Label: Classic Blues.
Release Date: August 7, 2001.
Recording Time: 112 minutes.
Recording Date: 1923 - 1931.
Release Info: Compilation (CBL-200027) Studio Recording.
Styles: Classic Female Blues, Country Blues, Piano Blues.
When in 2001 the Classic Blues label reissued 36 out of the 125 extant recordings by blues singer Clara Smith, an attempt was clearly made to select examples that fit both the album and series title Essential. Each of her most important collaborators are represented on this collection, but the omission of all but one of the six recordings she made with Louis Armstrong constitutes a serious and somewhat inexplicable goof. All three of the originally issued duets with Bessie Smith are provided (including their gutsy reading of Ida Cox's "I'm Going Back to My Used to Be"), along with three of the four duets she sang with guitarist Lonnie Johnson. "Oh! Mr. Mitchell" and "Where Is My Man?" have accompaniment by Harlem stride pianist, composer and bandleader James P. Johnson. Clara Smith's other piano accompanists included songwriters Porter Grainger and Lemuel Fowler, who backs her on his own "Percolatin' Blues." She is heard with pianist Fletcher Henderson and various members of his orchestra, including (in addition to Armstrong) trombonist Big Charlie Green and saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman; on tracks one and twelve she is accompanied by trumpeter Freddy Jenkins, whose path would subsequently lead through the brass section of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. "My Good-For-Nothin' Man" has harmonica passages by one Herbert Leonard with guitar support from Leonard Myers. On the peculiarly funny "Ol' Sam Tages," her pianist, who engages in a bit of vaudeville chortling on the flipside ("Unemployed Papa-Charity Workin' Mama"), is identified as "Asbestos Burns". Perhaps the most unusual instrument heard in this jazz-infused blues collection is the cello operated by Marion Cumbo on the moody slow drag "I Wanna Go Home." Like any of the other entries in the Classic Blues Essential series, this tidily remastered sampler covering the years 1923-1931 may serve as a sort of non-linear appetizer. For those who aren't shy about tracking down six chronologically arranged volumes of Clara Smith on Document, she's worth studying in greater depth than is possible with the Essential edition's random selection. For access to all six of the wonderful recordings she made with Louis Armstrong, go directly to Document's third volume, which covers her entire output from the year 1925. ~ arwulf arwulf
Credits: Fay Barnes - composer; George Brooks - composer; John Capes - liner notes; Leon Chappelear - composer; James Cox - composer; Jimmie Davis - composer; Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey - composer; Lem Fowler - composer; A. Hill - composer; Zora Neale Hurston - composer; Lonnie Johnson - composer, performer, primary artist; Chris Osborne - illustrations; Tiny Parham - composer; Bessie Smith - composer, performer, primary artist; Clara Smith - composer, primary artist; E.A. Smith - executive producer; Joe Sullivan - composer; Hudson Whittaker - composer; Clarence Williams - composer; Spencer Williams - composer.
Tracks, Disc 1: 1. Sobbin' Sister Blues - Clara Smith; 2. Good Looking Papa Blues - Clara Smith; 3. I Never Miss the Sunshine (I'm So Used to the Rain) - Clara Smith; 4. Percolatin' Blues - Clara Smith; 5. I'm Going Back to My Used to Be - Bessie Smith, Clara Smith; 6. You're Getting Old on Your Job - Clara Smith, Lonnie Johnson; 7. Texas Moaner Blues - Clara Smith; 8. San Francisco Blues - Clara Smith; 9. Tired of the Way You Do - Clara Smith; 10. The L & N Blues - Clara Smith; 11. Shipwrecked Blues - Clara Smith; 12. Steamboat Man Blues - Clara Smith; 13. Oh! Mister Mitchell - Clara Smith, James Price Johnson; 14. Where Is My Man? - Clara Smith, James Price Johnson; 15. You Had Too Much - Clara Smith, Lonnie Johnson; 16. Unemployed Papa-Charity Working Mama - Clara Smith; 17. My Man Blues - Bessie Smith, Clara Smith; 18. My Brand-New Papa - Clara Smith.
Tracks, Disc 2: 1. Different Way Blues - Clara Smith; 2. Black Cat Moan - Clara Smith; 3. Far Away Blues - Bessie Smith, Clara Smith; 4. Onery Blues - Clara Smith; 5. Empty House Blues - Clara Smith; 6. It's Tight Like That - Clara Smith; 7. Don't Fool Around on Me - Clara Smith; 8. Old Sam Tages - Clara Smith; 9. Low Land Moan - Clara Smith; 10. Gin Mill Blues - Clara Smith; 11. Jelly Look What You Done Done - Clara Smith; 12. It's All Coming Home to You - Clara Smith; 13. Down in the Mouf Blues - Clara Smith; 14. Woman to Woman - Clara Smith; 15. What Makes You Act Like That? - Clara Smith, Lonnie Johnson; 16. Wanna Go Home - Clara Smith; 17. My Good-For-Nothin' Man - Clara Smith; 18. Good Times (Come on Back Once More) - Clara Smith.