- Various Artists
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AC/DC Blues: Gay Jazz Reissues
- Buffet Flat Story - Ruby Smith And Chris Albertson Time: 3:55
- Sissy Man Blues - Connie Mclean's Rhythm Boys Time: 2:07
- Foolish Man Blues - Bessie Smith Time: 2:04
- Garbage Man - Harlen Ham Fats Time: 1:50
- It's Tight Like That - Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band Time: 2:04
- Prove It On Me Blues - Ma Rainey Time: 1:56
- Sissy Man Blues - Kokomo Arnold Time: 2:15
- Boy In The Boat - George Hannah Time: 1:56
- Freakish Man Blues - George Hannah Time: 2:07
- B.D. Woman's Blues - Bessie Jackson Time: 2:10
- Dirty Dozens - Speckled Red Time: 2:19
- Ain't That A Mess - Al Miller And His Swing Stompers Time: 2:13
- Fairey Blues - Peg Leg Howell Time: 2:14
- Freakish Rider Blues - Bert (snake Root) Hatton Time: 2:35
- Sissy Man Blues - George Noble Time: 2:00
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SIDE A
Buffet Flat Story
Ruby Smith & Chris Albertson 5:13
SISSY MAN BLUES
Connie McLeon's Rhythm Boys: Connie McLean, vcl/cit/alt;
Chubby Wright, tpt; Roy Durant, pno; Ludowic Brown, gtr;
Alfred Hill, sbs; Alex Miller, dms, April 1936 2:47
FOOLISH MAN BLUES
Bessie Smith, vcl; Tommy Lodnier, cnt; Fletcher Henderson,
pno; June Cole, bbs. October 1927 2:43
GARBAGE MAN
Harlen Ham Fats: Herb Morand-t-v / Odell Rand-cl. / Horace
Malcolm-p / Joe McCoy-g-v / Charlie McCoy-g-md / John Lind-
say-sb / Fred Flynn or Pearlis Williams-d April 1936 2:25
ITS TIGHT LIKE THAT
Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band: Tampa Red, gtr, sometimes
kazoo; Thomas A. Dorsey, pno; unknown kazoo/jug -
addressed by the vocalist, Frankie Jaxon, as "Kentucky";
unknown wbd. November 1928 2:43
PROVE IT ON ME BLUES
Ma Rainey, Vcl.: acc by her tub jug washboard band: poss Tampa Red, Kazoo, poss a second kazoo; Georgia Tom Dorsey, pno; unknown bjo, jug, with moaning by the band June 1928 2:32
SISSY MAN BLUES
Kokomo Arnold: Vcl acc by own gtr January 1935 2:56
SIDE B
BOY IN THE BOAT
George Hannah: vcl acc by Meade Lux Lewis, pno October 1931 2:31
FREAKISH MAN BLUES
George Hannah: Vcl acc by Meade Lux Lewis, pno October 1930 2:46
B.D. WOMAN'S BLUES
Bessie Jackson: Vcl acc by Walter Roland, pno; prob Josh White, gtr. March 1935 2:51
DIRTY DOZENS
Speckled Red: Vcl acc by own pno. Sept. 1929 3:02
AIN'T THAT A MESS
Al Miller and his Swing Stompers: Al Miller vcl acc by unknown clt; Cripple Clarence Lofton, pno; own gtr; unknown sbs. February 1936 2:53
FAIREY BLUES
Peg Leg Howell: Vcl acc by own gtr. April 1928 2:55
FREAKISH RIDER BLUES
Bert (Snake Root) Hatton: Vcl acc by unknown pno and vln; pos Dewey Jackson, cnt added. April 1927 3:23
SISSY MAN BLUES
George Noble: Vcl acc by own pno. March 1935 unissued. 2:37
AC/DC BLUES
Gay Jazz Reissues
In 1973, when I toured the country promoting my biography of blues singer Bessie Smith, and faced an average of five interviewers each day for four weeks, I was not surprised that most of them, - particularly the over-forty crowd - applied a double standard to homosexuality. Whereas they found my revelations of Bessie's bisexuality both intriguing and colorful, they found it hard to accept my statement that Carl Van Vechten, -- a prominent white man of Bessie's era - "loved the ghetto's pulsating music and strapping young men." Though so-called "deviant" sexuality (and I'm not so sure that isn't a misnomer) has been a fact of life since the beginning of man, many people continue to stick their heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist, particularly when it hits close to home. Thus it is a sad fact that most jazz critics ~ though they should be familiar with the material represented here -- will be made uncomfortable by the gay theme of this album; they prefer to believe that homosexuality and jazz are mutually exclusive, or - if they recognize its existence at all - that it is something worse than dope addiction, a shameful skeleton to be kept in the closet. It may, therefore, not be a coincidence that all the songs contained in this album predate the advent of jazz criticism; without an uptight white press to take them to task, Ma Rainey was safe challenging her listeners to "prove it on me" in 1928, George Hannah felt free to tell his 1930 audience of his "freakish ways," and Bessie Jackson (Lucille Bogan) could tell of "bull dikers" without compunction in 1935 - the record-buying public knew what they were talking about, and record companies didn't care, as long as the end product was aimed at the so-called race market. You did not hear Kate Smith sing about Lesbians or Al Jolson crying for a "sissy man" in those days, just as you didn't hear Shirley Bassey or Stevie Wonder approaching the subject in their songs today.
Again, because jazz writers tend to shun certain realities of life, books devoted to this vital music and its performers rarely tell it like it was; you'll read about a performer's career and possible addictions (jazz writers seem to gloat on victims of alcohol or drugs), but sex -- they would have you believe - went out in 1917 with the closing of New Orleans' famous Storyville district. Lest I be misunderstood, let me say that I am by no means advocating as obligatory the inclusion of sex in all jazz literature, nor am I in any way suggesting that homosexuality is common in jazz, but I do think it's time to liberate jazz literature from the hangups of its writers, and approach it with the candor often exhibited by the chroniclers of rock.
Speaking of candor, side one opens with a brief extract from a remarkable series of interviews I had with Ruby Smith (nee Walker) in 1971. Ms. Smith, who traveled with Bessie Smith (her aunt by marriage) for fourteen years, as a dancer and confidante, made numerous records as a blues singer between 1938 and 1947, but - as her appearance here bears out -- she was equally gifted as a storyteller. Here ~ as part of a much longer story related to a 1927 appearance by Bessie Smith in Detroit - she vividly describes the goings-on in a local buffet flat. Actually, buffet flats were common in black urban areas, and the pleasures they offered were not restricted to sex. The music included in this cut is from Bessie Smith's Soft Pedal Blues, a song dedicated to the very buffet flat Ruby describes.
The rest of the album also contains a good deal of humor, some social commentary (check out the lyrics on George Hannah's Freakish Man Blues), and, above all, a generous portion of very fine music. To be sure, there are things here that might offend the staunch gay activist or women's libber, but they shouldn't, for we bear should bear in mind that these recordings were made at a time when most people still thought a sexist was some sort of nymphomaniac, and in a milieu that regarded homosexuality as a simple fact of life. I don't detect any malice in these songs, and I don't believe any was intended. After all, the blues has always drawn its material from the real-life experiences and observations of its creators, so why should it stop short at gay life.
Perhaps, some day Lesbian singers will no longer have to sing about the men they never desired, and gay male vocalists will be able to choose or write material they truly can identify with; perhaps, too, jazz writers will learn that the men and women they write about are human beings and not just names on a record label.
Chris Albertson
Contributing editor to Stereo Review and author of the book, Bessie
(Stein & Day, N.Y. --1972).
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