Where "Empress of the Blues" was focused on repertoire that in her time was not known to wider audiences and "Lady Day" made her name by giving Jazz twist to popular songs of the moment, we hardly really know radio hits of the depression, prohibition, Bonnie & Clyde and Al Capone. "Radio" is the key word here since it catapulted such unlikely stars as Conneee Boswell (in a wheelchair) or Mildred Bailey (enormously fat) who lived & worked on strength of their music talent.
"Sophisticated Ladies" (and its twin-brother CD collection "The Crooners") presents mostly forgotten stars of US pop music as it was way back than: as expected, most of the singers here would appeal to collectors of music genre we now call "Nostalgia" and they all use their own arsenal of gimmicks, tricks and weapons at the disposal. Some are now downright funny (notorious Ruth Etting in "I'm Good For Nothing But Love" complaining "men winking, I know what they're thinking... I'm Good For Nothing But Love...), some theatrical (Helen Morgan, Greta Keller), some swinging lightly and politely (Annette Hanshaw, The Boswell Sisters) but there are also some nice surprises as Ella Logan - movie star and aunt of Annie Ross - seductive Lee Wiley (clear inspiration for the sound Peggy Lee later perfected), wonderful Maxine Sullivan who turned "Loch Lommond" into pop charts and recorded "Mad about the Boy" decades before Dinah Washington and now forgotten Nan Wynn who recorded with Teddy Wilson on piano.
The best of all are Ethel Waters - her gentle, intimate "I Just Couldn't Take It, Baby" sounds like coming really from the heart - and equally great Mildred Bailey who is now unjustly forgotten but was true inspiration for young Billie Holiday. Clearly, celebrated singers who came later had certain pop stars who preceded them, inspired them and cleared the way for them. It's just a matter of time before today's pop stars turn into "Nostalgia".
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