Label: Document Records.
Release Date: March 18, 1997.
Recording Time: 67 minutes.
Recording Time: 67 minutes.
Recording Date: October 24, 1924 - January 8, 1932.
Styles: Classic Female Blues.
Styles: Classic Female Blues.
Featured Artists: Baby Bonnie, Eloise Bennett, Louise Anderson, Mildred Austin, Ora Alexander.
This is the first of 14 CDs that the Austrian Document label has put out that includes the complete output of obscure classic blues singers from the 1920s/early '30s. In most cases, the vocalists only recorded a handful of sides, so these performances have eluded previous reissue programs. Vol. 1 has eight numbers by Ora Alexander (the high point of the disc), a lone number by Louise Anderson, four tunes featuring Mildred Austin, six from Baby Bonne (Ernestine Bomburyero), and four by Eloise Bennett. James P. Johnson might be the pianist on a few of the Ora Alexander numbers while cornetist Wingy Carpenter helps out on the Baby Bonnie selections. This is a very valuable series that classic blues collectors will certainly want to acquire. - Review by Scott Yanow
Document Records: The singers on this first volume demonstrate the extremes of the stylistic range of the female blues singers of this era from the southern barrelhouse style of Ora Alexander and the down-home style of Baby Bonnie to the vaudeville style of Louise Anderson and Mildred Austin. Accompanists include Theodore “Wingy” Carpenter, Lovell Bolan, Milton Davage and Corky Williams. The female blues singers who made records in the 1920s and early 1930 are often simplistically characterized as "vaudeville" artists. This series, of fourteen volumes, concentrates on singers who made only a handful of recordings and who mostly remain biographically obscure, reveals the true diversity of the female artists of this era. While the vaudeville theatres and travelling tent shows were probably the main venues for most of them, some sang in cabarets and others in low-down barrelhouses. Some were vaudeville veterans whose careers stretched back to the teens or even earlier, while others were young new arrivals on the stage. Yet others sound as though they had just emerged from a rough saloon and house party environment. Some created their own excellent song material, while others were merely the vehicles for ambitious song-writers who often also served as their accompanists. Some are obscure and many leave us wishing they had been more extensively recorded. Whatever the case, they fill out the picture of the blues of this era and present plenty of fine musical moments and material of great interest.
Credits: Llynn Abbott - research assistant; Ora Alexander - accordion, primary artist, vocals; Louise Anderson - accordion, primary artist, vocals; Mildred Austin - performer, primary artist, vocals; Wingy Carpenter - cornet; Edgar Dowell - composer; Dr. David Evans - liner notes; James P. Johnson & His Orchestra - piano; Johnny Parth - compilation producer, producer; Andy Razaf - composer; Fats Waller - composer; Gerhard Wessely - remastering.
Tracks: 1) I'm Going To Have It Now - Ora Alexander; 2) You've Got To Save That Thing - Ora Alexander; 3) Rider Needs A Fast Horse - Ora Alexander; 4) Ugly Man Blues - Ora Alexander; 5) Sweetest Daddy In Town - Ora Alexander; 6) Men Sure Are Deceiving - Ora Alexander; 7) I Crave Your Lovin' Every Day - Ora Alexander; 8) I'm Wild About My Patootie - Ora Alexander; 9) Papa, You're Too Slow - Louise Anderson; 10) My Papa Doesn't Two-Time No Time - Mildred Austin; 11) Sing That Song With Feeling - Mildred Austin; 12) Anybody Here Want To Try My Cabbage? - Mildred Austin; 13) I'm All Broke Out With The Blues - Mildred Austin; 14) Backbiting Moan - Baby Bonnie; 15) I Got Your Water On - Baby Bonnie; 16) Leaving School Blues - Baby Bonnie; 17) Black Bottom Blues - Baby Bonnie; 18) Longing Home - Baby Bonnie; 19) Home, Sweet Home Blues - Baby Bonnie; 20) Love Me Mr. Strange Man - Eloise Bennett; 21) Effervescent Daddy - Eloise Bennett; 22) I Can't Be Satisfied With One - Eloise Bennett; 23) Sting Me, Mr. Strange Man - Eloise Bennett.