Bessie Smith - Downhearted Blues - Original 1923 - 1924 Recordings (2003)

The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most
powerful of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The
Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her
passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day
and still communicates easily to today's listeners (which is not
true of any other singer from that early period). At a time when the
blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were
being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no
competition.