1962 · Album
Drinking Again
Recorded 1962 · Roulette Records · Arranger: Don Costa
Don Costa's Blueprint for Washington's Standards
Costa's arrangements give Washington room to breathe, to phrase like she owns these songs.
Don Costa didn't just arrange Drinking Again (1962) — he built a frame that let Dinah Washington's voice do what it did best: bend a lyric until it became confession. Costa was already known for his work in pop and jazz settings, and here he understood that Washington didn't need lush strings drowning her out or a big band pushing her around. Instead, his charts sit back. They're attentive. A standard like "One for My Baby" or "Pennies from Heaven" gets space — enough room for Washington to stretch a note, to pause before the payoff, to make you feel like she's thinking through the lyric in real time.
This was a solid move in Washington's catalog, not a reinvention. She'd been recording standards for years, and by 1962 she knew how to sell a song. But Costa's arrangements on this album feel less interested in grandeur than in clarity. The band — Roulette's house players, efficient and tasteful — never competes. They're there to support what Washington is doing, which is all she ever needed. The album sits somewhere between her jazz records and her pop sides, neither fish nor fowl, exactly as it should be.
It's the kind of album that rewards returning to. Not essential to start with — that would be something like Dinah Jams (1954) — but once you know Washington's voice, Drinking Again shows you a side of her that values craft over display. Costa knew his role, and he played it right.
