A member of one of the greatest jazz vocal groups ever, the Boswell Sisters, Connee Boswell (with one early exception) began recording as a single in 1931 and fulltime after the Boswells broke up in 1936. Her solo career, which lasted until her final recordings in 1959 (when she was still just 51), was in some ways similar to Bing Crosby’s. While she always had a jazz feel to her interpretations, much of her output found her sounding fairly straight on ballads while swinging gently on the medium-tempo numbers, gaining an audience beyond hard core jazz listeners. However Boswell never lost her ability to sing jazz as she showed on a 1956 album with what was billed as the Original Memphis Five.
Concentrating On You, a double-CD from Nimbus’ Retrospective series, is quite definitive of Connee Boswell’s solo years. The 51 selections, which date from 1931-59, feature her in top form singing both jazz and superior pop ballads. There are no throwaways and, from the jazz standpoint, there are quite a few highpoints including her versions of “Hummin’ To Myself,” “Me Minus You,” “I’ll Never Say ‘Never Again’ Again,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” a freewheeling “Dinah” from 1940, and “Amapola” and a scat-filled “Blue Skies” from 1958.
Boswell’s numbers with members of Bob Crosby’s Bobcats (particularly a classic rendition of “Martha”
