The Adelaide Hall Collection 1927-60

Adelaide Hall’s career in showbiz spanned a remarkable 70 years, encompassing jazz, cabaret, pure pop, variety, film, West End and Broadway shows, and straight theatre. From New York musical revues through jazz recordings in the ‘20s with Duke Ellington to Broadway, and then the London Palladium in 1931, which introduced her to life in the UK, she rapidly became a versatile and in-demand performer with a highly individual style. Her rejection of the institutionalized racism of the US business brought her to Europe, where she forged a hugely varied career in Paris and London, which made her a fixture in UK theatres, still treading the boards into her 80s. This extraordinary life left a legacy of varied and fascinating recordings, a 52-track selection of which is presented here, from her landmark recording of “Creole Love Call” with Ellington in 1927 to Broadway and West End musicals of the ‘50s. It is a long-overdue tribute to a star who has not enjoyed the recognition she deserves.