Talk:List of classic female blues singers

Definitions

The phrase "classic blues singer" is not a value judgement synonymous with "outstanding" or "historically important blues singer", but rather identifies performers in a particular style that was popular in the 1920s. Derrick Stewart-Baxter, author of one of the few books on the subject, writes:

The definition we have may be ambiguous, but it cannot be ignored. Over the years it has become more and more meaningless; for example, nearly every woman singer seems to have been put into this category, from the rawest country moaners to the more sophisticated performers ... The women performers of the 'twenties and early 'thirties had many virtues, but their style—or styles—were hybrid, and contained elements other than pure blues ... In short, the classic blues singer was a stage performer who came up with the glorious music hall tradition. That is why the work of such fine singers as Bessie Tucker and Elzadie Robinson and their contemporaries in style does not fall into the category of Classic Blues as I define them.(Stewart-Baxter, Derrick, 1970. Ma Rainey and the classic blues singers. London: Studio Vista. pp.6-8.)

In Yonder Come the Blues: the evolution of a genre, Oliver, Russell and Dixon offer a definition (p. 260, in chapter 17, entitled, "The Classic Blues, 1923-1926"): "In 1923 race records came into their own ... These were the years of the classic blues singers—professional vaudeville and cabaret performers, almost exclusively female, who sang 12-bar blues interspersed with a few traditional and pop numbers."

Oliver and Harrison, in The New Grove Gospel, Blues, and Jazz: with spirituals and ragtime, write: "'Classic' blues is an imprecise term (probably first used in print by John Jacob Niles in 1930) that has been loosely applied to the songs of the urban women singers based in New York and Chicago ... [who were] seldom recorded self-accompanied and were usually backed by jazz musicians."(p. 53) In Mother of the Blues: a study of Ma Rainey, Sandra Lieb writes: "[Ma Rainey] was one of the earliest singers of the 'Classic Blues', a black singing style immensely popular in the 1920s. Performed almost exclusively by women, the style was marked by a combination of blues and material from black minstrel shows and vaudeville."(p. xi) "With the Depression and the rise of swing music in the thirties, the Classic Blues went out of fashion."(p. xii) "The Classic Blues barely outlived the twenties, becoming engulfed in and utterly changed by the Depression and shifts in audience taste, but from 1920 to roughly 1928 Ma Rainey and the other women ... enjoy[ed] a period of influence, wealth, popularity, and imitation by lesser performers."(p. xiv)

Artists are not easily divided into neat categories, but in order for this list to be useful it seems best to exclude performers who are chronologically or stylistically remote from the urban stage entertainment of the 1920s. Our list includes some borderline cases, but Memphis Minnie probably should be left off. Paul Oliver, in Jazz on Record, says she was "acknowledged by her contemporaries among blues singers as the greatest of the women singers outside the 'classic' vein."(Harris, Sheldon,1994. Blues Who's Who [Revised Ed.]. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 162.) Used as a source, allmusic.com tends to confuse the issue: their article on Memphis Minnie describes her as "outside the vaudeville tradition", but the links at the left—allmusic's equivalent of an infobox, with all the hazards that implies—includes "classic female blues" among her styles. Ewulp (talk) 05:27, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Yes, well researched and point made. I have removed Memphis Minnie accordingly (if rather belatedly). - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 16:21, 27 March 2021 (UTC)

Female Blues Legends

Koko Taylor!!!! 70.59.80.106 (talk) 01:14, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

No, not at all - please see comments above. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 13:04, 25 April 2022 (UTC)