While overlooked these days, before there was Ella, Sassy and Billie, Mildred Bailey (1907-1951) was the premier female jazz vocalist of the Swing and Pre-Swing era. She had a unique almost childlike voice that was inherently rhythmic as she paired it with some of the best bands of the era.
This 3 disc, 73 song collection puts together some of her most vibrant work, starting with the real early days with Eddie Lang, Frankie Trumbauer and Jimmy Noone. She was important enough to be featured in Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra, which was considered having the top echelon of musicians of its day, and she sounds fantastic on “All Of Me” and “I’ll Never Be The Same”.
She was the vocalist for some of the top white big bands of the day, including Glen Gray, Benny Goodman and The Dorsey Brothers, relaxed and loose on “Heat Wave” “I Thought About You” and “Lazy Bones”, respectively. She teamed up with husband/vibist Red Norvo for her most famous partnership, sounding grand on “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” and “Says M y Heart” while with her own orchestra she sounds confident on “It’s The Natural Thing To Do” and “The Moon Got In My Eyes”.
She had a handful of big hits in “Please Be Kind” with Norvo” and “Darn That Dream” with Goodman, and her last recordings included a rich “Born To Be Blue” and boogie-ing “Wham (Re-Bop-Boom-Boom” with her ability to carry a torch evident on “(I Don’t Stand) A Ghost of a Chance)”. She unfortunately died prematurely, so she was unable to become a household name, although her style was still highly influential for the subsequent vocalists of the swing and bebop era. A voice that has aged well.