Editing Jimmy Rushing (section)

==Critical assessment==
Rushing was held in high critical esteem during his career and after his death. [[Whitney Balliett]], jazz critic for ''[[The New Yorker]]'', wrote of Rushing that, "His supple, rich voice and his elegant accent have the curious effect of making the typical roughhouse blues lyric seem like a song by [[Noël Coward]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Balliett |first=Whitney |title=Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz, 1954–2000 |year=2000 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-20288-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/collectedworksjo00ball_0/page/21 21] |url=https://archive.org/details/collectedworksjo00ball_0/page/21 }}</ref> The critic [[Nat Hentoff]], who ranked Rushing as one of the "greatest blues singers," credited him as a seminal influence in the development of post–World War II popular black music. Hentoff wrote that [[rhythm and blues]] "has its roots in the blues shouting of Jimmy Rushing...and in the equally stentorian delivery of [[Big Joe Turner|Joe Turner]]..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Hentoff |first=Nat |title=Jazz: New Perspectives on the History of Jazz |url=https://archive.org/details/jazznewperspecti0000hent |url-access=registration |year=1959 |publisher=Rinehart |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/jazznewperspecti0000hent/page/100 100]}}</ref> [[Scott Yanow]] described Rushing as the "perfect big band singer" who "was famous for his ability to sing blues, but in reality he could sing almost anything."<ref>{{cite book |last=Yanow |first=Scott |title=Swing |year=2000 |publisher=Miller Freeman Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-87930-600-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/swing00yano/page/264 264] |url=https://archive.org/details/swing00yano/page/264 }}</ref> In an essay about his fellow Oklahoman, the writer [[Ralph Ellison]] wrote that it was "when Jimmy's voice began to soar with the spirit of the blues that the dancers – and the musicians – achieve that feeling of communion which was true meaning of the public jazz dance." Ellison said Rushing began as a singer of ballads, "bringing to them a sincerity and a feeling for dramatizing the lyrics in the musical phrase which charged the banal lines with the mysterious potentiality of meaning which haunts the blues." In contrast with Rushing's reputation, he "seldom comes across as a blues 'shouter,' but maintains the lyricism which has always been his way with the blues," wrote Ellison.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ellison |first=Ralph |title=Living With Music |year=2001 |publisher=Modern Library |location=New York |isbn=0-679-64034-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/livingwithmusic00ralp/page/43 43–49] |url=https://archive.org/details/livingwithmusic00ralp/page/43 }}</ref> According to [[Gary Giddins]], Rushing "brought operatic fervor to the blues,"<ref>{{cite book |last=Giddins |first=Gary |title=Visions of Jazz: The First Century |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-507675-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/visionsofjazzfir0000gidd/page/201 201] |url=https://archive.org/details/visionsofjazzfir0000gidd/page/201 }}</ref> and of his time with Count Basie notes that "just about every record they made together is a classic."<ref>{{cite book |last=Giddins |first=Gary |title=Visions of Jazz: The First Century |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-507675-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/visionsofjazzfir0000gidd/page/184 184] |url=https://archive.org/details/visionsofjazzfir0000gidd/page/184 }}</ref>

He was a four-time winner of Best Male Singer in the Critics' Poll of ''[[Melody Maker]]'' and a four-time winner of Best Male Singer in the International Critics' Poll in ''[[Down Beat]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jimmy Rushing |url=http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/jimmyrushing |publisher=Verve Music Group |access-date=December 30, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909041524/http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/jimmyrushing |archive-date=September 9, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> His 1971 album ''The You and Me That Used to Be'' was named Jazz Album of the Year by ''Down Beat'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=698 |title=1972 DownBeat Critics Poll |date=August 31, 1971 |access-date=December 31, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235603/http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=698 |archive-date=December 30, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and he received the 1971 [[Grammy]] nomination Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist.<ref>{{cite web |title=GRAMMY Award Results for Jimmy Rushing |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/jimmy-rushing |website=grammy.com |access-date=25 July 2019}}</ref>

Rushing was one of eight jazz and blues legends honored in a set of [[United States Postal Service]] stamps issued in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |title=American Music Series: Jazz Singers Issue |url=http://arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&tid=2043144 |publisher=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=December 31, 2013}}</ref>

He was a 2024 inductee to the [[Blues Foundation]]'s [[Blues Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.memphisflyer.com/undefined|title=Blues Hall Of Fame Class Of 2024 Named|website=Memphisflyer.com|access-date=May 7, 2024}}</ref>