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... [+] Read More

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Although she was hardly the model for the song character of Minnie the Moocher, Blanche Calloway was the sister of both famous jive bandleader Cab Calloway and the lesser-known performer Elmer Calloway. Her first high-profile gigs were at the lively Ciro Club in New York City in the mid-'20s, leading to widespread touring with various revues and... [+] Read More

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One of the great entertainers, Cab Calloway was a household name by 1932, and never really declined in fame. A talented jazz singer and a superior scatter, Calloway's gyrations and showmanship on-stage at the Cotton Club sometimes overshadowed the quality of his always excellent bands. The younger brother of singer Blanche Calloway (who made... [+] Read More

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An odd footnote to the British Invasion, English singer and pianist Ian Whitcomb formed his R&B group Bluesville in Dublin, Ireland. He never had a hit in the U.K. and wasn't all that wild about rock & roll in the first place, preferring traditional forms of blues, ragtime, and Tin Pan Alley. But "You Turn Me On" -- a tongue-in-cheek three-chord... [+] Read More

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Louis Armstrong was the first important soloist to emerge in jazz, and he became the most influential musician in the music's history. As a trumpet virtuoso, his playing, beginning with the 1920s studio recordings made with his Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, charted a future for jazz in highly imaginative, emotionally charged improvisation.... [+] Read More

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Comics and 78 rpm records were the twin poles around which the Cheap Suit Serenaders coalesced. Robert Crumb was (and is) one of the most famous underground cartoonists of all time, having nearly invented the genre. Robert Armstrong was also active in the San Francisco Bay area underground comics scene, producing such comics as Mickey Rat and... [+] Read More

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