Belafonte Sings the Blues

The late Harry Belafonte’s seventh album might have been – by his standards – something of flop, not quite having the effervescent dazzle of 1956’s smash hit Calypso, but these stripped back arrangements of covers of songs by Ledbetter, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and more allow Belafonte’s voice to luxuriate in exquisite, smoky, late-night surroundings. Strictly speaking, with a couple of exceptions these are jazz standards rather than the titular blues (even Ledbetter’s Cotton Fields comes with a big band swish), but that’s beside the point.