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REVIEW   DownBeat  /  January 5, 1961


Etta Jones
Don’t Go To Strangers

Prestige 7186

★★★★

Rudy Van Gelder Remasters


By no means a newcomer to the vocal arena, Miss Jones has been singing professionally since the mid-1940s when she joined the Buddy Johnson Band. In 1948, she did a spell with a group led by drummer J.C. Heard and then, the following year, went with Earl Hines’ Band, with which she remained until 1952. Sine then, she has been working as a single. This, her first album, should go far toward establishing her as one of the best blues-based singers in the business.

Miss Jones is not a particularly original singer, for all her individual twists of phrasing. She has been influenced most by Billie Holiday and Thelma Carpenter, and this, plus more than a dash of Dinah Washington, is a constantly evident. Still, this is not necessarily a negative factor. She has a good voice and uses it to full advantage in healthy, open-throated fashion. This, in addition to a real jazz approach that many other aspiring “jazz” singers might well note, makes listening to her a rewarding experience.

A big positive factor in this LP is the accompanying group. The rhythm section lays it down on the line, and the soloists (Wess, Best, and Wyands) ride comfortably on top if it.

Wyands is a sophisticated pianist with a smoothly rippling style that appears to be as much at home with restrained commentary on the ballad If I Had You as on the jumping Yes, Sir. Wess does most of his work on flute, though his tenor solo and obligato on Fine and Mellow is notable. Best plays a good, controlled guitar solo on the title number and on Mellow digs down into back-country mud.

By this time it has become axiomatic that Billie Holiday left her mark on all good singers in this vein. Despite the overt similarity to Lady Day in Miss Jones’ style, this vocalist has enough of her own to go on to much success. —John A. Tynan


Don’t Go To Strangers: Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby; Don’t Go to Strangers; I Love Paris; Fine and Mellow; Where or When?; If I Had You; On the Street Where You Live; Something to Remember You By; Bye, Bye Blackbird; All the Way
Personnel: Miss Jones, vocals; Frank Wess, flute, tenor saxophone; Richard Wyands, piano; Skeeter Best, guitar; George Duvivier, bass; Roy Haynes, drums


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