The album grasps these four singers relatively early in their careers, when they were just starting to feel their oats and getting their performing sea legs. One can hear the daring, confidence, and vibrancy of youth each of these vocalists brings to the table at this early stage of their careers. The Ernestine Anderson cuts are from a 1953 session led by Gigi Gryce, with a band that includes such notable jazzers as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and Eddie Bert. The Etta Jones material is the product of one of her earliest ...
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The album grasps these four singers relatively early in their careers, when they were just starting to feel their oats and getting their performing sea legs. One can hear the daring, confidence, and vibrancy of youth each of these vocalists brings to the table at this early stage of their careers. The Ernestine Anderson cuts are from a 1953 session led by Gigi Gryce, with a band that includes such notable jazzers as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, and Eddie Bert. The Etta Jones material is the product of one of her earliest trips to the studio, 1946, where she is joined by another high-powered group, the Pete Johnson All Stars, with Johnson and Hot Lips Page getting in significant licks on "I May Be Wonderful." Woody Herman alumnus Mary Ann McCall sounds somewhat like Anita O'Day here, but nonetheless delivers in her ultra-cool voice on such ballads as "I'm Yours" and "I Hadn't Anyone Till You." For Annie Ross, this is pre-Lambert, Hendricks & Ross era, with that prime association still about five years away. For the four cuts which are her contribution, she too is joined by top-of-the-line jazz artists, including Milt Jackson, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke, and a singer of distinction in her own right, Blossom Dearie, but here just on piano. One definitive indication of the enduring worthiness of these four singers, even through these recordings were made 45 to 50 years ago, is that they still sound fresh, as if they were recorded last month. The sense of timing, the treatment of lyrics, and impeccable phasing and diction that would carry each of them through long and successful careers are unmistakably present on these early sessions. This set just cried out for transfer to CD. ~ Dave Nathan, Rovi
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