Description:
From the late 1940s until her death in 1963, Dinah Washington was a dominant presence among the women who sang R&B, with an unequalled emotional power and a voice that mingled highs and lows, rough and smooth, like raw silk. While she often sang R&B, though, her mastery of the idiom drew on her ability to sing all its constituent parts and musical relations--blues, jazz, and pop. This hourlong survey of her Mercury recordings covers all the bases that she touched in her career. Beginning with a 1947 session with backing from Lionel Hampton, Washington's Finest Hour extends to the pop sessions that brought her greater suc
From the late 1940s until her death in 1963, Dinah Washington was a dominant presence among the women who sang R&B, with an unequalled emotional power and a voice that mingled highs and lows, rough and smooth, like raw silk. While she often sang R&B, though, her mastery of the idiom drew on her ability to sing all its constituent parts and musical relations--blues, jazz, and pop. This hourlong survey of her Mercury recordings covers all the bases that she touched in her career. Beginning with a 1947 session with backing from Lionel Hampton, Washington's Finest Hour extends to the pop sessions that brought her greater successes more than a decade later, both alone and with fellow singer Brook Benton. Washington the blues singer is equally effective on the bawdy "Long John Blues" and the traditional lament "Trouble in Mind," while her jazz-rooted mastery of standards is apparent on such songs as "I'll Remember April" and the profound "Blue Gardenia." She could even cover a country song like Hank Williams's "Cold, Cold Heart" or the light pop of "Teach Me Tonight" and make it convincingly her own, while her version of "Unforgettable" can stand comparison with Nat "King" Cole's. This is a terrific introduction to one of the essential singers, whatever genre claims her. --Stuart Broomer
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Manufacturer: Polygram Records
Release date: 27 June 2000
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0731454359627 UPC: 731454359627
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