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# Review: Ma Bessie at The Hub at St Mary’s
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/review-ma-bessie-at-the-hub-at-st-marys/
- Published: 2024-02-03T10:11:36.000Z
- Updated: 2024-02-03T10:11:48.000Z
- Description: The storied career of the blues singer Bessie Smith was bought to vivid life by three talented musicians and performers when they appeared at The Hub at St Mary’s.
- Author: Ben Macnair
- Tags: Reviews, What's On, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:58

The storied career of the blues singer Bessie Smith was bought to vivid life by three talented musicians and performers when they appeared at The Hub at St Mary’s.

With George Webster on piano and Clare Hirst on saxophone – who has also shared a stage with David Bowie at Live Aid and many other names – the evening was presented by Julia Titus.

Her soulful, supple voice was perfectly suited to jazz and blues, while her easy, confident stage presence allowed her a narrative authority as she told the capacity audience about the life and times of Bessie Smith.

From her early beginnings, her turbulent and eventually settled love life, her definitive version of many songs from the 1920s and 1930s, her career which went through many highs and lows, and her tragically early death at 43 in a car crash, everything was covered.

The music covered the classic songs such as Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do, St Louis Blues, Alexander’s Ragtime Band and Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out, allowing plenty of soloing from the two musicians and some fine jazz, blues and ragtime piano.

There was time to explore the bawdier side of the blues and jazz with songs such as Kitchen Man, Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight, and I Need Some Sugar in My Bowl.

The gospel side was also well illustrated with the foot-stomping beats of On Revival Day and the final song Careless Love.

Although much of the music was close to a century old and had been performed in many ways by many performers, there was still space in them all for a new interpretation.

It was a well put together evening of entertainment and a fine illustration of the legacy of one of best known female singers in the blues in the 1920s, and 1930s.