13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
There was a life (music) before Billie!, December 3, 1999
This review is from: Ethel Waters 1921 to 1940 (Audio CD)
After reading excellent book "Jazz singers" by Will Friewald,I decide to check this long-forgotten singer out.What a discovery!She is very interesting being totaly out of blues idiom (as a difference of Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey and innumerable other blues singers of her time) and it was perhaps her "white" sound that made her so appealing and later succesful in theatre & film as well.Although personaly I love coarse and rough blues singers, Ethel Waters had such a high-quality songs that I can easy forgive her for not being "authentic" (well, she was authentic vaudeville/cabaret!).Songs she had a honour to made legendary were: "Stormy Weather", "Am I"Blue?", "There'll Be some Ccchanges Made" and beautiful "Dinah", all of them first-class hits of 20-ies and 30-ies.I wouldn't considere her really jazz singer, since her style is very close to cabaret, she had good taste in choosing jazz musicians for her background and the songs were excellent.From the first song in 1921. where she was young playfull and flirtatious to the last one in 1940. where she sounds very beautiful, mature singer in full powere of her art, Ethel Waters was really interesting and this CD made me think that perhaps I used to live earlier in 20-ies, since i enjoy this music so much!This is also much better introduction to her work than somewhat scary French Classics editions in several volumes, which is not for everyone's pockets and its maybe to overwhelming.Highly recomended!
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