The Naxos
Bessie Smith series is a series of imports featuring
Bessie Smith's best recordings rather than including every selection she recorded. Unlike her earliest records, the songs that she cut during 1925-1927 were well recorded and usually match her with superior players. Among the classics included on
Vol. 3 in this series are "I Ain't Got Nobody," "At the Christmas Ball" (her one Christmas record),
Fats Waller's "Squeeze Me," and two numbers with pianist
James P. Johnson: "Backwater Blues" and "Preachin' the Blues."
Bessie proves throughout these performances that it was not false advertising to bill her as "The Empress of the Blues." ~ Scott Yanow