Ivie Anderson joined Duke Ellington's band in 1931 and stayed with him till 1942. This collection covers the period 1937 to 1940. As with the first volume (Raisin' the rent), the songs cover a variety of styles and moods, yet all with that trademark Duke Ellington sound.The songs on this set include three of their American hits - All God's chillun got rhythm (from the Marx brothers film A day at the races), If you were in my place what would you do? and At a Dixie roadside diner. The Duke's band had several other hits during this period, but they didn't feature Ivie so you must look elsewhere for those. Sally-Ann Worsfield, the writer of the liner notes for this collection makes clear her dislike of Old plantation, not because of anything about the band's performance, but because of what the song is about - glorifying work in the cotton fields. Anybody listening to music that old must accept the occasional song that wouldn't be acceptable today, although I wonder if this particular song is as bad as Sally-Ann suggests - judge for yourself. This is a comprehensive and brilliant collection of the music Ivie recorded with the Duke's band. |
