Search - Ethel Waters :: Ethel Waters 1925 to 1926

While Ethel Waters's years of fame as a singer coincided with those of Bessie Smith and the other classic blues singers, Waters's style and delivery were utterly different, even when she was singing similar material. Her voice was significantly lighter and more flexible, and there's an early grasp of jazz phrasing that often appears in these recordings from August 1925 to July 1926. It's particularly marked on "Dinah" and "Bring Your Greenbacks." Although Waters was an immensely popular and influential singer, she's better remembered today for the stage and film career of her later years. That theatrical gift is often apparent here. Along with her sophisticated jazz phrasing, Waters sings with superb diction, and she's far better at delivering narrative lyrics and the requisite comic banter than her contemporaries. Waters is accompanied here by a variety of pianists, including Pearl Wright, Fletcher Henderson, and Maceo Pinkard. Louis Hooper is particularly good on the blues of "Refrigeratin' Papa." Waters is sometimes joined by larger bands. Cornetist Joe Smith adds fine obbligatos and a solo to "I've Found a New Baby," joining with Henderson for the best jazz backing in the collection. A young Coleman Hawkins appears briefly as well, supplying bass lines on an unwieldy bass saxophone. --Stuart Broomer