OPEN POST: With The Incomparable Dakota and George!

As you may recall, I simply j'adore Dakota Staton, a legendary jazz and blues singer who wasn't appreciated as much as she should have been in her day (she's at least as distinctive as Dinah Washington, for example, if not more). But Dakota never threw in the towel. Her last LP, "Live At Milestones," was released only one month before her death in 2007. She was 76, and make no mistake, she was still fire.

But then Dakota was always perfection - and when she was hooked up with the right musician, ka-boom! In 1957, one such ka-boom transpired when she collaborated on the LP, "In The Night," with George Shearing, the blind, British-born composer, piano master and jazz band leader.

To say that they bring out the best in each other is a wild understatement. With tracks that alternate between George and his crack quintet, and tracks in which they back Dakota, the album is a jazz lover's dream date. Plus, no one sings "I Hear Music" with as much style and joy as Dakota. The LP was restored a few years back and sounds pinpoint-perfect, as if it were recorded yesterday.

My favorite track is "In The Night." Listen as her cooler-than-cool post-bop vocals maneuver fluidly around the lyrics, her delivery slinky and sexy, coquettish and bold, all perfectly backed by Shearing and his quintet's elegant, modernist accompaniment. 

Shearing later collaborated on LPs with other artists like Peggy Lee and Carmen MacRae, to name just two, but there's a reason critics have hailed his collaboration with Dakota as his finest. His sleek, urbane quintet sound and her powerfully distinctive vocals just can't be beat.  

Photo Credits: Capital Records/Universal Music Group