Jazz
Tracks 1-12 recorded January 1958. Tracks 13-16 recorded February 1961
Dorothy Dandridge Vocal
Oscar Peterson Piano, Celeste
Herb Ellis Guitar
Ray Brown Bass
Alvin Stoller Drums
In the 1950's, Dorothy Dandridge was a celebrated beauty, a mainstay of the supper-club circuit, and Hollywood's first international African-American star. Today she is probably remembered more for her troubled life and early death than she is for her accomplishments. This album presents an often-overlooked truth about Dandridge: that she was an exceptional vocalist.
Most of the material here comes from a 1958 session, unreleased until now, on which Dandridge is backed by an augmented Oscar Peterson Trio. There are also four tracks with an orchestra, recorded in 1961. These are Dorothy Dandridge's only known recordings as a leader. But as her biographer Donald Bogle says in the enclosed essay, they are the work of an artist who, had things gone differently, "might have developed into a major stylist." |
