Released for International Woman's Day & Mothers day, this compilation celebrates the achievements of 15 female jazz singers of the 20th century - Carmen McRae, Betty Carter , Anita O’Day, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee,Shirley Bassey, Sarah Vaughan, Blossom Dearie, Helen Merrill, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson,Shirley Horn and Nina Simone..

The title says it all. This nostalgic collection looks at how female jazz singers were able to use their virtuosity and poise to transcend their turbulent times. A celebration of resilient womanhood...


Billie Holiday - Music Fot Torching
As long as you are not expecting the Billie Holiday of the Teddy Wilson and Lester Young years there is plenty to satisfy lovers of good singing. Although Billie’s voice has taken on a much more lived in quality her phrasing and timing is still intact
The backing musicians are something of a dream team with Jimmy Rowles on piano possibly one of the best accompanists in the business plus the immaculate Benny Carter on alto and Harry Edison before he became too repetitive. Drummer Larry Bunker is ideal for this type of album, where he needs to swing he can but without overwhelming the singer and he keeps well in the background on the slower numbers.
All the songs are well known standards but Billie puts her own individual on the with “I Don’t Want To Cry Anymore” perhaps being not so quite well known.
This is Billie in the twilight of her career but with still much to offer in the way of good singing.

Carmen McRae - After Glow
This is Carmen at her very before her mannerisms became too pronounced and probably a finest recording along with “By Special Request” which was recorded during the same period. She is best heard with smaller groups as is the case on this album with just a piano trio.
Tracks “I Can’t Escape Fro You” and “I’m Through With Love” are a lesson in how to approach a song and to refrain from over dramatising which takes away the meaning of the lyrics.

Anita O’Day Sings The Winners
This is Anita singing songs associated with various musicians and accompanied by an all star big band of high quality musicians.
This is the type of material that Anita handles so well and is able to adapt the music to suit her style. With a mixture of straight lyrics and scat Anita is able to capture the spirit of the originals and for the jazz aficionado there are a wealth of high quality solos.
“Four” ( For Miles Davis ) and “Early Autumn” ( For Stan Getz ) are stand out tracks but but the balance of the tracks are of a similar quality.

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Lincoln’s Affair
This early in Abbey Lincoln’s singing career and is typical of vocal albums of the period, her later work was to have a much more modern approach. There are some high quality arrangements shared between Benny Carter, Marty Paich and Jack Montrose with the orcestra conducted by Benny Carter.
The choice o material is a mixture of the familiar and the not so familiar.
“Crazy She Call Me” and “The Masquerade Is Over” are the most interesting tracks of Better known numbers, of the lesser known numbers it’s “Two Cigarettes In The Dark” and “No More” which are worth a listen.
With all the string laden arrangements it would be a stretch to consider this to be a jazz album but as an easy introduction to the work of Abbey Lincoln it has its usefulness.

Shirley Bassey - let’s Face The Music
Not too sure how this album made it on to a selection of Queens of Vocal Jazz with Miss Bassey’s strident delivery of a lyric and her constantly turning every performance into a big production number. Her choice of material can not be faulted and Nelson Riddle’s arrangements backing are top quality. I must give her a plus for including the little heard verse of “All The Things You Are”.
This may well be the right album in the wrong place.

Peggy Lee - Blues Cross Country
Apart from her vocal talents Peggy Lee’s not inconsiderable skills as a songwriter are on display on eight of the numbers on this album and with the all star roster of musicians Quincy Jones has assembled for this album it has got to be worth a listen.
Of the Peggy Lee compositions “Boston Beans” and “The Train Blues” are the ones that spark the interest.

Sarah Vaughan - No Count Sarah
Sarah Vaughan has one of the greatest voices in jazz and possesses the skills to use it to its full potential. The choice of material on this album is faultless and Sarah gives all the songs just the right treatment.
This is the Count Basie Orchestra without the Count at the piano whose place is filled by Sarah’s regular pianist Ronnell Bright.
All the tracks are near faultless but there are a number that stand out, Sarah’s interpretation of “Moonlight In Vermont” is a classic and has rarely been sung better by any other singer. Ronnell Bright’s own composition “Missing You” deserves to be part of the Great American Songbook.

Dinah Washington - In The Land Of Hi-Fi
Dinah Washington had a chequered career and unfortunately did not live to a great age but lived life to the full for the short time she was with us.
Her recordings covered many styles with a variety of accompaniment from swinging big bands to string laden arrangements and also out and out jazz backings.
This album covers both strings and big band with all the arrangements by Hal Mooney who worked extensively with Miss Washington.
The stand out tracks for the big band swingers are “Our Love Is Here To Stay” and “Sunny Side Of The Street”, for the string arrangements and ballads “My Ideal” and “What’ll I Tell My Heart”.
This is an interesting mixture of some of the best songs wriiten and sung with great style by Dinah Washington.

Blossom Dearie - Once Upon A Summertime
As a singer Blossom Dearie owes much to singers of a previos generation such as Rose Murphy and Nellie Lutcher with her little girl delivery but make no mistake she is a singer of great quality with a gift for interpreting a song in a personal manner.
Her decision to record “Two For Tea” was a masterstroke it gives the song a whole different meaning and the same can be said for “Surrey With The Fringe On Top”.
“It Amazes Me” has become very associated with her and her versions of “Teach Me Tonight” and “Manhattan” are highly personal.
This album is a joy from start to finish are with herself at the piano and the rest of the group it can’t get any better.

Nancy Wilson - Like In Love
Like Shirley Bassey, Nacy Wilson has something of a strident voice but the similarity stops there for she has a high degree of jazz feeling and phrases the lyrics in a unique way.
Her choice of material is generally without fault and this album contains some of the best.
Her choice of Ahmad Jamal’s “Night Mist” is inspired and she does it full justice. “You Leave Me Breathless” and “Passion Flower” are two more which deserve special mention for their quality of interpretation.
All in all this is one of Nancy Wilson‘s finest albums and with the arranging and conducting of Billy May it has to have something going for it.

Nina Simone - Sings Ellington
It is difficult to know where to place Nina Simone, is she a jazz singer, a folk singer, a blues singer or a protest singer? Wherever we decide to place her she has the talent to bring it off and usually does.
Some of the songs she has chosen for this album are regular Ellington numbers which many other singers have chosen to record but there are a number which very rarely if ever get a hearing.Numbers like “Hey, Buddy Bolden”, “Merry Mending” and “The Gal From Joes” are fairly obscure.
The orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Burns is spot on but the vocal choir is another matter.
The choice of material and the vocal styling of Nina Simone makes the inclusion in this set an enjoyable experience.

Betty Carter - The Modern Sound of Betty Carter .
Betty Carter’s big break came with her spell singing with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra between 1948 to 1951 under the name Lorraine Carter but few recordings exist of her time with the band. Lionel nicknamed her “Be-Bop Betty” and she later changed her name to Betty Carter.
She was an innovative singer taking many chances with the lyrics and tempos, she was a major influence on many of the modern vocalists.
Although this is one of Betty Carter’s earlier recordings and fairly straight forward there are plenty of hints of things to come particularly on “Jazz ( Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul )” and the foppish “On The Alamo”. Other stand out tracks are “There’s No You” and “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire”.
There is much to recommend this album including the many unaccredited solosplayed by members of the Richard Wess Orchestra.

Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown
Born in New York Jelena An Milcetic was the daughter of a Croation immigrant later changed her name to Helen Merrill who started singing as a teenager. Helen Merrill never enjoyed the commercial success her peers Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan did but nevertheless she enjoyed a successful career.
She was the exact opposite of brash and abrasive singer but adopted a much more laid back approach and gave the lyrics of the song her own interpretation.
Clifford Brown’s solos are so beautifully constructed it would be foolish to select one as better than another. Pianist Jimmy Jones has one of his trademark out of tempo solos on “Yesterdays0” and was always an asset to any singer he accompanied. Contrary to the sleeve notes Danny Bank plays tenor and baritone saxophone in addition to the listed flute.
This is an album to savour rather than one that hits you between the eyes.

Shirley Horn - Embers and Ashes
Shirley Horn has had varied periods of success throughout her career and this album is her very first recording .and judging by the results it would be easy too believe it was her tenth, she sounds so assured and confident.
She is at her best when accompanied by herself on piano with just bass and drums as is the case on this album, on the much later Verve albums she has a multitude of strings behind her and although the results are fine they do not bring the best out in her.
Two tracks composed by Curtis Lewis, “He Never Mentioned Love” and “Blue City” are interesting and suit her style, she has a reflective style and is apt to take many of the songs relatively slow tempos. Her Take on “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” is much different to we are used to hearing from other singers
This is probably one of the best albums on the set which in general is at a very high standard.

Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife - Ella In Berlin
On this album we have the Berlin Concert and as a bonus we have nine tracks which were recorded at a Hollywood Bowl Concert for good measure.
Ella in concert is a much different proposition to her studio recordings, her studio recordings are much more polished and considered whereas her concert recordings are much looser particularly on the more up tempo numbers but both have their place in her recorded work.
Her concert recordings are very much the tried and tested material and obviously have the audience in mind which makes sense., songs like “The Lady Is A Tramp” and “Just One Of Those Things” are obvious choices.
This is a good choice of material for a concert audience with no duplications from each concert