Crazy Blues
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Crazy Blues" is a song written by Perry Bradford. It was recorded on August 10, 1920, by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds and released that year on a grammophone record by Okeh Records, catalogue 4169. The famous stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith appears in photos associated with the recording session, although Perry Bradford claims to have played piano on the recording (albeit buried in the mix). Within a month of release, it had sold 75,000 copies. Although there were many recordings made of songs with blues in the title during the previous decade, this recording is considered a landmark as the very first blues record ever issued. However, Crazy Blues is not actually a blues tune in that it does not follow the harmonic structure generally associated with true blues. It was ushered into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994.
