July 18, 2025: Today, Grammy-winning vocalist Ledisi announced For Dinah, a deeply personal tribute album to her lifelong hero, the legendary jazz and blues singer Dinah Washington, to be released on October 3 via Candid Records. Produced by jazz heavyweight Christian McBride and Ledisi’s longtime producer Rex Rideout, the album blends Ledisi’s signature soul with Washington’s bold spirit, reclaiming space for a pioneer who made it possible for women like her to thrive. The album features standout collaborations, including a duet with Grammy-winning vocalist Gregory Porter and appearances by top-tier musicians like Paul Jackson Jr. and rising star Michael King.
Along with the announcement, Ledisi shared lead single “This Bitter Earth,” a soul-stirring interpretation of the haunting ballad made famous by Dinah Washington and written by Clyde Otis. With a beautifully contemporary arrangement by Ledisi and producer Christian McBride, the track captures the ache of loneliness and the fleeting nature of time, yet holds space for hope that life’s pain may still give way to grace. McBride added a hue of neo-soul to the arrangement, which allows Ledisi to effortlessly meld her musical worlds.
Like every triumphantly gifted female singer who has transcended barriers, Ledisi is a child of Dinah Washington. “She gave me permission to move freely, create freely, be a woman in leadership, wear and say what I want,” explains Ledisi.
Born in Alabama and raised in Chicago, Washington (1924-1963) was one of the 20th century’s most important and influential singers, whose sobriquets included both “Queen of the Blues” and “Queen of the Jukeboxes.” Her voice boasted a striking clarity alongside breathtaking soulfulness, and she prided herself on being able to sing anything: She was a brilliant interpreter of jazz and the blues, as well as an R&B and pop hitmaker. Among her most devoted disciples was a gospel singer from Detroit named Aretha Franklin. But where Franklin is a household name and cultural icon, Washington, despite being wildly popular in her heyday, is tragically overlooked by the general public. It’s a problem that Ledisi hopes to correct with For Dinah.
“Before there was Aretha, there was Dinah,” Ledisi says. “She deserves to be recognized in today’s music as well. So instead of asking me ‘Why Dinah?,’ you should be asking ‘Why not Dinah?’”
For Dinah Tracklist:
1. What A Difference A Day Made
2. If I Never Get To Heaven
3. Caravan
4. Let’s Do It
5. You Don’t Know What Love Is feat. Christian McBride
6. You’ve Got What It Takes feat. Gregory Porter
7. You Go To My Head feat. Paul Jackson Jr.
8. The Bitter Earth
