Vaudeville blues

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The vaudeville blues or "classic blues" is a jazz- oriented blues style of the 1910s and early 1920s. It was primarily created in the context of urban vaudeville theaters and minstrel shows . The "classic blues" were mostly sung by women who were accompanied by a jazz orchestra. The black band leader and composer WC Handy was one of the first to notate and arrange the blues in the “classical” style. His most famous compositions include "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914).

The vaudeville blues were the first blues songs recorded on gramophone for a commercial market . Mamie Smith recorded the earliest known blues recording to date, the "Crazy Blues", on August 10, 1920 in New York City. Its success with Afro-American consumers prompted the record companies to take on more blues singers and thus usher in the era of "classic blues". The era of vaudeville blues lasted around the mid-20s. Since the public's taste for the Delta Blues had shifted, the sales figures for "classic" blues recordings fell. As a result, fewer and fewer women were accepted into the blues. Thus, the women gave up their dominant position in the blues to new, male stars.

The big stars of the vaudeville blues include Alberta Hunter , Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith , Mamie Smith , Victoria Spivey , Lucille Hegamin , Coot Grant and Lucille Bogan .