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On this day, 100 years ago, Columbia Records held a recording session with a singer named Bessie Smith. The country at large didn't know her then, but soon found out because she was launching a career ...

The Bessie Smith Cultural Center announces the return of the Bessie Smith’s Big 9 Music Fest, taking place on Saturday, April 13, and Sunday, April 14. The festival will be held along the 200 block of ...

Jazzanooga is celebrating National Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) with a tribute to a jazz icon each week in April during its JAM Fest. Coincidentally, the late, great Bessie Smith's birthday is also ...

This broadcast continues the celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month with new releases from Trilogy, Jose Luiz Martins, Jeff Libman, Medler Sextet and Nancy Kelly, with birthday shoutouts to Carline ...

There’s a reason Bessie Smith was known as the Empress of the Blues. Her heartfelt songs and gritty glamour introduced the sounds of African American music to large audiences in the 1920s and 30s. She ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Bessie Smith Cultural Center will present a full month of events this June celebrating African American history, culture and music. "From honoring Negro League baseball legends to uplifting ...