues

14. Sorrowful Blues

15. Pinchbacks-Take 'Em Away

16. Rocking Chair Blues

17. Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down

18. Boweavil Blues

19. Hateful Blues

The Complete Recordings Vol.2 (1924-1925)

Disc 1:

1. Frankie Blues

2. Moonshine Blues

3. Lou'siana Low-Down Blues

4. Mountain Top Blues

5. Work House Blues

6. House Rent Blues

7. Salt Water Blues

8. Rainy Weather Blues

9. Weeping Willow Blues

10. The Bye Bye Blues

11. Sing Sing Prison Blues

12. Follow the Deal on Down

13. Sinful Blues

14. Woman's Trouble Blues

15. Love Me Daddy Blues

16. Dying Gambler's Blues

17. The St. Louis Blues

18. Reckless Blues

19. Sobbin' Hearted Blues

Disc 2:

1. Cold In Hand Blues

2. You've Been a Good Ole Wagon

3. Cake Walkin' babies (From Home)

4. The Yellow Dog Blues

5. Soft Pedal Blues

6. Dixie Flyer Blues

7. Nashville Woman's Blues

8. Careless Love Blues

9. J.C. Holmes Blues

10. I Ain't Goin' to Play Second Fiddle

11. He's Gone Blues

12. Nobody's Blues But Mine

13. I Ain't Got Nobody

14. My Man Blues

15. New Gulf Coast Blues

16. Florida Bound Blues

17. At the Christmas Ball

18. I've Been Mistreated and I Don't Like It

The Complete Recordings Vol.3 (1925-1928)

Disc 1:

01 - Red Mountain Blues

02 - Golden Rule Blues

03 - Lonesome Desert Blues

04 - Them 'Has Been' Blues

05 - Squeeze Me

06 - What's The Matter Now_

07 - I Want Every Bit Of It

08 - Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town

09 - The Gin House Blues

10 - Money Blues

11 - Baby Doll

12 - Hard Driving Papa

13 - Lost Your Head Blues

14 - Hard Time Blues

15 - Honey Man Blues

16 - One And Two Blues

17 - Young Woman's Blues

18 - Preachin' The Blues

19 - Back Water Blues

20 - After You've Gone

21 - Alexander's Ragtime Band

Disc 2:

01 - Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan)

02 - There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

03 - Trombone Cholly

04 - Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair

05 - Them's Graveyard Words

06 - Hot Spring Blues

07 - Sweet Mistreater

08 - Lock And Key

09 - Mean Old Bedbug Blues

10 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find

11 - Homeless Blues

12 - Looking For My Man Blues

13 - Dyin' By The Hour

14 - Foolish Man Blues

15 - Thinking Blues

16 - Pickpocket Blues

17 - I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama

18 - I'd Rather Be Dead And Buried In My Grave

The Complete Recordings Vol.4 (1928-1931)

Disc 1:

01. Standin' In The Rain Blues (2:56)

02. It Won't Be You (2:49)

03. Spider Man Blues (3:24)

04. Empty Bed Blues (Part 1) (3:03)

05. Empty Bed Blues (Part 2) (3:22)

06. Put It Right Here (Or Keep It Out There) (3:00)

07. Yes Indeed He Do! (3:17)

08. Devil's Gonna Git You (3:12)

09. You Ought To Be Ashamed (3:08)

10. Washwoman's Blues (3:10)

11. Slow And Easy Man (2:58)

12. Poor Man's Blues (3:26)

13. Please Help Me Get Him Out Of My Mind (2:58)

14. Me And My Gin (2:52)

15. I'm Wild About That Thing (2:50)

16. You've Got To Give Me Some (2:44)

17. Kitchen Man (2:58)

18. I've Got What It Takes (But It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away) (3:11)

19. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (3:00)

20. Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here) (3:20)

Disc 2:

01. He's Got Me Goin' (3:15)

02. It Makes My Love Come Down (2:58)

03. Wasted Life Blues (3:05)

04. Dirty No-Gooder's Blues (3:00)

05. Blue Spirit Blues (2:58)

06. Worn Out Papa Blues (2:51)

07. You Don't Understand (3:06)

08. Don't Cry Baby (3:12)

09. Keep It To Yourself (3:33)

10. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues (2:59)

11. See If I'll Care (3:26)

12. Baby Have Pity On Me (3:21)

13. On Revival Day (A Rhythmic Spiritual) (2:57)

14. Moan, You Moaners (3:13)

15. Hustlin' Dan (3:33)

16. Black Mountain Blues (3:11)

17. In The House Blues (3:02)

18. Long Old Road (3:28)

19. Blue Blues (3:15)

20. Shipwreck Blues (3:20)

The Complete Recordings Vol.5 (1931-1933)

Disc 1:

01. Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl (2:50)

02. Safety Mama (3:26)

03. Do Your Duty (3:27)

04. Gimme A Pigfoot (3:31)

05. Take Me For A Buggy Ride (2:38)

06. I'm Down In The Dumps (3:12)

07. The Yellow Dog Blues (3:18)

08. Soft Pedal Blues (3:22)

09. Nashville Women's Blues (3:19)

10. Careless Love Blues (3:30)

11. Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) (3:16)

12. St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - Band Intro (0:45)

13. St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - Crap Game (5:43)

14. St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - St. Louis Blues (8:19)

Disc 2:

01. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith / Bessie Disappears (4:50)

02. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith / Waldorf-Astoria Party (7:15)

03. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith / Bessie & Jack, I (2:52)

04. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith Bessie & Jack II / Bessie & The Ladies (10:23)

05. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith / Life On The Road, I (11:14)

06. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith / Life On The Road, II (14:02)

07. Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith Bessie & Gertrude Saunders / Life On The Road, III (21:18)

Gov't Mule / Warren Haynes - Island Exodus, Jamaica [2010-2020]

 Every January from 2010 Gov't Mule is heading to Jamaica. Every event features three full-length Gov’t Mule shows and a Warren Haynes solo show with some special guests. Here are GM/Warren shows from past years, hope we'll see the next one next year.

Paul Desmond - The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings [7 CD, 2020]

 Paul Desmond was an artist who stood alone on the alto saxophone. His tone was light but full. His improvisations were complex but always lyrical and direct. If Johnny Hodges was the seducer on alto, Desmond was the cool intellect always willing to engage all of your senses.

From 1950 to 1967, he was the famous alter ego to Dave Brubeck's equally challenging but always robust piano inventions. The unprecedented success of the Brubeck quartet with 17 years of constant club dates, concerts, and sound checks, accompanied by a succession of airports, cab rides, hotels, and food-on-the run took its toll on the members of the group.

Simon & Garfunkel - Old Friends [3 CD, 1997]

 Old Friends is the second box set of Simon & Garfunkel songs, released in November 1997. The three-disc anthology collects most of the duo's best-known works, and also includes previously unreleased outtakes. Some of these outtakes subsequently appeared on both the reissues of Simon & Garfunkel's five studio albums as well as the later boxed set The Columbia Studio Recordings (1964-1970). 

VA - 100 Hot Rhythm & Blues Tunes from...The R&B Years: 1949 [4 CD, 2004]

 

At the end of that troubled decade, the 1940s, for many Americans rhythm and blues was providing a welcome release from the recent memory of WWII. Social life was back on the rails; men and women were dressing up, going out and having fun. To the rest of the world, America-s consumer economy seemed like a futuristic wonderworld only Flash Gordon would recognise. Some of the artists featured here would enjoy careers and reputations which are still current today. T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, Ivory Joe Hunter, Pee Wee Crayton, Amos Milburn, Lucky Millinder, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan, Dinah Washington, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim are all legendary R&B figures gracing this 101-track collection whose careers can be easily accessed on-line or in any good text book. But there are many others here who, though famous in their time, have faded into relative obscurity, so here we offer them the opportunity to take - in most cases - a posthumous bow. In many ways the R&B of 1949 could be called -Blues Before Sunrise-. That imminent dawn had already been voiced here with Wild Bill Moore-s Rock And Roll, long before Alan Freed claimed the phrase as his own. In the coming decade the exciting, creative yet racially insulated world of R&B would break through it-s borders into mainstream pop. Let-s give thanks that it did - we-re still enjoying the result.

Disc One:

01. Jimmy Liggins - Homecoming Blues
02. Paul Williams - Walkin' Around
03. Piney Brown - Mourning Blues
04. Jay McShann - Hot Biscuits
05. Cousin Joe - Beggin' Woman
06. Roy Brown - Rainy Weather Blues
07. Andrew Tibbs - I Feel Like Crying
08. Big Jay McNeely - Deacon's Hop
09. Joe Turner - I Don't Dig It
10. Joe Morris - Weasel Walk
11. Buddy & Ella Johnson - I Don't Care Who Knows
12. Paul Williams - The Hucklebuck
13. Wynonie Harris - I Feel That Old Age Coming On
14. Edgar Hayes - Fat Meat 'N' Greens
15. Jimmy Witherspoon - Ain't Nobody's Business Pt. 1
16. Jimmy Witherspoon - Ain't Nobody's Business Pt 2
17. Dee Williams - Bongo Blues
18. Julia Lee - I Didn't Like It The First Time
19. King Porter - King Porter Special
20. Earl Bostic - Blip Boogie
21. Roy Brown - Rockin' At Midnight
22. Saunders King - Empty Bedroom
23. Mabel Scott - Just Give Me A Man
24. T-Bone Walker - T-Bone Shuffle
25. June Richmond - 47th Street Jive
26. Hal Singer - Beef Stew

Disc Two:

01. Chicago Davis - I Feel So Good
02. Sonny Thompson - Blue Dreams
03. Don Johnson - State Street Boogie
04. Stick McGhee - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-o-Do
05. Lucky Millinder - D'natural Blues
06. Cecil Gant - I'm A Good Man But A Poor Man
07. Roy Milton - The Hucklebuck
08. Jimmy Preston - Hucklebuck Daddy
09. Amos Milburn - Hold Me Baby
10. The Orioles - Tell Me So
11. Charles Brown - Trouble Blues
12. Pete Lewis - Midnight In The Barrel House
13. King Perry - Sarah! Sarah!
14. Todd Rhodes - Pot Likker
15. Joe Turner - B&O Blues
16. T.J. Fowler - Red Hot Blues
17. City Jimmy - Saturday Night Kansas
18. Frank Culley - Cole Slaw
19. Five Scamps - Red Hot
20. Wild Bill Moore - Rock and Roll
21. Jimmy Witherspoon - Take Me Back Baby
22. Edgar Hayes - Sunday Mornin' Blues
23. Roy Milton - Junior Jump
24. Max Bailey - Delinquency Blues
25. Bob Call - Call's Jump

Disc Three:

01. Chris Powell - Hot Dog
02. Amos Milburn - In The Middle Of The Night
03. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan - Baby It's Cold Outside
04. Ravens - Ricky's Blues
05. Louis Jordan - Every Man To His Own Profession
06. Floyd Dixon - That'll Get It
07. Dinah Washington - Baby Get Lost
08. Louis Jordan - Beans And Corn Bread
09. Dinah Washington - Long John Blues
10. Little Willie Littlefield - It's Midnight (No Place To Go)
11. Dave Bartholomew - Mr. Fool
12. Russell Jacquet - Cross Bones
13. T-Bone Walker - Hypin' Woman Blues
14. Goree Carter - Hoy Hoy
15. Wynonie Harris - All She Wants To Do Is Rock
16. Freddie Mitchell - Doby's Boogie
17. Joe Lutcher - Mardi Gras
18. Amos Milburn - Roomin' House Boogie
19. Roy Brown - Please Don't Go
20. Great Gates - Late After Hours
21. Eddie Williams & Floyd Dixon - Broken Hearted
22. Buddy Banks & Baby Davis - Happy Home Blues
23. Amos Milburn - Empty Arms Blues
24. Walter Brown - Lying Woman Blues
25. Jimmy Preston - Rock the Joint

Disc Four:

01. Joe Thomas - Page Boy Shuffle
02. Roy Hawkins - Mistreatin' Baby
03. Jimmy Witherspoon - In The Evening
04. Sugar Chile Robinson - Numbers Boogie
05. Johnny Moore's Three Blazers & Billy Valentine - Walkin' Blues
06. Louis Jordan - Saturday Night Fish Fry
07. Billy Wright - Blues For My Baby
08. Ivory Joe Hunter - Landlord Blues
09. Bull Moose jackson - Why Don't You Haul Off And Love Me?
10. Ruth Brown - Rockin' Blues
11. Marion Abernathy - Ja-Hoosey Baby
12. Bumps Mayers - Memphis Hop
13. Larry Darnell - For You My Love
14. Clarence Gatemouth Brown - My Time Is Expensive
15. Memphis Slim - Nobody Loves Me
16. Roy Brown - Boogie At Midnight
17. Red Eddie Vinson - Somebody Done Stole My Cherry Red
18. Eddie Davis - Mountain Oysters
19. J.B. Summers - Drinkin' Beer
20. Ray Charles - How Long Blues
21. Charles Brown - Homesick Blues
22. Eddie Mack - Kind Loving Daddy
23. Johnny Otis - Thursday Night Blues
24. Pee Wee Crayton - Bounce Pee Wee
25. Jimmy Witherspoon - Big Fine Gal