Simply put, this is the most extensive collection of
Mamie Smith sides on one disc that is available in 2004. It goes much farther than the Classic Blues Essential disc. Between the years 1920-1931 when recording for OKeh, Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds were kindred spirits to Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and
Seven, though her sound is far more indicative of the music of the Harlem Renaissance than New Orleans. Sophisticated, hard-swinging, and full of the lilt of cabaret music as well as the down-home roughhouse blues,
Mamie Smith had to be the first female blues superstar. This is elegant from top to bottom and offers new acquaintances a view of the blues far from its country origins and tightly woven with jazz. Amazing. ~ Thom Jurek