An Excellent Collection -- Especially if You're New to Dinah

Much of Dinah Washington's music was ruined in my opinion by too many strings and syrupy arrangements. This is a great collection of songs -- some ballads and others that really swing -- and most have very spare arrangements, drums, bass, piano or guitar, a couple of horn(s) and, most importantly, Dinah's vocals pure and unadulterated. Recorded in 1955 with great session players and arrangments by Quincy Jones -- these are the real deal and don't get any better.

Great voice, great songs: Dinah leaves her mark.

Well, the first thing you'll notice when you look at this album is the careful selection of songs. 10 songs that match in perfection Dinah's style. No songs about happy love with easy lyrics, but instead, songs about more complex emotions... like "You don't know what love is" - a beautiful (and very famous) song about the true consequences of love that one experiences after a love lost. Dinah's voice (like Billie Holiday's) is one of those who put deep feeling above the simple act of crooning through a song. The second major thing about this album is the careful use of the band (again, Quincy Jones shows us his magic!): Not a big orchestra with a full string section, but a small band with Wynton Kelly(p), Clark Terry(t), Barry Galbraith(g) and other peak musicians. This means that we have the best band with some of the 50's top Jazz players who give Dinah the perfect space for her strong, firm and wide voice. And what a voice! She sings through "My Old Flame" and "Blue Gardenia" with sheer perfection! All the songs were carefully chosen and most of these recordings present us with the best readings one can hope for. Dinah is the top and this album flashes her art. Only one flaw... I would love to listen to outakes, rehearsals and all the stuff they include in other albums....

This album is great

This is certainly one of Dinah's greatest albums. This 1955 treasure should certainly be admired by all of Dinah's biggest fans. My favorite song on this album is I Get A Kick Out Of You. Other favorites are This Can't Be Love and her soulful version of Blue Gardenia. Love this album. If youre a serious fan, get this one-even if you arent a jazz and blues fan youll like this album!