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Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today!

“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today!

“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today!

“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today! “Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today!

“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

Recording

Porgy and Bess: Bill Potts

Porgy and Bess: Bill Potts

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Between 1956 and 1964, at least 16 jazz interpretations of Porgy & Bess were recorded and released. Why the frenzy? Part of the reason was the opera's global popularity by 1955. In 1952, Robert Breen directed and co-produced with Blevins Davis a revival of the George Gershwin opera in New York that eventually toured 29 countries in four years. The opera eventually wound up being performed in Leningrad and Moscow in December 1955—the first postwar U.S.-Soviet cultural exchange. An account ...

Radio

Porgy & Bess Part 2 This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Porgy & Bess Part 2 This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick

This week Riverwalk Jazz offers an encore presentation of the concluding episode in George Gershwin’s folk opera, Porgy and Bess, featuring acting legend William Warfield as narrator. This two-part series features an original jazz transcription of the music from Porgy and Bess, created by The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and recorded at The Landing in San Antonio in 1992. Among his many accolades, Mr. Warfield is known for his role as Porgy opposite Leontyne Price (see photo). The program is ...

Radio

Porgy And Bess Part I This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Porgy And Bess Part I This Week On Riverwalk Jazz

Source: Don Mopsick

For the next two weeks, Riverwalk Jazz presents a two-part special, The Jim Cullum Jazz Band’s acclaimed jazz transcription of George Gershwin’s American folk opera Porgy and Bess. Theater legend William Warfield, the award-winning bass-baritone famous for his memorable stage role as Porgy, appears as narrator in this encore presentation. The program is distributed in the US by Public Radio International, on Sirius/XM satellite radio and can be streamed on-demand from the Riverwalk Jazz website. You can also drop in ...

Recording

Art Hodes: I Remember Bessie

Art Hodes: I Remember Bessie

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

The end of World War II remains the most profound demarcation in jazz history. Jazz changed so radically and abruptly after 1945 that fans of the music split into two bickering camps. Pre-war jazz fans argued that their music had structure, charm and romanticism that post-war jazz lacked. Post-war jazz fans countered that their music was about individualism, advocacy and daring—viewing pre-war jazz as archaic, formulaic and dull. Pianist Art Hodes [prounced HOE-diss] was considered a pre-war pianist and often ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bessie Smith

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today!

“Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues singers on how it should be done. Bessie Smith, born on Apr. 15, 1894, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of ten children. Her parents died by her eighth birthday, and she was raised by her older sister Viola. She was taught to sing and dance by her ...

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