''Blue'', originally titled ''The Blue Album'', is a studio album by American singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

. Initially recorded between late 1971 and early 1972, it was released as Ross' twenty-third studio album by

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

on June 20, 2006. Overseen by Ross' musical director

Gil Askey Gilbert Askey (March 9, 1925 – April 9, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, producer and musical director who was born in Austin, Texas, and emigrated to Australia in 1988. Personal life Askey was born in Austin, Texas, on March 9 ...

,Motown - Never released Diana Ross album discovered!
the jazz-flavoured album was originally conceived as a follow-up to her

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the 1972 American biographical drama film '' Lady Sings the Blues'' in which Ross starred.

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

and Motown subsequently decided to shelve the album, and Ross' next release was the more pop-oriented ''

Touch Me in the Morning "Touch Me in the Morning" is a song recorded by Diana Ross on the Motown label. It was written by Ron Miller and Michael Masser, and produced by the latter and Tom Baird. It was released on May 3, 1973 as the first single from her album of t ...

'' (1973) album.

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

editor Rob Theakston found that "

's arrangements are top-notch without sounding like dinner theater knock-offs. ''Blue'' is an album every bit as bold an artistic statement as her contemporaries

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

and

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

, who were recording the opuses ''

Where I'm Coming From ''Where I'm Coming From'' is the 13th album by Stevie Wonder. The album was released by Motown Records on April 9, 1971 and peaked on the Billboard Pop Albums at #62, and on the '' Billboard'' R&B Albums Chart at #7. All nine songs were writ ...

'' and '' What's Going On'' around the same time, and for Ross fans, ''Blue'' is every bit as enjoyable as her sultriest moments as the supreme Supreme."

Chart performance

''Blue'' was initially sold through

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

' US stores for the first 30 days of release, though coffeehouse chain immediately sold out of its supply nationwide. On the charts, ''Blue'' peaked at number two on the US ''Billboard''

Top Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

, also logging a single week on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 146. Its final sales figure was slightly higher than 100,000 US copies.

Track listing

All songs produced and conducted by

. Notes *Tracks 12-15 were originally recorded for '' Lady Sings the Blues'' (1972) but some were left out of the movie or were included in different versions.

Personnel

– Conductor, Musical Arrangements, Producer *

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album '' The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launch ...

- Arrangements * Guy Costa – Engineer * Cal Harris, Sr. – Engineer * Michele Horie – Producer, Artwork * Harry Langdon – Photography, Cover Photo * Pat Lawrence – Executive Producer * Ralph Lotten – Assistant * Bill MacMeeken – Engineer * Larry Miles – Engineer * John B. Norman – Engineer * Ryan Null – Photo Coordination * Kevin Reeves – Mastering, Mixing * David Ritz – Liner Notes * Greg Ross – Design * George Solomon – Consultant *

Art Stewart Arthur Stewart (February 6, 1927 – November 11, 2021) was an American baseball front-office executive and scout. He began his Major League Baseball (MLB) scouting career with the New York Yankees in 1953. He later joined the Kansas City Roya ...

– Engineer * Russ Terrana – Engineer * Harry Weinger – Liner Notes, Compilation Producer

Charts

References

External links

* ''Blue'' a
Motown.com
{{Authority control Motown albums 2006 albums Diana Ross albums Albums produced by Gil Askey