Rosie Chalmers joins Raising the Standards

…hello and welcome to Sunday Liner Notes.

This morning a composition and performance that are both quite stunning.

Written in 1933 by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, “Stormy Weather” was first introduced that same year at The Cotton Club in Harlem by Ethel Waters.

Embraced by four generations of vocalists, it is the quintessential torch song.

“Don’t know why There’s no sun up in the sky.

Stormy weather

Since my man and I ain’t together

Keeps raining all the time”.

Fast forward a decade as 20th Century Fox releases, “Stormy Weather” one of two films featuring African American casts (the other being MGM’s “Cabin in the Sky”).

The picture starred, Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Cab Calloway along with a young actor/musician named Dooley Wilson who five years later would make history as the piano player at Rick’s American Cafe in “Casablanca.”

“When he went away The blues walked in and met me

Oh, yeah if he stays away

Old rocking chair’s gonna get me

All I do is pray

The Lord above will let me.

Walk in the sun once more”

The attached clip from the movie in which Calloway conducts the orchestra accompanying Miss Horne is simply magic and she is the very definition of elegance.

Oh, and watch until the end. If you’ve haven’t seen the movie, you are in for a surprise.

Enjoy.