Search - Etta Jones :: Long Long Journey

Flickering Star

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 05/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a remastered, budget-priced edition of an earlier, highly-elusive compilation on a French label. The songs are 78 rpm singles made by Etta between 1944 and 1947 (apparently no tapes survived, as the digital versions have clearly been taken directly from the lacquer discs). The lone missing selection--"You Ain't Nothin' Daddy"--is not a significant omission, given the 20-song program included on the more recent disc.Etta perhaps had the misfortune, first, of following so closely upon Billie Holiday and, second, of being confused with Etta James after Billie's passing. Sales thus far of this CD hardly suggest it will lead many listeners to the discovery of Etta, but it's at least reassuring to see her early recordings are deemed worthy of preserving. 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 selections on the album will attest, Etta simply was unexcelled during this time when it came to singing the blues. More than Billie, Ella, or Dinah, she 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 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."