Early 1960s were times when some of the biggest stars of the previous decade suddenly left the race - Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington subsequently all got their tribute albums as recording companies followed obituaries with almost morbid obsession. Just as Washington herself recorded tribute album to her famous predecessor Bessie Smith, now another queen celebrated her songbook. It was probably masterminded by singer's ambitious husband/manager Ted White who saw her as natural successor to queen of the jukebox and wanted his young wife to follow similar crossover path.
To understand why this album didn't exactly work as planned, you should check original Washington - controversial, salty and ballsy mama, she was also mercurial artist who sassed her way trough early R&B market with hits like "Evil Gal Blues" before achieving lifelong ambition to break into pop arena with soft ballads with "What A Diff'rence A Day Made" that confused music critics ever since. Was she blues singer? Or 1950s crooner purring gently trough love ballads? Hard to categorise, Washington had many talents and was equally at home in many genres so tribute to her should cover many faces of this magnificent woman. No doubt that young Aretha Franklin genuinely liked her predecessor but at that time (aged twenty two) she was still conditioned with her strict upbringing and reluctant to explore bolder aspects of earthy singer's music - what appealed to her were Washington's later ballads so unfortunately "Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington" ended being mostly unexciting renditions of torch songs sung approached with affection but ultimately curiously bland. Where Franklin caught the fire were Washington's uptempo numbers, but there are only two of them - smothered in strings, young singer valiantly emotes and it all sounds the same. Variety is the biggest issue here, since album would benefit from inclusion of Washington's pre-pop repertoire like "Baby Get Lost", "Fat Daddy" or "Salty Papa Blues" (nobody expected preacher's daughter to cover "Long John Blues"). That Franklin was serious, shows fifty years later when she lovingly covered "Teach Me Tonight" on her 2014. album - seems she genuinely loved Washington and never forgot her idol.
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