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Helen Humes Collection 1927-62 on CD

Helen Humes was a blues and jazz singer who defied categorisation, working successfully as a big band vocalist with Harry James and then replacing Billie Holiday in Count Basie's orchestra, as a classic blues performer and R&B/jump blues hitmaker during the 1940s, a noted jazz stylist in the '50s and, during her later career, a sophisticated interpreter of ballads and popular songs. This great-value 49-track 2-CD comprises recordings from across more than three decades of her career, from her studio debut as a 14-year-old in 1927 through to the early 60s. As well as including some of her titles with James and Basie, it encompasses recordings with some of top blues, R&B and names of the '40s, including Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Milton, Buck Clayton, Pete Brown, Leonard Feather, Bill Doggett and Dexter Gordon, plus noted recordings with Red Norvo in the '50s, and 'live' recordings done in London in the early '60s with T-Bone Walker, Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon. It naturally features her two big Top 10 R&B chart hits of the '40s, "Be-Baba-Leba" and "Million Dollar Secret". It's a varied and highly entertaining showcase for her very special talent.