Search - Dinning Sisters :: Almost Sweet and Gentle

These sisters are almost forgotten now - but deserve better.

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw a review of Norah Jones' debut album, in which it was claimed that she blurs the boundaries between country, pop and jazz (true) and that this is something new. No it isn't !!!! It happened a lot in the 1930's and 1940's. Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, Margaret Whiting, Bob Wills, The Andrews sisters - all these and others did just that, but the most direct comparison with Norah Jones must surely be the long forgotten Dinning sisters. (Yes, a few did remember, including the good people at Jasmine, but I'd never heard of them until I was guided to them by Amazon.)



Like Norah, they were raised in the South - in their case, Oklahoma. However, it was only after they moved to Chicago that they achieved success. By then, they had absorbed pop and jazz influences, and these are the focus of this double-CD, although, like Norah, they never lost their roots. There's an old saying - you can take the singer out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the singer. The only actual country song here is San Antonio rose, but Jasmine have released a separate single CD collection focusing exclusively on the country songs they recorded. Look out for my review of that.



So, this collection contains their four hits (Buttons and bows, I wonder who's kissing her now, My adobe hacienda, Beg your pardon), plus other songs identified with them which weren't hits but should have been and covers of standards - and a lot of wonderful songs that you just won't find anywhere else.



This is a high quality compilation that deserves to be heard by a lot more people than are ever likely to. Try playing this to Norah's fans - see what reaction you get. They might be pleasantly surprised."

They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Paul Phelps | Ambler, PA United States | 01/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have seldom been so pleased with a purchase as I am with this one; I play it often. These Oklahoma gals really have style but this sort of song styling isn't much heard nowadays. It has to be heard to appreciate how good it is. Many today haven't heard good crossover between jazz and country and might not believe it can be done, but this group really did it! The audio signal is uniform and clear throughout. It's a bargain for so much listening time. Buy it."