Tears and Laughter is a fourteenth studio album by Dinah Washington with Orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones, that was released on Mercury Records (in mono MG 20661 and stereo SR-60661). The orchestral arrangements, partly with strings for the jazz standard repertoire, were provided by Jones, Hal Mooney, Al Cohn, Ernie Wilkins and Billy Byers.Cf. entry in the Mercury Records catalog on Jazzdisco.org. On the second half –the B-side– of the original LP release Washington is backed by the male doo-wop quintet The Dells, who toured with her as the opening act since 1960.Official website of The Dells. They are also featured without Washington on "Jeepers Creepers", and "Am I Blue?" is a duet with one of them.Album liner notes, cf. back cover images of .

The album received a rating of three stars from AllMusic.

All tracks from the album (except the Dinah-less "Jeepers Creepers") were included in the 1989 3-CD set The Complete Dinah Washington On Mercury Vol. 7: 1961 (Mercury Records 838 ); this collection included the previously unissued recording "So In Love" (Cole Porter) from the album sessions, and this track has been substituted for "Jeepers Creepers" in the download and streaming re-issue of this album by Verve Records on 4 October 2019.

Track listing "Bewitched" (Rodgers and Hart) – 2:19 "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (David Mann, Bob Hilliard) – 2:13 "Mood Indigo" (Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, Irving Mills) – 2:25 "Am I Blue?" (Harry Akst, Grant Clarke) – 2:52 "I'm a Fool to Want You" (Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf, Joel Herron) – 3:00 "Tears and Laughter" (Miriam Lewis) – 2:50 "Secret Love" (Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:48 "You Do Something to Me" (Cole Porter) – 2:20 "If I Should Lose You" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) – 2:43 "Jeepers Creepers" (Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer) – 2:02 "Wake the Town and Tell the People" (Jerry Livingston, Sammy Gallop) – 2:38 "I Just Found Out About Love" (Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson) – 2:46

Personnel Dinah Washington – vocals (except track 10) Quincy Jones – conductor The Dells – backing vocals (tracks 7–12) Joe Newman, Clark Terry, Ernie Wilkins – trumpet Jimmy Cleveland, Kai Winding, Billy Byers – trombone Al Cohn – tenor saxophone Patti Bown – piano George Barnes – guitar unknown bass and drums unidentified orchestra

References