Hadda Brooks was a classically-trained pianist who turned to jazz and boogie-woogie and became a stylish and distinctive singer of ballads, to the extent that in the late 1940s she enjoyed three Top 10 R&B hits with sophisticated vocal recordings.

Basing her piano style initially on that of boogie-woogie pioneers like Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, the “Queen of the Boogie” developed a unique strand of material which involved re-interpreting classical pieces in boogie-woogie idiom.

She lived a multifaceted celebrity life, singing to Humphrey Bogart in In A Lonely Place, marrying a Harlem Globetrotter and becoming the first black entertainer in the country to host her own weekly television show.

This 50-track compilation features  comprises selected A- and B-sides of her singles on the Modern, London  and  Okeh labels during these years, plus selected titles from the albums Femme Fatale and Swings The Boogie on Crown, performing in her early years with a small jazz group and later both solo and with her Trio.

It naturally includes those three Top 10 hits That’s My Desire, Out Of The Blue and What Have I Done.

In the 1947 comedy movie, Out Of The Blue starring George Brent, Virginia Mayo, Turhan Bey, Ann Dvorak and Carole Landis, Brooks  appears singing the title song in a nightclub.

The artist, who died at the age of 86 in Los Angeles, performed into her 80s and celebrated her 80th birthday in 1996 by performing two sets at Johnny Depp’s Viper Room in West Hollywood.

She was one of the more unusual artists of the post-war decades, straddling stylistic boundaries in her highly individual manner, and this selective compilation of her output in what was an important first decade or so of her career, provides an entertaining showcase for her eclectic style and talents.

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