This double LP pays tribute to the legacy of the Cotton Club on 30 mostly rare recordings by a wide variety of jazz-oriented performers. Taken more or less in chronological order, this collection has among its many highlights "I Found a New Baby" by
Andy Preer's Cotton Club Orchestra from 1927, "A Night at the Cotton Club Medley" by
Duke Ellington and selections by
The Missourians,
Bill Bojangles Robinson,
Cab Calloway (including a Cotton Club radio broadcast from 1932),
Harold Arlen, Buck and Bubbles,
Ethel Waters,
the Nicholas Brothers,
Ella Fitgerald,
Lena Horne and
Louis Armstrong with
the Mills Brothers. Even veteran collectors will probably not have all of these performances, making this attractive two-fer from 1984 worth picking up.
–
Scott Yanow, Rovi