Empress of the Blues: Bessie Smith
Written: Feb 22 '05 (Updated Feb 23 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: An excellent read
Cons: none for me
The Bottom Line: Since Bessie Smith was photographed by Carl Van Vechten, I thought it might be appropriate to repost this review for black History Month.
|
|
|
| ed_grover's Full Review: |
This is another book in the excellent OUTlines series that explores the various and often unexpected ways that the public has been educated about the lives and creative works of the homosexual and bisexual artists, writers, singers, dancers, composers and actors of our times.
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest blues singers in the world who just happened to be black and bisexual. They called her the Empress of the Blues, and she was born dirt-poor on April 15, 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the time she was eight, her mother was dead and she sang for pennies and nickels on the street corners. Even then, her voice attracted attention.
By nineteen she had joined the Moses Stokes Traveling Show as a dancer. Ma and Pa Rainey were part of that troupe. It is rumored that Ma Rainey kidnapped her and taught her how to sing. Ma Rainey was the matriarchal head of all the original blueswomen. She was also an open lesbian who sang the lewdest blues of the lot. “Maybe Ma, being so open about her sexuality encouraged Bessie to do likewise. Bessie was never hung up about her relationships with women; neither was Ma.”
The author tells us: “She lived and sang in a hard-drinking world of black female blues music which has remained largely a hidden secret.” By the time she was 29 she had set Columbia Records on its ear, and was selling 780,000 copies of “Downhearted Blues” within the first six months of its release. She made over 160 recordings and sang with some of the best musicians of her day. Bessie traveled in her own yellow Pullman railroad car.
After a life of success and great personal tragedy, Bessie Smith died in a car crash in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1937. She was making a comeback after being dropped by Columbia due to the depression and a decline in the blues. There was a glorious funeral in Philadelphia, paid for with her insurance money, but she lay in an unmarked grave until 1970, when singer Janis Joplin and old friend, Juanita Green, paid for her headstone. If you love the blues, you’ll love this book. (Absolute Press, ISBN 1-899791-70-1).
Other OUTlines:
Arthur Rimbaud: http://www.epinions.com/content_117999439492
Tallulah Bankhead: http://www.epinions.com/content_118523661956
David Hockney: http://www.epinions.com/content_118094401156
Armistead Maupin: http://www.epinions.com/content_121659035268
Michael Fields: http://www.epinions.com/content_121694555780
Ed Grover – Repost - 2005
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ed_grover
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Ed Grover
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Reviews written: 332
Trusted by: 400 members
About Me:
Ed's last words for Epinions members and links to tributes are on his page.
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.