Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in 1924, just before the Great Depression. Before she finished high school, Washington directed her church choir and became a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. She started her career in Chicago jazz clubs before winning the 1959 Grammy Award for R&B Performance with her interpretation of “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.”
Washington refused to abandon her dramatic gospel, jazz and blues roots, diversifying the sound of R&B with other hits such as “This Bitter Earth” and her rendition of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” She died in 1963 at the age of 39 and left behind a legacy that influenced musical giants like Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga.
It’s easy to trace the vocal lineage from Washington to Ledisi through other generational voices like Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson and Natalie Cole. Yet Ledisi brings a raw emotional understanding of Washington’s catalogue that’s all her own.
“To not be accepted in an industry that you helped create … that hurts my heart,” Ledisi says of Washington’s story. “I understand being ignored. I know what that feels like, having a big presence and still not getting the recognition.”
Ledisi uses that level of empathy to elevate her storytelling, combining it with a Broadway veteran’s polished theatricality and a historian’s rigor. She combs through the biographies of those she pays tribute to — whether it’s for a full-length project like her Grammy-nominated 2021 album, Ledisi Sings Nina, or one of her many career-defining homages to artists including Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Natalie Cole.
“I go to the music first because that’s what hits the heart,” Ledisi says. “And then the mind starts working. I’m a nerd of the voice, whether it be opera, theater, jazz, blues. I’m forever wanting to understand people and what made them become who they are and what got in the way of who they are. … Why are they hurting? Where does that pain go?”
In crafting For Dinah, the chance to nerd out and revive the Washington sound not only excited Ledisi, but took her across the country. She partnered with composer and jazz guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. to re-transcribe some of the original Quincy Jones arrangements of Washington’s music. Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Gregory Porter shares the mic with Ledisi on her rendition of Washington’s 1960 duet with Brook Benton, “Baby (You’ve Got What it Takes.)” From recording sessions in New York to tightening the album in Los Angeles, reproducing the ’50s big band sound was a special priority for Ledisi.
“It was amazing watching this group record … through the little window while I’m singing,” Ledisi says. “The synergy of all of us as creatives in one space, creating together in rehearsals was great.”
With 12 studio albums, 14 Grammy nominations and one win for Best Traditional R&B Performance, Ledisi is well past those days of grinding just to prove herself. With this album release and tour, she’s earned the opportunity to set aside the heavy bass and racing rhythm sections in favor of a beautiful gown, the raw power of her voice and deep gratitude for the pioneers of her profession.
“Anytime I show reverence to an ancestor, my head is saying, ‘I’ll let them know for you. I haven’t forgotten.’ That is what’s holding me to move the music in the catalog forward, to sing it right, to study it, to give it that attitude like she would or like I would,” says Ledisi. “Thank you Dinah, for letting me go through you for this.”
Ledisi’s 13th studio album, ‘For Dinah,’ is available Oct. 3. She performs at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on Oct. 6.
