Wednesday Open Thread | Jazz Week: Dinah Washington

Posted on May 4, 2016 by rikyrah

Today’s Jazz Figure is Dinah Washington.

DInah Washington-1

Dinah Washington skirted the boundaries of blues, jazz and popular music, becoming the most popular black female recording artist of the Fifties.

Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones on August 29, 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She grew up on Chicago’s Southside, raised by a devoutly religious mother who sang in church and taught piano. Washington learned how to play piano at an early age and became a powerful gospel singer. She and her mother became popular attractions at local churches. Eventually, Washington was drawn to more secular music, and, when she was 15, she entered a talent contest at the Regal Theater. She won the contest and began splitting her time between church performances and club appearances.

In 1943, Washington learned that Billie Holiday would be performing at the Garrick Stage Lounge in Chicago. She landed a gig as a singer in Garrick’s house band and soon found herself working in the same club as her idol. Lionel Hampton caught one of her shows and offered to take her on the road with his big band. By this time she had changed her name from Ruth Jones to Dinah Washington. She received her first national exposure while performing with Hampton’s band.

DInah Washington-2
 

In 1946, Washington left Hampton’s band and began her own recording career. Washington’s first recordings were released by the independent Keynote label. She moved on to Apollo Records and then signed with Mercury Records, where she reigned for 15 years as R&B royalty. She scored a string of Top 10 R&B hits, including “Baby Get Lost” (1949), “Trouble in Mind” (1952), “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” (1959) and “This Bitter Earth” (1960).

In 1960, Washington also sang two Number One R&B duets with Brook Benton, “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” and “A Rockin’ Good Way.” Both songs also reached the Top 10 on the pop charts. After 18 years with Mercury, Washington signed with Roulette Records in 1961.

DInah Washington-3

Washington’s career ended abruptly on December 14, 1963, when she died after mixing alcohol and weight-reduction pills.

Three of Washington’s songs – “Unforgettable,” “Teach Me Tonight” and “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” – have been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. And in 1993, the U.S. Postal Service honored Washington with a commemorative postage stamp.

DInah Washington-6

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90 Responses to Wednesday Open Thread | Jazz Week: Dinah Washington

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 4, 2016 at 10:31 pm

    It’s astounding to watch the media pretend they don’t know how Trump got this far. You gave him free airtime & exposure, mofos!

    Reply
  5. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 4, 2016 at 5:47 pm

    Hillary doesn’t give a damn whether she takes Democrats off a cliff. It’s her turn dammit.

    https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/727992873870729219

    Reply
  6. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 4, 2016 at 5:41 pm

    I had to unfollow some petty ass Hillary supporters. I should have known they haven’t changed one bit since 2008. This has nothing to do with saving Potus legacy. It’s all about it being Hillary’s turn.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      May 4, 2016 at 9:19 pm

      Invoking the legacy of a President they too despised and denigrated and thought inferior to Hillary…A president they undermined, back-stabbed, sabotaged and ridiculed every chance they got…A President they disdained and never respected or defended…

      But now suddenly and conveniently, they effusively praise him and try to ride his coattails ….They even try to recall birther attacks they never defended him against, but now rather very very belatedly, try to feign outrage about – several years too late …but only as a way to humor, patronize, assuage and cajole Obama supporters to help ride Hillary into the Oval office..

      I’m not biting…and nobody with half a brain or a working mind and memory should…

      The idea that anything is different is amusing…

      The Bushes, Mitt Romney, John McCain and all of the rest of the suddenly faux-outraged and faux- righteous, pearl-clutching hateful lot, actively ginned up, cultivated, sought out, courted and relied heavily on exactly the same bigoted, racist, scorched earth politics, narrative and demographic they now pretend offend them..but would have gladly utilized if they had gotten any where in the nomination process themselves…

      The idea that the guy from Red State is with a straight face disavowing Trump based on something to do with his ‘moral standards’, has to be one of the biggest jokes ever…And the fact that David Brock in his position as one of Hillary’s closest advisers and top insiders, is leading the charge against Trump is only another clue that the world has indeed gone mad…

      By February 2017, the Clintons and Trumps and the whole lot of them, will all be publicly friends again…and we the people will be left wondering just how we could be fooled yet again…

      And who knows, David Brock might yet remake himself once again – and next year who knows, we might just find him at Trump Towers – a newly minted Trump disciple – strategizing, spending every waking moment doing opposition research and helping develop attack messages on Trump’s perceived enemies –

      With every last one of these folks, everything is fluid…

      Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 4:03 pm

    UM…

    The Fat Cats spent $375 million on the other 16 in the Clown Car.

    THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE MILLION…

    and, still wound up with Trump.

    Told you…one huge GRIFT.

    Reply
  15. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 3:54 pm

    So did PBO meet with Snyder and open up a can on his AZZ? DID HE TELL THAT MOFO, you’d better sign on to Medicaid, push it like a MUG, OBAMACARE, for the citizens,

    Now PBO goes into Flint, MI, and tells the black folks not to lose hope, take advantage of the services that are in place, and reassure them that their SLICKSTER Governor Snyder BETTER not fuck with them.

    This high level of LEAD is happening all over AMERICA. Flint is just a tip of the iceberg of us re-investing in our communities. We’ve got to break that mindset.

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 3:46 pm

    The Conservative Movement Died Tonight
    by BooMan
    Wed May 4th, 2016 at 01:32:57 AM EST

    This has been the most hard to predict campaign in memory, but some things have gone pretty much the way I thought they would. I knew Hillary Clinton was a colossus who was too strong to beat from the left despite the obvious widespread hunger for exactly that. And I knew that the Republicans had only one real presidential candidate (Jeb Bush) and that he would be the toughest of sells to the Republican base.

    The Democratic side frankly bored me when it didn’t simply irritate me. So much Sturm und Drang about a nomination that was sealed in stone more than a year before it even began. I did my mourning over this race in 2014 and got over it, but I don’t fault people for believing and working their tails off. It just felt like watching your child put everything into winning a contest that you knew was beyond their capabilities of winning. When it was a protest candidacy, it was nice and somewhat exciting, but when people began to take their chances seriously, that’s when it took a dark turn.

    ………………………………………………………………………..

    Trump will run “opposing free trade, promising to protect entitlements from cuts, questioning the value of America’s commitment to military alliances, and shrugging at social changes like the growing acceptance of transgender people.” As Barro notes, “All three of the supposed “legs” of the Republican coalition stool — libertarian economics, social conservatism, and militarism — are at risk from Trump and the populist-imitator candidates he will spawn.”

    There’s a sense in which few Republicans truly care about all three legs of the stool, but simply tolerate one or two of them to get the other(s) that really motivate(s) them. But virtually all Republicans care passionately about either fiscal or social conservatism, or about international affairs and conservative principles in foreign policy.

    You might think that Trump is enough of a chameleon to get away with using an Etch-a-Sketch to erase his performance in the primaries, and he probably is. But he isn’t going to erase his plan to build a wall, and he isn’t going to start trumpeting neoconservative principles in foreign policy, and he’s not abandoning his attacks on free trade. On social issues, he’ll probably tack back to the middle, which is sensible and sound electoral strategy, but will still leave social conservatives feeling like they’ve had their party stolen out from under their feet.

    Think about what I’ve written about Sarah Palin over the years. The real damage she did was in getting Republicans to lower their standards for what a vice-president or a president ought to be. She broke a very meaningful and valuable norm simply by being so blatantly unprepared for the job.

    Without Palin, I doubt you get the kind of candidates who flamed out for the Tea Party, and I doubt you get Donald Trump.

    Trump will force loyal Republicans to support or tolerate or grudgingly accept many of the things they’ve spent their whole lives warning us would lead to armageddon. When that happens, many of them will change their core beliefs and their standards for what a Republican should be and what they should represent. When it’s over, assuming he loses, the party will never be the same. They will never go back to those three legs of the stool. And, if he wins, the party will definitely be transformed into something unrecognizable.

    Reply
  17. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    THE BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS TO ROLL UP INTO FLINT MICHIGAN & ADDRESS A MAJORITY BLACK POPULATION OF FLINT RESIDENTS AND INSTRUCT THEM TO USE WATER FILTERS BEFORE THEY DRINK THE NASTY, DIRTY, LEAD-FILLED WATER OF FLINT, MI.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 4, 2016 at 3:47 pm

      MEANWHILE THE WHITE SLICKSTER REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER?…….

      MEANWHILE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL NOT ALLOW MERRICK GARLAND TO SIT BEFORE THEM TO GIVE YAY OR NAY IN HIS APPOINTMENT AS A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE.

      I LOATHE THESE FOLKS.

      Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 3:24 pm

    Georgia’s GOP governor disappoints the right with his veto pen
    05/04/16 10:40 AM—UPDATED 05/04/16 12:02 PM
    facebook twitter 3 save share group 12
    By Steve Benen
    Republican-led legislatures in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee recently approved “religious liberty” bills intended to make discrimination against LGBT residents easier. Georgia was set to join this club, but Gov. Nathan Deal (R) vetoed his own party’s bill in March, citing the potential of adverse economic consequences.

    Yesterday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Georgia’s Republican governor, to the surprise of many, used his veto pen to disappoint his ostensible allies once more.
    Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed legislation Tuesday that would allow college students to carry concealed guns onto campuses after lawmakers defied his personal request for changes that would make exceptions to the gun rights expansion. […]

    “If the intent of HB 859 is to increase safety of students on college campuses, it is highly questionable that such would be the result,” Deal wrote in his veto message.
    The “campus carry” bill would have permitted students with gun licenses to carry loaded weapons on college campuses – including in classrooms – though dormitories, fraternities, sorority houses, and athletic venues would have been excluded.

    The NRA, which championed the proposal, expressed its disappointment yesterday and vowed to try again next year.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/georgias-gop-governor-disappoints-the-right-his-veto-pen

    Reply
  19. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    live at 4 pm/3 pm CT

    https://youtu.be/y2uuZig3c80

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 4, 2016 at 3:25 pm

      Let’s keep it 100% REAL, Governor Snyder would not be so receptive to President Obama coming to Flint, MI, if it didn’t in any way SERVE him (SNYDER)

      So POTUS is supposed to come in and set the wind beneath his pasty ass. out of this MESS?

      Reply
  21. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    HOW ABOUT GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER DIRNK THE FILTERED WATER, MR. PRESIDENT?

    Obama drinks filtered city water in Flint to show it’s safe
    KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press

    FLINT, Mich. (AP) –
    Showing support for the beleaguered residents of Flint, Michigan, President Barack Obama drank filtered city water on Wednesday to show that it is again safe following a lead-contamination crisis.

    After officials briefed Obama on the federal government’s response to the contamination, a reporter asked if he would drink the water in a glass on the table. The president said he usually avoids publicity stunts. But he took a drink, saying he wanted to show the water must be safe if he’s drinking it.

    “This used a filter,” Obama said of the water. “The water around this table was Flint water and it just confirms what we know scientifically, which is, if you’re using a filter, if you’re installing it, then Flint water at this point is drinkable.”

    POSTED: 02:23 PM EDT May 04, 2016 UPDATED: 03:19 PM EDT May 04, 2016

    http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/president-obama-makes-first-stop-in-flint-since-water-crisis-began/39378338

    Reply
  22. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    did ya’ll see this?

    Reply
  23. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    HEE HEE HEE

    Today 9:54 am
    Senate Officially Mourns Return of Ted Cruz
    By Andy Borowitz

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The United States Senate declared an official day of mourning on Wednesday to mark the impending return of Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to the legislative body.

    Ordering all flags at the U.S. Capitol to half-staff, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, announced the day of mourning in a somber proclamation. “We mark this day with a deep personal sense of loss that will never completely heal,” he said.

    To recognize Cruz’s return, which is expected to be imminent, McConnell said that the Senate would suspend all work for the day. “Ordinarily our members would welcome a day off,” he said. “But not for this.”

    In a rare moment of consensus for this bitterly divided chamber, both Republicans and Democrats expressed their sorrow, but the news of Cruz’s return seemed to cut the deepest among Republicans, many of whom now regret their decision not to endorse the Texas senator for President.

    “If that bastard had somehow been elected President, we would have only had to see him one day a year, at the State of the Union,” Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said. “I should have done everything in my power to make that happen. And now it’s too damn late.”

    http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/senate-officially-mourns-return-of-ted-cruz?mbid=nl_160504_Borowitz&CNDID=24441272&spMailingID=8875381&spUserID=MTA5MjQwMjI1MDIzS0&spJobID=920374140&spReportId=OTIwMzc0MTQwS0

    Reply
  25. Liza says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    According to the US Census Bureau:

    2014 population of US = 318.9 million people
    2014 population of California = 38.8 million people

    So, approximately 12 percent of the nation’s population living in the most diverse state in the union should have no say in the choice of presidential nominees? MSM certainly thinks so. It isn’t bad enough they created Trump, they want Bernie out RIGHT NOW.

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    VSB has a new post up:

    DC IS BLACK AS FUCK. WHICH MUST SUCK IF YOU’RE A RACIST ON VACATION THERE.

    LOL

    My favorite reply so far:

    L8Comer

    AHEM.

    I just want to announce that DC is about to reach peak blackness this weekend. Black as FUCK y’all. Blackity black. Vanta black. Vantastically black.

    In fact, May 7th is the blackest day of 2016… and maybe my entire life. Why? Because on May 7, 2016 Howard University graduates will celebrate the completion of our degrees with the commencement speaker being no other, than the Grand Supreme Wizard of Nofucksistan (TM), Honolulu Slim, my NI GGA, Barry-O, President Barack Hussein Obama 44th President of these here United States!!!!

    Wait. It gets even BLACKER.

    For us law school graduates? The speaker is Loretta motherfucking Lynch. Do you hear me???? Loretta Lynch. Loretta. LORETTA. My graduation is and always will be the blackest graduation there ever was.

    Reply
  27. Liza says:
    May 4, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    #DropOutHillary The media has propped you up long enough. This bubble is going to burst and we'll end up with Trump. pic.twitter.com/USIAHylrew— Bad Bernie Sanders (@bad_bad_bernie) May 4, 2016

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    Susan Collins: I’ll Be Able To Back Trump If He Stops “Gratuitous Personal Insults”
    May 4, 2016, at 12:27 p.m.

    Republican Sen. Susan Collins from Maine said in a radio interview on Wednesday that she will be able to back Donald Trump if he starts acting more presidential and stops with the “gratuitous personal insults.”

    Collins, speaking with Newsradio WGANAM560, said Trump needs to “mend a lot of fences” and stop with his “bizarre” behavior like linking Ted Cruz’s father to the Kennedy assassination, but added that she needed to wait until the convention before making a final decision.

    “Donald Trump has the opportunity to unite the party, but if he’s going to build that wall that he keeps talking about, he’s going to have to mend a lot of fences,” said Collins. “He’s going to have stop with gratuitous personal insults.”

    “You mean, like saying Ted Cruz’s father killed JFK,” the host interjected.

    “Yes, that was the most bizarre yet, I think,” responded Collins, adding Trump needed to now articulate what his presidency would look like through policy, plans, and programs beyond his slogan.

    Reply
  36. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    May 4, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    I just posted a Youtube of Sonia Sanchez performing her poem Middle Passage on your slave ship page from last year. Here is the link:

    https://3chicspolitico.com/2015/02/18/black-history-the-slave-trade-conditions-on-slave-ships/#comment-548675

    (She captures the pain and suffering on such a powerful and emotional level that I feel I should warn you to be prepared for it impacting you…it hits hard at the heart.)

    Reply
  37. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 4, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    Hillary Clinton DID NOT concede the 2008 race even after then Senator Obama clinched the nomination.

    Reply
  38. Liza says:
    May 4, 2016 at 11:18 am

    BREAKING: John Kasich to suspend campaign – @NBCNews • https://t.co/F56YkkcR42 pic.twitter.com/7rNP2UOGop— CNBC (@CNBC) May 4, 2016

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  39. Liza says:
    May 4, 2016 at 11:05 am

    Quick rant…

    I watched CNN for about two minutes last night just to see the election results. I am so sick and effing tired of the superdelegates being included in Hillary’s count of delegates, giving the CNN’s regular viewers the impression that Hillary is so far ahead it really is hopeless for Bernie. First they show total delegates including the superdelegates, then in smaller print they break it down and, of course, the pledged delegates tell a different story. For crying out loud, California has over 10 percent of the entire US population in one state and they don’t vote until June.

    What they are really showing (unintentionally) is that it is preposterous for Hillary to STILL have this lion’s share of the superdelegates when Bernie has so much popular support. That tells me, as a Democrat, that the superdelegates can make the election go however they want it and the whole concept of a superdelegate is FLAWED and needs to be done away with if there is any hope at all of reform within the Democratic party.

    I hate this election.

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 4, 2016 at 11:56 am

      MSNBC just referred to Bernie Sanders as “Hillary’s persistent opponent.” I really hate and despise MSM more than I thought possible for the way they have treated Bernie Sanders, as though he or anyone had NO RIGHT to challenge the anointed one.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 4, 2016 at 12:02 pm

      And it was MSM that created Donald Trump. Now what? They don’t care, they intend to keep doing what they are doing. They want that really ugly Trump/Clinton showdown, the consequences for real people who are struggling to get by in this country are invisible.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 4, 2016 at 12:10 pm

      The first draft of history is written by journalists, they say. Well, what if you have no journalists? (Looking at FOX, CNN, MSNBC) What if the news is produced by greedy corporations with a vested interest in keeping the masses ignorant? What happens to that first draft of history? Well, it’s crap, it’s all crap. Real historians have to backtrack, research reliable sources, and the news reaches us too late, and the damage is already done. The damage is history.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      May 4, 2016 at 12:11 pm

      End of rant…

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      May 4, 2016 at 2:31 pm

      RANT ON, LIZA.

      RANT ON

      Bernie Sanders should ABSOLUTELY stay in until everyone has had an opportunity to VOTE.

      Fuck HILLSTER & MEDIA with RUSTY PITCHFORKS!

      Reply
  41. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton

    https://youtu.be/nvlTJrNJ5lA

    Reply
  42. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 9:19 am

    SG2, I trust you are swimming in the Ocean of Love & Mercy today. :))))

    Reply
  44. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 9:05 am

    Part of the make America white again strategy?

    untitled

    Reply
  45. Ametia says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:57 am

    Chanel stages fashion show in Cuba

    French fashion house Chanel has staged its show in the Cuban capital Havana – the first international fashion show since the 1959 communist revolution.

    World celebrities gathered at a leafy promenade turned into a catwalk for the firm’s Cruise collection, even though Chanel goods are not sold in Cuba.

    Ordinary Cubans were held behind police lines around the event venue, and many voiced their frustration.

    The show is the latest sign in Cuba’s warming relations with the West.

    Earlier this week, a US cruise ship docked in Havana after sailing from Florida – the first such crossing in more than 50 years.

    Cuba and the US restored diplomatic relations last year

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36199999

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:40 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/3/16
    The path to ‘President Trump’ turns GOP plan on its head
    Steve Kornacki shows how Donald Trump will likely pursue a general election strategy of winning upper-Midtwest industrial states with large white populations rather than follow the Republican plan devised after their 2012 loss that looked to expand the party’s appeal to Latino voters.

    Reply
  47. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:36 am

    Indiana leaves Trump in control as Cruz exits stage right
    05/04/16 08:00 AM—UPDATED 05/04/16 08:15 AM
    By Steve Benen
    On April 5, one month ago tomorrow, Ted Cruz easily won the Wisconsin presidential primary, leading the Texas senator to declare that the race for the Republican nomination was on an entirely new trajectory.

    Indeed, a month ago, there were certain things much of the political world simply accepted as fact. Everyone knew there would be a contested GOP national convention. Everyone knew Cruz’s advantage at state conventions was likely to pay dividends. And everyone knew the Texan was in this for the long haul.

    A lot can happen in a month.
    Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ended his presidential campaign on Tuesday after failing to top Donald Trump in the Indiana Republican primary.

    “From the beginning, I’ve said that I would continue on as long as there was a viable path to victory,” Cruz told supporters at an election night rally in Indianapolis. “Tonight, I’m sorry to say it appears that path has been foreclosed.”
    The senator’s campaign went all out to win Indiana – a state Team Cruz saw as friendly territory, and where polls showed him ahead a month ago – but he ended up losing by nearly 17 points. Cruz could have turned the next couple of months into some kind of vanity exercise, dragging out the process unnecessarily, but given the arithmetic, the Texan no longer saw the point of waging a fight with a predetermined outcome.

    Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:33 am

    Trump Spells Doom for Social Conservatives
    APRIL 29, 2016 3:20 PM EST
    By Francis Wilkinson
    The 2016 Republican presidential campaign began last year with Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum — among others — flashing Bible passages and competing for support from social conservatives in Iowa. It will end in July with the all but certain nomination of Donald Trump.

    The rout of social conservatives in this campaign is absolute. Their future looks grim.

    The problem isn’t that Trump has a disco ball where his moral compass should be. It’s that he isn’t particularly interested in the social conservative agenda — or even in pretending that he is.

    Aside from a few comic forays into biblical scholarship early in his campaign, and later comments about abortion that were so off message that they merely confirmed his lack of interest in the topic, Trump is running free and clear of the entire movement. He’s leaving social conservatives in the dust.

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:22 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 5/3/16
    GOP voters eject Cruz, reject establishment for Trump
    Rachel Maddow and an MSNBC panel react to Ted Cruz suspending his campaign for president and what it means for the Republican Party that Donald Trump now apparently has an unobstructed path to the Republican nomination

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    May 4, 2016 at 8:20 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply

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