The Final Chapter:, The Complete Recordings, Vol. 5
Columbia Legacy C2K 37546
The final installment of Sony Legacy's chronological series of Bessie
Smith's 160 Columbia and Okeh recordings begins with her last two ballads
with Clarence Williams at the piano in 1931. They would be the last of her
classic blues recordings. She said people had enough blues with the coming of
the Depression.
After a two-year hiatus, she returned to the studio and recorded four upbeat swing tunes with some of the finest modern musicians of the day, including Frankie Newton, Jack Teagarden and Chu Berry. These are great songs and mark a major shift for Bessie from classic blues to swing. There's fine soloing and obligatos all around on this nfectious stuff. In addition, Vol. 5 includes five newly released alternate tracks of early material, with guest appearances by Louis Armstrong, Charlie Green, Coleman Hawkins and Fletcher Henderson. The sound, though commercially unacceptable in a few spots, is overall good, which is a plus since these recordings have never been heard before and some of the performances are excellent. There's no telling what she could have done had she lived longer.
But a masterpiece comes at the end of disc one: the entire 14-minute
soundtrack to "St. Louis Blues." She sits alone at a bar and delivers this somber, mesmerizing piece. There's some spirited blowing, an extended dialogue track and a wonderful rendition of the title tune, complete with mixed vocal chorus. It's enough to make this disc alone worth the price of the entire set.
Sigmund Finman formerly with Blues Access
