Bessie Smith

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Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
edited May 2018 in Music
Can anyone recommend a "complete collection" of Bessie Smith recordings? There are lots of LPs and CDs on amazon but few claim to be complete collections. On vinyl it could get expensive, CD would be preferable as I'm mainly interested for learning purposes so being able to pause and backtrack by a few bars is a bonus.
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  • jdgmjdgm Frets: 850
    2CD anthology on NOT (Not Now) is a good place to start. Complete CBS recordings is 10 CDs with the last one being interviews/reminiscences. About £80. 
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    @jdgm thank you :)
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  • jonnyburgojonnyburgo Frets: 12258
    I've got a double vinyl collection, Any Woman's Blues iirc if I could find a way of posting it safely its yours FOC
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    I've got a double vinyl collection, Any Woman's Blues iirc if I could find a way of posting it safely its yours FOC
    That's generous, thank you. If you did, then I'd make a donation to Fretboard funds.
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  • jonnyburgojonnyburgo Frets: 12258
    Pm your address Phil and I’ll sort it, think I’ve got some stiff cardboard which should do the trick with some bubble wrap
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    jdgm said:
    2CD anthology on NOT (Not Now) is a good place to start. Complete CBS recordings is 10 CDs with the last one being interviews/reminiscences. About £80. 
    scored the 2CD Not Now anthology from Amazon. Complete or not it has all the big titles plus quite a few others and the quality ain't bad neither :)
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    I like Bessie Smith. She was both raucous AND musical. I've also been for a long time keen on the music of Janis Joplin. So recently I've been on youtube checking over some other stuff I should have listened to a long time ago. Stone The Crows, and Vinegar Joe. I prefer Maggie Bell's voice, Elkie Brooks strikes me as being a bit lightweight in the vocal dept, although I concede she is a good singer.

    Then I checked out the lass that's in the most recent issue of Guitarist. Malina Moye. She has both the voice and the guitar chops. Do yourself a favour and check it out (btw she looks nice and she's a snappy dresser too).
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  • smigeonsmigeon Frets: 282
    Did you ever get into Billie Holiday? She’s my fave by a mile.
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    The other two people spoken of alongside Smith are Ma Rainey and Lucille Bogan. Lucille is reasonably infamous for her dirty songs - quite amazing that anyone was recording stuff so overtly sexual pre WW2. From my modest knowledge Bogan was more at the blues end, Smith and Rainey a bit jazzier ( although these distinctions probably didn’t really exist in their lifetimes). 

    Decades ago I went to see George Melly who sang a lot of Smith songs and I had a revelation of sorts that electric ‘lead’ guitar was really an evolution of the trumpet in those kind of songs.  
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    Thanks, gents. Am aware of Billie Holiday and Ma Rainey, both of whom probably deserve more listening. Never heard of Lucille Bogan, will check her out :) Fanx again.

    "Working" software has only unobserved bugs. (Parroty Error: Pieces of Nine! Pieces of Nine!)
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