Search - Etta Jones :: 1944-1947

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Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 03/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This collection will be essential not only to Etta Jones fans but should also be required listening for anyone who assumes Ella or Lady Day represented the last word in jazz singing during the 1940's. As the first three selections on the album will attest, Etta simply was without peer during this time when it came to singing the blues--she, not Billie Holiday, is in the direct line of descent from the 1920's "classic" blues singers. At the same time, she brings to the form a knowing grace and glamor more suggestive of Billie than of a Bessie Smith or Alberta Hunter.Among the twenty-one tunes on this generous collection, listen carefully to "Among My Souvenirs," "Solitude," "Mean to Me" and, yes, feel free to compare Etta's interpretations to Billie's or Ella's recorded versions. Moreover, compare them to Etta's own performances up to the time of her death in late 2001. You'll hear an artist whose effortless, expressive phrasing and distinctive, natural elocution marked her as one of the top 5 or 6 female vocalists in jazz for nearly 60 years. Her relative obscurity during most of this time is one of the imponderables of American music."