Ivie Anderson was the female singer with Duke Ellington's band from 1932 to 1942, at which point she left due to deteriorating health - she was asthmatic. After that, she continued in music until 1946, the year of her last recordings. Asthma finally killed her in 1949. This collection covers the whole of her career, so is particularly interesting for her later recordings, which are otherwise harder to find than her music with Duke Ellington.The first 14 tracks cover the years with Duke Ellington, though mainly focusing on the later recordings. Of course, there are other compilations that focus entirely on Ivie's music with Duke Ellington but this set provides a great introduction to her music, including All God's chillun got rhythm (from A day at the races, the classic Marx brothers movie), a superb cover of Stormy weather and Ivie's final recording with Duke Ellington, Hayfoot strawfoot. The last 10 tracks were recorded between 1944 and 1946 - the first two for the Excelsior label and the remainder for the Black and white label. These tracks include a re-recording of I got it good and that ain't bad (a song she previously recorded with Duke Ellington - the original recording is not included here but can be found on other compilations) and a great version of the classic On the sunny side of the street. The other songs appear to be originals and prove that Ivie was still in great voice even though her health continued to deteriorate. I particularly like Play me the blues but there's a lot of great music here. This collection provides a great introduction to Ivie's music, but if you want to explore the Duke Ellington years in greater depth, I recommend Raisin' the rent ( covering the first half) and All God's chillun (covering the second half), both of which I've already reviewed. |
