I probably would have bought jazz singer Dodo Greene's "My Hour of Need," a 1962 recording from Blue Note, just to hear her vocals. On many of the songs, Greene sounds a lot like Dinah Washington at her sultriest and bluesiest, but I see that as a positive rather than a negative. The thing that makes much of the album memorable is the way Greene's vocals float on top of the instrumentals of organist Sir Charles Thompson, tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec and guitarist Grant Green. With the help of bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Billy Higgins and a number of other fine jazz musicians, they blanket both the songs of love and heartache with a sensuous groove I could listen to every night.
A friend told me this weekend he was looking for albums that will carry him to Dreamland. My friend will be sleeping before the end of "My Hour of Need," the album's first track. I just hope I'm not around when it happens; his snoring might break the spell Greene, Thompson, Quebec and Green cast on me every time I listen to the album.
