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| Empress of the Blues, Vol, 2: 1926-1933 | 
 enlarge | List Price: $28.98
Buy New: $21.26
You Save: $7.72 (27%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 1 reviews)
Sales Rank: 37333
Category: Music
Artist: Bessie Smith
Publisher: Jsp Records
Studio: Jsp Records
Manufacturer: Jsp Records
Label: Jsp Records
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5 x 1.7
MPN: 930
UPC: 788065903022
EAN: 0788065903022
ASIN: B0016GLZEM
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | One and Two Blues | | • | Young Woman's Blues | | • | Preachin' the Blues | | • | Back Water Blues | | • | After You've Gone | | • | Alexander's Rag Time Band | | • | Muddy Waters (Mississippi Moan) | | • | There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight | | • | Trombone Cholly | | • | Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair | | • | Them Graveyard Words | | • | Hot Springs Blues | | • | Sweet Mistreater | | • | Lock and Key | | • | Mean Old Bed Bug Blues | | • | A Good Man Is Hard to Find | | • | Homeless Blues | | • | Looking for My Man Blues | | • | Dyin' by the Hour | | • | Foolish Man Blues | | • | Thinking Blues | | • | Pickpocket Blues | | • | I Used to Be Your Sweet Mama | | • | I'd Rather Be Dead and Buried |
Disc 2
| • | Standin' in the Rain | | • | It Won't Be You | | • | Spider Man Blues | | • | Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 1 | | • | Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 2 | | • | Put It Right in There | | • | Yes Indeed He Do | | • | Devil's Gonna Git You | | • | You Ought to Be Ashamed | | • | Washwoman's Blues | | • | Slow and Easy Man | | • | Poor Man's Blues | | • | Please Help Me Get Him off My Mind | | • | Me and My Gin | | • | I'm Wild About That Thing | | • | You've Got to Give Me Some | | • | Kitchen Man | | • | I've Got What It Takes | | • | Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out | | • | Film Soundtrack "ST. Louis Blues" | | • | Take It Right Back | | • | He's Got Me Goin' | | • | It Makes My Love Come Down |
Disc 3
| • | Wasted Life Blues | | • | Dirty No Gooder Blues | | • | Blue Spirit Blues | | • | Worn out Papa Blues | | • | You Don't Understand | | • | Don't Cry Baby | | • | Keep It to Yourself | | • | New Orleans Hop Scop Blues | | • | See If I Care | | • | Baby Have Pity on Me | | • | On Revival Day | | • | Moan Mourners | | • | Hustlin' Dan | | • | Black Mountain Blues | | • | In the House Blues | | • | Long Old Road | | • | Blue Blue | | • | Shipwreck Blues | | • | Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl | | • | Safety Mama | | • | Do Your Duty | | • | Gimme a Pigfoot | | • | Take Me for a Buggy Ride | | • | I'm Down in the Dumps |
Disc 4
| • | Lady Luck Blues | | • | Yodelin' Blues | | • | Midnight Blues | | • | St. Louis Gal | | • | Frosty Mornin | | • | Yellow Dog Blues | | • | Soft Pedal | | • | Nashville Women's Blues | | • | Careless Love | | • | Muddy Water (Mississippi Moan) | | • | See If I Care |
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| Customer Reviews:
An Essential Artist Presented in Wonderfully Restored Sound May 29, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
JSP records has long been known for its meticulously re-mastered reissues of vintage blues, jazz, country, and popular recordings. These are the "78s" made before the use of electronic recording tape in the late 40s ushered in the age of "High Fidelity". Until his death in 2004, JSP regularly used the services of John R.T. Davies to restore the sound of its collections of reissued music. Davies was regarded by many as the best sound restoration engineer of his generation.
"Bessie Smith -- Empress of the Blues Volume 2 -- 1926 -- 1933," presented in a very affordable 4 -- disc box set, continues to uphold the standard set by John Davies. The sound quality of these CDs easily surpasses the Columbia/Legacy sets that were first issued in the early 1990s. Although Chris Albertson's excellent notes to that earlier set remain unequaled, for pure sound you cannot do better than the JSP Bessie Smith boxes. I have both the Columbia and the JSP sets, and listening to these new JSP boxes is like hearing Bessie Smith for the first time.
As most readers will know, Bessie Smith was unquestionably the greatest blues singer of her day, and is arguably the greatest of all-time. When artists as diverse as Billie holiday, Mahalia Jackson, and Janis Joplin (who before her own death helped pay for a headstone for Bessie's grave) cite Smith as inspiring their own remarkable careers, you know that this is a voice that deserves to be listened to closely and often. Those who know her work can cite dozens of classic recordings made in the 1920s and early 30s, including "St. Louis Blues," "Empty Bed Blues," "After You've Gone," "Send Me to the Electric Chair," and "Nobody Knows You When You're down and Out."
Bessie Smith's voice has always commanded attention. It is deep, strong, and above all heartfelt. But the JSP boxes for the first time clearly reveal the nuance, shading, and superb phrasing that were often obscured in previous reissues. Perhaps just as important, these new sets bring to life the contributions of the many famous jazz and blues musicians who accompanied Bessie throughout her career. For the first time we hear the full range of sound produced by such outstanding artists as pianist James P. Johnson, trumpeter Louis Armstrong, clarinetist Buster Bailey, and trombonist Charlie Green, to name but a few. It is not the sound of digital or analog tape recordings, but it is probably the best that we will have for many years. That in itself is a notable contribution to the history of recorded American music.
The price is unbeatable. For under $30 you can have the best available set of the 90 recordings Smith made between 1926 and her last side in 1933. She was still in fine voice at the end of her recording career, even if the Depression and the fading interest in blues had reduced the sales of her records dramatically. In fact, she was ready to return to recording and was negotiating an appearance in the first Carnegie Hall "Spirituals to Swing" concert organized by John Hammond when she was killed in an automobile accident in 1937.
Jazz and blues enthusiasts, and music lovers generally, have cause for celebration with the issuance of this Volume II set by JSP. It is an essential and loving presentation of a woman who, over 60 years after her death, continues to teach us about the "soul" that is the foundation of all great music.
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