Bessie Smith, known as the “Empress of the Blues,” was born here in Chattanooga in the middle of this month in 1894.
A concert earlier this year at Memorial Auditorium presented full orchestral arrangements of her music - commissioned by the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, in collaboration with the CSO Youth Orchestras and community choral groups in this city.
Mya Mckinney is a student intern for Scenic Roots this semester on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
She spoke with a few participants in the concert, titled “Bessie Smith: Orchestrating the Blues.”
