Review:

on 2012-03-27 CharlesMartel Said:

Welcome to the oldest performance in my collection. "Crazy Blues" was the first ever recording of a black blues singer. (I say that with some hesistation because she had earlier recorded a single standing in for a sick white singer). When it was released it was a huge success among the blacks in the north and convinced Okeh, the record label, to record more work from more artists, opening up what had previously been a huge untapped market. If so called race music were said to have a beginning, then "Crazy Blues" was it.

"Crazy Blues" is a jazzy number with trombone and piano, rather than being the sort of blues we have come to think of from between the wars. Clarinets and violins also put in an appearance. Indeed, it is almost vaudeville in its sound, but that was an almost inevitable hangover from the sort of sounds black Americans had been recording up until now  aimed at white audiences. "Crazy Blues" sold over a million copies within a few months of being released - a staggering number for 1920)  and remains one of the most important and influential releases of the century.
Rating: 8/10