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Reviewed by:
  • Sophisticated Ladies: The Great Women of Jazz
  • Elizabeth Bush
Gourse, Leslie Sophisticated Ladies: The Great Women of Jazz; illus. by Martin French. Dutton, 2007 [64p] ISBN 0-525-47198-7$19.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-8

Gourse throws the spotlight on fourteen jazz singers (and blues/pop crossovers), describing their vocal styles and hitting the highlights of personal stories and careers. Naturally, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith, and Sarah Vaughan make the cut, along with greats with less name recognition among the grade-school set—Ethel Waters, Mabel Mercer, Anita O'Day. And there's an attempt to bring current performers into the mix, with Cassandra Wilson and Diana Krall. Of course, any title that promises the "Greats" will come under fire for omissions, so one may wonder where the print worthy Nina Simone is hiding, as well as Etta James and Astrid Gilberto (and are there no Latina jazz singers to be had?), but on the whole the selection laudably covers a range of styles. Entries are so short that [End Page 251] only a bare minimum of information is included, and with a little too much space devoted to pure adulation, readers will probably derive more data from Wikipedia. Although the dust-jacket data states that Ms. Gourse died in 2004, her discography has been updated for this publication to assure that most, if not all, listening suggestions are currently available (the recent passing of Anita O'Day unfortunately dates the title). An occasional glitch may have readers scratching their heads (how did "Sweet Mama Stringbean" Ethel Waters turn into a 350-pound diabetic?), but French's energized poster-style portraits are attention grabbers and the list of recommended CDs and best-known songs should lead to some fresh tunes for the iPods. A bibliography is included.

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