Stormy Weather

Ethel Waters · 1933 · with the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra

Context

Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler for the revue "Cotton Club Parade of 1933," the song was premiered by Ethel Waters at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and she recorded it the same year for Brunswick with the Dorsey brothers' orchestra. This version was added to the National Recording Registry in 2003. Lena Horne took it up ten years later in the film Stormy Weather.

In the genealogy of jazz

This track belongs to Vocal jazz, scat, vocalese, Classic blues (women singers). Among the origins and influences of Vocal jazz, scat, vocalese: Classic blues (women singers), Swing, big bands, Bebop (Minton's, Monroe's).

Cited in 1 radio episode

• Sep 25, 2026: STORMY WEATHER - COTTON CLUB SOUS TURBULENCES (Anatomie d'un titre, TSF Jazz, in French)

Sources

• EN: Stormy Weather (song)
• EN: Ethel Waters

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