Show tunes carried Waters from honky-tonks to Broadway and Hollywood. With “Stormy Weather” from Cotton Club Parade of 1933, she was noticed by the public. Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Bunny Berigan, Joe Venuti and others accompany her in a deeply heartfelt interpretation. The magnetic attraction of her voice appears in both early blues themes and later showstoppers.

The 1925 recording of “Maybe Not At All” proves interesting, since her accompanists are Pearl Wright on piano, Joe Smith on cornet, and Coleman Hawkins on baritone saxophone. For that piece, Waters moves confidently through a suite of changing interpretations with a knowing gleam in her eye. Both in all-star format and with large studio orchestras, this entertaining vocal compilation provides a knowledgeable look at Waters and what she could do with a show tune.

~ Jim Santella

Track Listing: Heat Wave; I Just Couldn’t Take It Baby; Harlem On My Mind; Hottentot Promenade; Stormy Weather; Come Up and See Me Sometime; Shake That Thing; (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue?; Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone; Maybe Not at All; Memories Of You; You Can’t Stop Me From Loving You; You’re Lucky To Me; Cabin in the Sky; Thief in the Night; Taking a Chance on Love; Honey in the Honeycomb.