It sounds completely natural - one queen celebrating another, from earlier era - and honestly, when it comes to sass and attitude Dinah Washington followed steps of her illustrious predecessor. In some parallel universe it would be great to have them both at the same table and my guess is they would get along like a house on fire. Both were strong-willed, independent women who lived high life, financed lovers and husbands, bulldozed their way trough male dominated industry and burned like comets too early. It doesn't matter that as a singers they were completely different - both were strikingly original in their way and I doubt that even famously competitive Smith would find her younger successor unworthy of praise.
By late 1950s Washington experimented with different genres and recorded two tribute albums, one to Fats Waller and another with Bessie Smith songbook. Both were arranged by Ernie Wilkins who was fine musician himself (after all, he worked with Count Basie) but unfortunately he decided to give them a certain almost Dixieland sheen that inevitably made the projects sound outdated - Washington herself sounds like a dream and its clear she loves these old songs but somehow (to my ears, at least) it appears almost ironic. There is something about arrangements that always bothered me and after all these years I am still not convinced that this music needed vaudeville costume - only occasionally, as on spectacular "Backwater Blues" Wilkins let singer rip completely, uncluttered by rinky dink snare drums. Great for collectors but undermined by arrangements. And my opinion has not changed in some twenty years that I own this album.
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