The following questions all refer to Bessie Smith recordings on single
play, EP or LP microgrooves.
Singles.  Please supply TITLES for the following numbers of each
single.
Columbia set G-4-5.   Record #s 4-32-G.   4-33-G
Columbia set G-4-6.   Record #s 4-34-G through 4-39-G  (all 12 titles)
Columbia set G-4-7.   None required
Columbia set G-4-8.   Record #s 4-46-G through 4-51-G   (all 12
titles)

L.P.s
Columbia set G30818.   Please give C.B.S-Sony LP #
Columbia set G31093.      "          "     "
(The other 3 C.B.S # in the other 3 sets are I believe 55024/5,
55026/7, 55031-2

Columbia set G30126    Please give Avan-Guard (Australian issue) LP #
Columbia set G31093         "                     "
            I have neverseen an A-G. label and it may be a subsidiary
of
             CBS with the actual label printed C.B.S. Avan-Guard or
similar.

E.P. s

This question refers to Philips (English) BBE series and Philips
(Continental)
429.xxx series.   The titles for each are supposed to be the same for
the following numbers.   The information in my possession must be
wrong as some of the titles differ and I don't know which are right
and which wrong.
Please list titles
BBE 12202     429.422
BBE 12231     429.244
BBE 12233     429.120
?             429.518 I have titles for this as St.
LouisBlues/Reckless Blues/
                       Sobbin' Hearted Blues/ Cold In hand.   Is
thiscorrect
                        and were they issued on Philips (E)?
?             ?       I have a note of Do Your duty/I'm Down In the
dumps/
                       Gimmie A Pigfoot, Take Me For A Buggy Ride, but
don't
                       have the numbers of either Philips EP.
Is philips Continental 429.224 a Bessie Smith issue?   If so titles
please and if also on Philips (E) number of the BBE.

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 08 May 2003 20:58 PDT

You have asked a lot of questions, which means that if a Researcher
cannot find the answer to even one, he or she cannot provide a
complete answer.

That is basically the situation I am in.  At the moment, I think that
I can answer everything but the first set of questions (about Columbia
set G-4-5 etc.).

Would an answer to all but the first set of questions be sufficient? 
(If you would like, you can lower the price to account for the fact
that some of the questions aren't being answered, and then ask the
unanswered questions as a a separate question.)

---

Clarification of Question by lofty-ga on 10 May 2003 15:59 PDT

Thank you.  Just go ahead and do what you can.   The only other
information I can give on the single plays is:   They were probably
issued around the same time as the LPs, late 1950s.   The Columbia LP
#s are GL503, 4, 5, 6.  Also
ML4807, 8, 9,4810.   Also CL855, 6, 7, 8.   Also issued on other
labels but i doubt that would help in the search as so far as I know
the singles were only issued in USA
In view of what you say it seems there would be no point in asking the
question again as a separate item.

Hello lofty-ga,

I will break the answer down according to each set of questions you
have asked.  In each case except one, the answer comes entirely from
Prewar blues & gospel on microgroove, by Görgen Antonsson (
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/intro.htm ).

"Columbia set G30818.   Please give C.B.S-Sony LP # 
Columbia set G31093.      '          '     '
(The other 3 C.B.S # in the other 3 sets are I believe 55024/5, 
55026/7, 55031-2)" 

It appears that neither of these LPs was issued on CBS/Sony.  

Columbia (US) G 30818 (The empress, 1971) was also issued as CBS (UK)
66264 and Avan-Guard B2VLO82.

Columbia (US) KG 31093 (Nobody's blues but mine, 1972) was also issued
as CBS (UK) 67232.

(The world's greatest blues singer (1970) was issued as CBS/Sony SOPB
55024-55025.  Any woman's blues (1970) was issued as SOPB 55026-55027.
 Empty bed blues (1971) was issued as CBS/Sony SOPB 55031-55032. 
There are no other CBS/Sony LPs listed for Bessie Smith.)

"Columbia[US]"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/COLUUS.HTM

"CBS/Sony"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/CBSZ.HTM

"Columbia set G30126    Please give Avan-Guard (Australian issue) LP #
Columbia set G31093         '                     ' 
I have never seen an A-G. label and it may be a subsidiary of CBS with
the actual label printed C.B.S. Avan-Guard or similar."

Avan-Guard LPs were "licensed issues of CBS albums"; some were also
issued as CBS (Australia) LPs.

Three Bessie Smith albums were issued on Avan-Guard: The world's
greatest blues singer (1970), Empty bed blues (1971), and The empress
(1971).

However, neither G 30126 (Any woman's blues, 1970) nor KG 31093
(Nobody's blues but mine, 1972) were issued on Avan-Guard.

"Columbia[US]" 
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/COLUUS.HTM

"Avan-Guard"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/AVANGU.HTM

"CBS(Australia)"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/CBSAUST.HTM

"This question refers to Philips (English) BBE series and Philips
(Continental) 429.xxx series.  The titles for each are supposed to be
the same for the following numbers.  The information in my possession
must be wrong as some of the titles differ and I don't know which are
right and which wrong.

Please list titles 
BBE 12202     429.422 
BBE 12231     429.244 
BBE 12233     429.120 
?             429.518 I have titles for this as St. Louis
Blues/Reckless Blues/Sobbin' Hearted Blues/Cold In hand.   Is this
correct and were they issued on Philips (E)?
?             ?       I have a note of Do Your duty/I'm Down In the
dumps/Gimmie A Pigfoot, Take Me For A Buggy Ride, but don't have the
numbers of either Philips EP.
Is philips Continental 429.224 a Bessie Smith issue?  If so titles
please and if also on Philips (E) number of the BBE."

Philips (UK) BBE 12202 / Philips (Holland) 429 422 BE (Empress of the
blues, 1958?) - Cake walkin' babies (From home) / Lost your head blues
/ Young woman's blues / There'll be a hot time in the old town
to-night

Philips (UK) BBE 12231 / Philips (Holland) 429 224 BE (Empress of the
blues vol. 2., 1958?) - One and two blues / He's got me goin' / Moan,
you mourners / Do your duty

Philips (UK) BBE 12233 / Philips (Holland) 429 120 BE (Empress of the
blues vol. 3., 1959?) - J.C. Holmes blues / Baby doll / Blue spirit
blues / Black mountain blues

Sobbin' hearted blues, Cold in hand blues, You've been a good ole
wagon, and Nashville women's blues were issued together on Philips
(UK) BBE 12360 / Philips (Holland) 429 609 BE (Bessie Smith with Louis
Armstrong, 1960).

As noted above, Do your duty was issued on Philips (UK) BBE 12231 /
Philips (Holland) 429 224 BE.  I'm down in the dumps, Gimmie a
pigfoot, and Take me for a buggy ride were not issued on a Philips
(UK) EP.  They are all from the same date, and are all on a few LPs
together, but except for Do your duty, not on EP.

Also as noted above, Philips (Holland) 429 224 BE was a Bessie Smith
EP, also issued as Philips (UK) BBE 12231, and containing One and two
blues, He's got me goin', Moan, you mourners, and Do your duty.

"Bessie Smith" 
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/SMIBEA.HTM

"Philips[United Kingdom]"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/PHIUK.HTM

"Philips[Holland]"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/PHIH.HTM

As for the singles, I have found the names of the LPs on which they
were collected (apparently all issued in November 1951):

GL-503 / CL-855 / ML 4807  - The Bessie Smith story volume I: Bessie
Smith with Louis Armstrong

GL-504 / CL 856 / ML 4808 - The Bessie Smith story volume II: blues to
barrelhouse

GL-505 / CL-857 / ML 4809 - The Bessie Smith story volume III: Bessie
Smith with Joe Smith and Fletcher Henderson's Hot Six

GL-506 / CL-858 / ML 4810 - The Bessie Smith story volume IV: Bessie
Smith with James P. Johnson and Charlie Green

The titles for the songs on the first three LPs are listed on the
Bessie Smith page; you can see them by finding CL-855, CL 856, and
CL-857 on the page.  I don't have not found any indication, on this
site or elsewhere, of which single contained which songs.

"Bessie Smith"
http://sunsite.kth.se/feastlib/mrf/yinyue/pw/SMIBEA.HTM

"Columbia 12-inch Album Discography (1951-1955)" (Last update: April
21, 2002)
Both Sides Now Publications
http://www.bsnpubs.com/columbia.html 

I hope that this information is helpful.

- justaskscott-ga


In addition to browsing Prewar blues & gospel on microgroove, I
searched on Google for various record numbers and for "bessie smith
story".

---

Request for Answer Clarification by lofty-ga on 11 May 2003 13:36 PDT

Well that seems to clear up the Philips queries.
I am familiar with the  "Pre war blues.... by Gorgen Antonssen" and
whilst this is fairly comprehensive it is not complete.   I have all
titles on LPs except odd single tracks on some issues I.e. where
Bessie Smith is on just 1 or 2 tracks.   I agree that Antonssen does
not list the missing CBS-Sony and Avan-Guard LPs and this is why I
asked for the information.   Correspondence some years ago indicated
that sets G30818 and 31093 WERE issued on CBS/Sony and Avan-Guard did
come out with equivalent of sets G31026 and G31093.   If you have
merely taken the information from Antonssen's listing this would
explain the absence of detail on the missing numbers.
As to the singles it looks as though this is a dead end - Antonssen
doesn't list them either.   I know all the titles for each set as they
coincide with the LP issues but the issue numbers are not
chronological for some reason and so I need the missing numbers.

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 11 May 2003 16:27 PDT

I have found two pages that provide some confirmation that the Görgen
Antonsson site has the complete and correct information.  One page
lists the same three CBS/Sony albums, plus a CBS/Sony compilation that
does not match the songs on the LPs you want.  The other page lists
the same two Avan-Guard albums.  I have found no other pages anywhere
that list additional Bessie Smith albums on either label.

"Bessie Smith"
Crossroads
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/ko-1/crossroads/blues/b/bessies.htm

"Avan-Guard"
Blues in My Soul!
http://www.oldgoods.net/music/label/labeltext/avan.htm

Can you still contact the person with whom you corresponded?  Perhaps
that person can explain why he or she thought that these labels issued
additional Bessie Smith LPs.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by lofty-ga on 17 May 2003 16:17 PDT

Re your question as to the source of my information as to Avan-Guard
issues.   Most of my papers and correspondence was destroyed many
years ago and I have been trying to replace it (with mixed results).  
I cannot recall where I obtained the information but the most likely
would be a reference or a review in a publication at the time.   Most
of the information now available seems to refer to the SET numbers
(where thereis more than one record) and not the RECORD numbers which
are different - having the set number does not necessarily show the
titles for each record.
Whereas I don't think the numbers of single issues of the Columbias
can be found I may ask again in the future along with identification
of odd titles  where there are just 1 or 2 Bessie Smith tracks.   gain
I suspect that will draw a blank too.

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 17 May 2003 19:55 PDT

Well, I suppose it can't hurt to ask.  If you do ask, make sure that
you post links to or mention the previous questions you have posted,
so that the Researchers know what has been found before.

Thank you for the rating and tip!