Archives and Special Collections Exhibits
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Creation Date
8-10-2020
Description
1. Crazy Blues
White record company executives were likely dubious about sales possibilities when Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds recorded Perry Bradford’s “Crazy Blues” on 10 August 1920. The record would go on to sell 75,000 copies in the first month of its release, ushering in the beginnings of what the recording industry termed “race records.”
African Americans had been recorded before this time. The first commercially recorded African American was George W. Johnson, whose voice was first captured in 1890. He and singers like Bert Williams and George Walker made several minstrel song recordings in the 1890s through the beginning of the 20th century. The Unique Quartet was the first African American vocal group to record, laying down songs in 1890. However, none of these recordings were widespread. Throughout the 1910s a number of black originated music was recorded by white performers, many with the word “blues” in the title, or based in blues structures.
A 1916 article in The Chicago Defender, arguably the nation’s most important African American newspaper at the time, argued that “records of the Race’s great artists will be placed on the market.” This dream wouldn’t materialize for another four years, though, when Perry Bradford made a successful sales pitch to executives at Okeh Records to take a chance on singer Mamie Smith for a recording of his “Crazy Blues.”
While some have called this the first commercial blues recording by an African American, the word “blues” is problematic. This song’s lyrics don’t fit the AAB lyric form, typical of most blues. Also the instrumentation of cornet, trombone, clarinet, violin, and piano makes the song feel closer to New Orleans jazz of the time. Regardless of semantics of form and genre, the song indelibly influenced the history of recorded music. The song’s success paved the way for all subsequent recordings of black music.
2. Mamie Smith
Like many African American performers of the first half of the 20th century Mamie Smith’s (b. 1891 Cincinnati, OH; d. 1946 Staten Island, NY) career began in vaudeville, where she honed her skills as a singer, actress, and dancer. Vaudeville shows presented a variety of song and dance styles, including blues and jazz. Her 1920 recording “Crazy Blues” can be considered the beginning bookend of the Classic Blues era, where the first blues stars were all female. Even though singers like Ma Rainey had been performing earlier, Mamie Smith’s recording success helped set the stage for singers like Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter, and many others.
She appeared in several films, including Jailhouse Blues (1929), Sunday Sinners (1940), Mystery in Swing (1940), and more.
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