Precision isn't the word most associated with the blues, but Romare Bearden's 1974 collage depicts Bessie Smith in a way that illuminates her expressiveness and her high level of artistic control.
Isata Kanneh-Mason, one of seven siblings in a British family bursting with promising music careers, showcases the long-overlooked music of Clara Schumann on her debut.
Bessie Smith could wrap the blues around anything. She was the voice of freedom and of dislocation, heard by black audiences on the vaudeville circuit and white ones at Manhattan parties.