RARER 1926 CLARA SMITH 78 GET ON BOARD / LIVIN' HUMBLE US COLUMBIA 14183-D V+
£
30
$
40
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Description
HARD TO FIND CLARA SMITH 78 ON THE ORIGINAL US COLUMBIA LABEL
GET ON BOARD
b/w LIVIN' HUMBLE
WONDERFUL STUFF!!
Little is known about Clara Smith's early life other that that she was from Spartanburg, South Carolina. She worked in vaudeville in the late Teens and early 1920s and eventually became a popular performer on the TOBA circuit. In 1923 she moved to Harlem where she worked in cabarets and theatres and began recording exclusively for Columbia. Many critics consider her late 1920's Blues recordings to be second only to Bessie Smith's records in quality.
She was billed as the Queen of the Moaners and the World's Greatest Moaner and on her early records she was frequently accompanied by Fletcher Henderson on piano and on her later records featured bands that included first rate Jazz musicians like, James P. Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and Don Redman. She recorded three duets "Far Away Blues" and "I'm Going Back To My Used To Be" and "My Man Blues" with Bessie Smith. Bessie and Clara were not related, but they were close personal friends until Bessie got drunk one evening in 1925 and beat up Clara.
An interesting bit of trivia was that Clara gave Josephine Baker her first taste of show business in 1920 when she gave the thirteen year old Baker a job as her dresser in her touring company. They also briefly became lovers. Clara Smith continued to record until 1932 and performed live until she died of a heart attack in Detroit in 1935.
RECORD DETAILS:-
US COLUMBIA 14183-D 10" 78 rpm SHELLAC
Get On Board
(Lemuel Fowler) 11-23-1926 New York, New York
Livin' Humble 11-23-1926 New York, New York
Condition = V+
scratches & scrapes but plays great for a record nearly 100 years old :)
DON'T MISS OUT BUY NOW!
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