Search - Jim Cullum :: Bessie & The Blues: Riverwalk Live, Vol. 3

Unique narrative and re-creation of Bessie Smith's sound!

C. Fischer | Bloomington, IN United States | 01/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The combination of Topsy Chapman and Jim Cullum's Band was a stroke of genius. The narration that ties it all together is quite well written and I got goose-pimples when they switched from playing Bessie's original 1923 recording of "Downhearted Blues" and Topsy Chapman's re-creation of it...same key, same tempo...and the VOICE! What could only be inferred from the tinny 1923 recording technology becomes three dimensional and really vivid.



Topsy Chapman is a totally committed blues singer here, with perfect inflections of Bessie's style and tone. I have some of her other albums and her own "voice" is excellent as both a jazz and cabaret singer, but here she really sounds as if she were born to sing the blues!"