Women in Jazz: Dinah Washington

Did Dinah Washington sell out? Critics accuse the sweet /salty-voiced singer of catering to the mainstream following her 1959 pop hit, "What a Difference a Day Makes". For the remaining four years of her career she concentrated on ballads with lush orchestration following the formula of famed, and commercial, R&B singer Ray Charles.

Born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1924, she was raised in Chicago where, from childhood, she became immersed in the world of gospel, playing piano and directing her church choir.

After winning an amateur singing contest she began singing in nightclubs at age 15. Discovered by a talent agent, she became known to bandleader Lionel Hampton who hired her to sing with his band. At this time she acquired her stage name, Dinah Washington. Dinah began her recording career in 1943 with Keynote Records. Her first hit was "Evil Gal Blues." From 1948 to 1955, she produced a string of top ten hits for the Mercury label.

Struggling with her weight, Dinah Washington died in 1963 at the age of 39 from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol. As a singer, she was still going strong, making a Los Angeles club date two weeks before she died. Her death ended a tempestuous life during which she married seven times and had innumerable lovers. She had a huge influence on later singers Nancy Wilson, Ester Phillips, and Diane Shuur.

In her biography Rage to Survive the singer Etta James, who idolized Washington, reports that one night while she was performing she heard that Washington was in the audience. Deciding to cover one of Dinah's songs, James began to sing "Unforgettable." She had hardly begun when she heard a big crash. It was Dinah who screamed "Girl, don't you ever sing the Queen's songs!"(as reported in the web site Panache)

Dinah on You Tube

Here are some links to Dinah Washington performances:
Mad About the Boy
What a Difference a Day Makes
Clips from a BBC documentary about Dinah Washington
Stormy Weather

The Boswell Sisters (Women in Jazz)

It was lucky that the Boswell Sisters were brought up in New Orleans. With their natural musical talent and training combined with exposure to southern gospel and New Orleans blues, the sisters became the best jazz vocal group of their time - and perhaps of all time. See their performance of the Heebie Jeebies , and you will see that this last statement is no exaggeration.

Their influence on the Andrews Sisters is obvious. Ella Fitzgerald loved their music and developed her own singing style from Connee Boswell's. Connee, the middle child, (1907-1976), like Ella , could use her voice as a trumpet or oboe. All three sisters played instruments, but it is their vocal harmonies that really set them apart.

Martha, the eldest (1905-1958) who also played piano, described the sisters' harmonies this way:

"If we sang according to orthodox musical traditions, Vet (1911-1988) would be the high voice or soprano, I would be the middle or alto, and Connie would be the low, or contralto. But we don't sing in the orthodox musical way....Instead, when we sing as a trio we achieve an unusual...effect by deserting our own particular tone and singing in another tone. We call that blending." (from the fan site Bozzies.com)

The sisters began their career in vaudeville during their early teens, and made their first record in 1925. In 1930 they moved to New York and first gained national attention when they broadcast their own radio program. Their major recording contract was with Brunswick Records. They made many recordings between 1930 and 1935 with this label, which was a highly regarded jazz label of the time. The musicians with whom the Boswells worked and recorded during this period included Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, and Benny Goodman.

In the 1936, the sisters moved to Decca Records, but disbanded as group after only 3 Decca recordings. Connee continued to have a successful recording career with Decca. Throughout her career, Connee sang from a seated position due to an accident she had as a young child. Because of her disability, she was not accepted as a performer on U.S.O. tours during World War II.

The Boswell Sisters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2001, a major musical about their lives, The Boswell Sisters was produced in San Diego.

RIP Koko Taylor

Chicago lost a blues legend with the June 2009 death of Koko Taylor from complications of gastro-intestinal surgery. She was 80 years old.

Known as the Queen of Chicago blues, the big-voiced Taylor helped to prove that the world of blues is not just for men. She came from a tradition of hard-belting blues women starting with Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Big Momma Thornton. A player in the Chicago blues scene in early 60s, she was discovered singing in a club by blues artist Willie Dixon in 1963.

She signed with Chicago-based Chess Records in 1964 and had a major hit with “Wang Dang Doodle” the following year. She transferred to another Chicago label, Alligator, in 1975 when Chess closed. Meanwhile she had formed her own band, The Blues Machine.

The 1984 Grammy-winner (for best blues album) was born Cora Walton, a sharecropper’s daughter in Memphis TN. She got her nickname because she loved chocolate. Her musical career began with gospel-singing in her local Baptist church. She married Pops Taylor in 1953. Taylor remained a devout Christian throughout her life, avoiding the hard drinking and drugging common in the music business. She remained an active performer until her death.

You Tubes

Here is a You Tube video of a young Koko singing Wang Dang Doodle with Little Walter on harmonica. Here is an older Koko singing I'm a Woman at the Kennedy Center tribute to Morgan Freeman.

Discography 1969-2007

Koko Taylor
Basic Soul
South Side Lady
I Got What it Takes
Queen of the Blues
Southside Baby
The Earthshaker
From the Heart of a Woman
An Audience with Koko
Taylor
Live from Chicago
Jump for Joy
Love you Like a Woman
Wang Dang Doodle
Force of Nature
Royal Blue
Old School

Bold = at Niles in Blues and Jazz