Ma Rainey
The Mother of the Blues was 38 when she finally began recording, but she'd incorporated the blues into her traveling stage shows since 1902. When she did hit the studio, the results were a high point of 1920s classic female blues. Rainey combined a husky voice with the songbook of a minstrel and a booming delivery. Her lyrics ranged from topical songs about Southern life to personal songs of loneliness and depression. Her original classic "See See Rider Blues," complete with rarely heard introduction, features jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Buster Bailey, and the grim "Slave to the Blues" includes Joe Smith and Coleman Hawkins. Ragtime guitarist Blind Blake and hokum-blues duo Georgia Tom and Tampa Red also contribute.--Marc Greilsamer