Masters of Jazz 5: Female Vocal Classics

Masters Of Jazz (Wea/Atlantic/Rhino Series) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 17, 1996)
• Original Release Date: September 17, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000033TS
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381,143 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Stormy Weather - Lena Horne

2. Rockin' Chair - Mildred Bailey & Her Orchestra

3. The Man I Love - Billie Holiday

4. Let Me Off Uptown - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra

5. Flying Home - Ella Fitzgerald

6. If You Could See Me Now - Sarah Vaughan

7. Smooth Sailing - Ella Fitzgerald

8. Take The 'A' Train - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

9. Twisted - Annie Ross

10. Black Coffee - Peggy Lee

11. Something Cool - June Christy

12. You Better Go Now - Jeri Southern

13. But Not For Me - Chris Connor

14. Love I've Found You - Gloria Lynne

15. Guess Who I Saw Today - Nancy Wilson

16. Don't Go To Strangers - Etta Jones

17. I Got It Bad - Nina Simone

18. 'Round Midnight - Betty Carter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thirty years of jazz, by seventeen well known stars of jazz and the equally great, but lesser known, pioneers., April 25, 2008

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Masters of Jazz 5: Female Vocal Classics (Audio CD)

With eighteen tracks by seventeen different female jazz singers--Ella Fitzgerald has two tracks--this CD is a terrific introduction to jazz by the women who made it their own. Beginning in 1937 with Mildred Bailey and 1939 with Billie Holliday, and extending to Betty Carter in 1962 and Nina Simone in 1963, this CD has a full range of vocal styles, musical philosophies, and types of accompaniment.

All the tracks are outstanding examples of the styles of these singers, and every track is a winner in its own right, but several showstoppers dominate: Ella Fitzgerald's "Smooth Sailing," with Hank Jones on piano is one of the all-time great scat treatments, certainly the best I've ever heard from Ella, who pioneered this style. June Christie never sounded better than she does on "Something Cool," and Nancy Wilson's "Guess Who I Saw Today," a dramatic song that she makes her own, is full of pathos and restrained emotion.

If the intention of this CD was to hook a jazz lover on new or less familiar jazz artists, then it certainly succeeded. Gloria Lynne, who sometimes sounds like the precursor of Aretha Franklin, lets her whole voice fly in "Love, I've Found You." Etta Jones, a singer I'd never heard before, is astonishing in "Don't Go to Strangers," and Betty Carter, one of my faves, in "'Round Midnight," is at her peak.

Fortunately, the Amazon MarketPlace has many older CDs by all these sometimes neglected artists, and, as a result, at least one listener will be hearing a lot more from Gloria Lynne and Etta Jones, with Nina Simone next up. Showing a full range of styles from 1937 - 1963, this is certainly a recording which will whet your appetite for many of the lesser known greats. n Mary Whipple

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