The last drop wrung out of a withered voice — leap over the wall of fools and let yourself sink in.
"She sounds like an old woman," "the backing is too syrupy" — hard-headed jazz buffs say whatever they please, but this is a supreme album. The contrast between Ray Ellis's orchestra with its top-grade strings and this great blossom in the act of scattering is heartbreakingly beautiful. What on earth was this towering genius thinking as she faced the final chapter of a turbulent life and cut these sides? You could write a whole novel just imagining it. It was her last recording, and one of her own favorite albums. Simply mag-nif-i-cent.
"She sounds like an old woman," "the backing is too syrupy" — hard-headed jazz buffs say whatever they please, but this is a supreme album. The contrast between Ray Ellis's orchestra with its top-grade strings and this great blossom in the act of scattering is heartbreakingly beautiful. What on earth was this towering genius thinking as she faced the final chapter of a turbulent life and cut these sides? You could write a whole novel just imagining it. It was her last recording, and one of her own favorite albums. Simply mag-nif-i-cent.