Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong take us now to the heart of the classic blues. While the blues does not always mean a mournful song, this one is and it makes one feel the raw emotion of sadness and regret that Bessie Smith conveys so well. The call-and-answer between Smith's vocals and Armstrong's trumpet is exquisite. He matches her vocal lead in extremely creative ways - never playing two phrases exactly the same.
As noted in the guide, there is the interesting "form within a form" where the B section of the typical 12 bar blues AAB form has an internal AAB contained within it and an added unique little melody before returning to the original to conclude.
I love 12 bar blues (big fan of B.B.King) and so it is great to see how this very rich form is starting to take shape through these examples.
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