Ill Wind (Arlen-Koehler song)

"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.

— Adelaide Hall^[2]

The melody came to Arlen while he was visiting Anya Taranda, then a model who later became his 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

• Maxine Sullivan (1939)
• Lena Horne - Moanin' Low (1942)
• Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours (1955)
• Dinah Washington - Dinah! (1956)
• Ben Webster - Soulville (1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald - Ella at the Opera House (1958), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook (1961)
• Horace Silver - Further Explorations (1958)
• Stan Kenton - Standards in Silhouette (1959)
• Howard McGhee - Sharp Edge (1961)
• Sarah Vaughan - After Hours (1961), Send in the Clowns (1981)
• Earl Grant - Midnight Sun (1962)
• Lee Morgan - Cornbread (1967)
• Larry Coryell/Emily Remler - Together (1985)^[4]
• Australian recording artist Kate Ceberano - Kate Ceberano and her Septet (1986)
• Adelaide Hall - Live at the Riverside Studios (Riverside Studios) (Jay Productions Ltd./TER Ltd. CDVIR 8312, 1990)
• Michael Brook featuring Michael Stipe, Jimmy Scott, and Flea - Albino Alligator soundtrack (1997)
• Lils Mackintosh - Seasons (1997)
• Bobby Caldwell - Come Rain or Come Shine (1999)
• June Christy - A Friendly Session, Vol. 1 (2000) with the Johnny Guarnieri Quintet
• Audra McDonald - Happy Songs (2002)
• Mina - Mina per Wind (Vol.2) (2002)
• Debbie Harry (in a medley with "Stormy Weather") - Hal Willner's Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen (2003)
• Patti LuPone - The Lady with the Torch (2006)
• Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts (2009)
• Johnny Dankworth - Too Cool for the Blues (2010)
• Norah Jones with the Charlie Haden Quartet West - Sophisticated Ladies (2010)

External links

• lyric
• JazzStandards.com: Song Information

References