in New York City - early 20th Century

from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It, pages 244-245:

Bessie Smith was a kind of roughish sort of woman. She was good-hearted and big-hearted and she liked to juice, and she liked to sing her blues slow. She didn't want no fast stuff. She had a style of phrasing, what they used to call swing--she had a certain way she used to sing. I hear a lot of singers now trying to sing something like that. Like this record that came out a few years ago--"Why Don't You Do Right?"--they're trying to imitate her.

We didn't have any rehearsals for Bessie's records, she'd just go with us [Buster Bailey, Fletcher Henderson] to the studio around Columbus…   more >>

cite as

Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro, Hear Me Talkin' To Ya: The Classic Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It (London, 1992), p. 244-245. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1435410289800 accessed: 28 March, 2024

location of experience: New York City

Listening to

hide composers
blues singing, female voice performed by Bessie Smith

Experience Information

Date/Time early 20th Century
Medium live, playback
Listening Environment in the company of others, in private, indoors, outdoors, in public

Originally submitted by 5011Henning on Sat, 27 Jun 2015 14:04:50 +0100
Approved on Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:19:14 +0100