Phantom Dancer :: 12:00pm 6th Sep 2022
Dinah Washington, The Queen of the Blues, the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.
As an artist, she was one of the most beloved and controversial singers of the mid-20th century.
- Beloved, because she had a great voice.
- Controversial, because she didn’t seek approval from ‘the gatekeepers’. And as you’ll hear in her Birdland radio broadcast on this week’s Phantom Dancer, she didn’t hold back from telling radio announcers to shut up or stop being corny.
The Phantom Dancer – your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.
Enjoy a whole library of Phantom Dancer mixes online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.
This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 6 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/. This episode is a Phantom Dancer Classic which first went to air on 30 March 2021.
DINAH
Dinah Washington was the stage name of Ruth Lee Jones.
She was a jazz singer but also sang blues, R&B, and pop music.
As a child she sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and sang lead with the first female gospel singers formed by Sallie Martin, co-founder of the Gospel Singers Convention. She joined the gospel choir after she won an amateur contest at Chicago’s Regal Theater, singing, ‘I Can’t Face the Music’.
HAMPTON
At 15, she started singing in clubs. By 1941–42 she was performing at the Sherman Hotel in Chicago with Fats Waller.
She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Club owner Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of “I Understand”, backed by the Cats and the Fiddle, who were appearing in the Garrick’s upstairs room, that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick, she sang upstairs while Holiday performed downstairs room. Sherman gave her her stage name.
Lionel Hampton came to hear Dinah at the Garrick and invited her to join his orchestra
She made her recording debut singing Evil Gal Blues, written by Leonard Feather (who wrote Blow Top Blues you’ll hear Dinah sing in this week’s show, live on 1952 radio) and backed by Hampton and musicians from his band. Both that record and its follow-up, ‘Salty Papa Blues’, made the Billboard “Harlem Hit Parade” in 1944.
In December 1945 she made a series of twelve recordings for Apollo Records, 10 of which were issued, featuring the Lucky Thompson All Stars.
She stayed with Lionel Hampton’s orchestra until 1946.
SOLO
Her first solo recording, Fats Waller’s ‘Ain’t Misbehavin”, was another hit. Between 1948 and 1955, she had 27 R&B top-10 hits, making her one of the most popular and successful singers of the period.
‘Am I Asking Too Much?’ (1948) and ‘Baby Get Lost’ (1949) reached Number 1 on the R&B chart. Her version of Johnny Green’s 1930s hit, ‘I Wanna Be Loved’ (1950) crossed over to reach Number 22 on the US pop chart.
Her hit recordings included blues, standards, novelties, pop covers, and even a version of Hank Williams’ ‘Cold, Cold Heart’ (R&B Number 3, 1951). At the same time as her biggest popular success, she also recorded sessions with many leading jazz musicians, including last week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Cannonball Adderley and Ben Webster.
In 1950, Dinah Washington performed at the sixth avalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. Also featured on the same day were Lionel Hampton, PeeWee Crayton’s Orchestra, Roy Milton and his Orchestra plus Tiny Davis and Her Hell Divers. 16,000 were reported to be in attendance and the concert ended early because of a fracas while Lionel Hampton played ‘Flying High’.
Washington returned to perform at the twelfth Cavalcade of Jazz also at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles in 1956. Performing that day were Little Richard, The Mel Williams Dots, Julie Stevens, Chuck Higgin’s Orchestra, Bo Rhambo, Willie Hayden & Five Black Birds, The Premiers, Gerald Wilson and His 20-Piece Recording Orchestra and Jerry Gray and his Orchestra.
In 1959, she had her first top ten pop hit, with a version of ‘What a Diff’rence a Day Makes’. She followed it up with a version of Irving Gordon’s ‘Unforgettable’ and then two highly successful duets in 1960 with Brook Benton, ‘Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)’, which you’ll hear on this week’s show from a 1960 aircheck and ‘A Rockin’ Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall in Love)’. Her last big hit was ‘September in the Rain’, in 1961.
She won the Grammy for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance, 1959, for ‘What a Diff’rence a Day Makes’.
6 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST
|
Play List – The Phantom Dancer
|
||
|
107.3 2SER Tuesday 6 September 2022 |
||
|
Set 1
|
One Night Stand Radio | |
|
Artistry in Rhythm (theme) + I Know That You Know
|
Stan Kenton Orchestra
|
‘One Night Stand’
Cafe Rouge Hotel Pennsylvania NYC AFRS Re-broadcast 27 Sep 1945 |
|
I’m In Love With Someone
|
Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra (voc) Glagys Tell
|
‘One Night Stand’
Panther Room Hotel Sherman Chicago AFRS Re-broadcast Mar 1944 |
|
Poinciana
|
Jan Savitt Orchestra
|
‘One Night Stand’
Palladium Ballroom Hollywood AFRS Re-broadcast 4 Oct 1945 |
|
Set 2
|
Jimmy Grier | |
|
Music in the Moonlight (theme) + Just Friends
|
Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Dick Webster
|
Cocoanut Grove Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932 |
|
Save The Last Dance For Me
|
Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Donald Novis
|
Cocoanut Grove
Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932 |
|
The More You Hurt Me The More You Make Me Care + Music in the Moonlight (theme)
|
Jimmy Grier Orchestra (voc) Margaret Lawrence
|
Cocoanut Grove
Ambassador Hotel TRANSCO Radio Transcription 1932 |
|
Set 3
|
1950s Jazz Radio | |
|
Open + Without a Word of Warning
|
Arnett Cobb
|
‘Stars in Jazz’
Birdland WNBC NBC NY 2 Jul 1952 |
|
Open + Small Hotel / All The Things You Are / Rose Room
|
Larry Green
|
Starlight Roof
Hotel Chase KMOX CBS St Louis 1958 |
|
Open + Too Marvelous
|
Erroll Garner
|
Basin Street
WCBS CBS NYC 6 May 1956 |
|
Set 4
|
Dinah Washington | |
|
No Love, No Nothin’
|
Dinah Washington (voc) Lionel Hampton Orchestra
|
‘One Night Stand’
Traianon Ballroom Southgate Ca AFRS Re-broadcast 16 Jun 1944 |
|
Mixed Emotions + Blow Top Blues
|
Dinah Washington
|
‘The Birdland Show’
WJZ ABC NYC 21 Jun 1952 |
|
You’ve Got What It Takes
|
Dinah Washington and Brook Benton
|
Aircheck
WKBW Buffalo NY 1960 |
|
Set 5
|
Erskine Hawkins Commercial Discs | |
|
Rockin’ Rollers’ Jubilee
|
Erskine Hawkins Orchestra
|
Comm Rec
New York City 12 Sep 1938 |
|
No Soap
|
Erskine Hawkins Orchestra
|
Comm Rec
New York City 14 May 1939 |
|
A Study in Brown
|
Erskine Hawkins Orchestra
|
Comm Rec
New York City 20 Oct 1938 |
|
I Hadn’t Anyone Till You
|
Erskine Hawkins Orchestra (voc) Dolores Brown
|
Comm Rec
New York City 20 Dec 1939 |
|
Set 6
|
1930s Swing Radio | |
|
Dixieland Band
|
Benny Goodman Orchestra (voc) Helen Ward
|
Palomar Ballroom
KFI NBC Red 22 Aug 1935 |
|
You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth
|
Bunny Berrigan Orchestra
|
Paradise Restaurant
WABC CBS NY 10 Apr 1938 |
|
Kiss Me Again
|
Bunny Berrigan Orchestra (voc) Gail Reese
|
Paradise Restaurant
WABC CBS NY 10 Apr 1938 |
|
You Do The Darndest Things, Baby
|
Count Basie Orchestra (voc) Jimmy Rushing
|
Chatterbox
Hotel William Penn WCAE NBC Red Pittsburgh 10 Jan 1937 |
|
Set 7
|
Dorsey Brothers Orchestra 1956 | |
|
Intro + Song of India
|
Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra
|
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956 |
|
Ridin’ Around in the Rain
|
Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Dolly Houston
|
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956 |
|
Sunny Side of the Street
|
Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra (voc) Lynn Roberts
|
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956 |
|
Just For Taking Bows
|
Dorsey Brothers’ Orchestra
|
Cafe Rouge
Hotel Statler WRCA NBC NY 1956 |
|
Set 8
|
Carson Robinson Buckaroos | |
|
Careless Love (theme) + Home on the Range
|
Carson Robinson Buckaroos
|
‘Ford RandG Used Cars’
Radio Transcription 1939 |
|
Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie + Down on the Levee
|
Carson Robinson Buckaroos |
‘Ford RandG Used Cars’
Radio Transcription 1939 |
|
Goin’ Back to my Good Ol’ Texas Home + Golden Slippers
|
Carson Robinson Buckaroos
|
‘Ford RandG Used Cars’
Radio Transcription 1939 |
|
Wabash Moon + Boots and Saddles + Close
|
Carson Robinson Buckaroos
|
‘Ford RandG Used Cars’
Radio Transcription 1939 |
