CD-Charts Position 31
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Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon: The Ultimate Rude Blues Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Various Artists

Release Date May 25, 2004
This is an interesting Blues collection with a good variety of artist and fair recording.

CD-Charts Position 32
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Love's Been Rough on Me

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Etta James

Release Date April 29, 1997
Ms. James's acknowledgements in the booklet of this 1997 release are gracious in standard liner-note fashion; she thanks her collaborators and significant others and concludes, "You can call it country, you can call it country blues, you can call it country soul -- call it whatever you like. It is just me. Another one of my dreams fulfilled. I've always wanted to do a country record and here it is." Perhaps she was diplomatically holding back, or perhaps she truly felt this way but soured on the record within the next year, but in a 1998 ROLLING STONE interview, she bitterly disowned this recording. She criticized everything from the production to the photo on the cover (to my nearly ten-years-past recollection, her descriptive phrase was something ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 33
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Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Various Artists

Release Date July 26, 1989
I have been listening to this cd every Christmas since my parents first got it when in 1996 I was 10 years old. I could never tire of the smooth, warm jazz. It is the perfect soundtrack for a snowy evening by the fire and lit tree, cuddled under a warm blanket with a cup of hot cocoa.

CD-Charts Position 34
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The Ultimate Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: George Gershwin

Release Date May 12, 1998
This Gershwin collection is divided into two CDs; the first has many of his more popular pieces from Broadway productions, and the second has a selection of his symphonic works. Some of the songs on the first CD are performed by singers such as Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bing Crosby, and sound absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately, the compilers opted for some lesser know and less talented names for several of the tracks, rendering about a quarter of the CD mediocre. The one pick that really didn't fit in, however, was Audrey Hepburn's rendition of "How Long Has This Been Going On?" Audrey Hepburn, despite all her wonderful acting talent, simply cannot sing, and listening to the entire song even once is a difficult thing to force yourself ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 35
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First Issue: The Dinah Washington Story (The Original Recordings)

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Dinah Washington

Release Date June 22, 1993
I'm new to this artist and found this collection wonderful! The sound quality is great and so is the variety of songs.

CD-Charts Position 36
Average Rating:

The Best of Etta James

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Etta James

Release Date March 25, 1997
When songwriters Harry Warren and Mack Gordon had their composition At Last become the B-side to the 1942 Glenn Miller # 1 hit (I've Got A Gal In) Kalamazoo, they probably thought they had died and gone to Heaven. Especially when it too charted at a respectable # 14 with Ray Eberle doing the vocals. A decade later they struck paydirt again when the song was resurrected in the movie Orchestra Wives and then taken to # 2 by Ray Anthony & his orchestra, with Tommy Mercer doing the vocal.

But in my humble opinion the best was yet to come, and when a 23-year-old from Los Angeles by the name of Jamesetta Hawkins decided to record it in 1961 under her stage name Etta James, from that point on it became HER song. It may not have done as well on the Billboard ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 37
Average Rating:

The Chess Box

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Etta James

Release Date June 27, 2000
and good but brief notes. The 3 cd set and booklet is in a classy hardback book form with nice matt buff-colored paper, the cds set into the insides of the front and back covers. Thankfully session musicians as well as the producers are credited where possible.

The sound is good: I think you'd be proud to have this in your recorded music collection.

CD-Charts Position 38
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Lover Man

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Billie Holiday

Release Date July 14, 1995
Everything Billie Holiday did is worth owning, but the sound on this CD is the worst I've ever heard, and I listen to a lot of jazz from the 20's, and this material is from the 50's. Still Billie buffs will want it all.

CD-Charts Position 39
Average Rating:

Am I Blue?

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Ethel Waters

Release Date November 16, 1999
Ethel Waters was the first true jazz singer, and arguably the most influential vocalist in the history of popular American music. Her only real rival for this latter title is Louis Armstrong, and it can be argued that while Armstrong was the greater musician, Waters melding of black and white singing styles was actually the more influential contribution to American jazz and popular singing. The advent of CD's has brought a very welcome re-release of some hitherto very hard to find Waters material. There are now several compilation CD's of Waters classic jazz/blues/popular music cuts available. Of these, "Am I Blue?" may be the best single compilation of the Waters oeuvre. The only real rival is the "Ethel Waters: 1925-1940" disc, and this disc presents ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 40
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Deluxe Edition

CD-Charts > Music > Classic Female Vocal Blues
by: Koko Taylor

Release Date January 22, 2002
I picked up this CD on a whim since I have most of her music on vinyl and I have to say for a CD its very very good. They really captured her energy, power and detail with this pressing. If your new to Koko pick up this CD, I am sure it won't be your last.