Fans of female vocalists of the ’50s inevitably bemoan the lack of respect given to one of the true greats. Frances Faye, like Peggy Lee, was a dishy, somewhat off-kilter blonde who could scribble out a...
Della Reese
Della Reese, born Delloresse Patricia Early on July 6, 1931 in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, a blues and gospel singer and actress.
n the course of a remarkably long career, with successes from the 1920s all the way into the 1970s, Dorothy Fields wrote some of the most enduring lyrics of the golden age of the American...
Blanche Calloway was a popular singer and bandleader during the 1930s. She studied music at Morgan State College before dropping out to pursue a career in show business. Her big break came in 1923 when...
Dorothy Fields wrote songs for a wide variety of musicals that became classics of American culture, from “Hey Big Spender” to “A Fine Romance” and “The Way You Look Tonight,” which won an Academy Award...
Singer Beverly Kenney remains one of jazz’s great tragedies — an exquisitely nuanced stylist whose sophisticated phrasing perfectly complemented the cool jazz sensibilities of the late ’50s, she committed suicide at the peak of her...
Appetizers
Appetizers
Peggy Lee’s 1956 album smash for Decca, Black Coffee, presents her in an intimate setting with a top-notch jazz quartet in place of her usual studio orchestra. The smaller combination, including two of her favorites:...
A fine traditional pop vocalist, Keely Smith was best known as the longtime duet partner of the late singer/trumpeter Louis Prima. However, Smith was also a talented solo performer, on par with the leading female vocalists...