1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightefully Light,Swinging,Sweet, & Sentimental Jazz, April 7, 2009
This review is from: Mildred Bailey: Complete Columbia Recordings, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)
Mildred Bailey was an extremely subtle jazz singer. She stripped a song into its bare essentials and worked wonders with her light, lilting,and unusual soft soprano voice. She sang very romantic ballads that could rip your heart out, torch songs with a sultry sound of tragedy that matched Billie Holiday's emotional depth and level of intensity; a sense of haunting sadness pervaded inherently in her voice.
Mildred could swing like no others,possessing astute jazz timing, impeccable diction, and a raucious sense of having fun doing the many upbeat numbers. She was also known for doing many specialty songs that no one else ever recorded, mostly conveying a deep sense of melancholy nostalgia and forlorness. Her highs were extremely high and her lows very low.
A word must be said for her highly selective choice of musical accompianists. They were the very best of the time period,the creme of the crop, many of whom she shared with Billie Holiday on her Columbia recordings.
Mildred Bailey was an exceptionally unique, original,innovative,creative, and extraordinarily classy musical genius.
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