Ill Wind

"Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good)" is a song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Ted Koehler. It was written for their last show at the Cotton Club in 1934 and was sung by Adelaide Hall [1] In an interview Adelaide Hall explained how she performed the song to great effect during the show, 'I starred in the Cotton Club Parade where I sang 'Ill Wind', which Harold Arlen had written for me. There were twenty-four girl dancers behind me all dressed in grey and I was in pink. It was the first show ever that had nitrogen smoke rise from the floor on stage.'[2] The melody came to Arlen whilst he was visiting Anya Taranda, a model who was to become Arlen's wife.[3]

The song is also featured in the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola movie The Cotton Club sung by the actress Lonette McKee. McKee plays a character with similarities to Adelaide Hall in real life.

Notable recordings

References

  1. ↑ 'Underneath a Harlem Moon ... the Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall' by Iain Cameron Williams. Continuum Publishing, ISBN 0826458939. https://www.amazon.com/Underneath-Harlem-Moon-Paris-Adelaide/dp/B005ZOLV7C
  2. ↑ Adelaide Hall obituary in the Independent newspaper in which Hall is quoted about her time spent at the Cotton Club and singing "Ill Wind", (retrieved 26 december 2014):https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-adelaide-hall-1502902.html
  3. ↑ Liner notes, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook
  4. ↑ "Together overview". Allmusic.com.
  5. ↑ 'Live at the Riverside' http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,283666-8604594,00.html
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