Search - Dorothy Dandridge :: Smooth Operator

Early in her career, Dorothy Dandridge was a genuine Renaissance woman, able to perform exceedingly well as a dancer, actress, and singer. She executed each performance with a theatricality that hinted at vast talents, and her acceptance into the annals of the beautiful and luxurious in the 1940s and '50s was hailed by major media players. Her cream-colored skin made Dandridge one of the most highly touted "sepia" stars (like the great Lena Horne) in a commercial culture hell-bent on an extremely tight line between the races. This set of recordings matched Dandridge the nightclub singer with pianist Oscar Peterson and his group--which was sleek enough to highlight the singer's coarse overtones that recall late Billie Holiday recordings--and with an unnamed large orchestra that pushes the vocalist to shine brilliantly on the collection's title tune. Dandridge had all the tragic dynamics that would make her voice deservedly--and artfully--rough at the edges. Her daughter was born brain-damaged, and her persistent insecurities likely led her to both drug addiction and a fatal overdose in 1965. She had built a fledgling, promise-filled film career (garnering an Oscar nomination for Carmen Jones) and, as this collection shows, a very promising career as a nightclub jazz singer. Her magnetism is palpable, and hearing the bulk of these tracks for the first time in 1999, it's clear they should've hit the airwaves decades ago. --Andrew Bartlett