| Alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington is recognised today as one of the four great female jazz vocalists of all time. Born Rutha Lee Jones, Dinah was raised in Chicago where she played the piano and directed her church choir. At age 15 she began performing in nightclubs, joining Lionel Hampton’s band in 1943 - it is he who claims to have given her the name Dinah Washington. It was in the same year that she met the composer/jazz critic of the Los Angles Time Leonard Feather, and it was with his song ‘Evil Gal Blue’s that she had her first hit. Washington dominated the R&B chart in the late forties and early fifties, but also did straight jazz sessions for EmArcy and Mercury with such figures as Paul Quinchette, Clark Terry, Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Barry Galbraith and Maynard Ferguson. Washington’s magnificent musical gifts were offset by a wild and extravagant personal life, she was married seven times and had many lovers - relationships that were reputedly passionate and turbulent. Yet despite external factors Dinah Washington set herself apart from her contemporaries with her extraordinary diction and phrasing. To this day there hasn’t been an equal, though there has been many imitators.
Sadly she battled with weight problems, (for professional reasons more than vanity) and raced through her profits buying shoes, furs and cars in an effort to lift her spirits. Washington also tried numerous prescription medications, primarily for dieting and insomnia and an accidental overdose on pills, mixed with alcohol, caused her tragic premature death, aged just 39. Dinah Washington was brilliant. A highly intelligent, deeply spiritual, refined and infinitely tasteful in her style. She was a liberated woman before such a term existed to define her. These recording were made in the Mid-Fifties when Dinah was in her creative peak, making the transition between blues to jazz. Concentrating on her sassiest performances and purest jazz makes this a perfect introduction to Washington’s genius.
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