Ethel Ennis (Sings Lullabies for Losers / Change of Scenery / Have You Forgotten?)

Ethel Ennis was blessed with a remarkable voice and an innate jazz feel that she poured into everything she sang. Relatively unknown when she made these late Fifties recordings, her acclaimed debut album, Sings Lullabies For Losers , spread her fame beyond the small East Coast club circuit and her hometown following in Baltimore, where she was born in 1932. Made with a heavyweight jazz quartet that included pianist Hank Jones and drummer Kenny Clarke, it signaled the emergence of a major singing talent. She moved to Capitol, with which she made her next two albums, Change of Scenery and Have You Forgotten . For these the label wheeled out the big guns Neal Hefti arranged and conducted the orchestra for a well-judged programme of swingers and torch songs on the first, while on the second Have You Forgotten? she sings in front of three different backgrounds a large string section, a full brass section and a rhythm section plus vibes and guitar, conducted and arranged by Sid Feller. Throughout, Ethel Ennis handles the diverse settings with remarkable aplomb, with a sure touch for the nuances of feeling and phrasing and singing with a maturity beyond her years.