Cat. No. BCD 17520: DINAH WASHINGTON ~ A ROCKIN' GOOD WAY. BEAR FAMILY BCD 17520. (IMPORT).
DINAH WASHINGTON WAS A TRUE DIVA WHO GRANDIOSELY EPITOMIZED THE TERM IN EVERY WAY. DINAH NOT ONLY LAID CLAIM TO THE HANDLE ‘QUEEN OF THE BLUES’ SHE WAS ALSO HAILED AS ‘QUEEN OF THE JUKE BOXES’ AND EFFORTLESSLY RULED BOTH OF HER DOMAINS FROM A MINK-LINED THRONE. NO ONE EVER SANG THE BLUES QUITE LIKE DINAH, BUT EVEN IN HER EARLY YEARS SHE WASN’T LIMITED TO A 12-BAR FRAMEWORK. TIN PAN ALLEY TORCH BALLADS WERE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE VEHICLES FOR HER HONEYED PIPES. DINAH WAS OFTEN HAILED AS A JAZZ SINGER; HER COLLABORATIONS WITH MANY OF THE ERA’S TOP INSTRUMENTALISTS MADE IT CLEAR SHE COULD HANG WITH ANY OF THEM AND SWING JUST AS HARD. DINAH’S PERFECT DICTION AND TANGY, UNPREDICTABLE SENSE OF PHRASING SET HER WELL APART FROM HER CONTEMPORARIES, EVEN THE ONES WHO OUTPACED HER YEAR AFTER YEAR IN THE JAZZ MAGAZINE POLLS FOR TOP FEMALE VOCALISTS. JAZZ CRITICS MAY HAVE PREFERRED ELLA OR BILLIE, BUT CLUBGOERS AND RECORD BUYERS VOTED FOR HER TIME AND AGAIN WITH THEIR HARD-EARNED DOLLARS.
ULTIMATELY, DINAH MADE THE ELUSIVE COMMERCIAL LEAP TO MAJOR POP SUCCESS IN 1959 AFTER NEWLY INSTALLED MERCURY RECORDS PRODUCER CLYDE OTIS INSISTED ON FRAMING HER TART VOCAL ON “WHAT A DIFF’RENCE A DAY MAKES” WITH SOARING STRINGS – JUST THE FORMULA TO FINALLY BREAK WASHINGTON INTO THE MAINSTREAM AFTER SHE HOVERED OUTSIDE IT FOR FAR TOO LONG. HER SIMILARLY STATELY BALLAD ENCORES “UNFORGETTABLE” AND “THIS BITTER EARTH” EXTENDED HER POP WINNING STREAK, BUT THEIR MAINSTREAM COMMERCIAL IMPACT WAS NO MORE MAMMOTH THAN HER TWO SMASH DUETS WITH BROOK BENTON IN 1960, “BABY, YOU’VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES” AND “A ROCKIN’ GOOD WAY (TO MESS AROUND AND FALL IN LOVE)”. BOTH INCLUDED ON THIS CD. PERSONAL INCOMPATABILITY DESTROYED THAT PROMISING TEAMING IN A HURRY, BUT IT WAS DYNAMITE WHILE IT LASTED. BRILLIANT ******
TRACK LISTING: A Rockin’ Good Way (Dinah Washington & Brook Benton) / Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby / Baby, Get Lost / New Blowtop Blues / A Bad Case Of The Blues / Such A Night / T.V. Is The Thing (This Year) / Trouble In Mind / A Sunday Kind Of Love / Bad Luck / Honky Tonk (Dinah Washington as ‘The Queen’) / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / What A Diff’rence A Day Makes / Baby, You Got What It Takes (Dinah Washington & Brook Benton) / Come On Home / Early Every Morning / Cry Me A River / I’m Thru With Love / Everybody Loves Somebody.
CD DIGI-PAK NEW
