"Given the tendency for CDs to be hyped, this one is surprisingly modest. It could well have been entitled "The Best of Ethel Waters", given the quality of the accompaniments, and the fact that almost all of the 23 titles are standards. Ethel Waters had a distinctive voice and a very individual style that set her apart from the competition. By the early thirties she was being accompanied in the Columbia studio by the foremost bands of the day, represented here by the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and the Dorsey Brothers, plus various studio groups. After 1934 she recorded only two titles until January 1938; for the remainder of that decade she recorded for Bluebird, accompanied by Eddie Mallory & his Orchestra. The last four tracks were recorded for the Liberty Music Shop label, accompanied by the mysterious Max Meth & his Orchestra."