Mamie Smith

She was born May 26, 1883 born in Cincinnati, Ohio. There are no birth records on her. Although when she was 10 she toured with a white act called Four Dancing Mitchells. She danced in Salem Tutt Whitney's Smart Set as a teenager. She sang in clubs in Harlem and married a William "Smitty"Smith who was a waiter all in 1913. She was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist and actress, who was featured in a lot of films. While doing all these task she did different styles also such as jazz and blues. She was the first African American artist to make a vocal recording in 1920. Some of the songs she recorded were "Crazy Blues" and Its Right Here For You", and "Okeh Records". With her records doing so well, record companies wanted to find more female blues singers and it formed the classic female blues era. She was featured in the movie "Jail House Blues" in 1929. In 1931 she retired from recording and performing. "Paradise in Harlem" was when she reappeared in 1939, which was produced by her Husband Jack Goldberg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamie_Smith

Mamie Smith "Crazy Blues". The vocals are by her and then there is a band in the back ground. There is a trumpet, sounds like flutes, and other brass instruments. There is an AABC form here. The song is about how her lover left her and she can't go on without him and she will never forget him.
It starts off with 2 counts of just the horns as the introduction.
The first verse is her singing with the band as the base line. 8 counts
The second verse has sort of a downbeat you can feel like she is getting sad as she sings the song. 8 counts
The bridge her voice goes up very high as she sing with more passion. There are about 4 counts in it.
Chorus: 8 counts and her voice comes back down
Verse: It seems as the trumpets are beginning the play louder showing how passionate and heart broken she is. 8 counts
Verse 8 counts
Chorus: 8 counts
And then the band plays 1 count and she ends the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaz4Ziw_CfQ