“There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town To-night”
Bessie Smith And Her Blue Boys
March 2, 1927 (Columbia 14219-D mx 143570)
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
Bessie Smith And Her Blue Boys
March 2, 1927 (Columbia 14219-D mx 143568)
Here are two recordings that I am especially pleased to add to Radio Dismuke’s playlist.
I heard this recording of “There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town To-night” some years ago and was simply blown away by it. I can’t put into words the specific quality of Bessie Smith’s voice that caused this recording to have such an effect on me and made it so memorable. Let’s just say that her voice was powerful. And the jazz combo that backs her up is excellent – it included Fletcher Henderson on the piano and Buster Bailey on clarinet. On the “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” side Coleman Hawkins is the clarinet player.
Both of these songs were already “oldies” by the time Smith recorded them. “There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight” was published in 1896 and was used as a marching song by Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. Irving Berlin composed “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” in 1911 and it became his first of many hit songs.
– – Dismuke