Nancy Harrow Wild Women Don't Have the Blues LP

The fist time Candid founder Nat Hentoff heard Harrow sing, he decided on the spot that if he were to ever have a label of his own, he would have to cut a record with her. Both of his dreams came true, resulting in a jazz vocal album as easily appealing as anything you're likely to hear. Despite its accessibility, it's also a showcase for Harrow's utterly unique style. One of the few vocalists of her generation that didn't emulate the voices of the icons that came before her.

When the Washington Post reviewed this album, they got so much right about Wild Women Don't Have the Blues and Nancy Harrow herself: "She sings for the sheer fun of it - not to be glamorous, not to knock our musicians, but just because she's got a feeling she wants to get across. Repeated hearings bear this out - her long, strong phrases; the ironic power of her understated emotions; the stripped, supple timbre of her voice, straight as a clipper's keel. And I say we've got a rare thing here - a woman who has made grand what's common to us all. I think that's what they call art."

After this album, Harrow went on a 12-year hiatus to raise her children (one of which is Galaxie 500's Damon Krukowski) before re-emerging to even greater acclaim on the jazz scene. This reissue finally gives her debut the shot it always deserved to find its way into the collections of aficionados and casual listeners alike.

A 100% must for my record of the year