This was originally released in 1977 in Japan after a break of more than a decade during which the singer worked as a secretary in North Carolina and occasionally wrote reviews for DownBeat.

It was followed by several more records from the 1980's to 2010, when her latest album, We'll Meet Again, was released. Ms. Sloane seems to be ubiquitously known as one of those perennially- underrated singers in the jazzosphere- and one wonders why. Her professional career spans sixty years (she's 79 at the time of writing) and she's still touring today, with her discography including inventive tributes to Carmen McRae, Sinatra and Ella and Louis.

Ms. Sloane possesses a husky, sensuous vocal that wraps itself luxuriously round familiar lyrics, but the best weapon in her arsenal is her unerring sense of time. Her pitch-perfect, swinging delivery is always on the money, heard to best effect on this album on It Don't Mean a Thing; even at such a pace, every "doo-ah" lands effortlessly on the beat, seemingly with time to spare. This album is made up completely of Ellington songs, for which Ms. Sloane's vocal is an ideal match. Particularly enjoyable is the medley, where I Let A Song segues seamlessly into Do Nothing, with the vocal backed only by George Mraz's laidback bass. This is a quiet, mellow set of recordings that has much to teach today's aspiring young vocalists.

~ Sally Evans-Darby | Jazz Journal | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ (Four Stars)