In 1920, Mamie Smith became the FIRST Black American to record a Blues song. "Crazy Blues” ushered in a new era of "race records.” Previously, white singers copied Black vocal styles in blues recordings, while Black entertainers like Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, & Bessie Smith were confined to the "Chitlin Circuit." Mamie Smith’s success paved the way for black blues & jazz musicians to thrive.
In the late 19th century, Black-American musicians in the Southern United States started playing and singing a musical style that would later be recognized as blues, drawing inspiration from earlier African American genres such as work songs, field hollers, spirituals, and minstrelsy, as well as Anglo and European influences.
Although no recordings of blues songs from before the 1910s exist, it is widely acknowledged that the blues had already taken shape by the 1890s. Record companies eventually realized the lucrative potential of selling "race records" to various minority groups in urban areas. These were early 20th-century sound recordings made exclusively by and for Black Americans.
Although phonograph recordings were made as early as 1901, few were produced by Black Americans, with many of them falling into the category of novelty acts. Notable early Black recording artists included George W. Johnson, a former slave, The Unique Quartette, Louis ("Bebe") Vasnier, and the duo of George Walker and Bert Williams.
In October 1916, "The Chicago Defender," an Black American newspaper, expressed its belief that recordings by great Black artists would enter the market, recognizing the growing number of Black Americans who owned record players.
Over the following years, some Black American styles appeared on shellac records, but predominantly performed by white musicians, such as the Original Dixieland Jass Band, who released the first commercial jazz records in 1917.
It wasn't until November 1920 that Black musicians and singers began to be regularly recorded. During that month, pianist and composer Perry Bradford introduced the talented entertainer Mamie Smith, marking a significant turning point in the recording of Black artists.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1891, Mamie Smith was primarily a vaudeville performer rather than a Blues singer, although she did incorporate Blues and Jazz numbers into her act. At the age of 10, she began her career as a dancer in the vaudeville act known as the Four Dancing Mitchells. Later on, she joined the Salem Tutt Whitney and Homer Tutt's show, "The Smart Set," and toured with them.
In 1913, Mamie relocated to New York with "The Smart Set" but decided to leave the show and pursue a singing career. She started performing in Harlem at various venues like Baron Wilkin's Little Savoy Club, Leroy's, Edmunds, Percy Brown's, and Banks' Place.
Mamie's initial recordings took place in early 1920. She released a couple of popular songs, namely "That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down." These recordings sold well, and her manager, Perry Bradford, convinced OKeh Records that there was a market for more authentic Blues records targeted at the large number of African-Americans who had migrated to northern cities.
To showcase Mamie Smith's talent, Perry Bradford assembled a band called the Jazz Hounds. Initially led by cornetist Johnny Dunn and later by Bubber Miley, the band accompanied Mamie's performances, which included trapeze acts, dancing, comedy, extravagant costumes, jewelry, and, of course, music.
Bradford's determination to record Mamie Smith led to an audition with Victor Records. During this audition, she sang another of Bradford's songs, "That Thing Called Love," accompanied by a piano. Unfortunately, this attempt didn't yield any immediate results.
Bradford managed to catch the attention of Fred Hager, the recording director at OKeh Records, by presenting him with the sheet music for his songs, "That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down." Bradford confidently proclaimed that Mamie Smith, as a singer, could bring these songs to life like no one else, stating she could "do more with those songs than a monkey can do with a peanut."
Although Hager might have had reservations about signing Smith due to potential backlash from working with Black American musicians, he took the leap. In February 1920, Hager arranged a recording session and hired a backing band (it's unclear whether they were white or black musicians).
Mamie Smith was brought in, and she performed "That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep A Good Man Down." The resulting release on OKeh 4113 showed promising signs, leading Hager to plan further sessions where Smith would record blues songs.
The details become somewhat murky from here, with the involvement of pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith (no relation to Mamie) in the story. In his autobiography, "Music On My Mind," The Lion claimed to have discovered Mamie through her then-husband, William "Sweet Singing Smitty" Smith.
The Lion also mentioned that the tune for "Crazy Blues" had circulated since before 1916 as "Baby, Get That Towel Wet," an old bawdy song played in sporting houses. The composer James P. Johnson later adapted it for his song "Mama and Papa's Blues."
Perry Bradford had used the same tune for several of his own songs, such as "The Broken Hearted Blues" (1917), "The Wicked Blues" (also known as "The Nervous Blues," 1918, 1921), and "Harlem Blues" (1918). It was under the title "Harlem Blues" that Mamie Smith learned the song from Bradford in 1918 for a New York stage show called "The Maid of Harlem."
Mamie's success in performing the song encouraged Bradford to persistently approach recording companies to capture her, an African American singer, in the style of Black American blues. At that time, she had already been a seasoned veteran in Black entertainment for over 25 years.
In his book, The Lion claimed to have arranged the OKeh session for Mamie through Ralph Peer and to have been the pianist during the recording of "Crazy Blues," mentioning that Perry Bradford was absent from the studio that day.
The Lion's account would be questionable if it weren't for his presence at the piano in a publicity shot of Mamie Smith taken at that time. The Lion's version of events contradicts what Bradford recounts in his autobiography, "Born With The Blues."
Nevertheless, on August 10, 1920, Mamie Smith, accompanied by a group of Black American musicians, recorded "Crazy Blues" (formerly known as "Harlem Blues") and "It's Right Here For You." The recordings were released on OKeh 4169 that fall.
During its time, "Crazy Blues" achieved tremendous success, reportedly selling 75,000 copies within its first two months of release. This remarkable accomplishment led publishers to take legal action against Perry Bradford for not paying royalties for the previous versions of the song titled "Broken Hearted Blues" and "Wicked Blues."
The long-term prosperity of the record provided OKeh with ample financial resources to organize more blues sessions featuring Mamie Smith and other urban Black American artists. This sparked a trend of women blues singers across the recording industry, which lasted until the end of the 1920s.
Subsequently, the General Phonograph Company, under the OKeh label, introduced a series called "Original Race Records." This series was exclusively advertised in Black-owned newspapers, targeting Black Americans.
Over the following years, renowned Black musical director Clarence Williams signed and recorded numerous prominent blues, jazz, and gospel artists for OKeh, including Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Lonnie Johnson.
White-owned record companies swiftly recognized the potential of the Black market and introduced their own "race record" lines. Columbia featured blues singers Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Clara Smith, while Vocalion showcased Leroy Carr, Henry Thomas, and Robert Johnson.
Paramount, known as the "Premier Race Label," recorded artists such as Alberta Hunter, Charley Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. In the 1930s, Decca Records produced a "Sepia Series."
The annual sales of race records in the 1920s soared to five million copies, leading to the emergence of Black-owned record companies.
The first among them was the short-lived Black Swan label founded by Harry Pace. Pace proudly proclaimed, "The only genuine colored record. Others are only passing for colored."
Black Swan artists included Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, and pianist/bandleader Fletcher Henderson.
When Pace sold the label to Paramount in 1924, the Chicago Defender credited him with pressuring white-owned companies to recognize the demand for Black performers, publish race music catalogs, and advertise in Black newspapers.
Initially, race records were marketed directly to the Black community, resulting in most white Americans of that era being introduced to blues and jazz styles through recordings by white jazz musicians like Paul Whiteman, who couldn't claim credit for originating those styles.
However, the popularity of radio altered perceptions. By the 1930s, race records were no longer strictly categorized, and it became evident in the 1940s that the market for music by Black performers transcended ethnic lines. Furthermore, jazz and blues styles evolved through the collaboration of both Black and white musicians. After World War II, the terms "race records" and "race music" were abandoned.
Mamie Smith's recording of "Crazy Blues" propelled her to become a national star, at least until the mid-1920s. In 1921 (just a year later), buoyed by the overwhelming success of "Crazy Blues," Mamie Smith dumped Perry Bradford. She conveyed this message to him through a process server and her new boyfriend, Ocie Wilson. Mamie continued recording for Okeh until 1923 and remained a featured act in theaters until 1931.
During the 1930s and early 1940s, Mamie enjoyed continued success in her singing and recording career. She also made appearances in several films, some of which, along with her "soundies," have survived until 1942.
Mamie Smith passed away on August 16, 1946 and with modest means and was buried in a communal grave. Perry Bradford outlived her by 24 years. In his late 60s, he regarded the "Crazy Blues" session as the defining event of his life, as reflected in his work "Born With The Blues."
Mamie Smith established the benchmark for subsequent female blues singers. Nearly every other Classic Blues singer of the 1920s drew inspiration from her performances or modeled themselves after her to achieve their own success.
@Deglassco That's a lovely melody, but I can't with that suicide bit at the end. Words are the most important part of a song, to me. What are any of us conveying with whatever we are saying or singing? But, man oh man, as a lover of the blues, that was some really lovely singing!
@Deglassco as always with your posts, I love this. I am curious about vaudeville which you mention. Its a term I kind of sort of think I understand until I have to actually define it - variety shows, music, dance, comedy that ran on a touring circuit.(?) I am sorry to say I never thought about whether it was segregated. Did African American and white performers share the stage? Was the audience mixed?
@bluedragon the audiences were not mixed during this era and later. And most places during this era, Black performers could not enter the venues except as entertainers. Black folks had their own places of entertainment. Regarding vaudeville, yes, many of the early entertainment acts were a combination of comedy, singing, dancing, etc..
@Deglassco I actually learned about race records when I was researching more about R. L. Burnside, probably my favorite delta blues artist. Thank you for doing a more extensive write up on it; Wikipedia didn’t satisfy all of my curiosity about it :)
@Deglassco@blackmastodon@BlackMastodon I was surprised at the fidelity of that recording. . No muffled snap crackle pop like some of them at all. Clear voice and instruments
@Deglassco
This is fascinating. Mamie Smith recently came up in a discussion that @BigFrickinSwede and I had about Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" being covered by a white country singer (and that version seems to be getting a lot of play for some reason), similar to ‘Big Mama’ Thornton's "Hound Dog" and Elvis's cover.
@bassplayer I looked at the trailer. Very interesting. I haven’t seen it but will check it out. It’s always good to broaden inclusiveness in areas of our cultural and social lives here in the United States. It enriches us as a country..
I was so fortunate to hear Ethel Waters live, in a small, informal venue at the piano bar at the La Fonda in Santa Fe. It must have been in the 1980’s, she was quite old but a wonderful singer.
@Deglassco I know more about Jazz than about Blues, but always interested in learning more.
This picture from the year I was born in the local (Dendermonde in Flanders) #honky-tonk jazzclub.
Two uncles played in the local band "The Jeggpap", they invited many musicians over. #LouisNelson especially liked to come and stay with my grandparents.
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