Bessie

Name: Bessie
Brand: Tantor Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Chris Albertson
ISBN: 9781494573706

Author: Chris Albertson

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 6 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/19/2014

Categories: Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Women, Music & Musicians

Synopsis

Bessie Smith, the great singer known as the "Empress of the Blues," is considered by many to be the greatest blues singer of all time. She was also a successful vaudeville entertainer who became the highest-paid African American performer of the Roaring Twenties.

Chris Albertson's revised and expanded edition of the biography of this extraordinary artist debunks many of the myths that have circulated since her untimely death in 1937. Albertson writes with insight and candor about the singer's personal life and her career, supplementing his historical research with dozens of interviews with her relatives, friends, and associates, including Ruby Walker Smith, a niece by marriage who toured with Bessie for over a decade.

About Chris Albertson

Chris Albertson is the acknowledged authority on Bessie Smith. A longtime contributor to Stereo Review, Down Beat, Saturday Review, and other publications, he has written extensive liner notes for jazz and blues albums and has produced a wide array of recordings, radio, and television programs.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Me

A fantastic amount of research went into this book and that in itself is amazing since most had to be gathered from live interviews with Bessie's colleagues. Dubbed the Emperoress of the Blues, Bessie was by all accounts a feisty, tough beyond belief, talented singer. Rising up from abject [poverty......more

Goodreads review by David

There is, of course, only so much information available on Bessie Smith at this late date (or even in 1972 when the first edition was published), but Albertson does a remarkable job of developing a portrait of the Empress of the Blues with what little raw material was available. If the account of th......more

Goodreads review by Emily

A good biography of a fascinating person. Albertson does a good job of giving a rounded picture of Bessie Smith, although most of the interest and vitality comes from the verbatim memories of Ruby Walker, Smith's niece by marriage, who toured extensively with her in the 1920's and 30's. Albertson re......more