MOTHER OF THE BLUES…Ma Rainey: The Complete Paramount Recordings 1923-1928
Nothing gets to the roots of American blues and jazz like this definitive 5 disc, 118 track collection that captures the complete recorded work by Ma Rainey on Paramount Records. Rainey’s delivery and style have influenced decades of vocalists, ranging from Besse Smith to Janis Joplin. Most importantly, you also get to hear some of...
Nothing gets to the roots of American blues and jazz like this definitive 5 disc, 118 track collection that captures the complete recorded work by Ma Rainey on Paramount Records. Rainey’s delivery and style have influenced decades of vocalists, ranging from Besse Smith to Janis Joplin. Most importantly, you also get to hear some of the earliest work by Louis Armstrong, who (with Buster Bailey/cl, Charlie Green/tb, and Fletcher Henderson/p) appear on a number of tunes, such as the classics “See See Rider” , Jelly Bean Blues” and “Countin’ The Blues”. Her work with pianist Claude Hopkins is just as legendary, as on “Oh Papa Blues”. Possibly the earliest rendition of the R&B hit “Stagger Lee” is introduced here from a 1925 session that included trumpeter Joe Smith and Coleman Hawkins on tenor sax for “Stack O’ Lee Blues”. And, believe it or not, after all of these years there are still a few songs that have been previously unreleased, finally here for the first time. If you want to know the root of all roots, here is the motherlode.
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