Peckerwood Manor

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...

If you haven't listened to jazz vocalist Dakota Staton before, prepare to be wowed. A few years back, I was trolling around YouTube, as one does, and it kept suggesting that I listen to Dakota Staton, who this white boy had never heard of (because there's only so much music and so many singers I can keep in my noggin). After repeated Dakota suggestions from YouTube, I clicked on this... ...and fell in love. "Let Me Of Uptown" is sure to raise your heart rate with its blaring trumpets - and Dakota, a human trumpet who epitomizes "brass" and "sass." Yet she's so much more than that; she transcends every genre of song she takes on.  Dakota's career, I soon learned, started out with one hit LP, but it was to be her last. Though she continued recording and was adored by musicians (especially) and critics, she never quite caught on with the public. Yet she was determined. Once her major-label record company cancelled her contract, she hooked up w...