One of the more notorious albums in the history of vocal music, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes! is the lush session that bumped up
Dinah Washington from the "Queen of the Blues" to a middle-of-the-road vocal wondress -- and subsequently disenfranchised quite a few jazz purists.
Washington had been praised in the same breath as
Holiday and
Fitzgerald for more than a decade, but Mercury nevertheless decided to back her with mainstream arrangements (by
Belford Hendricks), heavy strings, and wordless vocal choruses similar to the radio hits of the day. Apparently, the mainstream backings didn't faze
Washington at all; she proves herself with a voice as individual and evocative as ever. To be honest, the arrangements are quite solid for what they're worth; though it's a bit jarring to hear
Washington's voice wrapped in sweet strings, the effect works well more frequently than not. Most of the songs here are familiar standards ("I Remember You," "I Thought About You," "Cry Me a River," "Manhattan," "Time After Time"), but they've been transformed by
Washington as though they'd never been sung before. The Top Ten title track is by no means the best song on the album, but its title proved prophetic for
Washington's career. Though her vocal style hadn't changed at all, one day she was a respected blues singer; the next, according to most of the jazz cognoscenti, she had become a lowbrow pop singer. Thankfully, the evidence against
Washington's "transformation" is provided right here. ~ John Bush