Jazz Articles about Diana Ross

Diana Ross & Frank Zappa: Soul Freak Symphony

by Glenn Astarita
April 1, 2025

When Diana Ross, the glittering soul siren of Motown, and Frank Zappa, the madcap maestro of musical anarchy, unveiled Soul Freak Symphony in March 1985 but was put in limbo due to contractual issues. Hence, it was not just an album--it was a cosmic detonation of sound and sanity. This 12-track hallucination melds Ross's velvety charisma with Zappa's unhinged genius, resulting in a creation so far outside the box it might as well be orbiting Saturn. The opener ...

Diana Ross: Blue

by Samuel Chell
July 15, 2006

This album is an eye-opener, especially after all the negative press and peer criticism that followed the R&B queen's starring role in the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues: her portrayal of America's foremost tragic jazz diva, as well as her impersonation of a music persona of cult-like proportions in the inner, exclusive circles of the “hip" jazz world.

But the evidence on this long-suppressed disc from the same era is compelling. Ross did her homework, absorbing everything about the ...

Diana Ross: Blue

by R. Emmet Sweeney
May 27, 2006

In late 1971, after Diana Ross completed filming the Billie Holiday bio-pic Lady Sings the Blues, Motown put her in the studio to record an album of jazz standards to coincide with the movie's release. The material was shelved after the producers decided to keep Ross on the pop-star track, which soon produced the #1 hit “Touch Me in the Morning."This summer Motown is releasing that long-lost album, entitled Blue. A welcome attempt to cash in on the ...