Vocalist Sippie Wallace virtually disappeared from the public eye from the late 1930s to the late '60s. (She resurfaced as part of the blues and roots revival of the '60s, and continued recording until her death in 1986). Still, Wallace's recordings from the '20s and '30s are enough to place her in the pantheon of great female blues singers. Like her contemporaries Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, Wallace had a sultry, powerful voice that was perfectly suited to the blues. Document Records has released two compilations--arranged chronologically and sold separately--of all of Wallace's early recordings.
VOL. 1 spans from Wallace's very first sessions in 1923 (which spawned the hits "Up the Country Blues" and "Shorty George Blues") up through 1925. Wallace was accompanied by some of the finest jazz musicians of the day, including Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, but it is her stirring performances and the high quality of her material (Wallace wrote most of her own songs) that impresses. The chilling "Devil Dance Blues" and the celebratory "I'm So Glad I'm Brownskin" articulate early blues themes beautifully, and are only two of many standouts on the superb 24-song set list.