Downhearted Blues

Alberta Hunter's recordings

Alberta Hunter recorded the song multiple times, with recordings completed in 1922, 1939, and 1961. The first recording in 1922 was completed for Paramount's "new race series," with more accompaniment in this first recording than the smaller ensembles that were usually present for her other recordings of the song. Although a definitive identification of the band in the recording has not been made, the accompaniment potentially could have been provided by Eubie Blake's ensemble.

In 1939, she recorded "Down Hearted Blues" again, along with five other songs, for Decca Records. Lil Hardin Armstrong, a jazz pianist, joined a small ensemble playing for the record. Additionally, Hunter added a four-bar introduction instead of having the song start with a verse, changed the key of the song, and adjusted the tempo to about 90 beats per minute instead of the original approximately 115 beats per minute.

In 1961, while working primarily as a nurse, Hunter re-recorded the song as part of the LP Alberta Hunter with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders for Riverside. Armstrong also came back to be part of Austin's band for the 1961 song, which was recorded in the Blues Revival period.

Hunter also recorded a live performance of "Down Hearted Blues" with Gerald Cook playing the piano and Jimmy Lewis playing the bass when she performed at The Cookery in New York. This 1977 recording appeared in her album Downhearted Blues: Live at the Cookery.

The song appears in the soundtrack for the movie Remember My Name, which was released in 1978.

Bessie Smith's recording

Blues singer Bessie Smith recorded the song with piano accompaniment by Clarence Williams. | url-access= registration

Recognition and awards

In 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America, with the National Endowment for the Arts, included it at number 315 in the list of the Top 365 "Songs of the Century." | access-date = June 12, 2016 | access-date = June 12, 2016 | access-date = June 12, 2016 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070202080241/http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2003/03-014.html | archive-date = February 2, 2007 | access-date = June 12, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070502032502/www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs/500-songs-by-name-df/ | archive-date = 2007-05-02 | access-date = June 12, 2016

References

References

1. Davis, Angela Y.. (2011). "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
2. Davis, Angela Y.. (2011). "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
3. Gómez, Jonathan A.. (2024-08-01). "Alberta Hunter, Musical Qualia of Blackness, and Black Women Working Together". Journal of the American Musicological Society.
4. (1998-01-02). "Hunter, Alberta (1895-1984).". Encyclopedia of World Biography.
5. "Alberta Hunter - Downhearted Blues {{!}} Kingfish Records".
6. McMillan, Lewis K. (May 1971). "SOUNDS". Essence.
7. Davis, Angela Y.. (2011). "Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
8. Rodriguez, MJ. (March 2020). "Bessie Smith". TIME Magazine.
9. "Public Domain Day 2024 | Duke University School of Law".