Legend has it that Bessie Smith didn't need a microphone when she performed...that, even with a large ensemble of players, you could hear her voice clearly. Anywhere in the room. Even outside of the building where she was singing on the street. A big voice.
At least that's what Bobby Lounge told me, when I interviewed him for an npr story several years ago. Eccentric, reclusive, Bobby Lounge is worth his own blog post (at least one...)
But that will come in the future. For now, climb into this little Bessie Smith time machine (a youtube video) with its own anti-climactic, supa-highway weirdness. The machine: just a single shot of a record spinning....
When you get tired of looking, close your eyes and listen to the power of Bessie Smith's voice slicing from the distant past into your ear drums, taking you back...
Bessie Smith. A voice that cut through wax, walls and thick slabs of decadetime.
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