Mick Hartley

Back to the Apollo theatre in Harlem, mid-Fifties. Two weeks ago we had Ruth Brown, the Queen of R'n'B. Now here's Ruth Jones – aka Dinah Washington, the Queen of the Blues, representing an earlier tradition as one of the great jazz divas:

The song, to be honest, is very far from being a candidate for the Great American Songbook. The lyrics, about how thin her man is, don't bear scrutiny ("he's so slim, a broomstick's wider compared to him…"). It was in fact a major criticism during her lifetime: that she sold out her art to commerce and bad taste. But really, who cares? She was such a wonderful expressive vocalist, whatever she sang.

"What a Difference a Day Makes", on the other hand, is a great song by any standards. Here she is back at the Apollo in 1960 – seguing halfway through into Making Whoopee". The video quality's poor, but we can still just about make out the introduction from….Ronald Reagan, no less, chatting to Louis Jordan. A piece of American history right there. 

She died aged just 39, in 1963.

Dinah previously.