Biography
During the early 1960s Dodo Greene worked primarily as a jazz singer steeped in R&B phrasing, though she committed only a sparse handful of sessions to tape. My Hour of Need emerged as her principal statement, taped in 1962 for Blue Note with a formidable roster that included Ike Quebec, Grant Green, Herbie Lewis, Milt Hinton, Billy Higgins, and Al Harewood. The singer became the first vocalist awarded an exclusive contract by the label and one of the very few the company engaged throughout the decade, a circumstance that underscored the modest commercial impact of the album.
Born in Buffalo, NY, Greene sang from childhood onward. She maintained her vocal activities through adolescence even while intending to enter the medical field. An early opportunity arose when she substituted for an ailing singer in Cozy Cole’s ensemble; Cole invited her to remain with the group, yet she declined. In time she chose a professional music path and performed regularly at East Coast clubs as well as in Chicago. Audiences and peers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington gradually embraced her work, enabling appearances in London and Germany.
Shortly before signing with Blue Note in 1962, Greene completed an initial album for Time Records. That April she laid down the tracks that formed My Hour of Need. Five months afterward she returned to the studio for another date, and she cut still more material in November; none of these later recordings surfaced until the 1996 CD reissue of My Hour of Need, confirming the original album’s limited reach. Following its release Greene receded from public view, with no further documented sessions, although she continued performing into the early 2000s, most often at the Anchor Bar—home of the original Buffalo wing—in Buffalo, NY.
Born in Buffalo, NY, Greene sang from childhood onward. She maintained her vocal activities through adolescence even while intending to enter the medical field. An early opportunity arose when she substituted for an ailing singer in Cozy Cole’s ensemble; Cole invited her to remain with the group, yet she declined. In time she chose a professional music path and performed regularly at East Coast clubs as well as in Chicago. Audiences and peers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington gradually embraced her work, enabling appearances in London and Germany.
Shortly before signing with Blue Note in 1962, Greene completed an initial album for Time Records. That April she laid down the tracks that formed My Hour of Need. Five months afterward she returned to the studio for another date, and she cut still more material in November; none of these later recordings surfaced until the 1996 CD reissue of My Hour of Need, confirming the original album’s limited reach. Following its release Greene receded from public view, with no further documented sessions, although she continued performing into the early 2000s, most often at the Anchor Bar—home of the original Buffalo wing—in Buffalo, NY.
Albums
