His Best Recordings: 1921-1944

Original Release Date:  November 19, 1996

Track Listing

• 1. The Harlem Strut
• 2. Keep off the Grass
• 3. Carolina Shout
• 4. Carolina Shout
• 5. You Can't Do What My Last Man Did
• 6. I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
• 7. Backwater Blues
• 8. Snowy Morning Blues
• 9. Persian Rug
• 10. Guess Who's in Town
• 11. Riffs
• 12. Crying for the Carolines
• 13. You've Got to Be Modernistic
• 14. Jingles
• 15. Who?
• 16. After Tonight
• 17. If Dreams Come True
• 18. A-Flat Dream
• 19. Blueberry Rhyme
• 20. Old Fashioned Love
• 21. After You've Gone
• 22. Over the Bars

Credits

• Bessie Smith: Composer, Vocals, Performer
• Buster Bailey: Clarinet
• Al Casey: Guitar
• Sidney DeParis: Trumpet
• James P. Johnson: Piano, Composer, Director
• John Kirby: Sax (Baritone)
• Fats Waller: Organ
• Ethel Waters: Vocals, Performer
• Ben Webster: Sax (Tenor)
• Jabbo Smith: Cornet
• Perry Bradford: Director, Vocals
• Pete Brown: Sax (Alto)
• Cozy Cole: Drums
• Frankie Newton: Trumpet
• Don Redman: Sax (Alto)
• Louis Armstrong: Cornet
• Garvin Bushell: Clarinet, Bassoon, Sax (Alto)
• Big Sid Catlett: Drums
• Vic Dickenson: Trombone
• Eddie Dougherty: Drums
• Pops Foster: Sax (Baritone)
• J.C. Higginbotham: Trombone
• Joseph "Kaiser" Marshall: Drums
• Mezz Mezzrow: Clarinet
• Gene Sedric: Sax (Tenor)
• Jimmy Shirley: Guitar
• John Simmons: Bass
• Charlie Green: Trombone
• Johnny Williams: Sax (Baritone)
• Sam Speed: Banjo
• Eugene Fields: Guitar
• Louisiana Sugar Babes: Performer