Dakota

Dakota Staton was a jazz and R&B singer very much in the mould of Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, whose style was sultry and sophisticated but who was extrovert and funky enough to share an R&B stage with the likes of Fats Domino and Big Joe Turner. She paid her dues on the jazz club circuit before signing to Capitol and released a number of singles and claimed Down Beat magazine's Most Promising Newcomer award before recording her No. 4 hit album The Late, Late Show in 1957. This great-value 55-track 2-CD set comprises all her recordings released as singles from her debut in 1955, along with all the tracks from her first four albums The Late, Late Show, In The Night, Dynamic and Crazy He Calls Me. It features performances with some noted musicians and arrangers, including Nelson Riddle, George Shearing, Harry Sweets Edison, Jonah Jones, Hank Jones, Van Alexander, Toots Thielemans and Al McKibbon. It's a comprehensive presentation of her studio work during the first and probably most significant era in her career, and a great showcase for the talent of a noted vocal stylist.

Described by influential critic Leonard Feather as "a dynamic song stylist recalling at times elements of Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan," Dakota Staton never enjoyed the widespread acclaim or commercial success of her reference points, but she remains one of the most soulful and commanding jazz singers of the postwar era.