After Hours With Miss D - Dinah Washington

Advantages: Class Acts
Disadvantages: None

...to this sort of music, it's laid back, late night, problems with my man, but what the hell sort of sentiment... ~~~ CD1: Many early artists here, including US black soul singers Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin from the 1960's. If you've never heard Franklin, then she is the Queen of Soul, godmother to Whitney Houston and unmissable over a long career (and still performs occassionally). Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Peggy Lee and Billie Holiday were the most famous singers of their day in the 1950's. Simone died only a few years ago, while Holiday fell foul of drugs, only after a career that challenged the segregation of the southern states. Her most famous track concerned the lynching of an innocent black man, and this CD collection is named in her honour. Irma Thomas, of a smiliar era, is or was, based, in New Orleans until last year... Read review

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Advantages: Catchy songs and soppy songs on the same CD!
Disadvantages: Misses a really catchy song from the show out.

...This CD is purely magical. The cast of Starlight express are currently touring the UK, and although some of the songs are different on the tour then on the CD - u get the idea! They are same shows but done differently after all! Back to the CD. If u are after a CD which you can sit for hours listening to then this is it. Except ur be up singing after a few listens to it. The first song acts as an introduction with a little boy complaining to his mum, and playing with his train - exciting start but slightly confusing if you havnt heard it before. Entry of the National Trains is also the same - a little boy introducing the trains from different countries. Rolling Stock comes next which is the national trains singing about how fast they can be. Its not my favorite song. The 4th Song is beutifully sung. It is softer then the first few... Read review

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Advantages: Includes the most famous songs recorded by her
Disadvantages: Only for classic jazz/blues fans.

...was female artists. It is here, that we pick up with probably the greatest, and most loved of them all, Dinah Washington. This 2 CD album takes us through the very pinnacle of her outstanding career. Dubbed 'The Queen Of The Blues,' she touched on the hearts of many listeners in her day with her sweet, soulful vocals and catchy melodies. Singing for songwriters such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, she came from, like most of her contemporaries, from Gospel music inherited from by parents. Starting out as a jazz singer, she left her piano and choir days behind and reached out to 'the devil's' music' at the age of nineteen. This album takes us through her recording life right up to the year before she died from heart failure, induced by a drugs overdose in 1963 and the tender age of only 39. A singer, who, I believe, still... Read review

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