Dinah Washington

INCLUDES FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD ALBUM PLUS 1 BONUS TRACK

PERSONNEL:

DINAH WASHINGTON, vocals
CLIFFORD BROWN, CLARK TERRY
& MAYNARD FERGUSON, trumpet
HERB GELLER, alto sax
HAROLD LAND, tenor sax
RICHIE POWELL, JUNIOR MANCE, piano
KETER BETTS, GEORGE MORROW, bass
MAX ROACH, drums

Hollywood, California, August 14, 1954.

SIDE A:

01 LOVER COME BACK TO ME
02 BALLAD MEDLEY: ALONE TOGETHER / SUMMERTIME / COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
03 NO MORE

SIDE B:

01 I’VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN
02 THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE
03 YOU GO TO MY HEAD
04 CRAZY HE CALLS ME *

*BONUS TRACK: From the same session. Not on the original LP.

Blues, R&B and jazz singer Dinah Washington, the Grammy-winning “Queen of the Black Jukebox”, left her turbulent life behind at the tender age of 39. In that short period, a volatile mix of undeniable talent and deep-rooted insecurity took her to the heights of fame and the depths of self-doubt.

Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on August 29, 1924. She moved to Chicago as a child, where she became deeply involved in gospel and played piano for the choir in St Luke’s Baptist Church while she was still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens in addition to joining the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. She sang lead with the first female gospel singers formed by Ms. Martin, who was co-founder of the Gospel Singers Convention. Young Dinah’s involvement with the gospel choir occurred after she won an amateur contest at Chicago’s Regal Theater, where she sang “I Can’t Face the Music”.

After winning the aforementioned talent contest at the age of 15, she began performing in clubs. By 1941-42 she was performing in Chicago clubs like Dave’s Rhumboogie and the Downbeat Room (with Fats Waller) of the Sherman Hotel. She was playing at the jazz club The Three Deuces, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Washington was asked to sit in and Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of “I Understand”, backed by the Cats & The Fiddle (who were appearing in the Garrick’s upstairs room), that he immediately hired her. During the year of her tenure at the Garrick, where she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room, she acquired the name of Dinah Washington, which would be her stage name throughout her career. Joe Sherman is generally credited with suggesting the change from Ruth Jones, but both Joe Glaser, the booker-manager who brought Lionel Hampton to hear Dinah at the Garrick, and Hampton himself have occasionally been given the credit for the name change. Hampton’s visit brought an offer, and Dinah went to work as his female vocalist in 1943 after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre. She sang with the Hampton band for two years.