All About Jazz is celebrating Bessie Smith's birthday today! “Empress of the Blues” She embodied the meaning of the blues, living the life she sang about. Bessie Smith set the standard for blues ...

Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, was the first African American superstar, an artist that mingled regal dignity with sensuality. We’ll sample her recorded legacy, talk with critics and hear ...

This broadcast passes the midway mark of Jazz Appreciation Month with new music from Ron Wilkins & Rebecca Patterson, Catherine Russell, Danny Sinoff, Miho Hazama, Hendrik Meurkens and Jaana Narsipur, ...

Two special programs will be featured at this year's Southcoast Dixieland Clambake Jazz Festival, being held at five venues in the Bay Area -- an all-youth venue and a tribute to Bessie Smith. The ...

The hangings parted and a great brown woman emerged—she was the size of Fay Templeton in her Weber & Fields days, and she was even garbed similarly, in a rose satin dress, spangled with sequins, which ...