The Era of "The Artist"; a Soundtrack to the 1920's and 1930's

This weekend I finally saw "The Artist" and I loved it! "The Artist" depicts the disappearance of silent movies and the emergence of the first talking pictures during the 1920's and 1930's. "The Jazz Singer" which was released in 1927, was the first popular talking picture. Very soon all silent movies were considered to be too old fashioned, leaving musicians which accompanied these movies without a job. Movie Companies, however, were forced to rehire these musicians to make soundtracks, and thankfully music continued to be an important part of movies.

The roaring twenties was the decade of Prohibition (in which manufacturing, importing, exporting, selling and transporting alcohol was banned by law in the U.S.), the emergence of the phonograph and the first record studios, and of course the great crash of 1929. By the 1930's Big Bands headed by great musicians such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Tommy Dorsey were the talk of the town. It was also the decade in which The Grand Ole Opry was first broadcasted throughout the entire US, and Billboard published its first list to aid jukebox owners in their music choice.

The 1920's and 1930's also brought forward some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. We all still know and love Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong,  Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Billie Holiday and of course the amazing Cole Porter. Here are some of my favorite songs from these two decades. All of these songs were used in movie soundtracks.

Bessie Smith - "St. Louis Blues" (1929)

Jimmie Rodgers - "Waiting for a Train" (1930)

Fred Astaire - "Dancing Cheeck to Cheeck" (1935)

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It is impossible to write about the essentials of music, without mentioning Bessie Smith. She died at the age of 43 in a car accident, but has left several wonderful songs for us to hear. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's she recorded a large number of "race records" (as they were called back then), and she became the highest paid black entertainer of her time.

Careless Love is my favorite Bessie Smith song. No one knows who wrote the song and at what exact time period, but many of the great artists have decided to add the song to their repertoire (Louis Armstrong, Odetta, and Ray Charles among others).

Whenever I listen to Bessie Smith I can't help but feel like I'm thrown right back to her era. As if I'm standing in a dark alley in some southern town in the US. A late summer evening, and her music playing from inside a house. I hope you'll enjoy this song as much as I do.

                                                         Bessie Smith - "Careless Love"

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