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Jan 14 2008

Bessie Smith: St. Louis Blues

Posted by clarkspicks in blues, jazz, movies, music, tags: , , , , , , ,

This is Bessie Smith’s only appearance in film. In 1925 she made a hit record of W. C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” with Louis Armstrong on cornet. Handy, with the help of Kenneth W. Adams, wrote a film treatment for the song and RCA Phototone produced this film short starring Bessie with a band featuring James P. Johnson on piano, Thomas Morris and Joe Smith on cornet, and the Hall Johnson Choir. Jimmy Mordecai is the dancer/no good boyfriend.

This clip is over eight minutes long, but I think you will find the time well spent.

The hot jazz band goes into the introduction of Gershwyn’s “Rhapsody In Blue at the end of the dance number - priceless.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 6:55 pm and is filed under blues, jazz, movies, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Bessie Smith: St. Louis Blues”
  1. jeremy says: January 15th, 2008 at 12:47 am

    Very nostalgic. They don’t make ‘em like that any more, right? Cliche, but true in this case. Thanks for posting this!

  2. Kyle & Svet says: January 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    No good boyfriend needs to have a attitude adjustment.

    Very good.

    Kyle

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