Am I Blue: 1921-1947

Ethel Waters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 23, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jazz Legends
• ASIN: B0002IQN5G
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,698 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Down Home Blues

2. There'll Be Some Changes Made

3. You Can't Do What My Last Man Did

4. Sweet Georgia Brown

5. Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night

6. Dinah

7. Maybe Not at All

8. Shake That Thing

9. Sugar

10. I'm Coming Virginia

11. Take Your Black Bottom Outside

12. Guess Who's in Town

13. Do What You Did Last Night

14. Am I Blue

15. Waiting at the End of the Road

16. You're Lucky to Me

17. Stormy Weather

18. Jeepers Creepers

19. Taking a Chance on Love

20. Cabin in the Sky

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost a comprehensive collection, February 1, 2007

By 

Truth "Truth24-7" (DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Am I Blue: 1921-1947 (Audio CD)

Before finding fame as an actor as a middle-aged woman, Ethel Waters was a Blues singer in the 1920s, a peer of Bessie Smith and Ida Cox, who transitioned into singing Jazz and Pop music. This collection focuses on her earlier recordings.

AM I BLUE: 1921-1947 ("Legendary jazz Vocalist #09" of "Jazz Legends" series) consists of 21 songs recorded 1921 thru 1947; tracks are in chronological order. Disc packaged in clear jewel case; total running time: 66:47. Booklet includes an essay by Scott Yanow, a few photographs from her films, and track information (including recording dates and musician personnel); songwriter credits not included. Sound quality is very poor on early `20s recordings, but is decent for later recordings.

Most of the songs included are from the 1920s:
Tracks 1 & 2 from 1921; track 3 from 1923. (These recordings are scratchy.)
Tracks 4-8 from 1925; tracks 9 & 10 from 1926; track 11 from 1927.
Tracks 12 & 13 from 1928; tracks 14 & 15 from 1929.
Track 16 from 1930.
Track 17 from 1933.
Track 18 from 1938.
Tracks 19 & 20 from 1940.
Track 21 from 1947.

Ethel Waters's voice is high and clear. It is more similar to Lena Horne or Ella Fitzgerald than Ma Rainey or Billie Holiday.
Ethel Waters did not record regularly after 1940, but she did record a secular album in the mid 1950s, before dedicating her life to religion (and Billy Graham's "crusades") and recording two non-secular albums in 1963.

Of note are her shout-outs to singers Clara Smith and Bessie Smith on "Maybe Not at All"; after singing the song in her style, she re-sings the song first in the style of Clara Smith and then slows down the tempo and sings in the style of Bessie Smith.

A good companion piece to this album is the 1999 import "Takin' a Chance on Love", which features songs recorded 1938-1946. Only three songs overlap between the two albums: 1938's "Jeepers Creepers" (featured in the 2001 horror film of the same name) and her 1940 recordings of "Taking a Chance on Love" & "Cabin in the Sky".