Ethel Waters

Ethel was born on October 31, 1896 in Pennsylvania. She was conceived from a rape of her teenage mother. She never lived in the same place for more than 15 months and was raised in poverty. She was married at age 12 and at age 13 she became a chambermaid in Philadelphia hotel. That was the first time that she sang in a local night club that year. "Sweet Mama Stringbean" was the name that she gave herself at age 17. In Baltimore, Maryland she was the first women to sing "St. Louis Blues" which is a classic by W.C. Handy. She also joined a carnival in her time. She went south to Atlanta and she worked in the same club with Bessie Smith, who demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. She would sing, dance, play and star in musicals, movies, and TV but always went back to blues. In 1919 she moved to Harlem and had her first Harlem job at Edmond's Cellar which had a black patronage. In 1921 she was the 5th black women to make a record on the Cardinal Records label.  She was considered a blues singer during the pre-1925 period but belonged to the Vaudeville-style style. She sang "Stormy Weather" at the Cotton Club also.

http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-waters-9524982?page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Waters

Ethel Waters "I've Found a New Baby" 1925:
She is talking about how she found a new man and talking about all the good qualities that he has, how  much he loves her, and how he's all that she wants. It is her voice, a piano that is keeping the tempo, and a type of horn maybe trombone. There is an ABA form and the piano keeps that main tempo. Her voice is the same level it doesnt get loud and very heartfelt at the end of the song or at a climaxing point.

Intro: Piano and horn 1-8 count
Verse: 8-8 counts
Chorus: 4-8 counts
Verse: 8-8counts
Bridge: Horn plays for 8-8 counts repeating the verse
Verse: 8-8 counts
Chorus: 4-8counts
End with the horn 4 counts

Lena Horne

My research this week will be on Lena Horne. Although she was not a singer in the Cotton Club she was a  great performer. She was born in Brooklyn on June 30 1917. Her birth name was Lena Mary Calhoun Horne. She said that while she was bring born her father was playing a card game trying to win money to pay for their hospital bills. Her parents soon divorced and her mother left  later on to find work to be an aspiring actress. Therefore she was raised by her grandparents. When she turned seven her mom returned and they traveled around the state, at the age of 14 she dropped out of school. She got her big break at age 16 where she was fired at the Cotton Club as a dancer. There she met Harold Arlen who wrote "stormy Weather" which would soon be her greatest hit. For the next 5 years she performed in different New York nightclubs, touring with the Charlie Barnet Orchestra, and on Broadway. She was the first black women to successfully work on both sides of the color line since the orchestra was a predominantly white band.  She then moved to Hollywood where she played small rolls in movies and sometimes when they would get sent to the producers they would get cut out. "Cabin in the sky" and "stormy Weather" were the only movies were she played a character that was involved in the plot. She became the premier pin-up girl who thousands of black soldiers during WWII. In 1963 she lost her father, son and husband within the year. She somewhat vanished from public life. Until 1981 she created a one-women show called Lena Horne: The lady and her music.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395043/bio
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/lena-horne/about-the-performer/487/

Lena Horne Stormy Weather:
There are six stanzas in AABA form. The song is talking about how her man has gone and now she has nobody. There is no sun everything is dark and gloomy and she feels like she cant go on with her life. The song starts off very soft as if she is telling a story and by the end of it she wants you to actually hear the story she is telling and feel how she is feeling. In 1943 Stormy Weather was turned in to a film.

Intro: 2 counts of piano horns loud brass at the end
Chorus: Singing, horns, pianos, string,
Verse 1: Singing and piano with a few strings
Chorus
Verse 2: Singing, horns
chorus
Verse 3: Horns at the beginning
bridge: a string solo for 2 counts, singing is louder and more passionate
Chorus: more intense
Fading out with horns and strings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzLkXdkuhX8

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith was born April 15, 1894 in Chester, Pennsylvania. She had six other siblings and at the age of eight years old she was orphaned and had to be taken care of by Viola, who was her oldest sister. She started singing on the street corners at this age also. at the 18 years old she joined a traveling show and was taken care of by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. Ma Rainey introduced her to show business, and maybe even rural blues singing. They also became lifelong friends. She performed with African-American troupes at tent shows and carnivals and also vaudeville circuit. Bessie tried to record her own music a many of times but failed but the Columbia Records signed her in 1923. "Down-hearted Blues", which was her first record, sold more than 800,000 copies in six months. She made about 160 recordings for Columbia over the next seven years. She the named of the "Empress of the Blue" therefore she wore extravagant costumes while singing about things as sex, despair, and sex. With the come up of the Great Depression her career started to become rocky. Radio had began to replace vaudeville, blues was losing much of its audience to swing music, and she had been let go by Columbia Records. So Bessie started back with her touring shows, she appeared in the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. She tried to get back into the music business by trying swing music but it had very little success. She died on September 26th in a tragic care accident.

http://www.pics-celeb.com/2010/01/bessie-smith.html

Bessie Smith "Down Hearted Blue" song: There is an AABC form in this song. She is talking about all the trouble that she has had from this man and that the trouble is going to follow her to her grave. She cant believe whats really happening and that she has only loved 3 men in her life; her father, her mother, and a man that wrecked her life. Its going to take her some time to heal from this heart break. It is only her voice and a piano in the song.

Dorothy Dandridge

My research will be over Dorothy Dandridge. She was born November 9, 1922 in Cleveland. Her father was not in her life therefore she was raised by her mother and Geneva Williams who was a friend of the mothers; she also had an older sister named Vivian. As children the two sisters performed together in an act called "The Wonder Children". They sang, danced, acrobatics,and different skits. In the year 1938 they performed at the Cotton Club going under the name of Dandridge Sisters. While performing there she found her husband and they got married in 1942. She broke away from her sister and also divorced her husband. She went out on her own and she had a singing act which got her a lot of recognition. She performed in clubs in California and Las Vegas. During this time she faced a lot of racism but it did not stop her from performing. She was the first black women to perform at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Also the first black women to receive the honor of being nominated for Best Actress because of her appearance in the movie "Bright Road". She died on September 8, 1965.

The song I chose to listen to was I Got Rhythm. It is her singing accompanied by a piano in the beginning and it starts off slow. Then it breaks off into a band behind while she sings. There are all types of instruments in the band. There is an ABA form through the first chorus and then the band just plays for about 8 counts as the "chorus" the Dorthy starts to sing another versus in ABA form. Then it ends with the band playing loud and her holding a high note.