In addition to recording a special two-sided "Blackbird Medley," Ellington appeared with three star acts, including the Millses, Miss Hall and the reigning diva of the form known as "caberet blues," the great Ethel Waters. In a stunning example of noblese oblige, in doing the single best-known song from either Blackbirds scores, Miss Waters herself pays tribute to another legend of "sepia showbusiness," Louis Armstrong, whom she flatters with a devastatingly-on target imitation in the second chorus.
