Music » Classic Female Vocal Music

This is Etta James's first full-length album, recorded for Chess Records' Argo subsidiary in 1960. It taps all aspects of her then-blossoming talent. There's the crooning rock ballad "My Dearest Darling" and the elegantly symphonic "Sunday Kind of Love." Her classic, brokenhearted "All I Could Do Was Cry" follows the sweet title track and the bawdy blues stomper "I Just Want to Make Love to You." And there's a version of Harold Arlen's "Stormy Weather," which Lena Horne made famous. James's fine way with such a wide embrace of material wouldn't again be this well displayed on a single album until she was united with producer Jerry Wexler for 1977's Deep in the Night. --Ted DrozdowskiThe R&B queen's classic collection is augmented this time around by a long-overdue digital remastering, plus a few bonus tracks, presumably for those who found the original album a little on the brief side. In addition to James's well-known hits, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "Stormy Weather," there are four additional songs: "My Heart Cries," "Spoonful," "It's a Crying Shame," and "If I Can't Have You." Although one might cynically suggest that these were added to give Etta fans something to purchase besides The Essential Etta James, it's definitely true that these tracks are worth hearing. --Genevieve Williams

Limited 'Millennium Edition' reissue of classic 1958 album in a deluxe heavyweight miniaturized LP sleeve complete with inner sleeve and a Japanese-style obi strip on the spine. 12 tracks. Individually numbered. 1999 release.

Lady Day: The Best Of Billie Holiday is an ideal introduction to the Voice of Jazz in all its enduring glory. This incomparable collection draws on the 10-CD boxed set Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia (1933-1944) (CXK 85470), representing not only her finest work, but American jazz and pop singing at its zenith. Accompanied sublimely by a Who's Who of the Swing Era (including her soulmate Lester Young, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Jo Jones, and pianist-arranger Teddy Wilson, who was often at the helm when Holiday entered the studio), Billie Holiday masterfully renders a host of mostly-classic pop tunes. Fans are drawn to her musical triumphs and personal tragedies. She is a mysterious icon in the same vein as Miles Davis. Columbia possesses the first and finest recordings of her entire career! This material has never sounded clearer and more intimate!

Release Date: 1995-04-16, Audio CD, Umvd Special Markets

No Description AvailableTrack: 10: Fool That I Am,Track: 11: Two Sides To Every Story,Track: 12: Pushover,Track: 13: Stop The Wedding,Track: 14: In The Basement, Part One,Track: 15: Baby, What You Want Me To Do (Live),Track: 16: I'd Rather Go Blind,Track: 17: Security,Track: 18: Loser's Weepers, Part One,Track: 19: All The Way Down,Track: 1: At Last,Track: 20: Tell Mama,Track: 2: All I Could Do Is Cry,Track: 3: If I Can't Have You,Track: 4: A Sunday Kind Of Love,Track: 5: My Dearest Darling,Track: 6: Something's Got A Hold On Me,Track: 7: Trust In Me,Track: 8: Next Door To The Blues,Track: 9: Don't Cry BabyMedia Type: CDArtist: JAMES,ETTATitle: HER BESTStreet Release Date: 03/23/1999

She's no stranger to the towering highs and lows of the heart, and Etta James's soaring, gospel-tinged pipes match up well with the rigors of unabashed bliss. Happily, the good people at Chess Records recognize this, and they have thoughtfully collected some of the best examples into one tidy record. Kicking off with her classic treatment of "At Last," the collection moves through the lilting strings of "My Dearest Darling" on into the expressive tones of "I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You)" with grace and emotional candor. James can be simultaneously tender and deeply honest and her ability to express the desperate joy that is the soul of love remains one of life's marvelous pleasures. --Matthew Cooke

No Description Available.
Genre: Blues Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 24-APR-2001

Release Date: 1992-11-17, Audio CD, Polygram Records

We've called them torch singers, divas, chanteuses, and the First Ladies of American Song. And as the contemporary, Grammy-bedecked ascent of Norah Jones (who appears here with Charlie Hunter) attests, these ladies who sing the blues continue to reinterpret a tradition rooted in the blues, yet steeped in songcraft that spans jazz, pop, and even rock. This double-disc, 26-track collection spans a half-century-plus and offers up not only a tantalizing introduction to legends and pioneers (including Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Della Reese, Etta James, Lena Horne) and an equally rich body of song standards, but also chronicles how an originally largely black heritage in effect became the pop mainstream in the '40s and '50s (and beyond) via the work of singers like Dinah Shore, Kay Starr, June Christy, Peggy Lee and Julie London. It's also a testament to how vital that legacy remains, with Jones' own Brazilian-inflected cover of Bryan Ferry's "More Than This" and Patricia Barber's spare, sultry '90s read of "The Thrill Is Gone" but two strong examples of the set's expansive scope. It's a compelling sampler and the best kind of musical appetizer: One that leaves you craving more. --Jerry McCulley

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