THE SWINGIN’ MISS “D” (180g Vinyl LP)
Artist: DINAH WASHINGTON
Format: LP
Bar-code: 5060397602152
Cat No: CATLP215
£9.99
“The Queen”, as they called her, and Dinah Washington’s regality was nowhere more apparent than in the recording studio, where she was uncompromising in her demands for the best in material and in backing. She could hardly have been disappointed in this recording, which dates from 1957, for not only did she have some great standards to sing in arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ernie Wilkins, two of the best around at that time, but she also had behind her a star-spangled band (the trumpet section alone is sufficient indication of its quality) that gave her every opportunity to be at her best.
Quincy Jones, who also started out with Lionel Hampton as a trumpeter and arranger, worked a great deal with Dinah as composer, arranger, and musical director in their Mercury collaborations, before Dinah’s tragic death in 1963. He understood her musically as few others did and in his arrangements on this recording (all titles except for Every Time We Say Goodbye, But Not For Me and Never Let Me Go), he sympathetically supplements the vocal so that there is always a perfect rapport between orchestra and singer.
The session closes with Somebody Loves Me, from George’s White Scandals of 1924, in which it was introduced by Winnie Lightner. George Gershwin wrote this one in collaboration with Ballard McDonald, better known as the writer of “Indiana”. After wailing her way through the first chorus, Dinah turns the microphone over to some fine solo offerings by Ortega on alto, Cleveland on trombone and Elliott on vibes. She then returns for a half-chorus and Quincy’s all-star brass section joins her for the swinging conclusion.