Bessie Smith - Bessie Smith Collection 1923-33Bessie Smith was not only the first significant female blues singer to emerge during the early electric recording era, but her influence and reputation is such that she is still rightly hailed as the most important and greatest female blues artist in the annals of the genre, rightly given the title "The Empress Of The Blues". Her recording career was compressed into the decade covered by this collection, her career being blighted by the Depression,

makes the most of the finale's punch and vigour

) on guitar

I listened to some of the raw stuff and thought it sounded honest and brutal

Clyma Est Mort

and entrances the listener with a rich palette of tone colors

The Godfather of Hip-Hop culture's famous mid-nineties album featuring Planet Rock '96

I think about some nerdy punk kid in the rural south whoneeds to hear that now

and he wrote of it's concluding section

I am glad to be among those feeling the benefits of women being heard more loudly

TV shows and modern cartoons

" (Evening Standard) "Throughout she played with elegance

Although he returned to Europe