Dinah Washington - The Complete Roulette Dinah Washington Sessions (5CD Box set) (2004)

During 1944-1958, Dinah Washington recorded jazz, blues, R&B, pop, and even gospel, excelling in each area. In 1959 after she had a major pop hit in "What a Difference a Day Makes," the quality of her recordings declined as she was mostly backed by large anonymous studio orchestras in an attempt to duplicate that song's commercial success. The arrangements were often more suitable for a country singer than for Washington, and her own singing seemed exaggerated and overly mannered. In 1962 she switched labels, from Mercury to Roulette, and during the next 19 months recorded nine LPs of material, all of which are reissued on this limited-edition five-CD Mosaic box set. Again Washington's backing is by orchestras (the complete personnel listings no longer exist) but she was given a wider range of material, ranging from a full album of blues to her renditions of current pop hits, standards, and novelty material. The arrangements (mostly by Fred Norman and Don Costa) are mostly better than on her later Mercury material, and her own interpretations seem more relaxed, use space dramatically, and contain plenty of wit. Included are a few previously unreleased performances which are mostly alternate takes with one exception. An eight-song medley, recorded at the end of one of the earlier Roulette dates, has Washington joined by just pianist Jack Wilson and flutist Frank Wess, showing that she could still sing jazz at a high level. Dinah Washington passed away two months after her final Roulette date from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills when she was just 39. This box features her final recordings, which have been long underrated and overlooked. Recommended.