Customer Reviews

Back to Blues (Ain't Nothin But a Woman Cryin For)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A woman cryin' for her man.

So begins Dinah Washington's "Back to the Blues" a wonderful album from a performer of great talent who died too young.

When I was a kid my father, a studio musician, would let me tag along with him when he had a recording date. One year, when I was about 9, he took me along to a session. We got there and waited, and waited. The studio musicians were sitting around playing cards, smoking, and telling jokes. I asked what was going on and he told me that Dinah Washington was scheduled to come in to record, she had a lot of `problems' and usually came in about 3-hours late. The musicians didn't mind all that much since they were getting paid by the hour. Sure enough, Dinah Washington (who I didn't know at all) strolled in and it was apparent, even to a 9-year old that she wasn't quite clear-eyed. But after a while the musician got themselves together and she stepped up to the microphone, opened her mouth and out came these sounds from a place I never knew existed. I knew nothing about music generally or the blues specifically but even I knew that something special was going on. I remember hearing that Dinah died about a year later of an accidental overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills. She was only 39 years old. So when I listen to "Back to the Blues" today I can't help but think that the tracks I heard her lay down that day found their way into this album.

As the title suggests "Back to the Blues" marked a return for Dinah to her blues roots. She was comfortable and very successful in the pop, jazz, and R&B arenas. Sad to say, some of her older fans resented her success as something of a crossover artist. No matter what the reason for her decision "Back to the Blues" is an example of Washington at her finest. The album starts with her plaintive "The blues ain't nothin' but a woman cryin' for her man" and takes off from there. The arrangements, most by jazz arranger Fred Norman and two by Don Costa, are lush as one might expect from the early 60s but Dinah's voice take center stage. Among my favorite tracks were "It's a mean old man's world" and "Nobody knows the way I feel this morning". The album contains three bonus tracks that did not appear on the original vinyl LP: "Don't say nothing at all"; "No one man"; and "Me and my gin". The tracks have been remastered and the sound quality is reasonably decent.

If you are already a fan of Dinah you don't need me to `sell' you on this CD. If you are new to Dinah Washington this CD is as good a place as any to start.

This cd takes you places some jazz artist just wish they could find! Blues and Jazz fans will enter the dark, sad, smokey world of Dinah when she belts out the lyrics of "Its a mean old man's world" and if you don't "see" the world a little differently when she tells you "Nobody knows how I feel this morning" then you are truly a blessed person. If you've ever loved and lost or had a broken heart then Dinah knows your pain and she sure does sing to your heart. This is truly one of the best blues cd's I've heard in many years. That sweet voice will leave you wanting more and more and more.

This CD gets better with every listen! Dinah recorded these songs just over a year before her untimely death (age 39!). Though her voice sounds rough around the edges on some selections here, it all works to her advantage because it only adds to the down-home, blues-beltin' mama that many listeners associate Dinah with. Arrangements are usually a large orchestra with occasional strings added in but it's very much Dinah's voice that takes center stage here. Dinah knew her critics were blasting her for leaving the blues world for pop a few years back, so this was her way to make peace with them. But the listeners are the ones who win out because her rich, knowing voice goes thru 15 songs here like a tornado in heat.

A great album! Dinah sings the Blues in her Jazzy, sophisticated-yet-accessible, no-nonsense way. The 15 songs/tracks are all must-haves - even her lyrically dyslexic reading of "No One Man". Recorded July & November 1962.

I bought this CD (and Ultimate Dinah Washington CD - 16 songs) after the play, Dinah Was. I have approx. 100 CDs (different Artist/Music), but I do not have CDs as the above-mentioned -- 31 total songs -- there is not one song that you would not replay! She was the greatest.

This is one of my favorite laid-back albums. It's a great uniformly sexy and smooth disk that you can play for atmospheric background music for dinner or just chillin'.

Good song
Good disc
Good music
Let's have a few sips and listen to 'You've Been A Good Ole Wagon'
Mean old World
Nobody Knows The Way I Feel
Let's get BACK TO THE BLUES

DINAH'll show you how it's done

Totally amazing, and a keeper for any serious blues fan! Buy this album!Back to the Blues

I did not know what to expect with this CD. I had heard Dinah's other recordings such as Blue Gardenia, What a difference A Day Makes and Baby You Got What it Takes. To my surprise, this is one of the best CD's; Dinah Washington's back to the Blues. Dinah really pours her heart out and make you feel every emotion a woman can feel about a man. It's funny, it's sad, but most of all it tugs at your heart strings. Great listening. I highly recommend this CD for for fans of Dinah Washington's music.

Great Dinah Washington went full circle with this album - she started as blues singer (at least on the records,her real beginnings were in church but she never recorded gospel and refused to do it once she went "commercial",explaining it would be sin to mix different music genres),than became pop-crossover singer who could do jazz at the drop of the hat and at the end of her tragically short life she recorded this album where blues was again the main focus.
Gifted with particulary expressive voice that easily transcended genres,Washington was one in a million - true original on and off stage - her voice can instantly be recognised in a crowd and she sang passionately in general,no matter what producers threw at her.
You wanna blues - she did "Evil Gal Blues" and "Baby get lost" long originally.
Jazz standards - she recorded whole albums tribute to Bessie Smith and Fats Waller,not to mention her swinging work with Quincy Jones.
Mainstream pop ballads - "What a difference a day makes",her "Grammy" award.
Just a year she would suddenly bow out of stage forever,Washington recorded this stunning blues album where centerpiece must be old "Nobody knows the way I feel this morning" recorded in 1920s by Alberta Hunter. Washington knew her blues well and add-libbed lyrics as famous old blues queens used to do ("Blues is nothing but a woman cryin' for her man"),her voice miraculously preserved and obviously talent was still here although jazz critics couldn't stomach her commercial success - she was great as ever,switching gears between commercial pop ballads and any music she wanted.
"How long,how long blues" and "Key to the highway" were actually gospel dressed up as blues,backing choir and all,curious exception in Washington's discography since she refused to sing gospel once she left Sallie Martin church choir in Chicago.
Its tempting to think how would her career continue had she lived longer - Ray Charles moved into country,Sam Cooke went pop,young Aretha and the whole soul music thing came along,Washington would probably rule Las Vegas and pal along with Sinatra,recording thematic albums along the way and very probably pulling the shots from the background,discovering and promoting new talents.
As it happened,it was not meant to be and this was one of her last albums.