Dakota may not be a household name, but she should be. Unfortunately, perhaps the hard edge soulfulness of an Ella Fitzgerald inspired vocal style might have been a little too hard for the sophisticates. She can sing and phrase with the best, and preaches to the room... she can be sweet and melodic as on CRY ME A RIVER, or she can wail an uptempo swing blues like COUNTRY MAN, a pure cooker laden with numerous sexual inuendos. She even takes on DAVID CLAYTON THOMAS (I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know) right before a BOUNCY hard edged heavy swinging and soulful version of Neil Hefti's GIRL TALK (a bluesy tune with some pretty Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad changes) - - Dakota is not a bebop or big band singer... she's sanctified bluesy soul, from the after hours tradition. - - The musical arrangements on this album are also great... high energy, wailing horns, slick piano. -- I saw Dakota sit in Live at a club in Harlem once. She had the entire room shouting "Yes Lord !" and "Amens" as she vocally extalled the virtues of the kind of man she liked. She riled up the crowd, and it'll happen to you to when you hear this great album.