Stormy Weather

Various Artists - Stormy Weather
THE SOUNDTRACK COMPANY - SFCD33505

Tracks:
01 - Main Title / Stormy Weather Ballet
02 - Walkin' The Dog
03 - There's No Two Ways About Love - Lena Horne
04 - Cakewalk / Camptown Races / At A Georgia Meeting
05 - Linda Brown - The Tramp Band
06 - Moppin' And Boppin' - Fats Waller
07 - That Ain't Right - Fats Waller And Ada Brown
08 - Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller
09 - Diga Diga Doo - Lena Horne
10 - I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City - Mae Johnson
11 - Nobody's Sweetheart
12 - I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Lena Horne And Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
13 - Geechy Joe - Cab Calloway And His Orchestra
14 - Stormy Weather - Lena Horne
15 - There's No Two Ways About Love - Cab Calloway, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson And Lena Horne
16 - My, My, Ain't That Somethin' - Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
17 - Jumpin' Jive - Cab Calloway And His Orchestra
18 - My, My, Ain't That Somethin' - Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, Cab Calloway And Lena Horne
19 - Good For Nothing Joe - Lena Horne (Not Used In Movie)
20 - Body And Soul - Cab Calloway And His Orchestra (Not Used In Movie)

This is the soundtrack to the 1943 movie 'Stormy Weather' that has an all African-American cast. The plot (slight though it is) is loosely based upon the life and times of it's star Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson. Returning from World War I, Bill and his friend Gabe (played by Dooley Wilson of Casablanca fame) return to Harlem to rebuild Bill's showbiz career. Bill meets and falls for singer Selina Rogers (Lena Horne) and vows to come back to her when he "gets to be somebody". The story of their relationship is almost continuously interspersed with musical song and dance numbers, tracing the development of African-American music from minstrelsy to big band swing, and culminating in a big finale.

The film is very entertaining and definitely worth watching, but it's the music that makes it great. For me the highlights of the film are Fats Waller and Cab Calloway (playing themselves) and the two dancin'est dudes that ever were or probably ever will be, the Nicholas Brothers. So here's a zoot suited Cab Calloway singing 'Geechy Joe', Fats Waller singing 'Ain't Misbehavin' and the finale that features Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers performing what Fred Astaire called the "the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen", 'Jumpin' Jive'. The Nicholas Brothers' eye-watering way of getting down stairs is probably best not tried at home........