Jazz Sides

AMG Review of Jazz Sides

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This two-LP set has many of singer Dinah Washington's most exciting jazz performances. For the first album Washington is joined by such masterful players as trumpeter Clark Terry, trombonist Jimmy Cleveland and tenorman Paul Quinichette on a variety of Quincy Jones arrangements. Four other selections are from a particularly heated session with an explosive nonet propelled by Terry and tenor-saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis; "Bye Bye Blues" is really taken uptempo but somehow Washington still sounds under control. The final four numbers are from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival (with solos from pianist Wynton Kelly and vibraphonist Terry Gibbs) and can be considered her final jazz sides before going strictly commercial. All of this valuable music has since been reissued on Mercury's Complete series.