Stormy Weathers, written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, was first performed by Ethel Waters in 1933. In Waters’ recording, the song starts off at a nice slow tempo, perhaps around 78 beats per minute. The song seems to be in the classic 4/4 time signature throughout the piece, but in my opinion there does not seem to be any emphasis on the second and fourth beat as there is in other pieces of jazz music. The song then picks up the pace and slows down around two more times throughout the song, going back to the nice slow tempo when returning to the original melody “Stormy weather, since my man and I ain't together, keeps rainin' all of the time...” The music seems to be at the same dynamic level throughout the song for the most part (around what I would say is a piano or mezzo forte) and getting as loud as forte or fortissimo at one shout chorus. The historical and musical significance of this track revolves around the woman who sang the song: Ethel Waters. She is the first African American performer to attain massive popularity amongst both white and black listeners, built bridges between jazz, pop music, and musical theater, and had her work used as a foundation for what would follow in jazz and popular singing. Not only that, but she also received support from renowned musicians such as Duke Ellington, the Dorsey Brothers, Jack Teagarden, Bunny Berigan, and more. Not only that, but it was a great accomplishment in itself that Waters had fans of both white and African American ethnicity, especially since her career was during a time when whites often refused to listen to music produced by African Americans. It goes to show the talent Waters had in both connecting people in addition to connecting different types of music.
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