Dinah Washington - Sings The Blues

Born Ruth Lee Jones in 1924, Dinah Washington was a band singer with Lionel Hampton from 1943 to '46. After this she went solo, signing with Mercury records in 1948, remaining with that label until her death in 1963. It's been said that Dinah's hard-edged approach to love songs was due to seven failed marriages.

True or not, it's a certainty that Miss Washington had a unique highly-pitched, clipped delivery and handled blues, jazz, R&B and pop songs with equal skill.

Dinah Washington is one of the all-time great jazz singers, and she staked that claim with a whole lot of blues in her delivery.

This roundup of blues-heavy sides from her Mercury heyday, then, is a welcome addition to an already impressive catalog. Cut during the '50s and early '60s, the 16 tracks include such usual suspects as "Trouble in Mind," "You Don't' Know What Love Is," and Bessie Smith's classic "Backwater Blues." Nicely augmenting these fine renditions, Washington transforms pop numbers like "Since I Fell for You" and "Soft Winds" with some juke-joint heat. And with plenty more gems to be had and fine support from arranger Quincy Jones, tenor saxophonist Lucky Thompson, trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, drummer Max Roach, and many others, one can't lose gettin' real lowdown with the swingin' (and bluesy) "Miss D."


Dinah Washington - Sings The Blues
(320 kbps, cover art included)