Personnel includes: Bessie Smith (vocals); Fletcher Henderson, Irving Johns, Jimmy Jones, Clarence Williams (piano); Buddy Christian (banjo); Ernest Elliot.

Includes liner notes by Anatol Schenker.

Personnel: Bessie Smith (vocals, accordion); Buddy Christian (banjo); Ernest Elliott (clarinet); Clarence Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Irving Johns, Jimmy Jones (piano).

Liner Note Author: Anatol Schenker.

Recording information: New York, NY (02/16/1923-10/04/1923).

This is volume one of a made-in-France version of the more familiar Columbia/Legacy Smith reissues, a single disc collection that duplicates the first 23 chronologically arranged tracks on the American THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS VOL. 1. The liner notes are pretty perfunctory compared to the American set (an essay by Bessie biographer Chris Albertson) and the sound here isn't as good as Legacy's digital restoration, although it's certainly listenable. Those limitations acknowledged, however, this is still great, timeless great music--even at this early stage, Smith was indisputably the Empress of the Blues. The most interesting track here is probably "T'Ain't Nobody's Biz-Ness If I Do" (20 years before Billie Holiday), although just about everything here is rewarding; it's particularly fascinating to hear Bessie growing more assured as the set progresses.