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[sometimes with small hole punch or promotional sticker, sometimes not shrink-wrapped]
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Greta Keller, REMEMBER ME & OTHER INTIMATE SONGS
2006 import featuring 25 sides—nearly all standards—by this great continental chanteuse: The Very Thought of You, title tune, All of a Sudden My Heart Sings, That Old Feeling, Darling je vous aime beaucoup, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, Deep in a Dream, The Party’s Over Now, I Get Along Without You Very Well, These Foolish Things, Lazy Afternoon, C’est Magnifique, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, My Ship, One Touch of Venus, Green-Up Time, This is New, Time on My Hands, Strange Music, One for My Baby, Easy Come—Easy Go, Auf Wiederseh’n My Dear, Lights Out, Don’t Ask Me Why, and Sei Lieb Zu Mir (Be Nice to Me). Import, $14.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Brent Barrett, Rebecca Luker, Jason Graae, et al. [Original Cast], STRIKE UP THE BAND
Over 20 years in the making, this brand new (2011) CD is the world premiere recording of the final, revised edition of George and Ira Gershwin's musical, a Broadway hit in 1930.
The show predates by many years original cast recordings as we know them, and it was not until 1991 that a complete studio cast recording was released. But that recording featured an earlier—and vastly different—version of the score, as heard in the show’s 1927 pre-Broadway tryout, which was unsuccessful enough to necessitate a substantial revamping.
Both versions of the show, as it turns out, were recorded at the same time by the cast, but it is only now, with support from the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Trusts and the Library of Congress Music Division, that the 1930 score enjoyed by Broadway audiences can be heard. The above singers are supported by Don Chastain, Beth Fowler, Charles Goff, Juliet Lambert, Jeff Lyons and James Rocco, as well as a 16-member chorus, a tap-dancing ensemble, and an orchestra of 28, all under the direction of the renowned John Mauceri.
A number of the songs from the 1927 tryout did not survive the journey to Broadway, and a couple of others (most notably Official Résumé and Ring-a-Ding-a-Ding-Dong-Dell) were added, as was instrumental music. But even the many songs that appear in both versions are presented here in alternate recordings, since the Gershwins made numerous changes to the lyrics, the music, or both, and the orchestrations are completely different.
The 1930 show introduced three Gershwin standards—I've Got a Crush on You, Soon, and the title tune. Other songs include Fletcher's American Chocolate Choral Society, I Mean to Say, Typical Self-Made American, The Unofficial Spokesman, Patriotic Rally, If I Became the President, Hangin' Around With You, Finaletto Act I, Opening Act II, In the Rattle of the Battle, Mademoiselle in New Rochelle, How About a Boy Like Me?, and Finale Ultimo. Plus Overture, Dream Music, Soldiers' March, and dialogue—24 tracks with a running time of over 76 min.
Booklet incl. complete lyrics, extensive liner notes, rare photos, and synopsis. Slipcased, $13.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Marjorie Lee, REMEMBERING WITH MARJORIE LEE
1989 import of the only solo album by this fine but ultra-obscure pop singer, recorded in "Duo-Sonic HI-FI" and released in 1957 on the equally obscure LA-based BeauMonde label. CD Universe writes, "A loose-knit concept record that explores regret and loss with uncommon poignancy, REMEMBERING boasts a subdued sophistication perfectly matched to Marjorie Lee's heartfelt vocals....She's a gifted stylist who fully inhabits the lyrics she sings, creating an unflinching portrait of a heart and soul in freefall."
Lee sang in the '40s with the orchestra of Richard Himber—a 1942 Billboard review of their appearance at New York's Essex House notes a "voice and delivery [with] a nice, refined quality"—and even more extensively with Russ Morgan's band. But capable as she is, this reissue may well have been prompted by the presence, in her backing quartet, of not only tenor saxophonist Ted Nash but, especially, pianist John T[owner] Williams, whose halcyon days as a world-famous film composer were still several years away. Both are featured on four instrumentals—Something to Live For, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, One Love, and Our Waltz (the last two composed by David Rose)—and both, according to CD Universe, "contribute significantly to the record's haunted atmosphere."
Lee sings eight classic torch ballads: The Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Lullaby of the Leaves, These Foolish Things, Maybe You'll Be There, Bewitched, Alone Together, Good for Nothin' Joe, and I Got Bad and That Ain't Good. Import, $11.99 [regularly $16.99]
[regularly $16.99] [CD is brand new—never played—but is not shrink-wrapped.]
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Billy Barnes, Amanda McBroom, Cindy Benson, Beverly Bremers, et al. [Original Cast], FAMILY JEWELS
Subtitled GEMS OF THE RAINBOW STAGE: TWENTY YEARS OF ORIGINAL CAST PERFORMANCES, 1975-1995, this long out of print, collectible 1996 CD compiles 23 songs from 10 early gay musicals, including three that have never had cast recordings—GULP!, IT'S IN THE BLOOD, and AIDS! THE MUSICAL!. Four others—THE GAY '90s MUSICAL, THE BALLAD OF LITTLE MIKEY, ALL THAT HE WAS, IN GAY COMPANY—are out of print on CD, and SPARKLES (1981) was released only on LP.
Famed songwriter Billy Barnes performs his own The Gay Nineties, and Amanda McBroom sings Poetry from JOSEPH MC- CARTHY IS ALIVE & LIVING IN DADE COUNTY. Beverly Bremers, a Broadway performer (HAIR, THE ME
NOBODY KNOWS) and pop singer (she scored a minor hit in 1972 with Don't Say You Don't Remember), sings two songs from IN GAY COMPANY—Ought to Be Married and Sondheim. Cindy Benson, who originated the role of Donna the Dominatrix in the Broadway musical EATING RAOUL, offers Things Are Looking... from ALL THAT HE WAS.
Various lesser-known but no less talented performers sing songs from the above musicals, plus BOY MEETS BOY, incl. Pot, Poppers and Pills, Take Back Your Whips, Single White Male, Different from Normal, Hand Out the Leaflets, Two-Timed Too Many Times, Lola, Mama I Need a Gun, Miracle Enough, We're Here, Our First Christmas, Say Goodbye Again, Who Have You Loved Today?, Up on Your Toes, more, $24.99 [New copies of this start on Amazon at $46.99!!]
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Eric Comstock & Randy Napoleon, BITTER/SWEET
We are proud to offer AUTOGRAPHED copies of this brand new CD, the fourth by New York-based singer-pianist Comstock.
BITTER/SWEET represents a radical departure for Comstock. He not only steps away from the piano but he is supported throughout only by the solo guitar of young virtuoso Randy Napoleon (lately of Freddy Cole's quartet, and before that Michael Bublé's band, as well as the leader of his own group). Such an unexpected and intimate accompaniment demonstrates something that may have been overlooked before. While Comstock is the co-heir apparent, with Steve Ross, to the mantle of the late Bobby Short—that is, our premier cabaret or "society" singer-pianist—he is also, far and away, the best singer of all the performers, past or present, with whom he shares his particular musical niche.
Napoleon's sensitive arrangements present an ideal musical setting for Comstock's vocals, cushioning and showcasing them at the same time. Comstock's singing is lovely—unaffected, heartfelt, warm, clear, even sensual (at least to these ears)—in short, every good thing.
Despite the obvious temptation posed by solo guitar accompaniment, Comstock wisely resists interpreting these songs as bossa novas, with the natural exception of Jobim's Living on Dreams (which features lyrics by the late Susannah McCorkle). This impeccably tasteful collection of songs includes another dozen tunes: I Have Dreamed, the obscure title tune (Billy Strayhorn's Ballad for Very Tired & Very Sad Lotus-Eaters, with lyrics by Roger Schore)
Too Late Now, If I Had You, Billy May's rarely heard Somewhere in the Night (a hit for Teri Thornton in 1963), Gone with the Wind, This Can't Be Love, Paul Weston and Alan & Marilyn Bergman's little-known Goodbye Is a Lonesome Sound (also recorded by Teri Thornton—and Jean DuShon), Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Two for the Road (a duet with wife Barbara Fasano), and Goodbye. AUTOGRAPHED, $15.99 [regularly $19.99]
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Joe Mooney, LUSH LIFE
1999 CD of the 1957 Atlantic album by this great blind crooner and songwriter, often described as a "musician’s musician." Mooney accompanied himself on the organ, and here he heads up a quartet that includes Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. 10 ballads: Nina Never Knew (perhaps his most famous song), title tune, the poignant The Kid's a Dreamer, That's All, My One and Only Love, the self-penned Nowhere, Love Is Here to Stay, Crazy She Calls Me, Have You Met Miss Jones?, and Polka Dots and Moonbeams, $10.99 [regularly $13.99]
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Etta James, COME A LITTLE CLOSER
1974 Chess album (plus two bonus tracks) by probably the greatest of contemporary female blues singers. Amazon.com hails the CD as "a surprisingly effective mating of a distinctive singer with seemingly incongruous material and production [and] more evidence that Etta is one of the most versatile vocalists of her era."
Here James is "supported by a slew of hotshot L.A. session men, including Little Feat's Lowell George," Danny Kotchmar and "Wah Wah" Watson, on ten songs, a full half dozen of them by producer Gabriel Mekler (who died the following year in a motorcycle accident). Mekler had previously produced albums by Steppenwolf and wrote their hits Magic Carpet Ride and Move Over, which explains the inclusion here of covers of two of the group's other hits, Power Play (written by Steppenwolf vocalist John Kay) and Sookie Sookie.
The CD is rounded out by St. Louis Blues, Randy Newman's Let's Burn Down the Cornfield, and two bonus tracks—Lovin' Arms (by Tom Jans) and the single edit of Mekler's Out on the Street Again. Other Mekler tunes include Mama Told Me, title tune, Feeling Uneasy, Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight, and You Give Me What I Want, $7.99 [regularly $8.99]
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Lorez Alexandria, SINGING SONGS EVERYONE KNOWS
Seemingly titled, according to the copy-laden front cover, STANDARDS WITH A SLIGHT TOUCH OF JAZZ—THE SENSATIONAL VOICE OF LOREZ ALEXANDRIA SINGING SONGS EVERYONE KNOWS, this 1959 album features a dozen songs by this superb but underappreciated jazz vocalist.
Backed by an unidentified orchestra, Alexandria sings Just One of Those Things, Then I'll Be Tired of You, Lush Life, Sometimes I'm Happy, Long Ago and Far Away, But Beautiful, I'm Beginning to See the Light, I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me, Spring Is Here, Angel Eyes, Better Luck Next Time, and I Didn't Know What Time it Was, $8.99 [regularly $11.99]
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Marin Mazzie, Danny Burstein, Philip Chaffin, et al. [Original Cast], SWEET BYE AND BYE
Brand new (2011) CD—the long overdue and much anticipated world premiere recording of Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash's ill-fated 1946 musical. Called by some "the greatest theatre score no one’s ever heard," the show also featured a book by S. J. Perelman and Al Hirschfeld, and a cast headed by a young Dolores Gray. (That's Gray, at right, in the show.)
According to the publicity materials, SWEET BYE AND BYE "crashed and burned during its pre-Broadway tryout in 1946 for various reasons—some conceptual, some creative, some casting-related—but at the end of the day what’s left is a glorious collection of songs: restlessly inventive, playful and romantic—perhaps Vernon Duke’s finest theatrical achievement. A futuristic farce sending up big business, telecommunications, robotics, space travel, self-help groups and even the traditions of courtship and matrimony, at heart SWEET BYE AND BYE is a simple love story with some of the most beautiful ballads Broadway had ever heard. The world premiere recording of this Broadway-musical-that-never-was has been lovingly restored from Duke and Nash’s original manuscripts."
Eric Stern leads the orchestra on this sparkling recreation. Marin Mazzie (in the Dolores Gray role), Philip Chaffin, two-time Tony Award nominee Danny Burstein, and Jim Stanek (Hero in the 1996 revival of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED...) head up a cast that includes Heidi Blickenstaff, Graham Rowat, Michele Ragusa, Telly Leung, Sara Jean Ford—Broadway performers all—and, in cameo speaking roles, Georgia Engel, John Cullum, Rebecca Luker, and Edward Hibbert.
A handful of songs from SWEET BYE AND BYE were salvaged and managed to survive the fate of the musical itself. The two best-known—Round About and Just Like a Man—later surfaced in, of all things, Bette Davis's Broadway musical debut, the revue TWO'S COMPANY. Born Too Late was included in Ben Bagley's THE LITTLEST REVUE (1956), and Charlotte Rae covered The Sea-Gull and the Ea-Gull on her 1955 debut solo album.
Other songs include Ham That I Am, title tune, Yes Yes, As You Were Saying, Diana, Factory Ballet, Too Enchanting, I Says to Him, Let's Be Young, Executives Anonymous, Knife's Recitative, Our Parents Forgot to Get Married, My Broker Told Me So, Utility Polka, It's Good, Where is Bundy?, Eskimo Bacchante, more—26 tracks with a total running time of 68 min.
Booklet incl. complete lyrics, extensive liner notes, rare photos, and synopsis. Slipcased, $13.99 [regularly $15.99]
Sheldon Harnick, Heather McRae, Steven Brinberg, Michael Lavine, et al., LOST BROADWAY AND MORE, VOL. 3
Brand new (2011) CD, an invaluable collection of ultra-rare songs culled from Broadway flops and forgotten shows, or in several cases cut from those shows. The project was assembled by New York show-music whiz kid Michael Lavine, who also accompanies the singers on solo piano throughout and sings on several of the numbers himself. (That’s Lavine, at right, with the great JoAnne Worley at Christine Pedi’s opening at the Metropolitan Room.) "My goal here with this series," he writes in the liner notes, "is to get these songs off the printed page." Indeed, most, if not all, of them represent the very first recordings of these songs.
To help him in his goal, Lavine has enlisted the aid of many of his talented New York friends. Female impressionist Steven Brinberg sings two different versions (first as Cher, then as Barbra!) of Growing Up Is Learning to Say Goodbye, cut from THE YEARLING, and joins Lavine and company on Tomorrow’s Good Old Days, cut from GOODTIME CHARLY. Heather McRae sings Waking Up Sun, which she introduced in HERE’S WHERE I BELONG, a musical based on John Steinbeck’s EAST OF EDEN, which ran for only a single performance in 1968. New York cabaret performer Joan Bender performs a duet with Lavine on I Am Only Human After All, from GARRICK GAIETIES, with music by Vernon Duke and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg). And Sheldon Harnick joins Lavine and Christine Pedi (of FORBIDDEN BROADWAY fame) to perform If Jesus Don’t Love You, which was added to the Goodspeed revival of Bob Merrill’s TAKE ME ALONG.
Other performers include Sarah Rice, the original Johanna in SWEENEY TODD; Melissa Dye, who played Rapunzel in the 2002 Broadway revival of INTO THE WOODS, and Andrew Samonsky, who replaced Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable in, and appears in the PBS broadcast of, the smash SOUTH PACIFIC revival.
The CD features two songs cut from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG—Thank You for Coming and Life Begins With Love—as well as a song (Life Begins With Love, by Charles Tobias and Joseph Cooper) from the original 1934 Kaufman and Hart 1934 play upon which the Sondheim musical was based.
Also included are rare songs by other major composers like Richard Whiting (I Could be Happy with One Little Boy, from GEORGE WHITE’S SCANDALS OF 1919), Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson (Dame Crazy, from STRIP FOR ACTION, which closed in previews in Pittsburgh in '56), Hugh Martin (I Never Dream When I’m Asleep, from his West End musical LOVE FROM JUDY), Dietz & Schwartz (Hammacher Schlemmer, I Love You, from 1929's THE LITTLE SHOW), Sammy Fain and Alan & Marilyn Bergman (Better All the Time, from the '64 flop SOMETHING MORE!, starring Barbara Cook), and Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg (It’s a Wonderful World, from EAST WIND, which is paired with What a Day from GREAT TO BE ALIVE, an unsuccessful 1950 musical by Walter Bullock and Abraham Ellstein).
There are many more unknown songs from forgotten musicals like James Lipton and Sol Berkowitz's NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP (Baby Baby, originally sung by Dorothy Loudon and Martin Balsam), I’M SOLOMON (Something in His Eyes), DREAM WITH MUSIC (I’m Afraid I’m in Love), ARE YOU WITH IT? (This is My Beloved), MEET THE PEOPLE (You and Your Broken Heart, a "rude bluesy number" by Jay Gorney and Edward Eliscu), AIN'T BROADWAY GRAND (title tune), and ALLAH BE PRAISED (Let’s Go Too Far, introduced by Patricia Morison in 1944). And there are two songs (It’s Too Nice a Day to Go to School and I Knew I’d Know) by Sidney Lippman and Sylvia Dee from the 1947 flop BAREFOOT BOY WITH CHEEK, based on the book by Max Shulman (author of THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS). 24 tracks in all, $15.99 [regularly $17.99]
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Debbie Duncan, Rio Nido, Prudence Johnson, et al. [Original Cast], NO PICNIC BEING CHEESE
Subtitled SONGS OF STEPPINGSTONE THEATRE, this 2007 CD compiles 19 songs from various original musicals produced by the St. Paul, Minn.-based professional theatre for young actors—"sophisticated music for the younger set." All feature music by composer Gary Rue, who wrote the charming, tuneful songs with a variety of librettists for musicals geared toward a variety of ages, like PUSS 'N' BOOTS, RIDIN' THE RAILS, TASTY BABY BELLY BUTTONS, CASSIE THE CRAB & ROSITA THE ISLAND GIRL, YOUNG PEACEMAKERS, THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF, THE STINKY CHEESE MAN, THE STORY OF HOPE, ANANSI THE TRICKSTER SPIDER, et al.
The SteppingStone Theatre draws on a talent pool that includes some of the area's most well-known performers, including superb jazz vocalist Debbie Duncan, singer Prudence Johnson, Johnson's jazz vocal trio Rio Nido (see below), and composer Rue himself. Along with a cast of more than 25 others, they perform the title tune, Good to Be a Goat, Grass Pie, Nobel Song, Hope, Stepsisters, Sun Rises in the East, Milky Way, Do Like the Island Girls Do, Enjoy Us While You Have Us, Grand Adventure, The Other Side of Green, A Fat and Happy Girl and Boy, Just a Carnivore, Somebody's Gotta Do Something, Grove Trilogy, Cooking the Cat, We Are the Animals, and Oxygen. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $15.99 [regularly $17.99]
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Johnny Holiday, SONGS OF ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM
2010 reissue of a 2006 CD by one of the finest male ballad singers to come out of the West Coast jazz scene of the '50s.
Described as "a singer with a great sense of depth and darkness," Holiday recorded albums for the prestigious jazz labels Pacific Jazz and Mode, as well as one for Kapp Records with famed arranger Russ Garcia. But none earned him the success he deserved, and his recordings are all but unknown (notwithstanding the fact that the Pacifica and Mode albums, thankfully, have been released on CD).
Holiday, now in his 80s (!!), continues to perform and record regularly, releasing self-produced CDs that show him to be in surprisingly fine voice, which no doubt explains why this 2006 CD has been picked up for release by the resurrected Inner City jazz label.
Holiday sings I Concentrate on You (which Jobim performed on his famous 1967 album with Frank Sinatra) and 10 tunes by Jobim: This Happy Madness, The Girl from Ipanema, Once I Loved, One Note Samba, Meditation, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado), How Insensitive, Wave, Triste, and Dindi, $10.99 [regularly $11.99]
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April Ames, STRIKE A MATCH
2009 CD of an ultra-rare, 50-year-old album, the only solo release by this now-forgotten vocalist, who apparently sang with the bands of Harry James, Billy May and Ray McKinley. Backed by the Hal Hidey Ensemble, Ames offers a dozen songs celebrating love and romance circa 1959—that is, two people sitting in the dark, late at night...smoking!
Included are rarely heard songs by Victor Herbert and Buddy DeSylva (A Kiss in the Dark), Mitchell Parish (Moonlight Love, based on a theme by Debussy), Friedrich Holländer and Leo Robin (Whispers in the Dark), and two songs by Harold (It's So Nice to Have a Man Around the House) Spina, which seem specially written for this project—Where There's Smoke There's Fire and the title tune.
In a vocal that is bright, clear, and girlish, Ames sings seven more selections: I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, Under a Blanket of Blue, Romance in the Dark, Smoke Rings, My Old Flame, Two Cigarettes in the Dark, and I'm Beginning to See the Light, $14.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Josephine Premice, CALYPSO
CD of the 1957 solo album by this multi-talented but relatively little-known African-American performer, whose life was the subject of a 2004 memoir, ALWAYS WEAR JOY: MY MOTHER BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL, by her daughter, Susan Fales-Hill.
According to her 2001 obituary in the New York Times, "Born in Brooklyn in 1926 to Haitian parents, Ms. Premice grew up in New York and Haiti." Like her compatriot Eartha Kitt, Premice began her career dancing in Katherine Dunham's famed dance troupe. During the '50s and '60s, she performed at New York niteries like The Blue Angel and the Village Vanguard, and she would later make regular appearances on television, including THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN and THE JEFFERSONS, where she played Louise Jefferson's sister. But she scored her greatest successes in the theater, where she scored two Tony nominations and numerous credits both on Broadway (including JAMAICA, opposite Lena Horne, and BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR) and off (she had the lead role in the 1968 revival of HOUSE OF FLOWERS and starred opposite James Earl Jones in the Public Theater's 1972 all-black version of THE CHERRY ORCHARD). (That's Premice, at right, singing Leave de Atom Alone in JAMAICA.)
Calypso and Caribbean music reached a new height in popularity in the 1950s, and Premice, along with Enid Mosier (who appeared in the original HOUSE OF FLOWERS), was at the forefront of the movement. She recorded three such albums, including two for the prestigious Verve label and this one, the spirited CALYPSO, on GNP Crescendo. Here Premice sings nine songs, most in English and most written by George Greif and Sid Garris (better known as the managers of Stan Kenton and the New Christy Minstrels): The Lost Watch, You Ugly Son of an Animal, Lady Want Rent, Hollywood Calypso, Sambas do Brasil, Siesta, Choucoune, Sweetie Joe, and Mommy, Out de Light, $14.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Marcus Simeone, AT LAST
2007 debut CD by this popular, MAC-Award-winning jazz and cabaret singer based in New York.
Simeone appeared on the original STAR SEARCH and has appeared on SHOWTIME AT THE APOLLO. He made his solo cabaret debut in 2000 and since then has performed numerous times at The Metropolitan Room, as well as at venues like The Duplex, Danny's Skylight Room, Don't Tell Mama, Iridium, and the Encore (where this CD was recorded live). According to his promotional materials: "With his ethereal, multi-octave voice, perfect pitch and flawless phrasing, he has emerged as a contemporary vocalist with few peers."
15 songs, incl. Brazil, title tune, Janis Ian's She Must Be Beautiful, A Child Is Born / Strange Fruit, Dream a Little Dream, a medley of Maroon 5's Sunday Morning and Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke, Daydreams (George Delerue's theme from RICH AND FAMOUS), I Second That Emotion, Nature Boy / Too Shy to Say, Ashford & Simpson's Keep an Eye, Alone Again Naturally, a medley of Autumn Leaves and When the Meadow Was Bloomin' (a Johnny Mercer lyric set to music by Barry Manilow), and Answer Me, My Love. Liner notes by Will Friedwald, $7.99 [regularly $10.99]
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Nancy Sinatra, Bernard Herrmann, Al Hirt, et al. [Original Soundtracks], KILL BILL, VOL. 1
Music heard on the soundtrack of this hit 2003 Quentin Tarentino movie. According to Amazon.com: "With dizzy, almost palpable glee, Tarantino evokes the international hall-of-mirrors influences that energize martial arts films and much of Asian pop culture in general....[A] madcap trip around the pop music world...."
The above perform, respectively, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), Twisted Nerve (from the film of the same name), and Green Hornet. Plus songs by Quincy Jones (an excerpt from the IRONSIDE TV show theme), Isaac Hayes (Run Fay Run), James Last and Gheorghe Zamfir (The Lonely Shepherd), Meiko Kaji (The Flower of Carnage), Santa Esmerelda Starring Leroy Gomez (Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood / Esmerelda Suite), Charlie Feathers (That Certain Female), Tomoyashu Hotei (Battle Without Honor or Humanity), The 5.6.7.8's (Woo Hoo), Vince Tempera & Orchestra Featuring the RZA (Ode to Oren Ishii, aka 7 Notes in Black), more—17 tracks plus five additional pieces of music and sound effects listed as Kung Fu Strings And SFX, $4.99 [regularly $11.99]
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Gwen Verdon, Thelma Ritter [Original Broadway Cast], NEW GIRL IN TOWN
2009 reissue of this 1957 Broadway cast recording. Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter won dual Tony Awards, tying for Best Actress in a Musical, in this musical based on Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ANNA CHRISTIE and directed by George Abbott. (The show also snagged nominations for Best Musical, for Bob Fosse’s choreography and for supporting actor Cameron Prud'homme.) NEW GIRL IN TOWN also marked the first Broadway outing for composer Bob Merrill.
Merrill’s score yielded no hits, although Pearl Bailey covered the song Flings, and Mabel Mercer rescued Look at 'Er (as Look at 'Im), recording it on her ONCE IN A BLUE MOON album and giving it a place of prominence in her legendary repertoire. Still, the show ended up running just over a year and was
considered a financial success. Other songs include Roll Yer Socks Up, Sunshine Girl, On the Farm, It's Good to Be Alive, Yer My Friend Ain'tcha?, Did You Close Your Eyes?, At the Check Apron Ball, There Ain't No Flies on Me, If That Was Love, and Chess & Checkers, $10.99
[regularly $15.99]
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Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, et al., COOL GUYS & GREAT GALS
Incredible price on this 4-CD import box set—a whopping 72 tracks, with a running time of over three hours, by eight of the most famous American jazz and pop singers—the above, plus Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Each of the four discs is devoted to two artists, and each one is represented by nine tracks.
Sarah Vaughan—Misty, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Summertime, East of the Sun, Perdido, Come Rain or Come Shine, What a Difference a Day Makes, I'll Know, Deep Purple;
Dinah Washington—Mad About the Boy, Stormy Weather, Cold Cold Heart, Ain't Misbehavin', How Deep Is the Ocean?, When a Woman Loves a Man, My Devotion, I Apologize, Hey Good Lookin';
Ella Fitzgerald—Dream a Little Dream of Me (with Louis Armstrong), Someone to Watch Over Me, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Maybe, Flyng Home, Lady Be Good, How High the Moon, I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good, Looking for a Bay;
Billie Holiday—The Ole Devil Called Love, Strange Fruit, The Man I Love, I Loves You Porgy, Fine and Mellow, God Bless the Child, Night and Day, Lover Man, Don't Explain;
Nat King Cole—Somewhere Along the Way, I'm in the Mood for Love, Too Young, Unforgettable, Smile, Nature Boy, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Mona Lisa, Pretend;
Tony Bennett—Blue Velvet, I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face, Anything Goes, Here in My Heart, Solitaire, Rags to Riches, Cold Cold Heart, Stranger in Paradise, Chicago.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING. 4-CD import, slipcased, $11.99 [regularly $19.99]
Michiru Maki, MAKI'S BACK IN TOWN
Subtitled MICHIRU MAKI SWINGS SINATRA WITH THE ERIC MIYASHIRO ALL STAR BIG BAND, this 2005 Japanese import, on the prestigious Sinatra Society of Japan label, features the popular Japanese jazz singer singing (in English) 14 songs covered by Ol' Blue Eyes: Come Fly with Me, Nice 'n' Easy, Here's to the Losers, I've Got You Under My Skin, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Mack the Knife, Too Close for Comfort, It's All Right with Me, Come Back to Me, Teach Me Tonight, Maybe This Time, After You've Gone, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and The Last Dance. Japanese import, $20.99 [regularly $30.99] [CD is not shrink-wrapped but is new, never played.]
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Frank Sinatra, NICE 'N' EASY
His chart-topping 1960 Capitol album, 24-bit digitally remastered with four bonus tracks—The Nearness of You, Someone to Watch Over Me, My One and Only Love, and Day In, Day Out.
The album was, according to the All Music Guide, "a breezy collection of mid-tempo numbers arranged by Nelson Riddle...the lightest set that he recorded for Capitol....Sinatra selected a collection of songs he had sung early in his career [with the exception of the title tune], having Riddle rearrange the tunes with warm, cheery textures. Unlike his previous ballads albums, NICE 'N' EASY doesn't have a touch of brooding sorrow—it rolls along steadily, charming everyone in its path."
The other 11 songs on the original album are: That Old Feeling, How Deep Is the Ocean?, I've Got a Crush on You, You Go to My Head, Fools Rush In, She's Funny That Way, Try a Little Tenderness, Embraceable You, Dream, Nevertheless, and Mam'selle, NOW $6.99 [WAS $10.99; regularly $12.99]
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Art Lund, THE BEST OF ART LUND: BAND SINGER
2000 compilation of songs by this popular baritone, best known for his starring role in Frank Loesser's 1956 smash hit THE MOST HAPPY FELLA. Lund would go on to starring roles on Broadway in musicals like DESTRY RIDES AGAIN and DONNYBROOK! (not to mention the legendary pre-Broadway flop BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S), but before that, in the '40s, he sang with the big bands. On the majority of these 24 sides, Lund appears as Benny Goodman's "boy singer" (and on the remainder with Harry James's band). He began his solo career soon after, scoring his biggest hit in 1947 with Mam'selle.
That song is not included here, but two duets with Peggy Lee are—Winter Weather and If You Build a Better Mousetrap—as well as three previously unreleased tracks (Take Me, I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, and Sweetheart), a rarely heard song by Cahn and Styne (What Am I Gonna Do About You?), and an alternate take of Love Doesn't Grown in Trees.
17 more songs: You Don't Know What Love Is, Tangerine, It's the Talk of the Town, I Don't Know Enough About You, Blue Skies, My Blue Heaven, A Zoot Suit (For My Sunday Gal), Pity the Poor Lobster, On the Alamo, I Can't Get Up the Nerve to Kiss You, I Tipped My Hat (And Slowly Rode Away), Put That Kiss Back Where You Found It, A Kiss in the Night, When the Roses Bloom Again, Let's Give Love a Chance, Someone's Rocking My Dream Boat, and Don't Be a Baby, Baby, $8.99 [regularly $13.99] [Used copy also avail., $7.99]
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Michelle Samuels, ACROSS A CROWDED ROOM
2004 debut CD by this New York-based jazz singer, a graduate of the NYU Jazz Vocal Workshop where, according to her bio, "she studied with veteran jazz composer, producer, performer Anne Phillips. Michelle," it continues, "has remained a student of Phillips and the two have worked closely to develop a vibrant repertoire."
Songs: Some Enchanted Evening, The Sweetest Sounds, Peter Allen’s I Could Marry the Rain, My Foolish Heart, Oscar Brown Jr.’s Hum Drum Blues, A Kiss to Build a Dream On, So Many Stars, It Ain’t Necessarily So, $6.99 [regularly $15.99] [CD is not shrink-wrapped but it is still sealed with an unbroken plastic strip.] [Used copy also avail., $5.99]
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Sylvia Syms, THE COLUMBIA YEARS
2003 CD—all 15 single sides (four of them previously unreleased) waxed by the late, great jazz-cabaret singer between 1958-1965 for Columbia Records, the companion volume to the now out of print reissue of her sole album for the label, 1960's TORCH SONG.
With arrangements by the likes of Peter Matz, Frank DeVol, and Percy Faith, the program is a blend of mostly obscure pop tunes and songs from then-current Broadway musicals (most of them, not surprisingly, recorded by Columbia). The former include Fortune Teller Cookies, two versions of Sam Coslow's Never a Day Goes By, At Last, Lately (by Percy Faith), Sweet September, Big Tree Tall (by Hal David and Lee Pockriss), I Wish I Knew the Way to Your Heart, and Enchanted. The latter include Poor Everybody Else (cut from SWEET CHARITY), There's Gotta Be Something Better than This (from the same show), Guess Who (from GOLDILOCKS), I Say Hello (from DESTRY RIDES AGAIN), Some People, and Love, Come Take Me Again (from Meredith Willson's HERE'S LOVE), $11.99 [regularly $14.99]
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Rebecca Kilgore with John Sheridan and His Dream Band, SWING IS STILL THE KING
Acclaimed jazz singer Kilgore supplies nine vocals on this 2007 CD featuring 15 vintage tunes by stride and swing pianist Sheridan and his 10-piece band, which includes Jake Hanna on drums.
Kilgore sings You're a Heavenly Thing, Did You Mean It?, Keep Me in Mind, Behave Yourself, Don't Be That Way, Take Another Guess, These Foolish Things, Gotta Be This or That, and Goodnight, My Love. Sheridan himself sings I Had to Do It, and there are five instrumentals: Always, Ballad in Blue, You Turned the Tables on Me, Sometimes I'm Happy, and Shirley Steps Out, $7.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Julie Andrews, Kaye Ballard, Alice Ghostley, Edie Adams, et al. [Original Television Cast], CINDERELLA
1999 digitally remastered edition of Rodgers & Hammerstein's acclaimed 1957 television musical, with the original 15 numbers supplemented by four rare bonus tracks—promotional songs recorded by Julie Andrews and Richard Rodgers for radio airplay to generate interest in the soon-to-be-aired broadcast. The end result was a success of unprecented proportions. According to Wikipedia, "CINDERELLA was seen by the largest audience in history at the time of its premiere: 107,000,000 people in the USA, fully 60% of the country’s population at that time." The musical was subsequently remade for television twice, in 1965 and 1997.
Julie Andrews, still enjoying her starmaking triumph on Broadway in MY FAIR LADY, led a cast that featured Ballard and Ghostley as the wicked sepsisters, Adams as the Fairy Godmother—that's a candid photo of them at right—and Jon Cypher as the Prince, with support from Ilka Chase, Dorothy Stickney, and Iggie Wolfington.
The songs, orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett, include Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?, In My Own Little Corner, Ten Minutes Ago, Impossible / It's Possible, A Lovely Night, Stepsisters' Lament, The Prince Is Giving a Ball, When You're Driving Through the Moonlight, Gavotte, more. The bonus tracks are versions of In My Own Little Corner and A Lovely Night, both sung by Andrews, and two instrumentals, Mother and Daughter March and Waltz for a Ball—all conducted by Richard Rodgers. 19 tracks in all, NOW $8.99 [WAS $9.99; regularly $11.99]
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Carol Sloane, THE REAL THING
Her out of print 1990 album featuring backing by an all-star quartet—Mike Renzi (piano), Phil Woods (sax and clarinet), Grady Tate (drums), and Rufus Reid (bass).
13 songs, with a total running time of 54 min.: Early Autumn, title tune (by Gerry Mulligan and Mel Tormé), Too Late Now, Maybe You'll Be There, I'll Take Romance, I Hear Music, You're Nearer, Something to Live For, I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me, Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin', I Wish I Knew, My Blue Heaven, and Makin' Whoopee / The Glory of Love, $7.99 [regularly $11.99]
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RAYMOND SCOTT CONDUCTS THE ROCK 'N ROLL SYMPHONY
2007 import featuring both the mono and stereo mixes—24 tracks in all—of the 1958 album by this renowned arranger, composer and bandleader. Despite its title, the album was actually an easy listening album—a dozen standards richly and imaginatively arranged for orchestra, yet featuring the various early rock and roll rhythms popular at the time.
Mono and stereo versions of How High the Moon, Summertime, Orchids in the Moonlight, Amor, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Deep Purple, Stardust, True Love, All the Things You Are, La Cumparsita, Over the Rainbow, and Where Is Your Heart? (Song from Moulin Rouge). Import, $8.99 [regularly $9.99] [CD is brand new—never played—but is not shrink-wrapped.]
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Johnny Mathis, Gladys Knight, et al., A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
2008 CD by Mathis, featuring duets with with special guests Knight (A Night to Remember), Yolanda Adams (You Make Me Feel Brand New), Mone't (Always), Dave Koz (We're in This Love Together), and Kenny G (Just the Two of Us). Plus seven more songs: Walk on By, Where Is the Love?, Hey Girl (by Goffin and King), The Closer I Get to You, All This Love, How 'Bout Us, Always and Forever—12 in all, $5.99 [regularly $10.99] [CD is not shrink-wrapped but it is still sealed with an unbroken plastic strip.]
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Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, et al. [Original Soundtrack], SUMMER STOCK
1990 edition of the soundtrack to this 1950 musical, currently out of print in every edition. The movie featured songs by Harry Warren, Mack Gordon, and Saul Chaplin, but its most famous number was Harold Arlen's Get Happy, which was interpolated into the score, providing Garland with one of her all-time classic musical sequences. Gloria DeHaven and Phil Silvers supply supporting vocals. Other songs include Friendly Star, All for You, Heavenly Music, Dig- Dig-Dig for Your Dinner, (Howdy Neighbor) Happy Harvest, Mem'ry Island, You Wonderful You, The Portland Fancy, Newspaper Dance, and If You Feel Like Singing, Sing—14 tracks in all, $14.99. [CD is not shrink-wrapped but it is still sealed with an unbroken plastic strip.]
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Rebecca Storm, IRELAND BY STORM
Out of print 1989 import, virtually impossible to find, by this popular British musical star, who shot to stardom in the early '80s as Mrs. Johnstone in Willy Russell's BLOOD BROTHERS, a role which she continues to perform regularly to this day. In the West End, on tour throughout the UK, and in her new home of Ireland, Storm has won leading roles in EVITA (Eva Peron), LES MISÉRABLES (Fantine), CATS (Grizabella), CHESS (Florence), PIAF (Edith Piaf), JEANNE (Joan of Arc), and ASPECTS OF LOVE (Rose).
On this CD, released by Columbia UK, she performs a program of folk songs and traditional Irish ballads, incl. Cockles & Mussels, She Moved Through the Fair, As I Leave Behind Neidin, The Water is Wide, When Comes the Dawn, Return to Glendalough, Banks of My Own Lovely Lee, more. Import, NOW $9.99 [WAS $11.99; regularly $24.99]
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Audrey Morris, Paula Castle, THE GIRLS OF BETHLEHEM
Two complete, rare '50s albums on one out of print CD—a 10" LP by the obscure Castle (the only album she ever recorded) and a full-length LP by the sublime Morris, who is based in Chicago and continues to perform and record.
The former features I'm Shooting High, Yesterday's Gardenias, Mountain Greenery, Why Can't I?, Last Love, You Don't Know What Love Is, Here I Am in Love Again, and Love is a Oneway Street. The latter features a dozen songs: I Never Mention Your Name, How'dja Like To Love Me?, Peggy Lee's What More Can a Woman Do?, If You Could See Me Now, I Go for That, I Wonder What Became of Me, My Old Flame, Cole Porter's You Irritate Me So, If Love Were All, Fats Waller's Blue Turning Gray Over You, It's Always You (by Burke & Van Heusen), and Glad to Be Unhappy, $8.99 [regularly $15.99]
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Liza Minnelli, Madeleine Peyroux, Drew Barrymore, et al., LUCKY YOU
Huck's Tune, a lovely song by Bob Dylan written especially for this 2007 movie, highlights this out of print soundtrack. According to the All Music Guide, "Like a lot of recent Dylan songs, it's sweet, bruising and elegiac." And there are other songs recorded for the film that are not available elsewhere by Bonnie Raitt (James Taylor's Bartender's Blues), Kris Kristofferson (They Ain't Got 'Em All), and the film's star Drew Barrymore (The Cold Hard Truth).
Plus previously released tracks by Minnelli (Maybe This Time), Peyroux (Leonard Cohen's Dance Me to the End of Love), Dylan (Like a Rolling Stone), Bruce Springsteen (The Fever, Lucky Town), George Jones (Choices, I Always Get Lucky with You), and Ryan Adams (Let it Ride), $4.99 [regularly $14.99]
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Anita Ellis, HIMS
Anita Ellis provided the singing voice for countless top Hollywood stars in movies of the '40s and '50s—that’s Ellis, not Rita Hayworth, you hear singing Put the Blame on Mame in that classic scene from GILDA. She also recorded a handful of albums under her own name, including 1958’s HIMS, released on CD in 2001 with three bonus tracks.
A concept album of a sort, the recording features a dozen songs about men (that is, hymns about hims): Alec Wilder's Goodbye, John, I'm Just Wild About Harry, Bill, That's Him (from ONE TOUCH OF VENUS), Good for Nothin' Joe, Larry, Piccolo Pete, Jim, Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie, Porgy, Danny Boy, and You Know Me, Al. The bonus tracks are two rare single sides—Forbidden Fruit and How Will I Know?—and Fan Tan Fannie, Ennis's solo number from the cast recording of FLOWER DRUM SONG, $11.99 [regularly $14.99]
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Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, et al. [Original Soundtrack], THE PIRATE
1991 edition of the soundtrack to this 1948 Cole Porter movie musical. The score features a Porter—indeed, a showbiz— classic, Be a Clown, performed by Gene Kelly, first with the Nicholas Brothers, then with Garland, as well as the popular Love of My Life, sung by Garland. A rare alternate version of the latter is also included, as is Voodoo, sung by Garland but not included in the final film. Other tracks include Mack the Black, Nina, You Can Do No Wrong, and orchestral pieces such as The Pirate Ballet, Manuela's Sacrifice, and The Sea Wall—13 in all, $14.99. [CD is not shrink-wrapped but it is still sealed with an unbroken plastic strip.] [Rhino Handmade reissue lists at $27 and this edition sells new on Amazon for $50!!]
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Original Studio Cast, WHITE HORSE INN (HIGHLIGHTS) / SONGS FROM NO, NO NANETTE AND WILD VIOLETS
2005 import of three British studio casts—the 1961 recording of WHITE HORSE INN, the popular 1930 operetta by Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz and Robert Gilbert; the rare 1959 EP of Stolz's WILD VIOLETS; and six songs from NO, NO NANETTE which appeared on a 1959 album, SONGS FROM THE SHOWS—a total of 24 tracks with a running time of over 79 minutes.
After an overture, Marion Grimaldi, Barbara Leigh, Mike Sammes, Jeremy Hawk, and David Croft perform 11 songs from WHITE HORSE INN, incl. It Would Be Wonderful, title tune, Happy Cows, Your Eyes, Goodbye, You Too, In Salzkammergut, Sigismund, My Philosophy, and My Song of Love.
Leigh and Kevin Scott sing six songs from WILD VIOLETS, in what is apparently the only recording of the music from this 1932 operetta: Summer in Our Hearts, A Girl Has Got My Heart, Dreaming of Love, Don't Say Goodbye, Wine in Our Glasses, and You, Just You.
Croft, Stephanie Voss, June Marlow, and Peter Regan perform half a dozen of the most popular songs from NO, NO NANETTE, Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar's hit 1925 Broadway musical: Too Many Rings Around Rosie, title tune, I Want to Be Happy, Tea for Two, You Can Dance with Any Girl at All, and Take a Little One-Step. Import, NOW $9.99 [WAS $10.99; regularly $15.99]
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Yvonne Roome, ROOME FOR ROMANCE
CD, one of eight by this New York-based jazz singer, backed by a small combo featuring Toots Thielemans on harmonica. 14 songs: Dancing in the Dark, I Concentrate on You, Say it Isn't So, I Love You, You've Changed, Why Don't You Believe Me?, It Could Happen to You, Am I Blue, Jobim's Lamento, Embraceable You, Wish You Were Here, Johnny Guitar, I've Got a Crush on You, and Alright, Okay, You Win, $9.99 [regularly $14.99]
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Waverly Consort, et al., DA VINCI—MUSIC FROM HIS TIME
2006 compilation, on the prestigious Sony Classical label, of mostly vocal works from 15th century Franco-Flemish masters, issued to capitalize on the release of the movie THE DA VINCI CODE and performed by, in addition to the above, The Huelgas Ensemble, Capella Antiqua München, and Niederaltaicher Scholaren.
There are several works by Josquin Desprez, "widely considered by music scholars to be the first master of the high Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal music" (according to Wikipedia): Tu solus qui facis mirabilia, Ave Maria, Inviolata integra et casta es Maria, Doleo super te, Miserere mei Deus, and Gloria from Missa La sol fa re mi.
But mostly there are works by lesser-known composers, like Marco Cara (Intrada), Alexander Agricola, Johannes Ockeghem (36-Voice Canon: Deo Gratias), Philippe Verdelot (Italia Mia, a madrigal for five voices), Filippo de Lurano (Instrumental Frottola), Serafino dall'Aquilano (Quanto è misero l'uom), and others, incl. several anonymous works—19 tracks in all, $5.99 [retails at $10.99]
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Anita O'Day, Maxine Sullivan, Peggy Lee, Lena Horne, et al., JAZZ DIVAS
Incredible price on this 3-CD import box set—60 tracks, with a running time of nearly three hours, by eight of most popular female interpreters of the Great American Songbook—the above, plus Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Shore.
Anita O'Day—You Took Advantage of Me, Alreet, Ain't Misbehavin', How High the Moon, What Is This Thing Called Love?, And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine, Boogie Blues, Georgia on My Mind;
Maxine Sullivan—Nice Work if You Can Get It, My Ideal, It Ain't Necessarily So, Night and Day, Loch Lomond, The Folks Who Live on the Hill;
Peggy Lee—Don't Smoke in Bed, How Deep Is the Ocean?, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Let's Do It, Them There Eyes, My Old Flame, Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?, The Way You Look Tonight, Why Don't You Do Right?, 'Deed I Do;
Lena Horne—Stormy Weather, You're My Thrill, Mad About the Boy, Don't Take Your Love from Me, How Long Has This Been Going On?, St. Louis Blues.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING. 3-CD import, slipcased, $8.99 [regularly $9.99]
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T.C. Jones, HIMSELF!
Subtitled AT THE CRESCENDO ON THE SUNSET STRIP, this 2009 CD is one of only two full-length recordings by this popular female impressionist, who came to fame with his impersonation of Tallulah Bankhead in Leonard Sillman's NEW FACES OF 1956 on Broadway.
Jones began his career as a female impersonator in 1946, first with The Provincetown Players, then with the legendary Jewel Box Revue.
After NEW FACES, he starred in his own Broadway revue, MASK AND GOWN. In the '60s he even appeared on television (playing—what else?—homicidal transvestites in THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR and THE WILD, WILD WEST), as well as in movies. (He appeared in a male role opposite Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren in 1964's THREE NUTS IN SEARCH OF A BOLT and in a dual male/female role alongside The Monkees in HEAD, written and produced by Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson.) Jones was only 50 when he died of cancer in 1971, survived by his wife, whom he met when he patronized one of her shops in search of a new wig (!!). (That's a rare photo of them, at right, courtesy of Queer Music Heritage, our friend J.D. Doyle's superb and valuable website.)
Originally released in 1959, T.C. JONES HIMSELF! is a recording of Jones's popular nightclub act (with, incidentally, sound quality vastly superior to the CD reissue of MASK AND GOWN). Jones channels, in comedy routines, Hollywood figures like Louella Parsons and Deborah Kerr and, in song and patter, Katharine Hepburn (Just One of Those Things), Bette Davis (Bill), and Shelly Winters (How Did He Look?). He reprises, of course, the uncanny, fractured version of I’ll Be Seeing You à la Tallulah, which he made famous in NEW FACES, and he closes the evening singing All in Fun as himself. His act is peppered with campy jokes, risqué asides, old-movie references, and gay quips ("Did you know they're making a musical out of SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER? True! It's called PLEASE DON'T EAT THE PANSIES.").
Consequently, T.C. JONES HIMSELF! is not only a sample of American comedy in the '50s but, more important, an early piece of gay history, $14.99 [regularly $15.99]
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June Bronhill, Joyce Grenfell, Susan Hampshire, et al. [Original Studio Cast], BITTER SWEET (HIGHLIGHTS) / A CAVALCADE OF COWARD
2005 import of the 1969 British cast of Noel Coward's 1929 operetta. This version stars June Bronhill and Neville Jason, and it is supplemented by two tracks from a 1961 cast recording featuring Susan Hampshire (Bonne Nuit, Merci) and The Linden Singers (Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay), as well as seven bonus tracks—miscellaneous Coward songs grouped here under the title A CAVALCADE OF COWARD, recorded in the mid '60s by Joyce Grenfell but, mostly, by Bronhill and British stage and film star Kenneth Williams—22 tracks with a total running time of nearly 78 minutes.
BITTER SWEET introduced three Coward classics—If Love Were All, I'll See You Again, and Zigeuner—and features such lesser-known tunes as Dear Little Café, Ladies of the Town, Green Carnations, What Is Love?, Tokay, The Call of Life, Kiss Me, and If You Could Only Come with Me. The bonus tracks are Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Mrs. Worthington, Dearest Love, Someday I'll Find You, You Were There, The Stately Homes of England, and The Party's Over Now / I'll See You Again. Import, NOW $9.99 [WAS $10.99; regularly $15.99]
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Ella Fitzgerald, LOVE LETTERS FROM ELLA
2007 CD, released to commemorate what would have been Fitzgerald's 90th birthday, featuring 10 alternate or previously unreleased tracks from her Pablo years, half a dozen of which Concord Records has seamlessly overdubbed with newly recorded accompaniment, much as they did with Ray Charles and the Count Basie band on RAY SINGS, BASIE SWINGS the year before.
Amazon.com writes, "The great singer is in fine, relaxed, late-season form," and the All Music Guide adds, "The remastered sound is big and razor-sharp, and the material is impeccable."
Ella is heard on two studio tracks with the Basie band—Some Other Spring and Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone—that were never released domestically, and on alternate takes from albums recorded with Andre Previn (Our Love Is Here to Stay) and Joe Pass (The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else).
Lush, newly-recorded accompaniment by the London Symphony Orchestra (tastefully arranged by co-producer Jorge Calandrelli) now sweetens alternate takes of four Ella performances—I've Got the World on a String, Take Love Easy (both with guitarist Joe Pass), My Old Flame (with Scott Hamilton on sax), and Cry Me a River. And two sides of unknown origin—You Turned the Tables on Me, Witchcraft—have been made fit for pleasurable listening thanks to the addition of a small combo backing, $6.99 [retails at $8.99]
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Mary Wilson, U
Out of print 1995 CD single by this former Supreme—six mixes of the title song: R&B Mix (by Groov-E), Sylk 130 Mix (by King Britt and John Wicks), Sylk 130 Instr. (by King Britt and John Wicks), Hip Hop Mix (by Tony D. and The Flavor King), Midnight Mix, and Dancehall Mix, NOW $4.99 [WAS $9.99; regularly $14.99]
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Los Angeles Philharmonic, BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 4
Out of print 1998 CD, on the Sony Classical label, of Bruckner's "Romantic" Symphony (1881). The nearly 70-minute work is performed by the LA Philharmonic under Conductor Laureate, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the acclaimed Finnish conductor who is also currently Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonia, $6.99 [CD is not shrink-wrapped but it is new, still sealed with an unbroken plastic strip.]
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Marti Webb, Dave Willetts, Carl Wayne, MUSIC & SONGS FROM EVITA
Original 1995 import CD by British musical theater star Webb, who got her big break in 1979 in this Andrew Lloyd Webber show on London's West End, and became a major star a year later with the release of her album of Lloyd Webber's TELL ME ON A SUNDAY. Here Webb is supported by guest artists Dave Willetts, Carl Wayne, and Jess Conrad, who sing the various male roles.
Songs incl. Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You, Rainbow High, Waltz for Eva & Che, On This Night of a Thousand Stars, Oh What a Circus, Eva Beware of the City, and High Flying, Adored—12 in all. Import, NOW $4.99 [WAS $5.99; regularly $7.99]
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Diahann Carroll, NOBODY SEES ME CRY
Subtitled THE BEST OF THE COLUMBIA YEARS, this 2001 CD actually seems to represent Carroll's entire output for the label—NOBODY SEES ME CRY, her sole album for Columbia, plus five bonus tracks.
NOBODY SEES ME CRY was arranged and conducted by singer-songwriter Bobby Scott, who also contributed one song, Good-bye Young Dreams ("from the Motion Picture JENNY"). The remaining 10 are a combination of standards (I Wonder What Became of Me, Little Girl Blue, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, I'll Be Around), pop hits of the time (Goin' Out of My Head, Don't Answer Me— introduced by Lulu—and Runnin' Out of Fools), and a selection of new tunes, none of which seem to have caught on (Gradually, Hidden Meaning, and Nobody but Me). The bonus tracks are rare single sides— The Need of You, two versions of World Without Love (not the Peter & Gordon song), You Better Go Now, and Like Someone in Love (the last two previously unreleased), $11.99 [regularly $14.99]
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Ida Zecco, BETTER TO HAVE LOVED
AUTOGRAPHED copy of the out of print sophomore effort by this popular Boston-based mezzo, here supported by a full orchestra. Zecco performs an interesting collection of 14 romantic songs: Meredith Willson’s rarely heard Love Come Take Me Again (from his flop musical HERE’S LOVE), Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?, two songs by Carroll Coates (I Have a Feeling, title tune), At Seventeen, Strouse & Adams’s sublime Once Upon a Time, Once You’ve Been in Love (by Michel Legrand & the Bergmans), There’s Something about an Old Love, the obscure Cuando Te Fuiste de Mi (covered by Sylvia Syms in the '60s), Not Exactly Paris, Duncan Lamont’s Manhattan in the Rain, Mon amant de Saint-Jean (the signature tune of '50s French chanteuse Lucienne Delyle), and two songs by Ernest Lijoi (the composer of regional musicals like MONSTERS—THE MUSICAL, and UNDER THE INFLUENCE). AUTOGRAPHED, $15.99 [regularly $19.99]
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Janice Mars, INTRODUCING JANICE MARS
The legendary Janice Mars was proprietor of—and sole singer at—her own tiny New York club, the Baq Room, in the late 1950s. Her celebrated followers included Marlon Brando, in whose library the master tapes for Mars' only album—never released—were stored for safekeeping for 40 years, until her relatives rescued them for this long-overdue CD release. INTRODUCING JANICE MARS finally moves Mars out of music's footnotes and onto the main page, where she rightfully belongs.
Essentially a dramatic singer, Mars shares the fluttering, heartthrob vibrato of Judy Garland and Edith Piaf, as well as the latter's hearty, authoritative, clarion style. Both her singing and her interpretations are—there is no other word for it—charged. But she also owes much to Eartha Kitt and to full-out Broadway belters like Susan Johnson and, especially, Eileen Rodgers, whom—along with Kitt—I would name as the singer Mars most sounds like, though clearly only by coincidence, not by calculation or imitation. But Mars is, I think, more capable than either of examining all the layers and levels of emotion and color below, shall we say, "the belt." She can be sweet and tender, girlish and genuinely vulnerable when necessary. That same Broadway sensibility invests her with a sparkling personality, a sense of fun and lightness missing from so many other self-consciously serious, even somber, singers, especially these days.
The CD contains a dozen songs—her entire recorded legacy—including a hidden bonus track, her commanding version of Battle Hymn of the Republic (of all things) which, legend has it, a very young Janis Joplin would come to hear Janice sing. The rest of the program is equally esoteric yet wildly accessible: When the World Was Young, Bye Bye Blackbird, an uber-dramatic version of Alec Wilder's Winter of My Discontent, Duke Ellington & John LaTouche's Take Love Easy, Lilac Wine (popularized by Eartha Kitt), The World is Your Balloon (from Yip Harburg's '51 flop FLAHOOLEY), Inchworm, and a brace of songs from two largely forgotten shows, SMALL WONDER (Commuter Song, Nobody Told Me) and Harburg & Arlen's JAMAICA (I Don't Think I'll End It All Today, Take it Slow Joe). Throughout, she is supported by vibrant instrumental settings which add infinite excitement and color to the proceedings.
INTRODUCING JANICE MARS has a place near the very top of my list of Desert Island Discs. Of course, my desert island is populated by assertive, big-voiced girl singers like Frances Faye, Elaine Stritch, Susan Johnson and Kay Thompson.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! $14.99 [regularly $16.99]
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Tony Bennett, THE ART OF ROMANCE
His 2004 album of love songs, all recorded by Bennett for the first time and highlighted by the first-ever recording of Time to Smile, a lost work by Johnny Mercer and Geoffrey Clarkson, and by All for You, Django Reinhardt's Nuages with a lyric by Bennett himself. Plus Don't Like Goodbyes, Gone With the Wind, All in Fun, The Best Man, Being Alive, I Remember You, and no fewer than three songs by Johnny Mandel—Close Enough for Love, Where Do You Start?, and Little Did I Dream (with lyrics by Dave Frishberg), NOW $5.99 [WAS $6.99; regularly $9.99]
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[all guaranteed]
THE NAVIGATOR [Original Soundtrack]
Stunning, out of print soundtrack to this cult 1988 New Zealand fantasy film starring young Hamish McFarlane, a film beloved by science fiction buffs and chicken hawks everywhere.
The film, subtitled A MEDIEVAL ODYSSEY, swept the New Zealand Film and TV Awards, winning 11 prizes, including one for the rich score by Davood A. Tabrizi. According to the composer's liner notes, "Most existing medieval music reflects the life of the rich— usually the court and its nobles—so a search began to create a music that would suggest the earthiness of the daily life of a 14th century miner in a bleak Cumbrian village. I was inspired by Celtic folk music, Gregorian chant and plainsong, mining songs from the 19th century, naive peasant music, and Scottish military music, which we fused with the Eastern sounds brought back to the West by the Crusaders."
These sounds are performed by individual musicians playing exotic instruments like the oud, Andean flutes, Persian drums, bagpipes (Macedonian and Spanish), and numerous others we've never heard of (like the crumhorn, shawm, psaltry, and saz), with additional accompaniment by the Northern Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney University Chamber Choir. 30 themes from the score, incl. Forging the Cross, The Ascent, Plainsong, Refugees, Storm, Work Song, Requiem, Seeing the Celestial City, The Pilgrimage, Cantus, Falcon Call, Thunder Dream, The Death, The Quest, Trumpet Call, more—a total runing time of 43 min., $9.99
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Art Garfunkel, SOME ENCHANTED EVENING
"In this album, I confess I am under the sway of two magnificent singers, Chet Baker and Johnny Mathis," writes Art Garfunkel on this 2007 CD of standards, produced by Richard Perry. 13 songs: If I Loved You, title tune, I Remember You, Someone to Watch Over Me, Let's Fall in Love, I'm Glad There Is You, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado), Easy Living, I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face, You Stepped Out of a Dream, It Could Happen to You, What'll I Do?, and Life Is But a Dream, the '50s hit, $5.99
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Patti Page, Pink Floyd, et al., ZABRISKIE POINT
Original 1992 issue of this eclectic soundtrack to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 paean to the counterculture. The CD features original songs by Pink Floyd (Come in Number 51—Your Time Is Up, Crumbling Land, and Heart Beat, Pig Meat), plus recordings by Patti Page (Tennessee Waltz), Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead (Dark Star, Love Scene), Appalachian balladeer Roscoe Holcomb (I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again), The Youngbloods (Sugar Babe), virtuoso guitarist John Fahey (Dance of Death), and songs by the psychedelic band Kaleidoscope—11 tracks in all, $6.99
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Frank Sinatra, PORTRAIT OF SINATRA
Superb 1997 2-CD collection—36 offerings from the Great American Songbook, recorded by Sinatra for Columbia Records between 1939-51 and highlighted by eight alternate takes, three of them never previously released and five previously unreleased on CD.
Songs include There's No You, The Nearness of You, These Foolish Things, Where or When, Someone to Watch Over Me, You Go to My Head, Why Was I Born?, September Song, I'm a Fool to Want You, All or Nothing at All, Night and Day, Sweet Lorraine, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, Nancy (With the Laughing Face), The House I Live In, Blue Skies, When Your Lover Has Gone, Stormy Weather, Put Your Dreams Away, All of Me, There's No Business Like Show Business, Falling in Love with Love, If You Are but a Dream, I've Got a Crush on You, Body & Soul, That Old Feeling, Almost Like Being in Love, It Never Entered My MInd, I Only Have Eyes for You, The Song Is You, It All Depends on You, The Continental, more.
Liner notes by Will Friedwald. Slipcased 2-CD set, $9.99
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Joe Derise, THE COMPLETE BETHLEHEM COLLECTION
Out of print 1993 domestic CD featuring the first two solo albums by this superb jazz singer-pianist—JOE DERISE SINGS (1954) and the JOE DERISE WITH THE AUSTRALIAN JAZZ QUINTET (1956)—plus five bonus tracks.
Derise sang and recorded extensively with Claude Thornhill's Orchestra in the late '40s and early '50s before going off on his own as a soloist. He never earned more than a cult following, however, despite the fact that he recorded these two albums for the prestigious Bethlehem jazz label, and released approximately 10 more albums during his career, including one with The 4 Most (his jazz vocal group); WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY, a cast album that also featured Hildegarde and Rita Gardner; and an appearance on the famous Bethlehem PORGY AND BESS with Mel Tormé and Frances Faye. (On JOE DERISE SINGS, incidentally, he heads up a trio consisting of Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums.)
The CD is highlighted by rare songs by Jerome Kern and Yip Harburg (More and More) and Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn (The Charm of You). Other songs include My Romance, Maybe, How High the Moon, Personality, Swinging on a Star, Humpty Dumpty Heart, 'S Wonderful, the self-penned Once I Believe, Accentuate the Positive, Once in a Dream, Soon, Love, Spring in Old New York, Comes Love, It Might as Well Be Spring, A Fine Romance, How Long Has This Been Going On?, and Mountain Greenery. The bonus tracks are alternate takes of the last five songs—25 tracks in all, $7.99 [Import reissue retails new at $29.99]
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Trudi Mann, Mmmmmm...!
Hard to find debut CD by this New York-based singer d'un certain age, who held court every Sunday for many years at Manhattan's Triad.
When you listen to a singer for the first time, you find yourself trying to pinpoint who he or she reminds you of. But despite hearing faint, fleeting echoes of, perhaps, the great Peggy King, I couldn't for the life of me pigeonhole Trudi Mann—which means that she has her own distinctive sound while at the same time sharing the warm, elegantly simple style and the gentle sense of swing which seem to be universal to all the most legitimate, seasoned singers.
Backed by a trio featuring Tedd Firth on piano and Saadi Zain on bass, Mann performs a tasty selection (mmmmmm!—get it?) of standards, jazz tunes and worthy, lesser-known songs: The Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish, Murray Grand's Too Old to Die Young, You Came a Long Way from St. Louis, There Are Days When I Don't Think of You At All (by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman), Gypsy in My Soul, Bacharach & David's Winter Warm, Not Exactly Paris, The Real Thing (by Mel Tormé and Gerry Mulligan), Stompin' at the Savoy / Tuxedo Junction, Miles Davis's Four, Quiet Little Table in the Corner, When October Goes, and two of Meredith D'ambrosio's signature medleys, which combine standards and her own musical riffs on them (Dearly Beloved / Clearly Beloved and Oh, Look at Me Now / But Now Look at Me)—14 tracks in all, $11.99
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Suzanne Vega, BEAUTY & CRIME
2007 CD, on the prestigious Blue Note Records label by this superb singer-songwriter who, "With the release of her self-titled debut on A&M Records in 1985...began paving a path for an entire generation of female singer-songwriters to follow in the 1990s" (according to the liner notes).
"A lengthy meditation on the city of New York," BEAUTY & CRIME is dedicated to Vega's brother Tim, who lived on Ludlow Street (the title of one of the tracks, "a searing and simply moving tribute to him"). Ironically, Tim Vega worked at the World Trade Center but called in sick on 9/11, only to die in his sleep seven months later, at the age of 37, from causes that remain shrouded in secrecy. Echoes of 9/11 also inform the album, as in Anniversary, written a year after, and Angel's Doorway, inspired by her brother-in-law Angel Ruiz, a New York policeman stationed at Ground Zero after the attacks.
The All Music Guide raves about BEAUTY AND CRIME. "Musically, this is easily her most adventurous record ever; yet it is also more accessible than any album since her debut. The craft and care put into the songs themselves and their articulation by Vega and producer Jimmy Hogarth are amazing. Here, emotions are laid bare in places...but they are always placed inside elegant yet spare lyrics that are taut, poetic, and evocative. The dreamy soundscape contains layers of guitars, percussion..., strings, reeds, brass, and backing singers....But it's the sound of Vega's acoustic guitar on all these songs that is unmistakably at the top and provides the album's anchor. It's important to note this, simply because it keeps these beautiful pop songs rooted in a new kind of contemporary folk that Vega was a pioneer of in the '80s....
"Artists have always helped the rest of us make sense of upheaval, tragedy, tumultuous change, confusion and the darkness that often accompanies history. On BEAUTY & CRIME, Vega accomplishes this in spades, but without any ideologies or with empty, overly simplistic ruminations or platitudes....BEAUTY & CRIME is, without reservation, the defining creative moment of Suzanne Vega's career thus far...."
Eight more songs: Pornographer's Dream, Frank & Ava, Edith Wharton's Figurines, New York Is a Woman, Bound, Zephyr & I, Unbound, and As You Are Now, $3.99 [NOTE: This is an advance promo with no booklet, only a front insert including liner notes and a different cover photo—seen here—from the final release]
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Peggy Lee, TRAV'LIN' LIGHT
Out of print 2000 CD. According to Amazon.com: "In 1949, her stardom established, Peggy Lee and husband-guitarist Dave Barbour's Quartet recorded the last of an ongoing series of transcriptions (recordings made solely for radio airplay) for Capitol Records....This delightful collection provides not only an intimate glimpse at Lee in her ascendancy, it serves as overdue homage to Barbour, whose tangy, inventive solos and tasteful accompaniment ratify his status as her ultimate musical collaborator."
Here are 15 rare radio transcriptions selected by Lee herself for this collection, all dating from those 1949 sessions with Barbour, save for Somebody Loves Me, which dates from 1946. Plus As Long as I'm Dreaming, title tune, Save Your Sorrow for Tomorrow, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, Aren't You Glad You're You?, Oh! You Crazy Moon, You're Driving Me Crazy, But Beautiful, Fine and Dandy, When a Woman Loves a Man, Imagination, I Ain't Got Nobody, Goody Goody, and 'T Ain't So, Honey, 'T Aint So. Liner notes by Will Friedwald, $6.99
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Morgana King, SINGS THE BLUES
Original, out of print 2001 Japanese Verve edition, in an LP-style cardboard sleeve, of this 1956 rarity by the sublime jazz stylist. Despite its title and with the possible exception of Frankie and Johnny, this is not an album of blues songs but, instead, a collection of mostly classic torch songs. 11 more songs: I See Two Lovers, Something to Remember You By, Bill, Why Was I Born?, Mad About the Boy, When Your Lover Has Gone, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, More than You Know, Body and Soul, It's Only a Paper Moon, and Mean to Me. CD insert incl. complete lyrics in English. Japanese import, $19.99 [CD comes with obi strip]
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Perry Como, TEMPTATION
INCREDIBLE VALUE on this ultra-budget 4-CD import by this superb and immensely popular singer of the '50s and '60s who, these days, is regrettably underappreciated. A whopping 69 tracks, highlighted by forgotten songs by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin (Have I Stayed Away Too Long?), Frank Loesser (Hoop Dee-Doo), Leo Robin & Ralph Rainger (For a Little While, Faithful Forever), Mitchell Parish (Take Me in Your Arms), and Johnny Mercer (I Have Faith and Mr. Meadowlark, written with Hoagy Carmichael and Walter Donaldson, respectively).
A handful of Como's many of hits are included, of course: Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes, No Other Love, Papa Loves Mambo, Temptation, A Dreamer's Holiday, A You're Adorable, With a Song in My Heart, Blue Room, and Prisoner of Love. But mostly these are standards and pop tunes of the day, like You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes, Lazy Bones, Thank Your Lucky Stars, No Love—No Nothin', I'll Be Home for Christmas, All or Nothing at All, I Kiss Your Hand Madame, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, My Ideal, For Me and My Gal, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Long Ago and Far Away, I'm Confessin', If I Loved You, I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, They Say it's Wonderful, Far Away Places, It's a Lovely Day Today, Black Moonlight, Without a Song, I Concentrate on You, You'll Never Walk Alone, and many more.
4-CD import, slipcased, $9.99. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING.
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Sandy Sasso, MIXED GRILL
2003 debut CD (with a cover that always makes me hungry when I see it), one of three releases by this jazz singer based in the New York area.
Sasso maintains that she knew her calling at the age of 12, when she first heard Dave Brubeck's Take Five. She has studied voice with Mark Murphy and Chan Parker (Charlie Parker's widow); performs as a soloist at venues in the tri-state area; hosts a TV show, ARTISTS UNLIMITED, on Cablevision; directs her own children's choir; and teaches voice herself. But more prestigiously, she has been a regular singer with the current incarnations of the Dorsey, Goodman, and Nelson Riddle big bands, with whom she has toured internationally.
Indeed, the Nelson Riddle Studio Orchestra, under the direction of Christopher Riddle, backs her up on five of the tracks here. Four other studio tracks feature a small combo, and three additional numbers were recorded live at Trumpets Jazz Club in New Jersey. 12 songs, incl. It Might as Well Be Spring, Beyond the Sea, My Baby Just Cares for Me, Ain't Nobody's Here but Us Chickens, Tuxedo Junction, Old Cape Cod, One for My Baby, Jeepers Creepers / I Want to Be Happy, Kansas City, Being Green and Day in, Day Out, $6.99
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Sons of the San Joaquin, A COWBOY HAS TO SING
1992 CD by this respected Western family band—brothers Jack and Joe Hannah and Joe's son Lon—who began performing together in 1987. The group are credited with keeping alive the classic Western musical tradition. (Roy Rogers called them "the only singing group alive who...sound like the original Sons of the Pioneers.") They have released over a dozen albums and were inducted into the Western Music Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
On this, their third release, these Sons present 10 songs originally recorded by the earlier Sons. Dating mostly from the '30s and '40s, these songs were released as 78s on Decca and RCA, or as transcriptions for long-forgotten companies like Standard Radio, Orthocoustic, and Thesaurus. Songs: Timber Trail, title tune, The Boss Is Hangin' Out a Rainbow, Cool Water, Wind, Blue Prairie, Way Out There, Moonlight on the Trail, So Long to the Red River Valley, and Song of the Rover, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Claude Bolling, Pinchas Zukerman, SUITE FOR VIOLIN & JAZZ PIANO
Original 1993 issue of this 1977 recording, one of several jazz-meets-classical crossover successes for French pianist-composer Bolling. Here famed violinist Zukerman joins Bolling and his trio on this delightful suite in eight movements: Romance, Caprice, Gavotte, Tango (With Viola), Slavonic Dance (With a Swing), Ragtime, Valse Lente, and Hora, $5.99 [CD is slightly scuffed but guaranteed to play perfectly]
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Hadda Brooks, THAT'S WHERE I CAME IN
Subtitled THE MODERN VOCAL RECORDINGS 1946-47, this 2005 import features rare sides recorded for the Modern Records label
by this great singer and boogie woogie pianist, one of the most prominent figures in West Coast jazz as it was performed along Central Avenue in Los Angeles in the '40s and '50s.
According to the All Music Guide, "In the course of researching a previous CD of Hadda Brooks' instrumentals on Modern Records, the Ace label came across a lot of unreleased acetates that she recorded for Modern between 1946 and 1948. Those acetates make up the bulk of this collection of two dozen of her Modern vocal recordings, 18 of which were previously unissued. Although these were passed over for release at the time they were cut, they really aren't notably inferior to what she did put out on Modern in the late '40s, though perhaps they were judged to be less commercial. They are a little more old-fashioned than some of the harder-hitting stuff she was waxing during the period, with much of the repertoire taken from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songs, many of them predating the 1940s....Brooks gave these tunes a nice sensual jazz bluesy spin, and her own piano work combined with the small-combo backing to place these into early just-out-of-jazz R&B territory....The sound quality is very good, especially considering that most of it was taken from acetate."
Indeed, Brooks performs numerous standards here: Why Was I Born?, Always, The Best Things In Life Are Free, That’s My Desire, Can’t We Be Friends?, This Will Make You Laugh, I Must Have That Man, Please Be Kind, I Can’t Get Started, After You’ve Gone, and I'll Get By. There are also forgotten tunes from Tin Pan Alley by Sam Coslow (Tomorrow Night), Carmen Lombardo (A Sailboat In The Moonlight, which Billie Holiday recorded), Rube Bloom and Mack David (Take Me), and Lew Brown (I’m The Lonesomest Gal In Town, written in 1912).
Plus nine more blues and pop songs: Out of the Blue (which Brooks introduced in the 1947 movie of the same name), That's Where I Came In, Anna Lucasta, Buddy Johnson's You Won’t Let Me Go, You’re Real Gone, the self-penned This Time We’re Through, My First and Last Love, and two songs by Big Bill Broonzy (Keep Your Hand on Your Heart, What Have I Done?). Booklet incl. extensive liner notes. Import, $9.99
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Maxine Carr, GET REAL
1993 debut CD by this fine but obscure Chicago-based contemporary blues singer. According to one website, "This is Maxine Carr’s only known album; and she remains to this day, an enigmatic performer about whom very little is known." The album was produced by noted fellow Chicago blues musician Maurice John Vaughn.
Here, backed by a five-man band, Carr performs Denise LaSalle's Hey Lady and 11 originals, among which my favorite is—how could it not be?—Interfering with My Karma. ("Getting bad vibes from ya, baby, think I know the reason why / Getting bad vibes from ya, baby, think I know the reason why / You're interfering with my karma / So I've got to say goodbye.") Plus Get Real (Tell it Like it I.S. Is), Why Don’t You (Leave Me Alone?), The Next Time, Tell Me it’s Not True, I’m Ready for You, Wee Wee Baby, Get Off It, My Love Is Real, Love Me Like You Mean It, and Let’s Give Love a Chance, $2.99
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Gracie Fields, SING AS WE GO
Out of print 2000 collection—18 songs by "Our Gracie," England's beloved veteran performer. Some of Fields's most famous songs—mostly funny music hall novelties—are included, like The Biggest Aspidistra in the World, title tune, Noel Gay's I Took My Harp to a Party, the hysterical Walter Walter, Will You Love Me When I'm Mutton?, and I Never Cried So Much in All My Life. Plus a dozen less common, harder to find tunes: She Fought Like a Tiger for 'Er 'Onour, He Forgot to Come Back, One of the Little Orphans of the Storm, Look to the Left and Look to the Right (a "Safety First" record), What's the Good of a Birthday?, In a Little Lancashire Town, A Nice Cup of Tea, Rochdale Hounds, Little Pudden Basin, Clogs and Shawl, Home, and The Trek Song—18 in all, $7.99
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BLOSSOM DEARIE
1989 CD of her first album for the Verve label, originally released in 1957, plus previously unissued bonus tracks. Dearie sings and accompanies herself on piano, backed by Ray Brown on bass and Jo Jones on drums. Songs incl. 'Deed I Do, Lover Man, Everything I've Got, Comment allez-vous?, More than You Know, Thou Swell, It Might as Well Be Spring, Tout doucement, I Hear Music, I Won't Dance, Wait Till You See Her, and no fewer than four songs by Bob Haymes (a relatively obscure composer best known for co-writing That's All)—Now at Last, You for Me, A Fine Spring Morning, and They Say it's Spring.
The last is one of three bonus tracks added to this CD, the other two being Johnny One Note and Blossom's Blues, $6.99
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London Cast, THE AMAZONS
Hard to find import cast album of this British musical, with lyrics by David (HALF A SIXPENCE, PEG) Heneker and music by John Addison (best known for film scores like TOM JONES and TORN CURTAIN). Originally produced in 1971, the show was bound for the West End, but closed after a mere 21 performances in Nottingham. The score was never recorded and remained unknown until the show—"a forgotten British musical that deserves to be remembered"—was revived in London in 2002, resulting in this world premiere recording.
THE AMAZONS is based on a 19th century comedy by Arthur Wing Pinero. According to the publicity materials, "Secure in its Edwardian period and over-brimming with eccentricity The Amazons tells the story of three attractive young women brought up by their misguided mother as three young men. When romance rears its head, the complications soon ensue."
The 11-member cast, led by popular British television star Elizabeth Counsell, perform the 25 numbers, incl. There's Nothing Wrong with England, My Boys, The West End's the Worst End, I'm Only Following My Instructions, Knees Up!, Whatever Can Have Happened, Let's Stick Together, We Shall See What We Shall See, On Parade, A Nice Young Fellow, Don't Follow the Music, She Hates Me, Afternoon Tea, I Thought as Much, The Coast Is Clear, Eurythmics, Stag Party, Gymnastics, Three Pretty Daughters, more. Import, $19.99
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Baby Jane Dexter, BIG, BAD & BLUE—LIVE!
1996 CD by this popular, big-voiced, New York cabaret singer, recorded in performance at Eighty-Eight's. (That's Baby Jane, at right, after a show, with Morgana King.) Backed by longtime pianist Ross Patterson on solo piano, Dexter performs a program of 14 songs, incl. Something to Live For, More, Walk a Mile in My Shoes, One Meatball, Blues in the Night, Big Body Woman, and two songs by Abbey Lincoln (Throw it Away, Painted Lady). Her biggest influences, though, are clearly the great female singers of blues, soul and gospel, since she also covers songs by Etta James (Damn Your Eyes), Aretha Franklin (Do Right Woman, Take a Look), Irma Thomas (Wish Someone Would Care), Laura Lee (Dirty Man), and Mahalia Jackson (I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About in My Song), $6.99
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Original Cast, GREASE
Out of print import, a 1998 studio cast recording by the Shaftesbury Theatre Company (presumably that's London's Shaftesbury Theatre).
12 songs performed by an unidentified cast of performers: Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee, Beauty School Dropout, Greased Lightning, Summer Nights, There Are Worse Things I Could Do, We Go Together, Sandy, Grease (Is the Word), You're the One That I Want, Hopelessly Devoted to You and, strangely, two classic rock and roll hits, Hound Dog and Tears on My Pillow, $4.99
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Jessie Mae Hemphill, SHE-WOLF
1998 CD of the first, famed recording by (according to Wikipedia) this "pioneering and award-winning electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the primal, northern Mississippi country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage."
A self-taught musician, Hemphill played with bar bands in the '60s and '70s and didn't launch a recording career until the early '80s, when she was nearly 60. It was then that SHE-WOLF was released on the prestigious French Vogue Records label (though it was not issued domestically until this 1998 CD, which adds four tracks not on the original LP).
Thus followed her period of greatest activity. Hemphill displayed her talents in appearances as diverse as MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD and an album by Tav Falco's Panther Burns; she toured internationally; and she released four more albums, including her first domestic album (1990's FEELIN' GOOD), winning multiple W. C. Handy Awards along the way. She died in 2006 at the age of 82.
Here Hemphill performs the traditional Crawdad Hole, Memphis Minnie's Bumble Bee Blues (here called Honey Bee), and 13 originals: Standing in the Doorway Crying, title tune, Black Cat Bone, Boogie 'Side the Road, Married Man Blues, My Lord Do Just What He Say, Take Me Home with You Baby, Loving in the Moonlight, Hard Times, Overseas Blues, Jessie’s Boogie, Bullyin’ Well, and Jump, Baby, Jump, $4.99
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Catherine Dupuis, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of all three CDs by this New York-based jazz singer, the first two featuring ensembles led by Bill Mays on piano.
According to the All Music Guide, these recordings are "jazz albums first and foremost—but cabaret is definitely an influence on Dupuis, who has a long list of theatrical credits on her résumé." In college Dupuis studied jazz and theater music with Eileen Farrell, and she has performed in regional productions of musicals like SHE LOVES ME (as Amalia), CAMELOT (at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera), and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Since moving to New York City in 1985, she has also been active on the jazz scene, performing at venues like Iridium, The Metropolitan Room, Don't Tell Mama, Danny's Skylight Room, and Eighty Eight's, and singing regularly with the Russ Kassoff Big Band ("an ensemble that features the best musicians from the Broadway pits and on the New York jazz scene").
I HEAR MUSIC—Bill Mays heads up the trio accompanying Dupuis on this, her 1999 debut. 13 mostly standards: I Hear Music, Let's Face the Music and Dance, I Love You, My Romance, Too Marvelous for Words, Two for the Road, I Could Write a Book, My Favorite Things, Lucky to Be Me, I'm Beginning to See the Light, two songs by Dave Cantor of Dave's True Story (Sequined Mermaid Dress, Last Go 'Round), and a medley of Sting's I Was Brought to My Senses and Gershwin's For You, for Me, for Evermore;
MOMENTS—Her sophomore effort from 2001, highlighted by Spring Friend, a rare song by Bill Mays and Mark Murphy. Ted Nash, guesting on alto sax and flute, joins Mays in the septet backing Dupuis here. A dozen more songs: Things Are Swingin', Lerner & Loewe's Follow Me, I'm Old Fashioned, Isn't It a Pity?, the traditional What Wondrous Love Is This?, Skylark, Interlude (A Night in Tunisia), Ivan Lins's Comecar de Novo (Starting Over), All Through the Night, Get Out of Town, Sting's If You Love Someone Set Them Free, and a medley of Maltby & Shire's Starting Here, Starting Now and Henry Mancini's Moment to Moment;
THE RULES OF THE ROAD—Ted Nash joins Dupuis once again, along with special guest Bucky Pizzarelli, on this 2005 CD. 13 songs: I Have Dreamed, title tune (by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh), Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin's rarely done Someone at Last (from A STAR IS BORN), The Best Is Yet to Come, I've Never Been in Love Before, Chick Corea's You're Everything, Who Will Buy?, Lonesome Road, Beginnings (the Chicago hit), Wonder Why, and three originals by Dupuis's pianist Russ Kassoff—You Are All the World to Me, I Remember, and When He's Near My Piano. Liner notes by Mark Murphy.
Set of 3 CDs, only $14.99
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Amy & The Hank Sinatras, FROM "HANK TO "FRANK"
Amy & The Hank Sinatras, LADIES MUST DRESS
Special price on this set of the only two CDs (both out of print) released by this popular, and now defunct, New Orleans-based group—vocalist Amy Adams and her four-man outfit. According to the All Music Guide, "The group takes its name from its diverse repertoire....from the through-and-through honky tonk of Hank Williams Sr. to the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, with elements of blues and rock thrown into the mix." Add to that elements of swing, r&b, country and rockabilly, and you have that musical blend so popular with the retro groups that were just coming into vogue in the late '90s, when their first CD, FROM "HANK TO "FRANK", was released.
On that album (which we have an AUTOGRAPHED copy of), the band is supplemented by The Bedroom Horns to achieve the full swing sound needed for covers of songs by Ruth Brown (Love Contest), Patsy Cline (Strange), Little Esther Phillips (Aged and Mellow), Buddy & Ella Johnson (Goodbye Baby), Wanda Jackson (That's Why I'm Walkin'), Louis Jordan (If You're So Smart, How Come You Ain't Rich?), Wynonie Harris (Quiet Whiskey), and Little Willie John (My Love Is). Other songs include Teardrops from My Eyes (which has been covered by Brown, Harris and Jordan), Teach Me Tonight, Flipville, Jackpot, more—13 in all.
LADIES MUST DRESS, their sophomore effort, features 14 original tunes in the same musical vein, plus Hank Williams's Cold, Cold Heart. Songs include Cul de Sac, title tune, Bad News, Knock Knock, Hey Joe!, Easy Livin', The Real Cat Daddy, Blood from a Stone, Wheels, You'll Be Cryin', The Wish Inside, more—15 in all. Booklet incl. complete lyrics. Set of 2 CDs only $7.99
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Jimmy Rushing All Stars, WHO WAS IT SANG THAT SONG?
The great Jimmy Rushing sings five of the eight songs on this 1997 CD of a jam session (referred to in the liner notes as a "jazz party") recorded thirty years earlier in front of a live audience in a Manhattan studio. Backed by a sextet that includes Buck Clayton on trumpet, Jo Jones on drums, and Dickie Wells on trombone, Rushing sings Baby Won't You Please Come Home, I Surrender Dear, Deed I Do, All of Me,
and Stormy Monday Blues / Jelly Jelly. Plus three instrumentals: C Jam Blues, Moten Stomp, Almost Home, NOW $2.99 [WAS $6.99]
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Joni Morris [Original Cast], A PORTRAIT OF PATSY
The Morris Sisters, SOMEDAY…
Special price on two of the seven CDs (one of them AUTOGRAPHED) by this singer, who hails from the San Joaquin Valley and who, with her four-man band, has toured nationally in her Patsy Cline show and in solo shows like LEGENDARY LADIES IN COUNTRY MUSIC and—get this—CONNIE FRANCIS & FRIENDS.
A PORTRAIT OF PATSY is the out of print 1995 CD of Morris's one-woman tribute show, recorded not long after her acclaimed starring role in the musical ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE a couple of years earlier. (The San Francisco Chronicle raved, calling it "a loving portrait….a polished, rollicking and often soulful Country-Western music show," adding, "It's almost spooky how Joni Morris conjures up Country-Western legends with tremendous style and fidelity.") 10 songs: Walkin’ After Midnight, Lovesick Blues, She’s Got You, In Care of the Blues, Sweet Dreams, Why Can’t He Be You?, I Fall to Pieces, Faded Love, Crazy, and Honky Tonk Angels.
The latter is a CD of six duets with sister Donna—two c&w classics (Patsy Montana’s I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart and Ernest Tubb’s Waltz Across Texas) and four self-penned tunes—It’s Hold Me Time, If I Can’t Be Number One, Someday You’re Gonna Love Me, and Baby, Where Have You Been? Booklet incl. complete lyrics. Set of 2 CDs only $6.99
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Liza Minnelli, GENTLY
Duets with special guests Johnny Mathis (Chances Are) and Donna Summer (Does He Love You?) highlight this 1996 album of ballads. The first of two albums Minnelli released on the prestigious Angel Records label, GENTLY is arranged and conducted by the likes of Ray Ellis, Marvin Hamlisch, Torrie Zito, and Mike Stoller, and boasts a stellar group of musicians. On piano, for instance, Liza is supported not only by longtime associate Billy Stritch but, variously, by Roger Kellaway, Pete Jolly, Mike Renzi, and Herbie Hancock (!!), who supplies solo piano accompaniment on In the Wee Small Hours Of The Morning. Add to that Nino Tempo (saxophone), Terry Gibbs (vibes), Randy Brecker (trumpet), John Tropea (guitar) and, on one number, Melissa Manchester and Brenda Russell (on backing vocals), and the end result is a first-class production.
Liza sings eight more songs: Close Your Eyes, It Had To Be You, You Stepped Out Of A Dream, I Got Lost In His Arms, Never Let Me Go, Embraceable You, and two tunes by Lieber & Stoller (Some Cats Know and Lost In You), $5.99
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Maureen McGovern, OUT OF THIS WORLD [bonus tracks]
Subtitled MAUREEN MCGOVERN SINGS ARLEN, this out of print 2003 reissue features two bonus tracks not on the original 1996 release (also out of print)—a stunningly lovely ballad version of the complete Optimistic Voices (from THE WIZARD OF OZ) and Let's Fall in Love.
Backed by an ensemble that includes Mike Renzi (who also arranged) on piano and Jay Leonhart on bass, the renowned theater and cabaret singer performs 13 more songs: Right as the Rain, A Sleepin' Bee, Don't Like Goodbyes, My Shining Hour, Out of This World, Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home, Come Rain or Come Shine, Accentuate the Positive / Get Happy, It's Only a Paper Moon, Dong Dong the Witch Is Dead, Let's Take a Walk Around the Block, Over the Rainbow, and The Man That Got Away / Stormy Weather / Blues in the Night, $10.99
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Ethel Merman, MERMAN SINGS MERMAN / ETHEL'S RIDIN' HIGH
Import twofer CD containing, in their entirety, two of the three studio albums Merman cut for London Records in the early '70s, backed by Stanley Black and the 52-member London Festival Orchestra. Reissued a number of times, this superb pairing is currently out of print in every edition, both domestic and import.
The former is comprised of newly recorded versions of Merman's signature tunes; the latter is a set featuring several songs new to her repertoire. Merman is in great voice throughout, but the opening song of ETHEL'S RIDIN' HIGH, Gee But It's Good to Be Here (from her show HAPPY HUNTING), alone is worth the price, a big brassy number that captures the glorious essence of her unique, larger-than-life vocal and performing style better than anything else she ever recorded. Running
over 70 minutes, the CD features classic show tunes by the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Gershwin, Sondheim, and Jule Styne, many written originally for Merman.
21 more songs: You're Just in Love, Ridin' High, Someone to Watch Over Me, Everything's Coming Up Roses, What Kind of Fool Am I?, Alexander's Ragtime Band, I Get a Kick Out of You, Sunrise Sunset, The Impossible Dream, Blow Gabriel Blow, They Say It's Wonderful, Nothing Can Stop Me Now, Eydie Was a Lady, You're the Top, On a Clear Day, I Got Rhythm, Some People, Whispering, It's De-lovely, There's No Business Like Show Business, and I Got Lost in His Arms. Import, $9.99
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Karen Francis, WHERE IS LOVE?
1996 debut solo album, the first of three by this superb jazz singer based in the New York area.
A protégé of veteran post-bop pianist Stanley Cowell, Francis was the featured vocalist, singing seven tunes, on Cowell's 1995 CD MANDARA BLOSSOMS on the SteepleChase jazz label. The label was impressed enough to release her solo debut CD and its follow-up, LITTLE SUNFLOWER.
Francis counts Sarah Vaughan, Dianne Reeves, Carmen Lundy, Dinah Washington, and Billie Holiday among her influences, and even pop and r&b singers like Barbra Streisand and Chaka Khan.
Here, backed by a trio, Francis performs 11 songs: May I Come In?, Let's Go Where the Grass Is Greener (by Howlett Smith), On a Clear Day, The End of a Love Affair, He Never Mentioned Love (which Sarah Vaughan also covered), Willow Weep for Me, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, Sweet Pumpkin, Where Is Love?, Jobim's Triste, and Polkadots and Moonbeams, $7.99
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Rita Hayworth, Anta Ellis, Jo Ann Greer, Carol Burnett, SONGS
Out of print import—songs from eight films starring sultry screen siren Rita Hayworth: MISS SADIE THOMPSON, PAL JOEY, AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD, COVER GIRL, MY GAL SAL, GILDA, TONIGHT AND EVERY NIGHT, and DOWN TO EARTH.
In these movies, Hayworth, of course, was dubbed by Ellis, Greer, Nan Wynn and Martha Mears, and it is they who actually provide the vocals here, though Hayworth herself is heard singing, endearingly if unartfully, in two rare TV duets from the early '70s—I'm Old Fashioned (with Carol Burnett) and Mutual Admiration Society (with Merv Griffin).
Misses Ellis, Greer, Wynn and Mears sing: On the Gay White Way, Here You Are (both by Ralph Rainger & Leo Robin), Put the Blame on Mame (both "slow" version and "nightclub" version), My Funny Valentine, Zip, The Heat is On, Amado Mio, Sure Thing (by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin), Blue Pacific Blues, What Does a English Girl Think of a Yank?, Trinidad Lady, They Cannot Convince Me, Let’s Stay Young Forever, I’ve Been Kissed Before, Come Tell Me What’s Your Answer (Yes or No), You Excite Me, and Poor John—20 tracks in all. Import, $14.99
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Marti Webb, PERFORMANCE
1989 import CD—14 songs from the musical theater by this popular British recording artist and stage performer (TELL ME ON A SUNDAY, DIVORCE
ME DARLING), highlighted by In One of My Weaker Moments, a rarely heard song from BUDGIE, the 1988 flop musical by Don Black and Mort Shuman.
Plus Blow, Gabriel, Blow, Losing My Mind, Almost Like Being in Love, I Am What I Am, Once You Lose Your Heart (from ME & MY GIRL), I Dreamed a Dream, Only He (from STARLIGHT EXPRESS), Memory, The Music of the Night, and two songs each from ASPECTS OF LOVE (Love Changes Everything, Anything but Lonely) and TELL ME ON A SUNDAY (title tune, The Last Man in My Life). Import, $5.99
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Sue Raney, BREATHLESS!
1997 CD featuring rare performances, mostly from THE NAVY SWINGS radio program and most recorded between 1960-1963. These performances find this singer’s singer backed by the groups of Page Cavanaugh, Shelly Manne and Buddy De Franco.
18 songs: I'm in Love with the Honorable Mr. So and So, title tune, Bobby Troup's Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, September in the Rain, While We're Young, Holiday for Strings, Does Anybody Here Love Me? (by Billy Barnes), The Boy Next Door, Angel Eyes, There'll Be Some Changes Made, Breezin' Along with the Breeze, My Lucky Day, 'Deed I Do, It's Delovely, Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, Cry Me a River, Some of These Days, and Bluesette, NOW $9.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Joan Baez, GONE FROM DANGER
Out of print original issue of this 1997 album, a departure for Baez.
According to Wikipedia, "Rather than relying on her own songwriting, Baez instead selected work by younger folk and rock artists to perform….Around the time of the album's release, Baez confessed that she no longer found herself able to write songs, and felt more comfortable reverting back to her original role, as an interpreter."
Baez performs 10 songs written by various contemporary singer-songwriters, incl. Dar Williams (who provides backing vocals on two tracks here) and lesser-known performers like Richard Shindell, Betty Elders, Ireland’s Sinéad Lohan, and Mark Addison (of Mad 6 and The Borrowers, whose songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Gene Simmons and Maia Sharp). All but Addison subsequently joined Baez on tour and in performance at Mountain Stage, giving their careers a heightened, well-deserved visibility.
Amazon.com lists this as an "essential recording," stating, "Joan Baez has always been a top-notch interpreter and a perceptive spotter of young talent….All of [the songs] are terrific, and the performances are among Baez's best since her commercial heyday."
Songs: Money for Floods, Crack in the Mirror (a powerful song about child abuse), Fishing, If I Wrote You, February, Lily (with lyrics by Baez), Reunion Hill, Mercy Bound, Who Do You Think I Am?, and No Mermaid, $5.99
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Lucienne Boyer, PARLEZ-MOI D'AMOUR
Subtitled HER TWENTY-THREE FINEST, ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS FROM 1930-1939, this out of print 1997 CD by this popular French singer is part of the GREAT FRENCH STARS series from the now-defunct ASV import label.
Boyer is best known for her hit song Parlez-moi d'amour which, as Speak to Me of Love, was also recorded by such artists as Barbra Streisand (see below) and Bing Crosby. Boyer began singing at the age of 16 and, according to her 1983 obituary in the NY Times, "She came to dominate the cabaret scene in the Paris districts of Montparnasse and Montmartre, working in her own nightclubs with an intimate style that became her trademark."
According to Wikipedia, "By 1933 she had made a large number of recordings for Columbia Records of France including her signature song, Parlez-moi d'amour." In Paris she was seen by impresario Lee Shubert, who brought her to New York where, in 1934, she starred on Broadway in the revue CONTINENTAL VARIETIES. She performed frequently, both in New York and internationally, throughout the '30s (that's Boyer and famille pictured at right, with Lena Horne at Cafe Society Uptown), and she would enjoy a successful cabaret career and a loyal following for the rest of her life, singing into the 1980s and appearing in public only a month before her death in 1983 at the age of 80.
22 more songs incl. Dans la fumee, Gigolette, La barque d'Yves, Si petite, Sans toi, C'est ma faute, Comme une femme, Mon p'tit kaki, Embrasse-moi, Je t'aime, Mon rendez-vous, Parle-moi de toi, Estampe marocaine, Ta main, En se regardant, L' étoile d'amour, Prenez mes roses, Parle-moi d'autre chose, more. Import, $10.99
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Paul Jones, Fiona Hendley, et al., KISS ME, KATE
Out of print 1987 import of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Cole Porter's classic musical, starring Paul Jones, his wife Fiona Hendley, Nichola McAuliffe and Tim Flavin.
As we wrote about a previous CD featuring the husband-wife duo, "Jones was the first lead singer of Manfred Mann (he sang the classic Do Wah Diddy Diddy) before quitting the band to pursue a solo career. He starred as the pop-singer-turned-messianic-leader in the 1967 anti-establishment cult movie PRIVILEGE, but his solo career didn't really begin to take off until 1976, when he sang the role of Juan Peron on the original concept album of EVITA, eventually becoming a popular star on television and in musicals. (He is a veritable fixture on countless UK studio cast recordings.) Hendley, on the other hand, seems to have abandoned her career as an actress to, according to Wikipedia, "spend more time touring as a Christian speaker, including presenting gospel shows alongside Jones in which they testified to their finding faith."
18 tracks. Import, $7.99
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Karen Gallinger, REMEMBERING BILL EVANS: A VOCAL TRIBUTE
This 2000 CD finds California-based singer Gallinger honoring the legendary jazz pianist with (unlike most other Evans tributes) a collection of songs actually written by Evans, plus a Don Sebesky tune, I Remember Bill.
Gallinger supplies the lyrics to four of the songs—We Will Meet Again, Funkallero, Dawn Preludes (Time Remembered), and Catch the Wind—and she performs other compositions with lyrics by fellow jazz singers Judy Niemack (Interplay) and Janis Borla (Five), as well as Gene Lees (Waltz for Debbie, Turn Out the Stars, My Bells), Roger Schore (In April, Only Child) and, in one rare instance (Remembering the Rain), by Evans himself—13 tracks in all, NOW $5.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Barbra Streisand, JE M'APPELLE BARBRA
Her bestselling 1966 album of French songs, arranged and conducted by Michel Legrand. The album featured one song that would become one of Streisand's signature tunes—Free Again—and 11 more: three songs by Legrand (Once Upon a Summertime, Love and Learn, Martina), I Wish You Love, Autumn Leaves, Ma Premiere Chanson (with a tune by Streisand herself), What Now My Love, Speak to Me of Love, Clopin Clopant, and I've Been Here (Le Mur), which was written for Edith Piaf (who did not live to perform it) and which is sung here in two separate versions, English and French, $5.99
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Johnny Mercer, PERSONALITY
Subtitled JOHNNY MERCER SINGS—26 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1933-1950, this collectible, out of print import features a mix of hits and lesser heard songs, highlighted by duets with Jo Stafford (Candy, Blues in the Night), Jack Teagarden (Christmas Night in Harlem, The Old Music Master), Nat King Cole (My Baby Likes to Be-Bop), Margaret Whiting (Baby, it's Cold Outside), Judy Garland (Friendship), and Bing Crosby (Small Fry, Mister Crosby and Mr. Mercer).
Other songs include Show Your Linen, Miss Richardson, She's Shimmyin' on the Beach Again, Cuckoo in the Clock, They Didn't Believe Me, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, A Gal in Calico, Winter Wonderland, Personality, Strip Polka, Huggin' and A-Chalkin', Accentuate the Positive, One for My Baby, Hooray for Love, G.I. Jive, Lazy Bones, Sugar Blues, and On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe—26 tracks with a total running time of over 77 min. Import, $14.99
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Original Cast, GRAIL
1999 2-CD cast recording of this epic fantasy "Rock Musical of the Future" with music by Bob Christianson and lyrics by Cappy Capossela. The grand-scale narrative of GRAIL, with its large cast of characters, unfolds in the style of many of today's sung-through musicals. Set in the year 2050 against the backdrop of two warring kingdoms, Outerworld and Citiworld, the storyline concerns the quest of the young hero Lance for a magic crystal that is the source of all his power.
Songs include City of Light, Spin Doctor, How Dare You Judge Me, Power Is All, The Castle in My Mind, How Would You Like to Die?, Fear in a Kiss, There Isn't Any There There, The Crystal, Who Are You Gonna Believe?, The Reckoning, From the Wonder to the Dream, Father Found, Who Do You Want Me to Be Tonight?, Password / Upload, When She's Gone, many more—a total of 36 tracks, with a running time of over 2½ hrs. 2-CD set, $11.99
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Maggi Scott, TOGETHER
This out of print 1995 CD showcases this superb veteran singer-pianist with her trio and, mostly, in orchestral settings, backed by the 17-member Greg Hopkins / Wayne Naus Big Band.
Maggi Scott has toiled in the music field in New England for 50 years. She has taught for 25 years at Berklee College of Music, where she is an Associate Professor in the voice department; has performed throughout New England as a soloist and with her trio; was guest piano soloist with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler; has released three solo CDs under her own name; and has accompanied singers like Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Billy Eckstine, and Helen O'Connell.
Scott performs three instrumentals with her trio—Invitation, Summer in Central Park, and Mag's Bag—and sings nine songs with the big band: Here's That Rainy Day, Midnight Sun, Mas Que Nada, Willow Weep for Me, Yesterday I Heard the Rain, I'm Gonna Go Fishin', Jag / Lover Come Back to Me, Alone Together, and My Funny Valentine, NOW $4.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Kristin Chenoweth, LET YOURSELF GO
2001 solo debut album, on the prestigious Sony Classics label, by this Tony- and Emmy-winning Broadway and TV star, who followed up what was virtually her Broadway debut in 1999's YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN with starring roles in WICKED and TV's THE WEST WING. Most recently, Chenoweth garnered acclaim (and another Emmy nomination) for her recurring guest role on GLEE and for her leading role in the 2010 hit Broadway revival of PROMISES, PROMISES.
Here, backed by Rob Fisher and his famed Coffee Club Orchestra, Chenoweth performs a tasty program of mostly standards: I’ll Tell the Man in the Street, title tune, Nobody Else But Me, Hangin' Around with You (a duet with guest Jason Alexander), I’m a Stranger Here Myself, Vincent Youmans's rarely heard Should I Be Sweet?, You’ll Never Know, The Girl in 14G (by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlon, composers of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE), If You Hadn't but You Did, Duke Ellington’s On a Turquoise Cloud, How Long Has This Been Goin On?, Just an Ordinary Guy (Ricky Ian Gordon's musical setting of Langston Hughes's poem), Daddy, Nobody's Heart / Why Can't I?, My Funny Valentine, more. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $6.99
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Andi Sexgang, FAITHFULL COVERS
Subtitled A TRIBUTE TO MARIANNE FAITHFULL, this unique (and out of print) CD was released in 2000 by this experimental solo artist and lead singer of the popular Gothic rock band Sex Gang Children. According to the liner notes, "[C]hristening a new millenium, a fellow dark traveller pays homage to Faithfull with this superbly eclectic tribute package. Andi has long since cited Marianne as an influence and heroine...."
12 tracks, incl. Broken English, As Tears Go By, Ballad of Lucy Jordan, Sister Morphine, Why D'Ya Do It?, Strange Weather, This Little Bird, Come and Stay with Me, Tomorrow's Calling, Go Away from My World, Summer Nights, more, $5.99
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Kay Starr, CAPITOL COLLECTORS SERIES
1991 CD collection—25 of the biggest successes by this hit-making pop and jazz singer of the '50s and '60s.
Songs: Bonaparte’s Retreat, Wheel of Fortune, Allez-vous en, Side by Side, Lazy River, Crazy, The Rock and Roll Waltz, Changing Partners, You’ve Got to See Mamma Ev’ry Night, If You Love Me (Really Love Me), So Tired, Comes A-long A-Love, Mississippi, Hoop Dee Doo, Kay’s Lament, Half a Photograph, The Man Upstairs, Toy or Treasure, Foolin’ Around, I’m the Lonesomest Gal in Town, I’ll Never Be Free (with Tennessee Ernie Ford), When My Dreamboat Comes Home, You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling in Love), I Waited a Little Too Long, and Fool, Fool, Fool, $6.99
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Jane Froman, WITH A SONG IN MY HEART
Out of print 1996 collection of songs by this beloved pop singer of the '40s and '50s. Here are songs from Froman's five Capitol albums (that's one, pictured at right) as well as single sides, including a number of the inspirational songs for which she was famous.
20 tracks: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, I'll Walk Alone, With a Song in My Heart, Can't Get Out of This Mood, Wish You Were Here, Stay Where You Are (by William Engvick), My Shining Hour, Suddenly There's a Valley, The Song from Desirée (by Alfred Newman), I'll Never Be the Same, More than You Know, I Believe, You'll Never Walk Alone, The Finger of Suspicion, Somebody Bigger than You and I, It Is No Secret, One Little Candle, It Takes Time, He, and The Ghost of a Rose, $10.99
Roberta Sherwood, INTRODUCING ROBERTA SHERWOOD
Brand new (2007) import CD featuring the first two Decca LPs, INTRODUCING ROBERTA SHERWOOD and SHOW STOPPERS—plus bonus tracks—by this underrated pop singer, nearly forgotten now but once the toast of television and nightclubs. Sherwood would go on to record a total of 13 albums between 1956 and 1971, but this CD MARKS the first official release of any of her recordings. Her story is a fascinating one.
According to the publicity materials, "She wasn’t young, she wasn’t glamorous and she didn’t have a beautiful voice—but in 1956, a bespectacled suburban housewife rose from years of obscurity to become an overnight sensation as a consummate torch singer and nightclub performer. Her name was Roberta Sherwood and she made her professional debut at five in vaudeville. Though her powerful singing style always brought the house down, she chose to stop touring when she got married. They settled in Florida where she and her husband raised three sons but Roberta was widowed young. She struggled to keep the family going with occasional $15 or $25 a night appearances at local benefits.
"Singing jobs were hard to come by because in those days 40 was considered old, but finally she got a job singing at a Miami Beach club. They didn’t have a drummer, so for her rhythm songs, she took to beating a battered old cymbal with a wire brush—a technique that would become one of her most revered trademarks. She wore a sweater over her shoulders because of the air-conditioning and she kept her glasses on so she wouldn’t trip walking to the stage. Once there, that magical husky voice and dynamic personality took over and became positively mesmerizing.
"Roberta was soon becoming the talk of Miami and it wasn’t long before a powerful Broadway columnist praised her in his syndicated columns and other critics echoed his praise. After 30 years of performing, the offers poured in. Roberta was signed by [Decca Records] and was quickly headlining at top clubs like the Copacabana in New York and Ciro’s in Hollywood. Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, and every other major TV host fought for her services and just as rock and roll was taking over the country, this middle-aged housewife became Queen of the Jukeboxes with her haunting revival of the Hoagy Carmichael classic Lazy River. Nobody had sounded like her before and no one has sounded like her since. Her style was described by Time Magazine as 'flashy, richly sentimental, as unsubtle as her crashing cymbal and as unpretentious as her $49.50 dress.’ A star, as they say, was born."
CD features three bonus tracks taken from rare singles: My Heart is a Chapel, Should I Try Again?, and Mary Lou. The 24 album tracks include Lazy River, I Got Lost in His Arms, I Hadn’t Anyone Till You, Cry Me a River, Take Your Shoes Off Baby, All Alone, The Glory of Love, This Train, You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, In a Strange Pair of Arms, Under a Blanket of Blue, I Remember You, A Woman Ages Quicker than a Man, I Cried for You, Autumn Leaves, After You’ve Gone, I’m Sorry I Made You Cry, Gee But I Hate to Go Home Alone, I Used to Love You, Tears Don’t Care Who Cries Them, Marianina, I Know Now, more. Import, $10.99
Shelley Neill, THE BLUES RUNS THROUGH IT
Shelley Neill, BLUE ENTREE
Special price on these CDs by this contemporary jazz singer, two of the three albums in what Chris Loudon, in JazzTimes, calls "her masterful trilogy of blues-injected jazz albums."
Neill is a performer and music educator in the Boston area, where she began singing in the 1980s. She has performed at top jazz venues, released six albums (to date) on her own Cobalt Blue label, and studied with singers like Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton. (She names Jordan among her major influences, along with Sathima Bea Benjamin, Bill Evans, and Miles Davis.)
Neill is hardly a blues singer but, as music critic Dave Nathan writes in the All Music Guide, she "applies her powerful, expressive style to songs that may not be strictly blues tunes, but which have a blues feel to them. Moreover, Neill's vocal style has a built-in empathy for yearning in it, giving everything she sings a sort of blues/r&b inflection, making the interpretations uniquely her own." He goes on to praise her "appealingly husky and romantic voice," adding "With each release, Neill has grown to a point where she is becoming a major interpreter of the American Songbook."
Neill is backed on both albums by small combos. The 10 songs on THE BLUES RUNS THROUGH IT are: It Was Written in the Stars, Un fruit étrange (Strange Fruit, in French!), Prelude to a Kiss, Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?, Dark Shadows (popularized by Charlie Parker), 'T'aint Nobody's Bizness if I Do, Stormy Weather, Do Your Duty, Hello Stranger (the Barbara Lewis '60s hit), and Downhearted Blues.
ENTREE BLUE features seven songs: All Blues, You Hit the Spot, Abbey Lincoln's Throw it Away, Solitude, Heat Wave (the Martha & the Vandellas hit), Since I Fell for You, and Bring Back the Moonlight (by singer-songwriter Harriet Goldberg, a fellow Bostonian). Set of 2 CDs only $9.99
Zora Young, TRAVELIN' LIGHT
1991 release, the first of five CDs by this contemporary singer-songwriter, Chicago's "Princess of Blues," who went on to record several albums for the Delmark blues label. The All Music Guide puts it succintly:" Absolutely dynamite debut from this growly and sultry blues belter. With the focus on Young's brassy original material, this is one modern blues album that's a winner all the way."
A cousin of Howlin' Wolf, Young has performed regularly at the Chicago Blues Festival and is, according to her website, "a veteran of more than 30 tours of Europe" (!!), including a 1982 "Blues with the Girls" tour alongside Bonnie Lee and Big Time Sarah. (They even recorded an album together.) (That's Young, at right, in a photo taken that same year.) She later starred as Bessie Smith in the Chicago musical revue THE HEART OF THE BLUES.
Backed by a seven-piece outfit that includes three alumnae of the Muddy Waters band, including Pinetop Perkins on piano, Young performs Big Bill Broonzy's Key to the Highway, Queen Bee, Country Girl Returns and seven original tunes: Daughter of a Son-of-a-Gun, title tune, Brain Damage, Football Widow, Girlfriend, Dirty Mama Jama, and Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones, $4.99
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Shelby Flint & Tim Weston, PROVIDENCE
1993 CD by '60s pop-folk singer Flint, backed by guitarist Weston and a small contemporary jazz ensemble featuring Mitchel Forman on piano and keyboards.
Flint recorded three albums, including two for Warner Brothers, in the early '60s. Though she never achieved major success, she did score two Top 100 hits—Angel on My Shoulder in 1961 and Cast Your Fate to the Wind in 1966—and managed to influence at least one singer who came after her. In a 1995 interview, Joni Mitchell recalled that when she began making the rounds of the folk circuit, "I started off copying a girl named Shelby Flint."
Since then Flint has continued to work in music in the LA area, performing her "sophisticated jazz/pop originals" at venues like the celebrated Hollywood jazz club Dante's and at the Catalina Jazz Festival; singing in films like Clint Eastwood's BREEZY (where she performed Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman's title song); and singing in animated features like Disney's THE RESCUERS (where she introduced the Oscar-nominated song Someone's Waiting for You) and SNOOPY COME HOME.
On this CD, Flint, then in her early 50s, and Weston perform Alone Together, the traditional Single Girl, and eight self-penned jazz tunes—Skyline, title tune, The Lady Weeps, This Ancient City, Levitation, Love and Consequence, Can't Move Me, and the instrumental Hidden Treasure. Booklet incl complete lyrics, NOW $1.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Aretha Franklin, JAZZ TO SOUL
Superb, out of print 1992 2-CD set compiling 39 tracks— standards, pop covers, and r&b tunes—from her Columbia years, including three previously unreleased tracks (Once in a While and rare alternate takes of Skylark and Impossible). Songs include Just for a Thrill, If Ever I Would Leave You, This Bitter Earth, God Bless the Child, Drinking Again, This Could Be the Start of Something, Unforgettable, Misty, Love for Sale, What a Difference a Day Makes, Muddy Water, Walk on By, Trouble in Mind, Mockingbird, Runnin' Out of Fools, Soulville, Today I Sing the Blues, You'll Lose a Good Thing, many more. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING. 40-pg booklet incl. rare photos and liner notes by David Nathan. 2-CD set, $9.99
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Veronica Martell, Kevin Mahogany, et al., LUCKY
2002 CD by this fine New York-based singer, highlighted by duets with Kevin Mahogany (It’s All Right with Me) and actor Frank Pellegrino (Ain't That a Kick in the Head)
Martell has had a diverse career. In the late '80s, under the name Veronica Monet, she performed two songs on the soundtrack of the movie SHE'S BACK, starring Carrie Fisher. Martell was once a successful fitness magazine model and a top-ranked fitness competitor, winning state and national Ms. Fitness titles. She has released four solo CDs including this one, her second, and has performed throughout Europe, including repeat engagements at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in Tivoli Gardens with the Tivoli Big Band. And she runs her own entertainment agency, which promotes her as a vocalist fronting both a full orchestra (Big City Swing) and a smaller band, and which also features a classical division and lighting and staging services.
On this, her sophomore, CD, Martell sings ten more songs, incl. Something's Gotta Give, If I'm Lucky, the blues classic Black Night, Flip Flop and Fly, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Too Young for the Blues (which Ella Fitzgerald popularized), Teardrops from My Eyes, Why Don't You Do Right?, Frank Wildhorn's Romancing the Blues, more, $8.99
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Dakota Staton, MOONGLOW
1991 compilation by this superb jazz singer—13 tracks culled from her two fine '70s albums on the short-lived Groove Merchant label.
13 songs: Little Man, You’ve Had a Busy Day, title tune, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Cherokee, Porgy, Between 18th & 19th on Chestnut Street, Gladys Shelley's He Will Call Again, Losin’ Battle (written by Dr. John), and five soulful, self-penned tunes, incl. Save this Love Affair, Why Don't You Think Things Over?, and Play Your Hands, Girls, $7.99
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Kaye Ballard, Carol Burnett, Susan Johnson, Dolores Gray, Nancy Walker, Betty Garrett, et al. [Original Broadway Casts], FRONT ROW CENTER
Subtitled THE BROADWAY GOLD BOX 1935-1988, this superb, essential and—incredibly—out of print 1996 4-CD box set boasts "93 classic performances by the legendary stars of Broadway" from the golden vaults of the MCA family of labels—ABC-Paramount, Kapp and, especially, Decca Records. That means that some of the greatest original cast recordings of all-time are represented, such as ROBERTA, CAROUSEL, PORGY AND BESS, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE KING & I, GUYS AND DOLLS, CALL ME MADAM, CARMEN JONES, ON YOUR TOES, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE, LOST IN THE STARS and, of course, OKLAHOMA! (represented here by three previously unissued alternate takes).
At the other end of the spectrum are a number of rare recordings from early musicals which pre-dated the advent of the original cast album as we know it, in the early '40s, or from shows that were simply never recorded except for a tune or two waxed on 78. (Some have been bootlegged on various show music CDs but never legitimately issued from the master recordings—until now.) These include:
—Songs from shows that never received a cast recording, like Albert Selden's THE AMAZING ADELE (Never Again and Now Is the Time, both sung by Johnny Desmond), FOLLOW THE GIRLS (Gertrude Niesen's I Wanna Get Married and Twelve O'Clock and All Is Well), Dietz & Schwartz's AT HOME ABROAD (Paree by Bea Lillie), PINS AND NEEDLES (Millie Weitz's Nobody Makes a Pass at Me and Ruth Rubenstein's Chain Store Daisy), SONS O' FUN (Sammy Fain's Thank You, North America, sung by Carmen Miranda), Jerome Kern's THE GIRL FROM UTAH (They Didn't Believe Me by Julia Sanderson), HIGHER AND HIGHER (It Never Entered My Mind by Shirley Ross), and WHERE'S CHARLEY? (Make a Miracle and Once in Love with Amy);
—Alternate 45 rpm versions of songs from shows, like Kaye Ballard's Lazy Afternoon from THE GOLDEN APPLE (the original cast album was recorded for RCA), and Poor Little Person from HENRY, SWEET, HENRY, sung by the great Alice Playten (who passed away only this past June); and
—Songs from shows that have appeared on LP but not on CD, like DONNYBROOK! (I Wouldn't Bet One Penny, sung by Eddie Foy, Jr. and the legendary Susan Johnson), THE BILLY BARNES REVUE (the now-standard Too Long at the Fair, sung by Joyce Jameson and Jackie Joseph), DOONES- BURY (Just One Night), and SING OUT, SWEET LAND (Big Rock Candy Mountain, sung by Burl Ives)
Then there are tracks from many overlooked, if not completely forgotten, musicals which Decca fortunately has issued on CD (although several of them have already gone out of print)—musicals like Jerry Herman's PARADE, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, SEVENTH HEAVEN, ANKLES AWEIGH, MEXICAN HAYRIDE, LUTE SONG, PANAMA HATTIE, BLOOMER GIRL, UP IN CENTRAL PARK, and TEXAS, L’IL DARLIN’.
There are songs by great artists like Pearl Bailey (There Must Be Somethin' Better than Love from ARMS AND THE GIRL), Nanette Fabray (A Girl with a Flame, from the same show), Nancy Walker (I'm the First Girl in the Second Row from LOOK MA—I’M DANCIN’!, and I Can Cook Too), Dolores Gray (Fair Warning and Ladies, both from DESTRY RIDES AGAIN), Irving Berlin (Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning from THIS IS THE ARMY), June Havoc (There Must Be Someone for Me from MEXICAN HAYRIDE), Eileen Farrell and Wibur Evans (Close as Pages in a Book from UP IN CENTRAL PARK), Carol Burnett (songs from ONCE UPON A MATTRESS and FADE OUT—FADE IN), Tammy Grimes (You'd Better Love Me), Katharine Hepburn (Coco), Lauren Bacall (Wecome to the Theater), Sandy Duncan and Harvey Evans (Won't You Charleston with Me? from THE BOY FRIEND), Bernadette Peters (Time Heals Everything), Scott Bakula and Alison Fraser (I'll Always Remember the Song from ROMANCE, ROMANCE), and Betty Garrett—who also died this year, in February—(South America, Take it Away from CALL ME MISTER, and By the Mississinewhah from SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS).
Plus songs by Ethel Merman (seven of them!), Mary Martin (four), Gertrude Lawrence, Vivian Blaine, Rosalind Russell, Chita Rivera, Sammy Davis Jr., Richard Kiley, Gloria DeHaven, Celeste Holm, Eddie Cantor, Ben Vereen, Patti LuPone, and many more. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING.
4 discs housed in an oversized, gold-embossed box, with 66-pg. booklet incl. rare photos and detailed song notes by noted show music authority Max Preeo. 4-CD set, $19.99
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Mindy Carson, MY FOOLISH HEART…AND OTHER SONGS
2004 import collection—27 sides recorded by this fine but obscure '50s pop singer between 1947-1952. Carson became popular as a vocalist on Paul Whiteman's '40s radio show, eventually going on to a solo career. She recorded for such major labels as RCA and Columbia, appeared regularly on TV and radio, and later went on to star in the famous 1958 Broadway flop THE BODY BEAUTIFUL, the first musical collaboration of Bock & Harnick.
Unlike other collections, this one focuses on Carson's more modest hits—My Foolish Heart, Candy And Cake (written by Bob Merrill), A Rainy Day Refrain, and Lonely Little Robin—and rarities, most appearing on CD for the first time. Backed by orchestras conducted by the likes of Henri René, Percy Faith and Hugo Winterhalter, Carson also performs several songs from the Great American Songbook—The Touch of Your Lips, Button Up Your Overcoat, Bobby Troup's Lonely Girl, What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?, You're Not in My Arms Tonight (by Victor Young and Ned Washington), two songs from Disney's then-new ALICE IN WONDERLAND (I'm Late and Twas Brillig, both with Three Beaus and a Peep), and four song by DeSylva, Brown & Henderson (You're the Cream in My Coffee, The Best Things in Life Are Free, Together, and Just a Memory).
And, of course, there is the expected dose of now-forgotten pop and novelty tunes that marked (or pock-marked) the career of virtually every '50s singer. In Carson's case these include Pianissimo, One More Time, Too-Whit! Too-Whoo (also with Three Beaus and a Peep), Be Mine, Twelve O'Clock and All Is Well, Just For a While, Boutonniere, Allegheny Fiddler, All the Time and Everywhere, Tell Me You're Mine, The Choo Buy Song, and I Wish, I Wish (another Bob Merrill tune). Import, $10.99
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Ellen Johnson, CHINCHILLA SERENADE
1997 sophomore CD by this California-based jazz singer. 10 songs: Who Will Buy?, Yesterdays, A Child is Born (by Thad Jones), You Turned the Tables on Me, Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time, Someone to Light Up My Life, Freedom (a rarely heard song by Duke Ellington), and three originals, incl. Samba Ulla, with lyrics by Johnson and music by Michael Urbaniak, $4.99
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Ray Conniff & His Orchestra, HOLLYWOOD IN RHYTHM
Out of print original CD edition of the 1958 album by this famed arranger and prolific easy listening recording artist. A dozen lush themes from the movies: Thanks for the Memory, Easy to Love, Cheek to Cheek, My Heart Stood Still, Yesterdays, It Might as Well Be Spring, Laura, Stella by Starlight, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, Please, Love Letters, and Pacific Sunset, $6.99
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Steve Marvin, YEARS OF MY YOUTH
Out of print 1993 CD by this superb but relatively unknown Boston-based vocalist, whose style reflects equally influences as diverse as Michel Legrand and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.
Marvin offers four numbers from the songbooks of Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross (Babe's Blues, Little Niles, Don't Get Scared, Jackie) and three obscure songs by Legrand—One Day, with lyrics by the Bergmans, The Years of My Youth, and One at a Time, the last rendered in a medley with Pieces of Dreams.
Backed by a quartet, Marvin sings half a dozen more tunes, incl. This Happy Madness, Young and Foolish, Dat Dere, A Child Is Born / Waltz for Debbie, But Beautiful, more, $7.99
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Lucille Ball [Original BroadwayCast], WILDCAT
Original 1991 edition of this 1960 Broadway musical, which marked the beginning of the post-I LOVE LUCY career of Lucille Ball. Ball financed the show, starring as feisty Wildcat Jackson, who sets out to find oil in the Wild West in 1912, and heading up a cast that includes leading man Keith Andes and Swen Swenson.
Despite a score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, the show received lukewarm reviews, running largely on the drawing power of Ball's name. But the star was plagued by frequent illness and exhaustion—at one point she collapsed on stage—and the show closed after less than six months.
The score did yield one hit song, the classic Hey, Look Me Over!, and the popular Give a Little Whistle. Other songs incl. What Takes My Fancy, title tune, You've Come Home, Oil!, One Day We Dance, You're a Liar!, Tall Hope, El Sombrero, Corduroy Road, That's What I Want for Jamie, Tippy Tippy Toes, more, NOW $7.99 [WAS $9.99] [There is a bend in rear tray card]
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Klea Blackhurst, EVERYTHING THE TRAFFIC WILL ALLOW
We have an AUTOGRAPHED copy of this 2002 CD, subtitled THE SONGS & SASS OF ETHEL MERMAN, documenting the acclaimed one-woman show by this supremely talented New York theater and cabaret singer. Blackhurst has charmed audiences throughout the country with this tribute to her musical idol, complete with witty patter.
Songs include Just a Moment Ago (an obscure song by Roger Edens), I've Still Got My Health, You're an Old Smoothie, Ridin' High, Johnny One Note / I Got Rhythm, Make it Another Old Fashioned Please, Sam and Delilah, World Take Me Back (written especially for Merman in HELLO, DOLLY!), Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries, This Is It / Do I Love You? / I Got Lost in His Arms, Blow Gabriel Blow, Everything's Coming Up Roses, You're the Top, There's No Business Like Show Business, and Leader of a Big Time Band / Hey Good Lookin' / Something for the Boys. AUTOGRAPHED, $10.99
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John Bucchino, Romanovsky & Phillips, Pete Seeger, Tom Wilson Weinberg, et al., FEEDING THE FLAME
Subtitled SONGS BY MEN TO END AIDS, this out of print 1990 benefit CD (which we have in the original pressing, not the made-to-order CD-R offered by Amazon) features 16 songs, especially recorded for this project, by a variety of singers and songwriters, gay and straight. Heading up the roster are singer-composer John Bucchino (Until the Balance Tips) and some prominent leftie folkies—Pete Seeger (Quite Early Morning, Hills of Glenshee), Josh White, Jr. (Say a Prayer for a Stranger), and Fred Small (All the Time in the World). Of course, the most popular performers in "men's music" at the time are included, like Romanovsky & Phillips (One of the Enemy), the late Michael Callen (Crazy World), Tom Wilson Weinberg (Experts), The Flirtations (The Flirt Song), and Elliot Pilshaw (Welcome Home). Plus songs by Geof Morgan, Peter Alsop, Xotika, Gary Lapow, Abe Rybeck, et al., $6.99
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Amanda McBroom, LIVE FROM RAINBOW & STARS
Celebrated singer-songwriter's live 1995 CD—a mix of standards and covers and, of course, many of her own songs. 16 tracks: Baltimore Oriole, Alan Chapman's funny Everybody Wants to Be Sondheim, My Foolish Heart / I Can't Make You Love Me, September Song (paired with her own Make Me a Kite), Jacques Brel's Carousel, Days of Wine and Roses / Time After Time, plus 10 original tunes, incl. The Rose, Errol Flynn, Ship in a Bottle, The Portrait, I Love Men, Breathing (written with Michele Brourman), I Love This Place, more, $4.99
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Lola Flores, LA FAVORITA DE ESPAÑA
Out of print import—a dozen songs by this famed Spanish singer, dancer and actress.
Flores became famous as a teenager in the late '30s, performing traditional Andalusian dances and songs—flamenco and gypsy music. She made her first film in 1939 and continued to star in Spanish films and perform for the next five decades. (She also appeared in the 1950 movie CAPTAIN BLACKJACK, starring George Sanders and Agnes Moorehead.) (That's Flores, at left, pictured on a record jacket and, at right, with unidentified Euro beefcake.)
Flores died of cancer in 1995 at the age of 72 and, according to Wikipedia, "Shortly after her death, her distraught 34-year-old son, Antonio Flores, committed suicide by overdosing with barbiturate and was buried near her." A film biography of her life, LOLA, LA PELÍCULA (LOLA, THE MOVIE), was released in 2007.
Songs: Angelitos Negros (popularized stateside by Eartha Kitt in the '50s), Mora Gitana, Un Mundo Raro, Espinita, Algo de España, Esto es Sevilla, Gitana del Camino, Tu Rica Boca, Mi Ultimo Fracaso, La Faraona, Mil Besos, and Magdalena. Import, $5.99
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The Boswell Sisters, VOLUME 1
Subtitled ACCOMPANIED BY THE DORSEY BROTHERS, this out of print 2000 CD collects early jazz sides by The Boswell Sisters featuring Tommy Dorsey on trombone and Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and alto sax. Other notable sidemen include Bunny Berigan on trumpet, Joe Venuti on violin, and Eddie Lang on guitar, and Martha Boswell plays piano for the trio throughout.
15 songs incl. Shout Sister, Shout, Was That the Human Thing to Do?, There'll Be Some Changes Made, Everybody Loves My Baby, Doggone! I've Done It, Nothing Is Sweeter than You, It's the Girl, Put That Sun Back in the Sky, Stop the Sun—Stop the Moon, If it Ain't Love, Got the South in My Soul, It's You, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and Thank You, Mr. Moon, $9.99
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Joan Bender, STAR EYES
2001 debut CD by this young jazz singer, active in the New York metropolitan area. Backed by a quartet, Bender performs 15 numbers: Alfie, title tune, So Nice (Summer Samba), Cherokee, O Barquinho, If I Should Lose You, My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Time After Time, Lullaby of Birdland, You've Changed, Laura, a medley of Poinciana and Ivan Lins's Madalena, and two original songs, Credit Card Blues and Shimmeshwabble. Liner notes by Will Friedwald, NOW $6.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Louise Rogers and Rich Strong, BASS-ICALLY SPEAKING
2004 bass-and-voice CD by jazz singer Louise Rogers and her husband, bassist Rich Strong. Active on the New York music scene, Rogers performs as a soloist, in a duo with Strong, and in Manhattan's Cornerstone Chorale; teaches voice and music education to young people; runs multiple children's choirs; and has released four albums to date.
On this, her debut CD, she and Strong perform 10 scrupulously annotated tunes: Shenandoah, title tune ("based on the Singers Unlimited arrangement by Gene Puerling and Les Hooper"), Willow Weep for Me Twisted ("inspired by Annie Ross"), Dat Dere, Autumn Leaves ("based and arranged around the great solo by Bill Evans"), I Thought About You, Nana (by Manuel de Falla, "inspired by the Christopher Parkening and Kathleen Battle adaptation"), Angel in the House, and Peace on Earth ("based on the arrangement by Rachelle Ferrell"), $8.99
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Jennifer Heaney, YOU AND I
1996 debut CD by this excellent New York-based singer, backed by an ensemble featuring Christopher Marlowe on piano and Jay Leonhart on bass.
Dave Nathan writes in the All Music Guide: "Possessing a clear, articulate soprano voice, Jennifer Heaney is still another of the crop of younger singers perfectly comfortable with taking on the challenge of cutting a session which has an assortment of different types of music, from blues to swing to gospel. Some renditions border on classical. She performs some of these songs quite differently than one ordinarily hears them. Too often, this effort to be different can quickly become cloying and distract the listener by making the songs too unrecognizable or distorted. Not here. The interpretations are imaginative, fresh, and interesting.....No matter what tempo or what type of song, everything on this album is sung and played with passion and emotion."
12 songs: So Many Stars, How Are Things in Glocca Morra?, You and I, How Did He Look? / He Was Too Good to Me, Cry Me a River, Fly Me to the Moon, a medley of Looking for the Right One (by Dave Grusin and the Bergmans) and It Might Be You, Dr. Feelgood, Goody Goody, Accentuate the Positive, David Friedman's We Live on Borrowed Time, more, $7.99
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David Benoit, FULL CIRCLE
David Benoit, HEROES
Special price on this set of two CDs by this popular and prolific contemporary jazz pianist. (These albums represent the 31st and 32nd of his 34 albums to date!)
FULL CIRCLE (2005) features support from musicians like Jeff Lorber, Oscar Castro-Neves, and Brian Bromberg on Jobim's Agua de Beber and nine original tunes (two co-written with Lorber): Katrina's Little Bear, Neat with a Twist, Monster in the Attic, Six PM, Beat Street, First Day of School, Cafe Rio, Yusuke the Ghost, and Chasing the Tides.
On HEROES (2008), Benoit pays tribute to his many influences, from Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver and Dave Brubeck to Elton John, The Doors, and The Beatles. Heading up a quartet, he performs 11 songs, incl. She's Leaving Home, Light My Fire, Blue Rondo à la Turk, Your Song, Horace Silver's Song for My Father, the obscure You Look Good to Me (by Billy Rose and Walter Donaldson), Never Can Say Goodbye, Waltz for Debby, Dave Grusin's Mountain Dance, the self-penned A Twisted Little Étude ("my heartfelt tribute to my friend and mentor, Dave Brubeck"), more. Set of 2 CDs NOW $3.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Peggy Lee, FEVER
Subtitled THE ORIGINAL HIT SINGLE, this out of print 1992 import 4-track EP will be of great interest to the Peggy Lee completist. Released to capitalize on the renewed popularity of Lee's classic cover of Little Willie John's r&b hit, this CD, issued by EMI-UK and strangely packaged with generic artwork (seen here), also features three more of Lee's most popular Capitol sides—I'm a Woman, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, and Pass Me By. Import, $3.99
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Nancy Marano, SURE THING
Nancy Marano, YOU'RE NEARER
Special price on this set of two CDs by this acclaimed jazz singer, two dozen songs, impeccably chosen and beautifully sung.
On SURE THING (2000), now out of print, Marano is backed by a quartet featuring Grady Tate on drums and Mike Melvoin on piano. 13 songs: The Night We Called it a Day, title tune (an obscure song by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin), My One and Only Love, The Bad and the Beautiful (by David Raksin and Dory Previn), So in Love, In April (by Bill Evans, with a lyric by Roger Schore), Never Let Me Go / Goodbye, Heart’s Desire (by Dave Frishberg and Alan Broadbent), April in Paris, Gus Kahn's Thanks a Million, The Man I Love, and two self-penned tunes—Easier to Say Goodbye and Very Close to Love (the latter co-written with Duncan Lamont)
2004's YOU'RE NEARER was recorded in Holland with a Dutch sextet. 12 tunes, highlighted by little-heard songs by Billy Strayhorn (Bittersweet), Dave Brubeck (Summer Song), Alec Wilder (Moon and Sand), and Johnny Mercer and Elmer Bernstein (Love with the Proper Stranger, the theme from the 1963 film). Plus Detour Ahead, title tune, Look for the Silver Lining, The Shining Sea (by Johnny Mandel & Peggy Lee), Nice Work if You Can Get It, Bobby Troup's The Meaning of the Blues, You've Changed / The Masquerade is Over, and Jobim's Portrait (Zingaro). Set of 2 CDs only $11.99
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Dave Frishberg, GETTING SOME FUN OUT OF LIFE
Out of print edition of Dave Frishberg's 1997 album on the Concord Jazz label. This release was a genuine departure for Frishberg, not only because it contained only one Frishberg original, but because it is primarily an instrumental album, with only three vocals (Lotus Blossom, Old Man Harlem and Frishberg's own Dear Bix).
Frishberg leads a quintet in paying homage to some of the musicians he's admired, many of whom influenced his own musical style: Fats Waller (Alligator Crawl), Jelly Roll Morton (King Porter Stomp), Duke Ellington (Stevedore Stomp), Billy Strayhorn (Violet Blue), Bix Beiderbecke (In a Mist), Paul Whiteman (Wonderful One), Don Redman (Save it, Pretty Mama), Benny Goodman (I Would Do Anything for You), and Billie Holiday (Getting Some Fun Out of Life), NOW $4.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Virginia O'Brien, Angela Lansbury, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, et al. [Original Soundtrack], TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY
Out of print 1992 CD, the most complete issue of this famous MGM soundtrack—26 tracks with a total running time of over 56 min.
A typically sanitized Hollywood '40s biopic of Jerome Kern, CLOUDS nonetheless featured classic performances by Virginia O'Brien (A Fine Romance, Life Upon the Wicked Stage), Angela Lansbury (How'd You Like to Spoon With Me?), Judy Garland (Look for the Silver Lining, Who?), Lena Horne (Why Was I Born?, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man), and June Allyson (Leave it To Jane / Cleopatterer).
Plus songs by Dinah Shore (The Last Time I Saw Paris, They Didn't Believe Me), Kathryn Grayson (Long Ago and Far Away), Tony Martin (All the Things You Are, Where's the Mate for Me? and, with Grayson, Make Believe), Lucille Bremer (dubbed by Trudy Erwin) (I Won't Dance, The Land Where Good Songs Go, One More Dance), Lee and Lyn Wilde (She Didn't Say Yes), more, $8.99
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Julie Wilson, Arthur Siegel, Sandy Stewart, et al., BEN BAGLEY'S COLE PORTER REVISITED, VOL. V
1990 CD, part of the legendary Ben Bagley's superb and exhaustive series of theater recordings, now completely out of print on CD.
The above, plus Tommy Tune and Ann Hampton Callaway, perform 27 ultra-rare Cole Porter songs (seven of them newly recorded bonus tracks for this CD). A smattering of these are familiar to us: Rap Tap on Wood, introduced by Eleanor Powell in BORN TO DANCE; Look What I Found, the title tune of Daryl Sherman's 1996 album; Please Don't Monkey with Broadway, popularized by Fred Astaire; Something to Shout About (the title song of the 1943 Don Ameche-Janet Blair movie); and Weren't We Fools?, previously covered by artists like Jeri Southern, Barbara Lea, and Bobby Short.
But most of these are far more obscure, not even surfacing in the acts of our most eclectic, dedicated cabaret singers. These include party songs, cut (or just neglected) numbers from hit shows, and tunes from various forgotten theatrical and cinematic endeavors, including unproduced movies (MISSISSIPPI BELLE), flop shows (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS), and obscure British movie musicals (BREAK THE NEWS). 22 more songs: Love Me—Love My Pekingese, Love 'Em and Leave 'Em, There's a Fan, They Ain't Done Right by Our Nell, When My Baby Goes to Town, I've Got Some Unfinished Business with You / Revenge, Please Don't Make Me Be Good, Under the Dress, Blue Hours, It All Belongs to You, When Love Comes Your Way, Should I Tell You I Love You?, Between You and Me, You've Got Something, Who but You?, When a Woman's in Love, Close, That's Why I Love You, I Gaze in Your Eyes, What Is That Tune?, So Near and Yet So Far, and That's What You Mean to Me, $15.99
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Ann Hampton Callaway, 5 CDs
Special price on this set of five CDs by this acclaimed jazz and cabaret singer and songwriter, whose lush vocals have been showcased on albums recorded for various labels including (in the case of those listed below) DRG, Telarc and Shanachie.
BRING BACK ROMANCE (1994)—Backed by an ensemble that includes Richard Rodney Bennett, Bill Charlap, Jay Leonhart, and Lee Musiker, Callaway performs 14 numbers: How Long Has This Been Going On?, An Affair to Remember, My One and Only Love, Out of This World, A Quiet Thing, There Will Never Be Another You, You Go To My Head, It Could Happen to You, My Shining Hour / I'll Be Seeing You, and five original tunes, incl. You Can't Rush Spring, title tune, and Where Does Love Go?;
EASY LIVING (1999)—Backed by an ensemble that includes Kenny Barron, Bill Charlap, and Benny Green, and featuring guest appearances by Wynton Marsalis and Nelson Rangell, Callaway sings The Very Thought of You, title tune, Easy to Love, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Skylark, You Don't Know What Love Is, In a Sentimental Mood, It Had to Be You, Bluesette, Come Rain or Come Shine, All of You, 'Round Midnight, and the self-penned Come Take My Hand—13 in all;
SIGNATURE (2002)—Duets with Freddy Cole (For All We Know) and The New York Voices (Route 66, Twisted) highlight this tribute to the great American pop and jazz singers, like Ella, Nat, Louis, Billie, Peggy, Anita, Frank, Mel, Sarah, Annie Ross, and Betty Carter. The CD also boasts a backing ensemble led by Kenny Barron on piano and featuring guests Wynton Marsalis on trumpet and Frank Wess on alto sax. Nine more songs: Tenderly, Mr. Paganini, The Best is Yet to Come, You Turned the Tables on Me, Is That All There Is?, Pick Yourself Up, Good Morning Heartache, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, and A Kiss to Build a Dream On;
SLOW (2004)—Guest Carole King supplies supporting vocals on Tonight You're All Mine, a song she penned with Callaway, and Callaway's sister Liz duets with her on Van Morrison's Moondance. Backed by ensembles that include guests Randy Brecker on flugelhorn and Jay Leonhart on bass, Callaway performs 10 more songs arranged by the likes of Richard Rodney Bennett, Fred Hersch, and Bill Mays: Someone to Light Up My Life, Love Dance (by Ivan Lins), Never Let Me Go, You Belong to Me, Will You Love Me Tomorrow?, and five original tunes, incl. I've Dreamed of You (a hit for Barbra Streisand), title tune, Lullaby in Blue, and Never Really Mine to Lose (which has been recorded by singers like David Campbell and Brian Lane Green);
BLUES IN THE NIGHT (2006)—12 songs arranged by Bill Mays, Matt Catingub, Tommy Newsom, and others: Willow Weep for Me, title tune, The Glory of Love, It's All Right with Me, Stormy Weather / When the Sun Comes Out, No One Is Alone, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, Lover Come Back to Me, and three self-penned tunes: The I'm-Too-White-to-Sing-the-Blues Blues, Hip to Be Happy, and Swingin' Away the Blues.
Set of 5 CDs NOW $21.99 [WAS $24.99]
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LM Pagano, AZALEA
2001 CD by this LA-based jazz singer, who may be best known in Hollywood as an interior designer to the stars. According to the LA Times: "As a teenager, Pagano made shirts out of antique fabric for Bob Dylan....In her 20s, she worked as a chef for Steven Spielberg. Later, when she was Nicolas Cage's assistant, the actor....asked her to decorate a beach house for him in Malibu." She subsequently designed numerous homes and even yachts for clients like Cage and Johnny Depp.
Meanwhile, she has also pursued a career in jazz, performing at such clubs as The Cinegrill and The Gardenia Room. On this, the first of her two CDs, Pagano is backed by a quartet on 11 songs: When in Rome, Duke Ellington's title tune, Until I Met You (Corner Pocket), Walkin' My Baby Back Home, Bob Dorough's Love Came on Stealthy Fingers, This Can't Be Love, Down With Love, It's Love (from WONDERFUL TOWN), Imagination, Don't Explain, and Touch Her Soft Lips and Part (a lyric by Pagano set to a William Walton theme from the film HENRY V), $6.99
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Ronan Tynan, RONAN
2005 CD by this internationally popular Irish tenor, a collection of inspirational songs, both secular and traditional—old favorites, pop covers, and new tunes.
Backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with choral backing by the Metro Voices, Tynan offers the premiere—and apparently only—recording of songs by Desmond Child (The Eyes of Love) and Richard Marx (Ready to Fly), plus 12 more, incl. Man of la Mancha, Mansions of the Lord, Amazing Grace / Going Home, La Roca Fria del Calvario, The Old Man, From a Distance, Carry Me Home, Passing Through, How Great Thou Art, Come in from the Rain (not the Melissa Manchester song), The Light Inside of You, more, Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $4.99
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Shirley Horn, I REMEMBER MILES
Her 1998 tribute to her mentor Miles Davis. Backed by an ensemble that include Ron Carter and Toots Thielemans, Hern performs nine songs: My Man's Gone Now, I Fall In Love Too Easily, This Hotel (Johnny Keating's theme from the movie HOTEL), I Got Plenty O' Nuttin', Summertime, Basin Street Blues, Blue In Green (by Miles Davis and Bill Evans, with lyrics by Al Jarreau), My Funny Valentine, and Baby, Won't You Please Come Home, $7.99
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Tom Lellis, DOUBLE ENTENDRE
Tom Lellis, TAKEN TO HEART
Special price on this set of two CDs by this male jazz singer (and pianist), whose place in the linage of contemporary male jazz singers is, chronologically and stylistically, somewhere between Mark Murphy and Kurt Elling, though he is hardly as well-known as either.
Still, it is a sign of his stature that, on DOUBLE ENTENDRE, his 1991 sophomore album, he is accompanied by Jack DeJohnette on drums, Eddie Gomez on bass, and Allen Farnham on keyboards (when Lellis himself is not accompanying himself). Lellis sings On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, I Have Dreamed, Invitation, Show Me, two jazz instrumentals which he has outfitted with lyrics (Chick Corea's What Was and Herbie Hancock's Tell Me a Bedtime Story), and four self-penned tunes, incl. Eerie Autumn, Never Had a Love (Like This Before), and L.A. Nights.
TAKEN TO HEART is Lellis’s sole album for the Concord Jazz label, released in 1993. Again supported by a combo led by Allen Farnham on piano, Lellis sings 11 songs: I'm Late / Alice in Wonderland / You Can Fly, My One and Only Love, It Never Entered My Mind, Nobody Does It Better, and several self-penned jazz tunes—Milton's Moment, title tune, Wistful Thinking, and Love Is. Lellis has also supplied lyrics to tunes by Dave Brubeck (Dukedom, a tribute to Ellington), jazz guitarist Toninho Horta (Mountain Flight), who guests on the album, and Farnham (It's Not Where You Think It Is). Set of 2 CDs only $11.99
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Dinah Washington, THE FATS WALLER SONGBOOK
CD of this classic 1957 album—amazingly, out of print in every edition. (That's the original album cover pictured at right.) Washington recorded for Mercury Records and was afforded nothing less than the very finest sidemen in jazz. In this case that meant support from the likes of Charlie Shavers, Benny Golson, Melba Liston, Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen, Frank Wess, and Hal McKusick.
12 songs: Jitterbug Waltz, Keepin' Out of Mischief Now, Black and Blue, Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat, Ain'tcha Glad, Christopher Columbus, Everybody Loves My Baby,
I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling, Squeeze Me, 'T'aint Nobody's Bizness if I Do, Honeysuckle Rose, and Ain't Misbehavin'. Liner notes by Gary Giddins, $7.99
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Lauren Hooker, LIFE OF THE MUSIC
2010 CD by this singer who has been active on the New York jazz scene since the early 80's, playing jazz clubs and festivals and studying music with the likes of Sheila Jordan and Kenny Barron. Hooker performs familiar songs like Love Me or Leave Me, Some Other Time, Spring Is Here, and Joni Mitchell's Song to a Seagull. But for the most part, on this, her sophomore effort, the focus is on her original tunes, seven of them, incl. I Am Doing Very Well, Countin' on the Blues, I Lied, and If That's What You Feel—11 tracks in all. Liner notes by noted jazz bassist Rufus Reid, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Patti Page, THE PATTI PAGE COLLECTION
Subtitled THE MERCURY YEARS, VOLUME 1, this out of print 1991 compilation was the first major-label collection of hits by "The Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page." Page's sweet, sultry, Southern style captivated the public and helped her sell over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist of the 1950s.
This collection includes the first 20 of her many chart hits, from 1948-1952: Tennessee Waltz, Would I Love You, I Went to Your Wedding, Detour, Once in a While, You Belong to Me, Mister and Mississippi, Mockin' Bird Hill, Conquest, Why Don't You Believe Me?, With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming, Confess, Back in Your Own Backyard, I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine, Whispering Winds, Down the Trail of Achin' Hearts, And So to Sleep Again, Come What May, All My Love, and Evertrue Evermore, $6.99
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Jacintha, 4 CDs
Special price on this set of four CDs by this excellent and sultry jazz singer from Singapore, née Jacintha Abisheganaden (try saying that three times fast), who has gained popularity internationally with the release of half a dozen jazz CDs in English (flawless English, it's worth noting).
HERE'S TO BEN—Subtitled A VOCAL TRIBUTE TO BEN WEBSTER, this 1998 CD was the first to bring Jacintha to attention stateside. Backed by a quartet, she sings nine songs: Pennies from Heaven, Danny Boy, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Stardust, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Love Is Here to Stay, Tenderly, Georgia on My Mind, and Over the Rainbow;
AUTUMN LEAVES—Subtitled THE SONGS OF JOHNNY MERCER, this 1999 CD features backing by an ensemble that includes Joe LaBarbera (drums), Teddy Edwards (tenor sax), and Artie Butler (Hammond organ). 11 songs: Days of Wine and Roses, title tune, I Remember You, Trav’lin’ Light, Something’s Gotta Give, Moon River, Here’s to Life, And the Angels Sing, Skylark, One for My Baby, and Midnight Sun;
LUSH LIFE—On this 2001 CD, Jacintha is backed by an orchestra featuring LaBarbera on drums, Dmitri Matheny on flugelhorn, and Bill Cunliffe (who also arranged the dozen strings) on piano. 10 standards: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, title tune, Manhã de Carnaval, The Shadow of Your Smile, When The World Was Young, September Song, Harlem Nocturne, Black Coffee, Summertime, and Smile;
THE GIRL FROM BOSSA NOVA—Special audiophile edition (Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio CD, playable on all CD players) of her 2004 Brazilian album, 10 songs: Once I Loved, Waters of March, Luiz Bonfá's O Ganso, So Danco Samba, How Insensitive, So Nice, Desafinado, Corcovado, Wave, and Dindi. [This audiophile CD retails new at $22.99!]
Set of 4 CDs only $34.99 (It would cost $57 to purchase used copies of these four volumes individually on Amazon!!)
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Barbara Sfraga, OH, WHAT A THRILL
Barbara Sfraga, UNDER THE MOON
Special price on this set of two CDs by this respected, New York-based contemporary jazz vocalist, one of them AUTOGRAPHED and featuring a rare guest vocal by Mark Murphy.
On OH, WHAT A THRILL, her 1998 debut CD, Sfraga duets with Murphy on his own I'll Call You (not available on any other CD), and guest Fred Hersch provides solo piano accompaniment on three tracks—Meredith D'Ambrosio's Miss Harper Goes Bizarre, I Didn't Know What Time it Was, and Song for My Mother (written by Sfraga). Plus Angel Eyes, Invitation, Good Morning Heartache, Great Balls of Fire, and three original tunes, incl. Who's to Blame? and Livin' the Life of Freedom.
On UNDER THE MOON, her 2003 sophomore effort, Sfraga sings It Might as Well Be Spring, I've Grown Accustomed to His Face, Prelude to a Kiss, Bob Dylan's Every Grain of Sand, Stardust, Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, You've Changed, Angela Bofill's Under the Moon and Over the Sky, and the self-penned Never Walk Away. Set of 2 CDs only $7.99
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ART BLAKEY'S JAZZ MESSENGERS WITH THELONIOUS MONK
Original CD issue of this classic jazz album, released on the Atlantic label in 1958. Drummer Blakey's Jazz Messengers consisted of Johnny Griffin on tenor sax, Bill Hardman on trumpet, and Spanky DeBrest on bass. With Monk on piano, they perform Griffin's Purple Shades and five of Monk's works: Rhythm-A-Ning, Blue Monk, In Walked Bud, Evidence, and I Mean You—a total of six tracks with a running time of over 44 min., $5.99
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Anne Ducros, CLOSE YOUR EYES
Anne Ducros, PIANO, PIANO
Special price on this set of two import CDs, from 2003 and 2006 respectively, by this French jazz singer, who sings mostly in English.
CLOSE YOUR EYES, with backing by a trio and guest Toots Thielemans, is highlighted by a rarely heard tune by Michel Legrand, Faded Roses (Noelle's Theme). Plus Taking a Chance on Love (her version was used in a popular Chanel perfume commercial), title tune, Serge Gainsbourg's L'eau à la bouche, You've Got a Friend, The Island (by Ivan Lins), Lennon & McCartney's Blackbird, Clopin clopan, Stevie Wonder's Lately, Christine McVie's Song Bird, and the self-penned In Your Eyes—11 in all.
On PIANO, PIANO, guests Chick Corea and Jacky Terrasson accompany Ducros on piano on five tracks. 12 songs: My Foolish Heart, Never Let Me Go, Alec Wilder's Moon and Sand, You Go to My Head, Les feuilles mortes, Miles Davis's Four, Just in Time, I Thought About You, Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 (a wordless vocal), God Bless the Child, Body and Soul, and John Coltrane's Naima. Set of 2 import CDs only $14.99
Original London Cast, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
CD of the 1998 West End production of this musical version of the smash movie, adapted for the stage 20 years later by Nan Knighton (who wrote book and lyrics for Frank Wildhorn's SCARLET PIMPERNEL). Like the film, the musical features hit songs—a dozen of them—nearly all of them written by The Bee Gees.
The show, budgeted at £4 million, opened at the London Palladium and ran for nearly two years, receiving Olivier Award nominations for Best New Musical and for lead Adam Garcia. (Garcia, an Australian actor and dancer, has since gone on to make a career in British theater and television, and in movies like CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN.) Garcia's version of Night Fever reached #15 in the UK singles chart. (That's the single pictured here and, for those who care about such things, a quick Google search reveals dozens more photos of this whistle bait, including his "artistic" black and white nudes.) A Broadway production of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER opened in 1999 and ran for 501 performances, but no recording of the Broadway cast recording was ever made.
11 more songs: Stayin' Alive, Jive Talkin', You Should Be Dancing, How Deep Is Your Love, If I Can't Have You, Disco Inferno, Boogie Shoes, What Kind of Fool, Tragedy, Immortality, and It's My Neighborhood. Booklet incl. complete lyrics and color productions photos, NOW $5.99 [WAS $6.99]
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Anne Phillips, BORN TO BE BLUE
2000 CD of this superb but relatively obscure jazz singer's rare 1959 album, which Rex Reed called "exquisite...a classic collection that no serious music lover should be without."
After a stint as a backup singer on THE PERRY COMO SHOW, Phillips recorded BORN TO BE BLUE for the Roulette label, her only solo recording until the release of a self-produced album 40 years later, in 2000. In the intervening years, Phillips settled in New York, where she became active in every aspect of music—performing, recording, arranging, composing, conducting, producing, and teaching. She has written commercial jingles (including one for Pepsi that was performed by Martha & the Vandellas and The Four Tops), numerous musicals (e.g., BRUSH ARBOR REVIVAL, DAMN EVERYTHING BUT THE CIRCUS), and even religious music, including an Easter Mass (SING, FOR THE LORD HAS RISEN) and a popular jazz nativity (BENDING TOWARDS THE LIGHT...A JAZZ NATIVITY) that was released on CD in 1997 and has become a seasonal tradition in New York. Phillips has also founded and conducted jazz choirs for adults and children, and has performed at venues from The Triad in New York to The Jazz Bakery in L.A., often with her husband, saxophonist Bob Kindred (for whom she has arranged and produced CDs). Since 2000 she has released three CDs—two solo albums of her own songs and the CD reissue of NOEL NOEL, a 1960 album by the Anne Phillips Singers.
On BORN TO BE BLUE, Phillips is backed by a string orchestra and by jazz luminaries like Milt Hinton, Mundell Lowe, George Duvivier, Osie Johnson, and Doc Severinsen. As its title implies, this is a collection of classic torch songs: Lonelyville, title tune, I've Got to Pass Your House to Get to My House, There Will Never Be Another You, You Don't Know What Love Is, Mel Tormé's A Stranger in Town, I Don't Want to Walk Without You, For Heaven's Sake, When Sunny Gets Blue, It Could Happen to You, Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week, and Easy Street, $11.99
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Kelly Wright, NO SECRET ANYMORE
2003 debut CD by this vibrant, Seattle-based performer. The publicity materials describe NO SECRET ANYMORE as "a delightful arrangement of big band swing and cool jazz driven by Kelly Wright's powerful vocals." And, indeed, Wright offers a diverse selection of material, highlighted by the rarely heard Song of the Old Mill by David Mamet (from the 2000 movie STATE AND MAIN, where it was sung by Patti LuPone) and by offbeat selections like Viva Las Vegas and Everybody Eats When They Come to My House, the old Cab Calloway hit.
Nine more songs: Old Cape Cod, One Note Samba, Randy Newman's I Don't Want to Hear it Anymore, Secret Love, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Randy Weston's Where (with lyrics by Jon Hendricks), Peel Me a Grape, Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, and a hidden bonus track, Beth (the Kiss hit), $7.99
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Cynthia Crane, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of three CDs—one of them AUTOGRAPHED—by this veteran New York cabaret performer. Crane has sterling taste both in material and in accompanists. She enjoyed a long working relationship with the great Mike Renzi, who heads the stellar trio, including Grady Tate and Jay Leonhart, that provides her musical support on each of these albums (supplemented at times by winds, guitar, and horns).
SMOKY BAR SONGS FOR THE NO-SMOKING SECTION (1994)—15 saloon songs and ballads steeped in "booze, blues & smoke" (according to the cover), highlighted by rarely heard songs by Lew Spence (Out of Fashion, A Wet Night and a Dry Martini) and Jule Styne and Harold Adamson (Who Took Me Home Last Night?). Plus I Wonder What Became of Me, Drinking Again, I Never Know When to Say When / I Fall in Love Too Easily, Scotch & Soda, Something Cool, I Keep Going Back to Joe's, Angel Eyes, Smoke Rings / Deep in a Dream, Fumée aux Yeux (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, sung in French), two songs by Carroll Coates (No One Ever Tells You, Here's Looking at You), and Baby, Baby All the Time;
BLUE RENDEZVOUS (1995)—Subtitled BITTERSWEET MIDNIGHT-BLUE SONGS, this CD—AUTOGRAPHED—features 14 songs, incl. Azure-té, I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life, Hey Look, No Cryin' (a rarely heard tune by Jule Styne and Susan Birkenhead), If You Could See Me Now, You Don't Know What Love Is, Blue Champagne, The Night We Called it a Day, Dave Frishberg’s You Would Rather Have the Blues, Music Maestro Please, Born to Be Blue, Ill Wind, Serenade in Blue, I Don't Want to Cry Anymore, more;
CYNTHIA’S IN LOVE (1997)—15 songs, incl. May I Come In?, Changing My Tune, I Just Found Out About Love, Small Day Tomorrow, Summer Samba, I'm in Love Again (by Peggy Lee and Cy Coleman), You're My Thrill, Don't Ever Leave Me, Day Dream, Please Be Kind, Nobody Does it Better, and lesser-heard tunes by Dorothy Parker (How Am I to Know?) and Jimmy Van Heusen (How Are You Fixed for Love? and It's Always You, written with Sammy Cahn and Johnny Burke, respectively), more.
Set of 3 CDs NOW $11.99 [WAS $14.99]
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Helen Reddy, CENTER STAGE
Her out of print 1998 CD of songs from the musical theater. Reddy has starred in numerous stage productions of shows like THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, CALL ME MADAM, ANYTHING GOES, and BLOOD BROTHERS, in London, on Broadway, and throughout the U.S., and she performs songs from each of those shows here.
CENTER STAGE includes rarely heard numbers from DROOD (The Writing's on the Wall), Kurt Weill's STREET SCENE (A Boy Like You), THE LIFE (My Friend), and THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG (I Still Believe in Love). Plus Blow, Gabriel, Blow, You're Just in Love (duet with Richard Hillman), Love Look Away, Knowing When to Leave, Speak Low, The Party's Over, Fifty Percent, With Every Breath I Take, Surrender (from SUNSET BOULEVARD), and Tell Me it's Not True (from BLOOD BROTHERS), $6.99
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Jo Stafford, Frankie Laine, Doris Day, et al., FRANKIE LAINE AND FRIENDS
Out of print CD—14 duets by Frankie Laine with his Columbia labelmates, incl. seven with Jo Stafford alone: Hambone, Hey Good Lookin', Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Floating Down to Cotton Town, Basin Street Blues, High Society, and In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening.
Plus pairings with Doris Day (How Lovely Cooks the Meat, Sugarbush), The Four Lads (Ain't It a Pity and a Shame, Juba-Juba-Jubilee, I Heard Angels Singing, and Rain, Rain, Rain), and Johnnie Ray (Up Above My Head), $4.99
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Carol Kidd, THAT’S ME
1995 import by this superb and subtle jazz singer from the UK, far and away one of the finest singers performing today.
14 tracks: When the World Was Young, title tune, I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket, This Love of Mine, This Bitter Earth, Night and Day, I Can't Get Started, 'Round Midnight, Let Me Sing and I'm Happy, Down and Out Blues, Send in the Clowns, Little White Lies, a Judy Garland medley (I'm Always Chasing Rainbows / Over the Rainbow / The Trolley Song), more. Import, $10.99
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Benjamin Sears & Bradford Connor, NOËL & COLE
This popular Boston singer-pianist duo continues their ongoing exploration of lost American popular song with a collection of songs by Coward and Porter, this time with the assistance of soprano Valerie Anastasio and pianist Tim Harbold, with whom they've formed an occasional performing quartet, The Smart Set.
There is a rare song each by Porter (Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down) and Coward (Together with Music), but mostly these are familiar, popular tunes. Songs include Red, Hot and Blue, A Room with a View, World Weary, The Physician, Begin the Beguine, Nina, Someday I'll FInd You, Mrs. Worthington, Let's Do It, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, If Love Were All, We Were Dancing, Can-Can, Anything Goes, I'm Throwing a Ball Tonight / I've Been to a Marvelous Party / Well Did You Evah?, and more—19 tracks in all, $14.99
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To Be Two, EVERYTHING
Out of print 2000 import by this German duo—respected jazz singer Christiane Weber (singing in English) and guitarist Eddie Nünning. 14 songs: On a Clear Day, Moondance, Leonard Cohen’s Song of Bernadette, Lullaby of Birdland, My Favorite Things, Grapefruit Moon (by Tom Waits), Route 66, Dindi, Everything (by Rupert Holmes and Paul Williams, from A STAR IS BORN), I Can't Make You Love Me, You've Walked That Way Before, Led Zeppelin’s Going to California, and two instrumentals by Nünning. Import, $10.99
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Adi Braun, THE RULES OF THE GAME
2005 CD by this Canadian-born jazz singer. Backed by a quartet, Braun performs 13 songs, incl. You Do Something to Me, Hymne à l’amour, Lonely House (by Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes), Love Me or Leave Me, Ann Hampton Callaway's You Can’t Rush Spring, I Got it Bad and That Ain’t Good, Gordon Lightfoot’s Beautiful, Honeysuckle Rose, and several songs by Canadian songwriters Don & Jeff Breithaupt and Shirley Eikhard, lauded in the liner notes as, respectively, "the George and Ira Gershwin of our time" and "one of Canada's greatest lving singer-songwriters." Import, NOW $6.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Deborah Cox, DESTINATION MOON
2007 CD, a tribute to Dinah Washington, by this platinum-selling Canadian r&b singer.
Cox was signed to Arista Records in 1995. Her second album, 1998's ONE WISH, went platinum, thanks to the song Nobody's Supposed to Be Here, which was #1 on the Billboard r&b charts for 14 weeks and #2 on the Hot 100 for eight weeks. Cox also recorded songs for several soundtracks, including HOTEL RWANDA and DR. DOLITTLE 2. In 2004 she made her Broadway debut in the musical AIDA, and in 2008 she took part in Cyndi Lauper's True Colors tour.
Here, backed by a full orchestra, Cox performs a dozen songs associated with her idol, "The Queen." ("She chose me to be the vessel," Cox states in the liner notes.) Songs: This Bitter Earth, title tune, September in the Rain, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, New Blowtop Blues, What a Difference a Day Made, Misery, Squeeze Me, Blue Skies, Look to the Rainbow, I Don't Hurt Anymore, and Baby, You Got What it Takes, $6.99
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Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller, et al. [Original Soundtrack], LOVELY TO LOOK AT
Out of print original 1991 issue of the soundtrack to this 1952 MGM adaptation of Jerome Kern's ROBERTA. Miller sings I'll Be Hard to Handle; co-stars Gower Champion and Red Skelton join Keel on two numbers (Opening Night, Lafayette); and Gower and wife Marge sing and dance to I Won't Dance.
The balance of the songs are rendered by Keel and Grayson: Yesterdays, the title tune, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, You're Devastating, The Most Exciting Night, and The Touch of Your Hand. Plus orchestral music (incl. the famous 13-min. Fashion Show Sequence) and a routine by Red Skelton—15 tracks in all, $7.99
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The Williamson Brothers, The Three Little Dickens, TRIBUTE
This is a promotional copy of a 1998 CD that's extremely hard to find, and may not even have ever been released.
Subtitled THE REUNION SESSIONS, the CD seems to be both a tribute to Elvis Presley and a reunion of sorts for these four musician brothers, though it is actually highlighted by an incredibly rare bonus track—a version of Pass That Peace Pipe taken from a 1950 TV broadcast and sung by The Three Little Dickens, an ultra-obscure female vocal trio that made "USO, radio and television appearances" between 1945-1955 but doesn't seem to have ever made any recordings—and consisted of the Williamsons's mother Margie and two aunts.
Literally no information about the Williamson Brothers can be found on the internet. We only know (from the sketchy liner notes) that this tribute was recorded in northern California, and we know, too, that they perform respectable covers of the Traveling Wilburys song Rattled ("Never performed by Elvis—but he sure would've liked it") along with 10 Elvis classics: Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up, Little Sister, It's Now or Never, Hound Dog, Teddy Bear, Don't Be Cruel, Suspicious Minds, That's All Right Mama, and Steamroller, NOW $7.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Nancy King, Steve Wolfe's Jazz Cruisers, FIRST DATE
Long out of print 2000 CD reissue of the famed collabortion between saxophonist Wolfe and acclaimed jazz singer Nancy King from 1978, a full 13 years before the release of King's first solo album under her own name. (That's the original album cover pictured at right.)
King's agile and adventurous jazz style is already in place on the six songs on which she supplies vocals: If I Should Lose You, You Stepped Out of a Dream, Get Out of Town, Mine, Today You Are Born in My Eyes, and Scrapple from the Honeysuckle (a mash-up of Scrapple from the Apple and Honeysuckle Rose). Plus three instrumentals (Use Thy Potion Wisely, A Sound of Joy in the Midst of Woe, and Morning of the Revolution), $11.99
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Julie Kelly, STORIES TO TELL
Julie Kelly, KELLY SINGS CHRISTY: THOU SWELL
Special price on this set of two CDs by this respected LA-based jazz singer.
On STORIES TO TELL (1994), backed by an ensemble led by Bill Cunliffe on piano and featuring Joe LaBarbera on drums, Kelly performs 11 songs: When in Rome, Tomorrow (yes, that Tomorrow!), My Man's Gone Now, Blossom Dearie's Inside a Silent Tear, A Sleepin' Bee, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Long Ago and Far Away, Only Trust Your Heart (by Sammy Cahn and Benny Carter), Royal Garden Blues, The Day it Rained, and Charlie Parker's Billie's Bounce.
THOU SWELL is Kelly’s 2002 tribute to the great June Christy, featuring support from a combo that includes Stacy Rowles on trumpet and flugelhorn, Pete Christlieb on sax and flute and, on piano, Tom Garvin (who died of cancer only two weeks ago, at age 67). 11 songs: Something Cool, title tune, Gone for the Day, It Might as Well Be Spring, There's No You, Lazy Afternoon, Midnight Sun, Lonely House, It's So Peaceful in the Country, It's a Most Unusual Day, and The Best Thing for You. Set of 2 CDs only $11.99
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Marsha Frazier Quintet, BLASÉ
1990 Jazz Heritage Society issue of the out of print 1988 CD by this Houston- based singer, pianist and flutist—and former member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington. Backed by a quartet, Frazier supplies vocals on four of the eight songs—Sophisticated Lady, You’re Blasé, It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing, and Everyday I Have the Blues. Instrumentals include Miles Davis’ All Blues, John Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk's Funk Underneath, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Joanie Pallatto, 6 CDs
Special price on this set of six CDs (three of them AUTOGRAPHED) by this popular Chicago-based jazz singer and songwriter—five of her eight solo CDs and one by her husband, pianist-composer Bradley Parker-Sparrow, on which Pallatto is the featured vocalist.
Pallatto began her professional career in the '70s, when she toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. She subsequently co-founded, with Parker-Sparrow, Southport Records, the prominent indie jazz label devoted to recording Chicago jazz artists, for whom she herself records when not performing at local venues and festivals.
WHO WROTE THIS SONG?—AUTOGRAPHED copy of this 1994 CD, featuring special guest Bob Dorough, who shares vocals on Along Came Betty (by Benny Golson and Jon Hendricks) and plays piano on his own Love Came on Stealthy Fingers. Singer (and Southport Recording artist) April Aloisio also duets with Pallatto on Paulo Jobim's Samba de Soho. Plus the 11-min. Suite for Dizzy (featuring Night in Tunisia and Gillespie's Con Alma), Betty Carter's Tight, Começar de Novo (Starting Over) by Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento's Nothing Will Be as it Was (Nada Sera Como Antes), a medley of the title tune (by jazz singer-songwriterJon Marable) and Prelude to a Kiss, and several original compositions by Parker-Sparrow (incl. Stare Ahead, and Love Should Not Be So Cold, the last co-written with Pallatto)—14 tracks in all;
TWO—AUTOGRAPHED copy of her 1997 duo CD with pianist Marshall Vente, who accompanies Pallatto on My Baby Just Cares for Me, I’ll Bet You Thought I’d Never Find You (by Jon Hendricks and Les McCann), Swinging on a Star, Carly Simon’s That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be, Light My Fire, Morning of the Carnival (Luiz Bonfá's Manhã de Carnaval, with lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.), Song from M*A*S*H, Fran Landesman’s Small Day Tomorrow, My Ship, Cantaloupe Island (by Mark Murphy and Herbie Hancock), Still Crazy After All These Years, Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments, As Time Goes By, The Lady Wants to Know (by Michael Franks), Déjà Vu (the Dionne Warwick hit), and the self-penned Nothin' Happened;
WORDS & MUSIC—AUTOGRAPHED copy of her 1999 CD. 15 songs, incl. Li'l Darlin', This Can't Be Love, Bob Dorough's Love (Webster's Dictionary), But Not for Me, The Lady Is a Tramp, Antonio (by Pallatto and Parker-Sparrow), 'S Wonderful, Baltimore Oriole, Jon Marable's New Blues, Desafinado, I Got Rhythm, Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa, Miles Davis's Somethin' Else (both with lyrics by Pallatto), more;
THE KING AND I—A rare song written by Lorez Alexandria and veteran Chicago blues pianist King Fleming highlights this 2000 collaboration with Fleming. 13 more songs, incl. Somebody Loves Me, You're Driving Me Crazy, Adios, A Beautiful Friendship, and a number of tunes by Fleming, like Bypass, Overt, and Pen Point, and several co-written with Pallatto—Moody, Opportunity for Love, Snow Storm, and Oooo, Those Blues;
IT'S NOT EASY—Her 2008 CD, a collection of ten of her own original jazz compositions, several written with Parker-Sparrow: A Love that Never Dies, Remember Me, Until I Touch the Ground, Get to Heaven, 24 Years Today, It's Not Easy, Lonely Train, Violets Are Blue, Happy Life, and Tickle Tickle;
WE ARE NOT MACHINES—Pallatto supplies 13 vocals on this 24-track CD of works by Parker-Sparrow, with other vocals by the composer, and several instrumentals. According to the publicity materials, "The CD contains film score excerpts from WATCH, a John Covert film. Deeply rooted in improvisation, Joanie’s vocals are a sexy tour de force! Sparrow’s acoustic piano combines with the keyboard machines–a compelling battle!" Songs incl. Cut off the Head of Eminem and Stick it Up His Butt (!!), title tune, Before the Voice, Bleak, Watch Me, The President's Prelude, Don't Pity the Mirror, Tell Me, Before the Time, Lounge Trio, Broken, Winter I Will Watch, Frantic Theme, Lounging Again, more.
Set of 6 CDs, 3 of them AUTOGRAPHED, only $35.99 (It would cost $46 to purchase used copies of these six volumes individually on Amazon!!)
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Jan Gelberman, COUNT ON ME
2000 debut CD by this New York-based singer and actress, highlighted by two rarely done tunes by composer Keith Herrmann (who happens to be Gelberman's Musical Director)—The Night It Had to End (from ROMANCE, ROMANCE) and Another Life (from ONWARD VICTORIA).
With a voice younger than her years and possessing the brightness and character one expects from musical comedy performers, Gelberman sings 10 more songs: Hit Me with a Hot Note and Watch Me Bounce, It Might as Well Be Spring, Then I'll Be Tired of You, Carole King's Now and Forever (from the film A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN), Isn't This Better?, If I Were a Bell, Fifty Percent, Diane Warren's Because You Loved Me, and two tunes by Cy Coleman, You Can Always Count on Me (from CITY OF ANGELS) and We Had a Dream (from THE LIFE), $10.99
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Cleo Brown, Marian McPartland, LIVING IN THE AFTERGLOW
The first recording in over 35 years, and the final recording, by Cleo Brown, a virtually forgotten singer-pianist of the swing era, known for her stride piano playing and for her exuberant singing of sly and sultry songs like (Lookie Lookie) Here Comes Cookie, When Hollywood Goes Black & Tan, You're My Fever, and The Stuff is Here and It's Mellow.
Brown never achieved the success of many of her contemporaries, but she is revered by artists like Dave Brubeck, who cites her as an influence, and Marian McPartland, who rediscovered her in the late '80s, inviting Brown onto her popular radio show Piano Jazz, an appearance which resulted in this 1988 album. By that time Brown had been retired from show business for decades and, like many similar artists, had found religion in the meantime, renouncing her previous music as "sinful." This, then, is an album of spirituals and inspirational songs.
Though Brown was 78 when this was recorded, her voice was still light and girlish, only a shade or two darker than that of, say, Rose Murphy or Blossom Dearie. Accompanying herself on solo piano, Brown sings 12 songs, several of them self-penned: I'm a Little Old Woman, Amazing Grace, Fly Away / Army Air Corps Song (!!),Show Me a Rainbow, I've Been 'Buked and Scorned, I'm Gonna Rise Up Singing, Afterglow, I'm Gonna Tell God How You Treat Me, High Up on the Mountain, A Great Big Wonderful God, Walk All Over God's Heaven, and We're Running, Running, Running.
She also performs half a dozen piano instrumentals, including four duets with guest Marian McPartland—on Down by the Riverside, Marian's Mood, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, and Silent Night. 18 tracks in all. Liner notes by McPartland, NOW $7.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Joe Bourne, REMEMBERING MR. COLE
2002 CD by this popular and prolific Arizona-based jazz singer. Backed by the Gary Moran Trio, Bourne performs 16 songs: This is My Night to Dream, The Best Man, Slow Down, You’re Looking at Me, Satchel Mouth Baby, Little Girl, Frim Fram Sauce, When I Fall in Love, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, 'Tis Autumn, For All We Know, Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?, Orange Colored Sky, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Sweet Lorraine, and Besame Mucho, $8.99
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Jane Olivor, THE BEST SIDE OF GOODBYE
Her 1980 album, highlighted by Manchild Lullaby, a song by Stephen Schwartz that has never been recorded by anyone else. Even more than on any of Olivor's previous albums, the focus here is on tunes by contemporary songwriters, like Michael Masser, Gerry Goffin, and Randy Edelman.
Olivor performs Gordon Lightfoot's Weeping Willows—Cattails, The Greatest Love of All (a full six years before Whitney Houston's hit version), Vagabond, A Long and Lasting Love, Don't Let Go of Me, Love This Time, The Best Side of Goodbye, To Love Again, and Golden Pony, $5.99
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Jazz Grabbag—18 CDs
Incredible price—less than $2 per disc!—on this set of 18 mostly instrumental jazz CDs of various types—piano jazz, big band, contemporary, Brazilian, avant-garde, etc.
George Duke, SNAPSHOT—1992 CD on the Warner Bros. label by this famed pianist, with special guests Hubert Laws, Airto Moriera, Sheila E., and Paulinho De Costa. 14 self-penned tunes, incl. four vocals by Duke himself, and four more with group vocals by Deniece Williams, Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Osborne, Rachelle Farrell, Chanté Moore, et al.;
David Sanborn, CLOSER—2005 CD on the Verve label by the renowned alto saxophonist, with a guest vocal by Lizz Wright (on Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight). 10 more songs, incl. You Must Believe in Spring, Ballad of the Sad Young Men, Poinciana, Smile, Abdullah Ibrahim's Capetown Fringe, two songs by Horace Silver (Señor Blues, Enchantment), more. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Ralph Towner, TIME LINE—2006 CD on the ECM label by this renowned jazz guitarist, who performs My Man's Gone Now, Come Rain or Come Shine, and 14 original songs, incl. The Pendant, Oleander Etude, The Hollows, The Lizards of Eraclea, Turning of the Leaves, Freeze Frame, more. Promo copy in slimline case with no artwork;
Taylor Eigsti, LUCKY TO BE ME—2006 CD on the Concord Jazz label by this up and coming young jazz pianist. The All Music Guide said of LUCKY TO BE ME, "It reeks of self-confidence and a bad boy's sense of mischief, and with good reason: Eigsti's got the chops, both technically and inspirationally, to pull this—and much more—off." 12 songs: Darn That Dream, title tune, Love for Sale, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, Woke Up This Morning, Eddie Harris's Freedom Jazz Dance, Promenade (by Mussorgsky), four self-penned tunes, more. Promo copy in slimline case with no artwork;
Gerald Albright, NEW BEGINNINGS—2006 CD on the Concord Jazz label by this respected tenor saxophonist heading up an ensemble that features Jeff Lorber on guitar and guests Patrice Rushen on piano and Chris Botti on trumpet. Two versions of Georgie on My Mind and 10 others, mostly originals by Albright. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Bob Grauso Orchestra, ESPRESSO—Superb big band jazz by this Pennsylvania-based ensemble. One vocal (The More I See You by Vaughn Mark) and 11 instrumentals, incl. Perdido, Sing Sing Sing, Proud Mary, John Brown's Body / Glory Glory Hallelujah, compositions by Miles Davis (Freddie the Free Loader), Clifford Brown (Blues Walk), Thad Jones (Some of My Friends Aren't), Chick Corea (Blue Miles), more;
Kenny G, RHYTHM & ROMANCE—His 2008 Latin CD—still factory sealed!—on the Concord Jazz label, with guest vocals by Chilean singer Barbara Muñoz (Mirame Bailar) and the Mexican pop group Camila (Es Hora de Decir). Plus Besame Mucho, title tune, Peruvian Nights, Brasilia, Fiesta Loca, Tango, Copa de Amor, Salsa Kenny, Sabor a Mi, more—12 in all. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Eldar, LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE—2006 CD, on the prestigious Sony Classical label, by jazz pianist Eldar Djangirov and his trio, with special guest Chris Botti (on You Don't Know What Love Is). Plus Take the "A" Train, Straight No Chaser, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Besame Mucho, Dat Dere, and four original songs. Promo copy in slimline case with front sleeve only;
Till Bronner, OCEANA—2007 CD by Germany’s most famous contemporary jazz musician—trumpet and flugelhorn player, singer, arranger, composer, and producer. Guest vocals by Madeleine Peyroux (I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry), Luciana Souza (Pra Dizer Adeus), and supermodel/singer Carla Bruni (In My Secret Life), and two vocals by Brönner himself, on This Guy's in Love with You and Nick Drake's River Man. Plus It Never Entered My Mind, Jerry Goldsmith's Love Theme from Chinatown, The Peacocks (by Jimmy Rowles), Wes Montgomery's Bumpin', more—12 in all. Promo copy in slimline case with no artwork;
Mantu Katché, NEIGHBORHOOD—2005 release on the ECM label by drummer Katché, heading a quintet that features Jan Garbarek on temor sax. 10 compositions by Katché. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Dark Chocolate, ISLAND GYPSY—2008 CD—12 original songs by this contemporary jazz group founded by percussionist "Clay" Henry and featuring bassist Kim Stone (of Spyro Gyra and The Rippingtons) and vocalist Jaqui Hope. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Jon Gold, AQUA REGIA—CD by this jazz pianist, backed by an ensemble featuring Harvie Swartz (bass), Airto Moreira (percussion), and Claudia Villela, who supplies vocals on four songs co-written with Gold (Samba das Meninas, Ypióca, Se Você me "Soubesse," and Todas as Moças). Plus Jobim's Felicidade and half a dozen original tunes by Gold;
Jessy J, TEQUILA MOON—2008 CD by this soprano sax player—two vocals by Jessy (Mas Que Nada, Besame Mucho) plus Phoebe Snow's Poetry Man, A Song for You, and seven self-penned tunes. Promo copy with complete artwork;
E.S.T., TUESDAY WONDERLAND—2006 CD by the Esbjorn Svensson Trio, led by the young pianist who became one of Europe's most popular and acclaimed jazz musicians before his tragic early death at the age of 44 in a scuba diving accident. 11 original jazz compositions, incl. Beggar's Blanket, title tune, Dolores in a Shoestand, Fading Maid Preludium, Where We Used to Live, Sipping on the Solid Ground, more. Promo copy in slimline case with no artwork;
Nicholas Gunn, BREATHE—2004 CD by this jazz flutist—11 lush, original melodies and tropical rhythms, a tuneful fusion of world music, jazz and new age. Songs include Bamboo, title tune, Rosarita Sunset, Deep Water Island, The Yearning, Dwelling in the Ancient Temple, Embrace, more;
Matt Shulman, SO IT GOES—2006 CD by this modern jazz trumpeter. Shulman sings on My Funny Valentine and his own So it Goes, and he provides some sort of wordless vocal on Zeppelin. Plus half a dozen instrumentals: It Could Happen to You, Bach's Air for the G String, and four self-penned tunes—Almost There, Key, Forgetting / Remembering Yourself, Truckin'—9 in all. Promo copy in cardboard picture sleeve;
Armik, THE ROMANTIC COLLECTION—2006 compilation—14 songs from the five albums by this popular "new flamenco" guitarist, incl. Desires, Café Romantico, Fantasia, Mar de Sueños, Lover's Moon, Slow Dancing, Midnight Bolero, Passion, Rumba Nuevo, more. Promo copy with complete artwork;
Erik Mongrain, FATES—2007 debut CD—still factory sealed!—by this Canadian acoustic guitarist. 10 original compositions, incl. La dernière pluie, title tune, Géométrie d'une erreur, Mais quand?, Air Tap!, Confusion #8, Interprétations, more.
Set of 18 CDs NOW $24.99 [WAS $29.99] [NOTE: Some CDs above that have no artwork are nonetheless pictured at left]
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The Boswell Sisters, VOLUME 2
Companion piece to the above (though this volume is still in print). More early jazz sides featuring the Dorsey Brothers and most of the same personnel.
15 songs: We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye, Minnie the Moocher's Wedding Day, Down Among the Sheltering Palms, Crazy People, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, Mood Indigo, It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing, Forty-Second Street, Louisiana Hayride, Hand Me Down My Walking Cane, Old Yazoo, Down on the Delta, Charlie Two-Step, Sentimental Gentleman from Georgia, and Sleep, Come on and Take Me, $9.99
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Cathi Walkup, NIGHT OWL
Cathi Walkup, PLAYING FAVORITES!
Special price on this set of two CDs, both AUTOGRAPHED, by this popular Bay Area-based jazz singer and songwriter.
NIGHT OWL, Walkup's 1996 debut CD, features a dozen songs: I've Never Been in Love Before, Falling in Love with Love, My Foolish Heart, Why Try to Change Me Now?, Illinois Jacquet's Robin's Nest, Almost Like Being in Love / This Can't Be Love, I Only Have Eyes for You, If I Only Had a Brain, Lover Man, and three original numbers, incl. the title tune.
2002's PLAYING FAVORITES! features 14 songs: This Time the Dream's on Me / Hit the Road to Dreamland, Soon it's Gonna Rain, the rarely heard The Ruby and the Pearl (by Livingston and Evans), Anthropology, Not While I'm Around, Down Here on the Ground (by Lalo Schifrin and Gale Garnett), Tanya's Wicked Body, the self-penned Shut Up and Drive, two songs each by jazz pianist Vince DiCiccio (who guested on NIGHT OWL) and Kirsty MacColl (In These Shoes?, Mambo de la Luna), and more—14 in all. Set of 2 CDs only $11.99
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Dave Valentin, COME FLY WITH ME
2006 CD on the Highnote jazz label, the latest release by this popular jazz flutist, backed by a Latin combo. Nine songs: If You Could See Me Now, Tu Pañuelo (the Tito Rodriguez hit), Come Fly with Me, Song for My Brothers, the self-penned Encendiendo, and four songs by Valentin's pianist, Bill O'Connell—Twinkle Toes, Mind Games, Easy Street, House of the Sun, NOW $1.99 [WAS $4.99]
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The Boswell Sisters, OKAY, AMERICA!
Subtitled ALTERNATE TAKES AND RARITIES, this out of print 1992 CD collects rare tracks—16 songs and four longer medleys—by this seminal and influential jazz vocal trio of the 1930s.
During the roughly ten years in which they recorded, the Boswell Sisters were backed by some of the greatest orchestras of the time. Here they are featured with Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra and the bands of the Dorsey Brothers, Victor Young, Don Redman, and Red Nichols, among others.
Songs include Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long, Down Among the Sheltering Palms, Was That the Human Thing to Do?, Put That Sun Back in the Sky, Sing a Little Jingle, If I Had a Million Dollars, Fare Thee Well Annabelle, We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye, 42nd Street, The Darktown Strutter's Ball, Lullaby of Broadway, Stardust, Washboard Blues, Dinah, and Sleep, Come on and Take Me.
Two medleys which use the OKAY AMERICA! catchphrase as their title are composed of five songs—She Was Just a Tartar's Daughter, Love Me Tonight, Strange as it Seems, My Romance, and The Old Man of the Mountain—and two additional New Orleans Medleys feature seven more songs: Milneburg Joys, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, High Society, Rampart Street Blues, Panama, Dear Old Southland, and River, Stay 'Way from My Door. (The medleys feature additional vocals by The Mills Brothers, Carmen Lombardo, and forgotten singers like Fran Frey, Frank Munn, and Art Jarrett.) $9.99
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Grazyna Auguscik, RIVER
2001 CD by this Polish-born avant-garde jazz singer and composer, now based in Chicago.
According to her publicity materials, Auguscik is "one of the most intriguing contemporary vocalists on today’s World jazz scene. Her elusive style challenges traditional definitions of jazz and show vocalist and musician without boundaries." And the All Music Guide seems to concur: "[H]er voice emanates a dark, brooding quality that is quite unlike any other....One of the exciting aspects of Auguscik's singing is her willingness to take chances. She leaps across intervals, repeats phrases, and puts her entire self into her songs. The results sometimes charm and more often challenge, auguring well for the future of jazz singing. She points in an uncharted direction that takes nothing for granted, as little sounds mix with soft subtlety and poetic lyrics to achieve something just different enough to raise a few eyebrows."
Auguscik began singing in Europe and completed her studies at Boston's Berklee College of Music before locating in Chicago, where she performs at clubs and jazz festivals and regularly records. (She has released at least 13 albums to date.)
Here she presents an esoteric program of songs, incl. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, River (the Gene McDaniels—not the Joni Mitchell—song), Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 I Aria (Cantilena), If I Ever Dream Again (by legendary "folk-jazz mystic" Terry Callier ), two songs by noted Brazilian composer-guitarist Egberto Gismonti (Aqua Vinho and Cego Aderaldo), and Elegia (a text by Spanish poet Miguel Hernandez set to music by Joan Manuel Serrat, "one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages"). Plus three original tunes (Never Again, Dancing All Around, and Sing a Song of Song)—10 in all, $7.99
Rosemary Clooney, HER GREATEST HITS & FINEST PERFORMANCES
Out of print 1995 3-CD set, released exclusively by Reader's Digest and not sold in stores. A whopping 60 songs—hits, standards, and album tracks—but especially welcome is the inclusion of all six songs from her 1955 10-inch LP ROSEMARY CLOONEY AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM—From This Moment On, It's De-Lovely, Danny Boy, Ebb Tide, Where Will the Dimple Be?, and Learnin' the Blues.
Other highlights include duets with artists like Marlene Dietrich (Too Old to Cut the Mustard), Betty Clooney (Sisters), José Ferrer (Mr. & Mrs.), the Hi-Los (How About You?, Don'cha Go 'Way Mad), Guy Mitchell (You're Just in Love), and Bing Crosby (Poor People of Paris), as well as three tracks from Clooney's classic album BLUE ROSE with Duke Ellington's Orchestra (Sophisticated Lady, It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing, I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good).
Her biggest hits are included, of course—Hey There, Come On-a My House, Tenderly, Half as Much, Mixed Emotions, Count Your Blessings, Mambo Italiano, This Ole House, Blues in the Night, Mangos, Be My Life's Companion, Botch-a-Me, Memories of You, Beautiful Brown Eyes, You'll Never Know, and In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening.
Most of the songs here come from her early years with Columbia, but her later renaissance on the Concord Jazz label is represented by 10 tracks—You Took Advantage of Me, A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square, But Not for Me, Let's Face the Music and Dance, The Best Is Yet to Come, Skylark, You're the Top, Long Ago and Far Away, I'll Be Seeing You, and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
Other songs incl. Hello Young Lovers, Love Letters, Come Rain or Come Shine, I'm Glad There Is You, You Make Me Feel So Young, I'm in the Mood for Love, Young at Heart, Too Young, It Might as Well Be Spring, I Could Have Danced All Night, I've Grown Accustomed to His Face, White Christmas, You'll Never Know, Over the Rainbow, The Continental, Memories of You, and Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING. 3-CD set, NOW $14.99 [WAS $24.99]
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RICHARD OLSEN & HIS BIG BAND
Out of print 1995 CD by this Bay Area-based singer, clarinetist and saxophonist, who also leads his own superb 16-piece swing band.
12 songs: Smack Dab in the Middle, As Long as I'm Singing, Memories of You, Mack the Knife, Up a Lazy River, Sing Sing Sing, Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week, St. James Infirmary, El Cumbanchero, Let the Good Times Roll, Eddie Sauter's Clarinet à la King, and Moo La Lah (Melao de Caña), $6.99
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Johnny Mercer, SOME OF THE BEST
Johnny Mercer, MORE OF THE BEST
Special price on this set of two out of print CDs by this giant of popular music, whose talent as a singer was no less formidable than his contributions as a songwriter.
Many of the songs here feature the Paul Weston Orchestra, and there are a number of rarities and broadcast performances sprinkled between both volumes, among them Spring, Spring, Spring, Java Jive, Accentuate the Positive (all with with The Notables and The Paul Smith Trio), I Never Heard You Say (with Margaret Whiting), I'm an Old Cowhand, Somebody Loves Me (with The Pied Pipers), Goody Goody (with the BBC Dance Orchestra & The Brother Sisters), and Little Ol' Tune (with the Skip Martin Orchestra).
Other songs include duets with Jo Stafford (Conversation While Dancing, It's Great to Be Alive, They Talk a Different Language aka Yodel Blues), Jack Teagarden (Fare Thee Well to Harlem), Six Hits and a Miss (Bob White), Bing Crosby (Small Fry, Mr. Meadowlark), and several with The Pied Pipers—On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, Button Up Your Overcoat, Don't Fence Me In, and Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home. Plus Steamboat Bill, One for My Baby, Jamboree Jones, GI Jive, and Sweet Georgia Brown—24 tracks in all. Set of 2 CDs only $8.99
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Juanita Williams, INTRODUCING JUANITA WILLIAMS
AUTOGRAPHED copy of this hard-hitting solo debut by this superb, powerhouse blues singer, for 20 years the lead singer with the prestigious Airmen of Note, the Air Force big band founded by Glenn Miller. Joe Williams described Juanita (no relation, as far as we know) as being "from the old school," though her repertoire here is decidedly contemporary blues.
12 songs: I'm on Your Tail, It's Too Late He's Gone, Two Steps from the Blues, Crazy 'Bout You Baby, Another Man's Place, The Same Old Blues, One More Heartache, You Haven't Hurt Me, I'm Still in Love with You, That Will Never Do, Grounded, and If You Go. AUTOGRAPHED, $5.99
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Liz Ott, MY SHINING HOUR
Precious little information can be found on the internet about singer Liz Ott. We think Ott is based in Ohio, and we know she’s friendly with June Christy’s nephew. (She thanks him on her CD.) The only other thing we know is that Ott is a fine singer d'un certain âge with sterling taste in material, as evidenced by the 17 songs she has selected for this, her 2000 debut CD.
Songs incl. Music, Maestro, Please, Everything Must Change, That Old Feeling, 'Deed I Do, I Got Rhythm, It's All Right with Me, I Concentrate on You, Softly as I Leave You, It's You or No One, Body & Soul, Lover, Day by Day, How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, There Will Never Be Another You, All or Nothing at All, My Shining Hour, more, $5.99
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Modern Jazz Quartet [Original Soundtrack], ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
Out of print original 1991 issue of the famous, dramatic score to this 1959 movie. Composed by pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, the 19 themes are performed by Quartet members Milt Jackson, Connie Kay and Percy Heath, with Bill Evans sitting in for Lewis, and by a full orchestra, including Jim Hall on guitar.
Tracks include Main Theme, A Cold Wind is Blowing, How to Frame Pigeons, Looking at the Caper, Five Figure People Crossing Paths, The Carousel Incident, Skating in Central Park, Games, Social Call, The Impractical Man, Advance on Melton, Waiting Around the River, Distractions, Morning Trip to Melton, The Caper Failure, Postlude, more. Liner notes by Nat Hentoff, $14.99 [Used copies of this CD sell on Amazon starting at $28!]
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Jennifer Scott Quartet, INTERACTIVE
2004 CD by this excellent "Vancouver-born vocalist and jazz pianist specializing in jazz, blues and world music." Scott also writes her own jazz compositions, has appeared in new Canadian musicals like THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE GANG, and serves as the singer and pianist for the Bay Area- based Brazilian jazz fusion group Novo Tempo, with whom she has recorded two CDs—in addition to the eight she has released under her own name!
Scott turns in lovely versions of A Sleepin' Bee, Too Late Now, Stars Fell on Alabama, and I Want a Little Boy, and performs Looking Out for Number One (by fellow Canuck Randy Bachman) and seven of her own original tunes, which range from straightforward jazz to pop-oriented ballads to more contemporary jazz—These Are the Things, Road to Travel, Half a Moon, Angela, A Change or Two, Think of Me, and Chance, NOW $7.99 [WAS $8.99]
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Brian Lane Green [Original Cast], WAITING FOR THE GLACIERS TO MELT
2005 CD by this popular singer-songwriter, which technically must be considered an original cast recording since it features songs written by Green for a musical. According to his bio: "Green...made his debut as a playwright and composer with WAITING FOR THE GLACIERS TO MELT. This original musical was chosen to be part of New York City's Midtown International Theater Festival" (though a net search does not indicate that the show was ever staged).
Green has found success in various areas of show business. He appeared on Broadway in STARMITES (garnering a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), THE LIFE, and BIG RIVER, starring in national tours of the last show, as well as JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. On television he has enjoyed frequent guest appearances and long-running roles on three popular soap operas. Green has released two previous albums and appears on CD tributes to Stephen Sondheim (A CELEBRATION AT CARNEGIE HALL), Jerry Herman, and John Bucchino, and one of his songs, I Would Never Leave You (co-written with Billy Stritch) appears on Liza Minnelli's CD LIZA'S AT THE PALACE...
Here Green performs 10 original songs: Grandma's Song (Broken Wing), title tune, Dad and Me, Home, Inevitable, I Know, Icons, I Miss You, Joy, and Calm. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $9.99
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Erin Bode, DON’T TAKE YOUR TIME
Auspicious 2004 debut, on the prestigious MaxJazz label, by this St. Louis-based jazz singer, supported by an octet led by Bruce Barth on piano.
A classy program of 13 songs: Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?, the self-penned title tune, Junior & Julie (an obscure Matt Dennis tune), In the Pines, You (by Bob Thiele), I Walk a Little Faster, Time After Time (the Cyndi Lauper song), I’ve Never Been in Love Before, Dylan's Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You, But Not for Me, Stevie Wonder’s If it’s Magic, Count Your Blessings, and Lennon & McCartney’s Here, There and Everywhere. Disc features bonus CD-ROM video track of the title tune, $7.99
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Nicky Crayson, DAYDREAM
Extremely scarce 2001 import CD by this excellent Sydney-based jazz singer, who has performed at jazz venues and festivals throughout Australia. Backed by the Matt McMahon Trio, Crayson sings 11 songs: Never Let Me Go, title tune, two songs by Jobim (Photograph, Caminhos Cruzados), You're My Everything, Speak Low, Skylark, Stomping at the Savoy, All of You, What a Little Moonlight Can Do, and Since I Fell for You. Import, NOW $15.99 [WAS $19.99]
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Morgana King, FOR YOU, FOR ME, FOR EVERMORE
Out of print 1992 domestic edition of her second album, released in 1956 by Mercury Records. While it is true that, as James Gavin says in his liner notes, her "trademark jazz coloratura style, with its rococo flights and radical reconstruction of melody, was still years away," the basic elements of King's distinctive style—the clear, bell-like vocal and a delivery of heightened intimacy—are already evident.
Backed by an orchestra that includes Hank Jones on piano and both Mundell Lowe and Al Caiola on guitar, King sings a dozen songs: Here I'll Stay, title tune, If You Could See Me Now, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, There's a Lull in My Life, It's Delovely, Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor, Everything I've Got, You're Not So Easy to Forget, I'll String Along with You, The Song Is You, and Everything I Love, $8.99
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John Houghton, BODY & SOUL
2003 debut CD, the sole release to date by this Bay Area-based singer.
Backed by a trio led by the redoubtable Larry Dunlap on piano, Houghton songs nine songs: Blame it on My Youth, title tune, On a Clear Day, I Didn’t Know What Time it Was, Lush Life, Corcovado, Just Friends, Embraceable You, and Laura, $5.99
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Michael Civisca, A COLLECTION OF GREAT STANDARDS
1997 CD by this Sinatra-influenced crooner. Civisca appeared in the Las Vegas cast of THE RAT PACK IS BACK, performs frequently as a soloist in his hometown of Buffalo, and has released five albums to date. According to the All Music Guide: "You can hear a bit of Billy Joel as well as Frank Sinatra, with a dash of Bobby Darin hip, in Civisca."
Indeed, on this, his debut CD, Civisca covers four songs recorded by Sinatra, though he eschews the usual shopworn selections, performing instead Nevertheless, When Your Lover Has Gone, Where Are You?, and These Foolish Things. Plus eight more tunes: Under a Blanket of Blue, Moonglow, Too Young, Smile, Because of You, Reminiscing (the Little River Band hit), and two songs by producer Ken Kaufman, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Sarah Vaughan & Billy Eckstine, THE IRVING BERLIN SONGBOOK
1991 CD, out of print in every edition. Backed by the Hal Mooney Orchestra with Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet, Mercury Records's top male and female jazz artists united for this 1958 tribute album. (That's the original album cover pictured at right.)
Eckstine sings two solos, All of My Life and The Girl that I Marry, and joins Vaughan on nine more duets: Easter Parade, You're Just in Love, Cheek to Cheek, I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, Remember, Now it Can Be Told, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Isn't This a Lovely Day?, and Always. Liner notes by Gary Giddins, $15.99
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Judy Niemack, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of three CDs by this acclaimed contemporary jazz singer and songwriter.
AS LONG AS YOU'RE LIVING—1990 import CD. Backed by a small combo led by Fred Hersch on piano and featuring special guest Joe Lovano on tenor sax, Niemack sings 12 songs: To Welcome the Day (by Ornette Coleman and Margo Guryan), Out of This World, Stanley Turrentine's Long as You're Living, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat / I Remember Clifford, I Should Have Told You Goodbye (Niemack's lyric to a Clifford Brown instrumental), Monk's Dream, Wayne Shorter's Infant Eyes, Waltz for Debby, Caribbean Fire Dance (by Joe Henderson), The Island, Cedar Walton's The Maestro, more;
STRAIGHT UP—1992 import, featuring a small combo backing led by Kenny Werner on keyboards and special guest Toots Thielemans. 11 songs: You Don't Know What Love Is, Lennon & McCartney's The Word, New York Stories, Chick Corea's You're Everything, Before One More Day, Sting's Fragile, and five original tunes co-written with a variety of collaborators, incl. Straight Up to the Light, The Reason Why, Silence of My Soul, and For Now;
MINGUS, MONK & MAL—1995 import CD, a collaboration with Mal Waldron, who supplies solo piano accompaniment on eight songs: Suddenly (In Walked Bud), You Know Who (I Mean You) (both by Thelonious Monk, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks), three tunes by Waldron (A Time for Duke, The Seagulls of Kristiansund, and Soul Eyes), and three compositions by Charlie Mingus— Eclipse, Duke Ellington's Sound of Love, and Strollin' (Nostalgia in Times Square).
Set of 3 CDs only $29.99 (It would cost $54 to purchase used copies of these six volumes individually on Amazon!!)
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Dick Maloney, BEAUTIFUL BEGINNING
Hard to find import CD, one of four by this veteran Canadian crooner.
According to Wikipedia, "Dick Maloney...was a jazz singer, entertainer and radio host based in Ottawa, Canada who had been performing for over 40 years....Maloney was partially paralyzed after falling on the sidewalk in July, 2006 while walking to meet his wife Carrie for lunch at an outdoor restaurant." Tragically, Maloney was never able to leave the hospital, though he managed to continue hosting his radio program, Sentimental Journey, on an Ottawa oldies station until his death, only last August, from injuries sustained in the fall.
On this 1994 CD, Maloney performs a mix of standards and originals. The former include My Heart Stood Still, Moonglow, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, Jerry Herman's Kiss Her Now (from DEAR WORLD), Come Rain or Come Shine, Blue Skies, Lullaby of Broadway, and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. Plus five songs written by Maloney and his bassist, Garry Helke, including the title tune. Import, NOW $6.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Lisa Thorson, FROM THIS MOMENT ON
1994 debut release by this New England-based jazz singer and songwriter, whom Sheila Jordan called "a truly gifted singer with a wonderful voice" and "one of the best new jazz singers on the scene today." The CD is highlighted by Daytime, a rarely heard song by Janet Hood and Bill Russell, the composers of ELEGIES FOR ANGELS, PUNKS and RAGING QUEENS, which does not come from that show.
Thorson is confined to a wheelchair, and she has spent much of her energy advocating for the disabled. She is a Boston Music Award nominee for Outstanding Jazz Vocalist, and she has released four CDs to date, including BOSWELLMANIA!!, where she performs 1930s vocal transcriptions of the Boswell Sisters with fellow Bostonians Jan Shapiro and Adriana Balic. Thorson is an Associate Professor in the Voice Department at Berklee College of Music and has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music and Wellesley College.
11 more songs: Agua de Beber, title tune, Little Jazz (a Roy Eldridge instrumental to which Thorson has set lyrics), Them There Eyes, Skylark, Out of the Blue (by contemporary jazz and classical composer Bevan Manson), Love Walked In, New O (by Thorson's saxophonist Cercie Miller), and three original tunes, $4.99
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Carla Helmbrecht, ONE FOR MY BABY
Carla Helmbrecht, BE COOL BE KIND
Special price on this set of the first two of the three CDs by this superb Bay Area-based jazz singer.
On ONE FOR MY BABY, her 1994 debut CD, Helmbrecht is backed by a combo led by late pianist Frank Mantooth on piano a dozen songs (which Mantooth also arranged): Where Do You Start?, Joni Mitchell's Song to a Seagull, Fly Me to the Moon, Just in Time, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, Moonlight on Vermont, It Never Entered My Mind, Mood Indigo, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Love for Sale, One for My Baby, more.
2001's BE COOL BE KIND is highlighted by A Miracle, a song by Carroll Coates that has never been recorded by anyone else, and by two lesser-known Coates tunes, Later for Love—which has been covered by Lynda Jamison (see below) and Rebecca Parris—and (Song for) A Rainy Afternoon, which Maye Cavallaro included on her debut album (also featured below). Backed by an ensemble featuring Joe LaBarbara on drums and guest Ernie Watts on saxophone, Helmbrecht performs nine more numbers: The Touch of Your Lips, So Many Stars, Windmills of Your Mind, How I Remember You (by Michael Franks), The Party's Over, Down With Love, and three originals, incl. the title tune.
CD booklets incl. complete lyrics. Set of 2 CDs only $16.99
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Ethel Ennis, IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD
Her 1998 CD on the Savoy Jazz label, backed by ensembles led by Marc Copland on piano and featuring guests Gene Bertoncini on guitar and Jane Ira Bloom on soprano sax. A dozen songs by women songwriters: Willow Weep for Me, God Bless the Child, and 10 more contemporary songs written by Joni Mitchell (For Free), Carole King (So Far Away), Joan Armatrading (title tune, Sometimes I Don't Wanna Go Home), Carole Bayer Sager (When I Need You), Bonnie Raitt (Nick of Time), Tracy Chapman (Tell it Like it Is), Joan Osborne (Spider Web), Des'ree (You Gotta Be), and Ennis herself (Hey You), NOW $6.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Ann Sothern, Connie Russell, Ethel Waters, Frances Langford, et al. [Original Soundtrack], THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, PART 2
Long out of print 1990 2-CD soundtrack to this 1976 installment in the popular THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT film series of musical numbers from the golden age of MGM—43 tracks in all. The above peform, respectively, Lady Be Good (with Robert Young), Fascinating Rhythm, Taking a Chance on Love (with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson), and Swingin' the Jinx Away (with Buddy Ebsen). The CD soundtrack also includes new solo and duet performances by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly (Be a Clown and That's Entertainment) which did not appear on the original 1976 2-LP set, as well as an Overture, Title Music, and End Title Music, all arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
Of course, MGM's triple-threat team of musical titans—Judy, Gene and Fred—are represented with no fewer than 19 numbers, alone and together, from IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, SILK STOCKINGS, BELLE OF NEW YORK, THE BAND WAGON, THE PIRATE, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, FOR ME & MY GAL, EASTER PARADE, and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. The usual suspects are included here—like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Easter Parade, Be a Clown, For Me and My Gal, Good Morning, Steppin' Out with My Baby, and A Couple of Swells—but heard somewhat less often are Astaire's I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man and All of You, Garland's I Got Rhythm (with Mickey Rooney), and Gene Kelly numbers like I Like Myself, I Got Rhythm, and Love Is Here to Stay.
Also represented are Robert Taylor and June Knight (I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'), Bobby Van (Take Me to Broadway), Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer (Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo), Kathryn Grayson (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes), Bing Crosby (Temptation), Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy (Lover, Come Back to Me), Jimmy Durante (Inka Dinka Doo), Doris Day (Ten Cents a Dance), Dinah Shore (The Last Time I Saw Paris), Georges Guetary (I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise), Hermione Gingold and Maurice Chevalier (I Remember it Well), Lena Horne (The Lady Is a Tramp), and Mickey Rooney, with Tom Drake and Marshall Thompson (Manhattan).
Other songs incl. the original version of the title tune (sung by Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant, Jack Buchahan and Astaire), From This Moment On (Ann Miller, Bob Fosse, Bobby Van, Tommy Rall), The Wedding of the Painted Doll (from 1929's THE BROADWAY MELODY), Triplets (Nanette Fabray, Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan), There's No Business Like Show Business (Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Keenan Wynn, Louis Calhern), and Bouncin' the Blues (from THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY). 2-CD set, $15.99
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Marlene Dietrich, COCKTAIL HOUR
Out of print 1999 entry in the popular COCKTAIL HOUR series of 2-CD sets—28 vintage recordings in three languages. (In lieu of the actual, rather mundane cover art, we've elected to show one of the most interesting photos we've run across of la Dietrich.) Several songs (including many of her biggest hits) are sung in English: Lili Marlene, The Boys in the Backroom, Lola, Falling in Love Again, Illusions, Black Market, Blonde Women, You Go to My Head, You've Got That Look, Give Me the Man, and I've Been in Love Before. A smattering of songs are in French (Symphonie, Assez, Quand l'amour meurt, Moi je m'ennuie), and the rest are in German (again, many of them hits), incl. Ich Bin Die Fesche Lola, Nimm Dich in Acht Vor Blonden Frauen, Kinder, Heut' Abend Such'ich Mir Was Aus, (all of which she sang in 1930's THE BLUE ANGEL), Johnny, Mein Blondes Baby, Wo Ist Der Mann?, Peter, and more. 2-CD set, $7.99
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Rio Nido, VOICINGS
Out of print 1986 CD, the last album by this fine Minneapolis-based vocal trio—singers Prudence Johnson and Roger Hernandez and singer-guitarist Tim Sparks—and one of the earliest CDs to employ "direct to digital recording." Though the group are accompanied here by a band, the highlight is a lovely a cappella version of, of all things, Auld Lang Syne. Plus In a Mellow Tone, Flying Home, Since I Fell for You, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Stevie Wonder's You and I, and two originals—Lost and Found, by Sparks, and Northern Lights, by tenor saxman Dave Karr, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Ethel Merman, Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, et al., COLE PORTER—YOU'RE THE TOP: A TESTIMONIAL
Subtitled COLE PORTER LIBRARY CELEBRATION DINNER, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 12, 1967, this out of print 1995 release features some of the most famous performers who ever worked with the great composer. Three years after Porter's death they came together for a tributary evening of anecdotes and songs, with the legendary Roger Edens at the piano. (These rare live performances, incidentally, do not appear on any other CD.)
Frank Sinatra is the nominal star of the evening and sings five songs: I Concentrate on You, Let's Do It, It's All Right with Me, I Love Paris, and I've Got You Under My Skin. But Ethel Merman is represented with six numbers: Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor, Anything Goes, I Get a Kick out of You, You're the Top, and Make it Another Old-Fashioned, Please. Jimmy Stewart offers Easy to Love (which he introduced in 1938's BORN TO DANCE), Fred Astaire sings Night and Day, Gene Kelly performs Be a Clown, and the whole company comes together for the finale, Friendship. There is also commentary by Alan Jay Lerner and Garson Kanin—a total of 29 tracks running 69 min., $19.99
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David Allyn, Teddi King, Jackie & Roy, The Hi-Los, Ginger Rogers, et al., HARRY WARREN
Out of print 1993 entry in the Smithsonian's discontinued and collectible AMERICAN SONGBOOK SERIES, spotlighting the work of the great American popular composers. 22 performances of Harry Warren songs—nearly 67 min. running time. The above sing, respectively, I Only Have Eyes for You, This Is Always, There Will Never Be Another You, Lulu's Back in Town, and The Gold Digger's Song (We're in the Money).
Judy Garland is represented by two selections (Friendly Star and On the Atchison, Topkea and the Santa Fe), and there are songs by The Modernaires with Ray Eberle (Serenade in Blue) and with Tex Beneke (Chattanooga Choo Choo), Maxine Sullivan (This Heart of Mine), Wini Shaw (Lullaby of Broadway), Vic Damone (An Affair to Remember), Maureen McGovern (You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me), Helen Forrest (I Had the Craziest Dream), Dick Powell (The Shadow Waltz), Tony Bennett (Boulevard of Broken Dreams), Dick Haymes (The More I See You), Rosemary Clooney (You'll Never Know), Jo Stafford (No Love, No Nothin'), Fred Astaire (I Want to Be a Dancin' Man), King Cole Trio (I'll String Along with You), and Mel Tormé (42nd Street), $17.99
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John Barrowman, REFLECTIONS FROM BROADWAY
His 2000 CD—17 songs, all from musicals, with the exception of Robert Burns's Red Red Rose (which, incidentally, Bob Dylan named as the song that has had the greatest influence on his life).
Backed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Barrowman (seen here, being a naughty boy) also performs Proud of Your Boy (cut from ALADDIN), Anyone Can Whistle, Good Thing Going, Being Alive, Try to Remember, Easy to Love, Sunset Boulevard, Can You Feel the Love Tonight?, and Whistle Down the Wind, plus songs from JEAN SEBERG (Dreamers), MATADOR (The Boy from Nowhere), A NEW BRAIN (I'd Rather Be Sailing), BABY (I Chose Right), THE CIVIL WAR (Tell My Father), more, $8.99
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Karrin Allyson, IN BLUE
Karrin Allyson, WILD FOR YOU
Special price on this set of two CDs, from 2002 and 2004 respectively, by the popular jazz singer, both featuring small combo backing, the former with Mulgrew Miller on piano.
IN BLUE is a collection of 13 tunes blue in mood (and often in name): Angel Eyes, Moanin', Evil Gal Blues, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Love Me Like a Man (the Bonnie Raitt hit), and songs by Blossom Dearie (Bye Bye Country Boy), Oscar Brown, Jr. (Hum Drum Blues, Long as You're Living), Bobby Troup (The Meaning of the Blues), Jay Leonhart and Tommy Flanagan (My Bluebird), Joni Mitchell (Blue Motel Room), Wes Montgomery (West Coast Blues), and Mose Allison (Everybody's Cryin' Mercy).
WILD FOR YOU features another baker's dozen, this time jazz-tinged interpretations of songs by some of the most prominent figures from the golden age of the singer-songwriter—Joni Mitchell (Help Me, All I Want), James Taylor (Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight), Cat Stevens (Wild World), Melissa Manchester (I Got Eyes), Jimmy Webb (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), Carly Simon (The Right Thing to Do, Mind on My Man), Carole King (It’s Too Late), and Elton John (Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word). Plus tunes popularized by Roberta Flack (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Feel Like Makin’ Love) and Bonnie Raitt (Goin’ Wild for You Baby).
Set of 2 CDs only $7.99 [Cover of WILD FOR YOU has slight damage, not pictured here.]
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Cheryl Fisher, SLOW HAND JAZZ
1995 debut CD by this fine singer. Since the '90s, Fisher has been a fixture on the Canadian jazz scene (including repeat performances at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal) and has released five solo CDs. Along the way, she performed in London at Pizza in the Park with Scott Hamilton and, for several years, in Paris with jazz pianist Olivier Caillard. She has studied with Mark Murphy, Nancy King and Madeline Eastman, and she herself taught voice at the University Of Miami.
Backed by small combos, Fisher sings 12 songs: Yardbird Suite, Ornithology (both with lyrics she supplied), the sublime and rarely heard An Empty Glass (by Luiz Bonfá), Stanley Turrentine's Sugar, Devil May Care, How Is Your Wife?, Tell Me All About It (by Michael Franks), Invitation, Daddy, Joni Mitchell's Moon at the Window, and two self-penned tunes, Bridges and Summer Scenes. Import, $9.99
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Dee Daniels and the Metropole Orchestra, WISH ME LOVE
Out of print 1996 release uniting this elegant jazz vocalist, who sings in a style reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan, with the world-renowned Dutch orchestra. 10 songs: Here's That Rainy Day, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Love is Here to Stay, How Long Has This Been Going On?, Time After Time, Come Rain or Come Shine, God Bless the Child, Sweet Georgia Brown, and two self-penned tunes, Tonight I Won't Be Singing No Blues and Love Inside, NOW $6.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Anthony Cirillo, SONGS FOR A RAINY NIGHT
2003 debut CD by this North Carolina-based singer, a marketer in the healthcare industry by profession. 14 songs, incl. The Shadow of Your Smile, When I Fall in Love, Here's That Rainy Day, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, You Make Me Feel So Young, Stormy Weather, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Come Rain or Come Shine, Smile, Come in from the Rain, I Love a Rainy Night (the Eddie Rabbit hit), Annie's Song, more, $4.99 [NOTE: Disc only, in slimline jewel case—no booklet or tray card.] [Used copies of this CD sell on Amazon starting at $15.99!]
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Barbra Streisand, HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUST FOR THE RECORD...
This highlights disc presents a generous sampling—24 tracks, including several rarities—from the 1991 4-CD retrospective of the greatest and most influential pop singer of her generation. Streisand's very first recording—You'll Never Know, waxed in 1955 in a small Brooklyn recording studio at the age of 13—is included, as are rare movie songs (You're the Top, with Ryan O'Neal, from WHAT'S UP DOC?), singles (You Wanna Bet, a song cut from SWEET CHARITY), and demos (What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life, sung with Michel Legrand, and Papa, Can You Hear Me?)
There are several live performances from a variety of sources, incl. A Sleepin' Bee (from a 1961 JACK PARR SHOW), her legendary 1963 TV duet with Judy Garland on Get Happy / Happy Days Are Here Again, and three songs from a 1962 appearance at the Bon Soir (I Hate Music, Nobody's Heart, and Cry Me a River).
Also included are a number of unreleased studio sides—A Quiet Thing / There Won't Be Trumpets, I Know Him So Well, Warm All Over, and the little-known Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, by Michel Legrand and the Bergmans. Plus, of course, tracks from her many solo, original cast, and soundtrack albums, like Miss Marmelstein, People, the Act II Medley from her classic 1965 TV special MY NAME IS BARBRA, and Cryin' Time (a duet with Ray Charles from her special BARBRA STREISAND...AND OTHER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS).
There is even a recording of Harold Arlen serenading her with special Sammy Cahn lyrics to Come Rain or Come Shine at a Friar's Roast in her honor. It all comes full circle with a 1988 revisiting of You'll Never Know, in which she duets, in part, with her 1955 self. Includes 24-pg. booklet with rare photos, $5.99
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Chet Baker, CHET BAKER SINGS
1998 CD of this seminal vocal album—two sessions, from 1954 and 1956, by this trumpeter and singer, a major figure on the West Coast jazz scene of the '50s.
According to the All Music Guide, "It's difficult to decide whether Chet Baker was a trumpet player who sang or a singer who played trumpet. When the 24-year-old California-based trumpeter started his vocal career in 1954, his singing was revolutionary; as delicate and clear as his trumpet playing, with a similarly bright and vibrato-free tone, Baker simply didn't sound like any previous jazz singer....The spacious musical setting, a simple trumpet and piano-bass-drums rhythm section [led by pianist Russ Freeman], is perfect for Baker's low-key style....CHET BAKER SINGS is a classic of West Coast cool jazz."
In a vocal that is sincere and vulnerable, and fresh even today, Baker sings 14 classic ballads and torch songs: My Funny Valentine ("arguably the definitive version of this oft-recorded song"), I Fall in Love Too Easily, Look for the Silver Lining, I Get Along Without You Very Well, There Will Never Be Another You, The Thrill Is Gone, Time After Time, But Not for Me, I've Never Been in Love Before, My Ideal, Like Someone in Love, My Buddy, That Old Feeling, and Burke & Van Heusen's It's Always You, NOW $4.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Van Johnson, et al. [Original London Cast], THE MUSIC MAN
Out of print 1994 issue featuring a dozen songs from this 1961 cast recording of Meredith Willson’s classic musical. Van Johnson tackled the role of Professor Harold Hill in the West End, opposite Patricia Lambert as Marian the Librarian, a role that would prove the highlight of her short stage career and provide one of her extremely rare appearances on record.
Lambert made her London debut opposite Harry Secombe and Edmund Hockridge in SLEEPING BEAUTY at the London Palladium. She then appeared as Lady Larken in the 1960 West End production of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (and can be heard on the Original London Cast recording). She also took over the title role in the revival of ROSE MARIE from Stephanie Voss. But her last major stage appearance was in Herbert Kretzmer's OUR MAN CRICHTON (1964), playing second female lead to Millicent Martin, $4.99
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April Stevens, TEACH ME TIGER!
Subtitled "THE ALBUM" + MANY OTHER RECORDINGS WITH HER BROTHER NINO TEMPO, this out of print 1997 import CD features the entire 1959 album by this sultry pop vocalist, plus a whopping 18 bonus tracks.
In 1952 Stevens made the Top Ten with her recording of Cole Porter's I'm in Love Again, and in 1963 she would become famous for her hit cover of Deep Purple with her brother, singer-saxophonist Nino Tempo, with whom she would record extensively. But in between there was TEACH ME TIGER, now considered a classic of lounge music, with its breathy, campy title tune deemed too suggestive for extensive airplay.
The original album contains 11 more tracks: Do it Again, a newly recorded I'm in Love Again, In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon), I Get Ideas, It Can't Be Wrong (Theme from NOW, VOYAGER), Talk to Me, When My Baby Smiles at Me, I Want a Lip, I'm Making Believe, I'll Wait For Your Love, and That's My Name.
The bonus tracks—standards and pop hits—are culled from her various recordings with Tempo, incl. Deep Purple and virtually all of their remaining chart hits: Paradise, Stardust, Sweet and Lovely, Tea for Two, Whispering, I'm Confessin', All Strung Out, and You'll Be Needing Me Baby. Plus Begin the Beguine, Indian Love Call, Honeysuckle Rose, Poison of Your Kiss, The Coldest Night of the Year, True Love (not the Cole Porter song), Together, Baby Weemus, and Hey Baby—30 tracks in all. Import, $15.99
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Herb Jeffries, SAY IT ISN’T SO
Out of print 20-bit remastered version of his 1957 album on the prestigious Bethlehem jazz label, backed by an orchestra arranged and conducted by Russ Garcia.
12 songs: Dinner for One Please, James, title tune, Easy to Remember, If You Could See Me Now, The End of a Love Affair, Penthouse Serenade, Angel Eyes, When Your Lover Has Gone, It's the Talk of the Town, Glad to Be Unhappy, I Don't Stand A Ghost of a Chance with You, and I Only Have Eyes for You, NOW $6.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Ike & Tina Turner, GREATEST HITS, VOL. 1-3
Special price on this set of three 1989 CDs. 37 songs—studio sides and songs from their legendary, high-voltage live performances.
Most of the tracks are covers of pop hits and r&b tunes, delivered in Ike & Tina's own incomparable, immediately identifiable, funky style—songs like Shake, I Got My Mojo Working, The Loco-Motion, Proud Mary, Ode to Billie Joe, Ya Ya, Sam Cooke's Don't Fight it—Feel It, Knock on Wood, Lean on Me, It's Gonna Work Out Fine, Get Back, Tweedle Dee, Stagger Lee, Drift Away, Louie Louie, Only Women Bleed, Ain't That a Shame, I Know, Something's Got a Hold on Me, Shame Shame Shame, It's My Own Fault, Money, Woke Up This Morning, and That's the City.
And there are, of course, a number of Ike Turner originals, incl. Funky Bull, White on White, Tuff Hooked Up, Down in the Valley, Driftin’, Sit & Hold Your Hand, Slidin’, Baby Get it On, Ain’t Nobody’s Business, When I Lost My Baby, and more.
Set of 3 CDs, only $9.99
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Jazz Mine, PETITE AMIE
Extremely hard to find CD by the "San Francisco Bay Area's Premier String Jazz Ensemble," which performs music in the gypsy-swing style of Django Reinhardt's legendary Quintet of the Hot Club of France. The core group here consists of Alan Spector and Mark Holtzinger on guitars and Joe Yamamoto on violin and madolin, with guest artists John McArdle on bass and Peter Cornell on clarinet.
Spector supplies four vocals—Avalon, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Istanbul, and Java Jive—but the bulk of these 13 tracks are instrumental. The group performs other vintage tunes, like The Shiek of Araby and—no surprise—three numbers by Reinhardt (Stompin' at Decca, Blue Drag, and Daphne). But, not content to be limited musically, they have expanded their repertoire to include later bop tunes by Charlie Parker (Scrapple from the Apple), Miles Davis (Four), and Sonny Rollins (St. Thomas). Two original tunes by Spector, Clarinet Shuffle and the title tune, round out the program, $7.99
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Elisabeth Welch, THE IRVING BERLIN SONGBOOK
Out of print domestic edition of the 1988 release by this great sepia songbird, whose career goes back to 1922, but who only began recording albums—half a dozen of them—when she was in her eighties and, ironically, perhaps at the peak of her artistry.
14 tracks: Let's Face the Music and Dance, What'll I Do?, Snooky Ookums, You Keep Coming Back Like a Song / Remember, Shaking the Blues Away, Fools Fall in Love, When I Lost You, The Song Is Ended, I Got Lost in His Arms, Supper Time, White Christmas, Say it Isn't So, How Deep Is the Ocean?, and Always. Liner notes by Stanley Green, NOW $14.99 [WAS $19.99] [Import edition retails new at $32.99]
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Bernadette Peters, LOVES RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN
Her 2002 CD on the prestigious Angel label, featuring a full orchestra, arranged and conducted by the great Jonathan Tunick.
A baker’s dozen of songs, highlighted by the rarely heard I Haven’t Got a Worry in the World (from Anita Loos’s play HAPPY BIRTHDAY). Plus If I Loved You, The Gentleman is a Dope, Mister Snow, the sublime but little-known So Far (from ALLEGRO), Out of My Dreams, Something Good, It Might as Well Be Spring, Some Enchanted Evening, There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame, It’s a Grand Night for Singing, Something Wonderful, and You’ll Never Walk Alone. Liner notes by Jonathan Schwartz, $5.99
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Calabria Foti, WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN
2005 debut CD by this sultry, L.A.-based singer, who has won accolades from fellow artists, including Johnny Mathis ("Some of the most beautiful and artistic music I have ever heard. Her heart and mind are on display in every well-chosen song. It is a treasure….") and Johnny Mandel ("Truly a marvelous singer in every way. She has all the technique and musicality you could want, and has the ability to tell a story and touch your heart.").
On WHEN A WOMAN LOVES A MAN, Foti "pays tribute to her own vocal heroes, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Nancy Wilson." She is supported by a small combo which features Pete Christlieb on tenor sax and is supplemented by strings, including, on one track, Foti herself on violin. 10 songs: This Nearly Was Mine, title tune, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, A Fine Romance, I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life, Like Someone in Love, All the Way, When Your Lover Has Gone / The Man that Got Away, Fever, and By Myself, $9.99
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Judi Connelli, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of three CDs—all of them imports and all of them out of print—by one of the reigning divas of Australian musical theater, cabaret and opera.
ON MY WAY TO YOU (1997)—Her solo debut CD, backed by Max Lambert on solo piano. 15 songs: The Music that Makes Me Dance, Where or When, Leslie Bricusse's You and I, Do it Again, Song on the Sand, Janis Ian's Stars, With One Look, three songs by Sondheim (Stay with Me, Move On, and Losing My Mind), and five songs with lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman—How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, A Piece of Sky (from YENTL), Ordinary Miracles, On My Way to You, and Fifty Percent (from BALLROOM);
LIVE IN LONDON (1998)—CD on the prestigious British label Dress Circle, recorded in concert at the Talk of London cabaret. Connelli performs 15 songs (not counting a 13-song Frank Loesser tribute!), several of them rendered in medleys. Tracks include Where Is it Written? / The Way He Makes Me Feel / Something's Coming; At the Ballet; In Buddy's Eyes / Being Alive; As Time Goes By; Kiss Her Now / Time Heals Everything; A Terrific Band (from BALLROOM); I Don't Want to Know; and Married / You Better Sit Down Kids / Stay with Me / Move On;
Judi Connelli and Suzanne Johnston, PERFECT STRANGERS (1999)— Solos and duets by Connelli and her real-life partner, mezzo-soprano Suzanne Johnston, backed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Connelli solos on The Nearness of You, No Matter What Happens (from YENTL), and Time Heals Everything, and Johnston sings Why Did I Fall in Love? (from FIORELLO!), On the Street Where You Live, and Children of the Wind (from RAGS). The couple duet on Climb Every Mountain, title tune (from THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD), Our Time / Everybody Says Don't, Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, Look to the Moon (from the Australian musical THE BETROTHED by David King and Nick Enright), Pretty Women / Johanna, Music of the Night, a recreation of the famous Judy Garland-Barbra Streisand duet of Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy, more—15 in all.
Set of 3 CDs NOW $16.99 [WAS $19.99]
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Mel Tormé, TORMÉ
Out of print 1989 CD of Tormé's 1958 ballads album, plus four bonus tracks, incl. These Desperate Hours, a never-released Burt Bacharach tune that Tormé is the only person to have ever recorded.
The original Verve album, with orchestra conducted by Marty Paich, featured 12 songs: The House Is Haunted by the Echo of Your Last Goodbye, I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life, Where Can I Go Without You? (by Peggy Lee and Victor Young), That Old Feeling, How Did She Look?, 'Round Midnight, Nobody's Heart, Blues in the Night, Gloomy Sunday, I Should Care, I Don't Want to Cry Anymore, and Body & Soul. The other bonus tracks are I'm Shooting High (also previously unissued), Her Face (from CARNIVAL), and Yes, Indeed! Liner notes by Nat Hentoff, $6.99
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Female Vocalists of World Music, 5 CDs
Special price on this set of five CDs by divas of world music.
Lata Mangeshkar, MATA—Out of print 1996 CD by this legendary Indian "playback singer" (or "ghost singer"), who is said to have sung in over 2000 movies, including providing vocals for every major actress in Indian cinema (which I guess makes her the Marni Nixon of Bollywood movies). Mangeshkar began singing in 1942 and, in a career that has spanned seven decades, continued to record as recently as 2009, at the age of 80, including numerous solo albums like this one. According to the liner notes, "This album is a Tour De Force performance by India's most renowned Vocalist....MATA displays Lata's exceptional vocal range and supple dexterity." 11 tracks on a gorgeous picture disc;
Matlubeh, YAR KELOUR—Out of print 2000 import by Matlubeh Dadabayeva, "one of the greatest singers of classical and folk music in Uzbekistan" who, according to Amazon.com, "honed her skills by...participating in weddings, circumcisions, and harvest celebrations," a detail we consider worth noting, since it makes her the only artist we've ever solicited who plays brisses. Amazon continues, "After several years as a soloist in Radio Uzbekistan's Shashmaqam Ensemble, her plangent voice and command of the demanding Uzbek and Tajik (Persian-derived) repertoires led to performances in Sweden and Spain and at several festivals in France. On YAR KELOUR she is accompanied only by a robabe (a banjolike instrument) or an oud (Arabic lute), which allows her vocals to soar, barely tethered to the earth from which they came." 11 tracks;
Dorothy Masuka, PATA PATA—Out of print 1991 CD by this singer born in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) who wrote Pata Pata in the early '50's, a song which would become an international hit for Miriam Makeba.
According to an informed Amazon.com reviewer, "Masuka's budding musical talent blossomed in the early 1950's as lead vocalist for the Golden Rhythm Crooners during the nascent apartheid resistance movement. Years of political unrest forced Masuka to move around Africa and Europe, eventually re-settling in South Africa but she only lately received some long overdue acclaim and recognition for her fine musical talents here in America....Influenced by the vocal stylings of Ella Fitzgerald, Masuka blended traditional 'mbira' music native to Rhodesia's Shona people with American swing jazz sensibilities...a very lively, bright and upbeat yet calming sound." PATA PATA, he continues "is a comeback album of sorts for Masuka in which she deftly blends more modern sounds, including understated electric guitars and keyboards with mbira instrumentation and swing arrangements. It's an excellent album." 15 songs;
Sipra Bose, AN EVENING WITH SIPRA BOSE—2005 CD by this famed Indian singer, who died in 2008 at the age of 63. According to Wikipedia, Bose was "a singer in the Hindustani classical music tradition from Kolkata, India. She is noted for her rendering of light classical (Ragpradhan) songs in Bengali." Recorded in concert in Chicago (!!) in 2000, this live CD consists of three lengthy tracks, with a total running time of over 47 min.;
Helen Boudreaux, POUR TOUT MON FAMILLE—1993 CD, one of four by this self-described "singer-songwriter, trucker [!!], author, mother, Cajun" and "proud native of Catahoula, Louisiana." According to her online autobiography," I pride myself for having been an over the road, line haul 'Lady Trucker' for 10 years....I compose my own music. The songs I write are of love and life, sadness and happiness, and memories of my past....When I was 54 I bought a used guitar and rented a video from the library on how to learn to play the guitar at home. I am completely self taught and very proud of that fact."
Apparently Boudreaux taught herself well, for she is a two-time winner of the Cajun French Music Awards "Female Vocalist of the Year." She is the founder of various Cajun music events and is active in the promulgation of her native music. POUR TOUT MON FAMILLE features 10 songs in Cajun French, incl. Rendre tu votre ami, Autour midnait, Mon homme Cajun, Le valse isole, Cher Mom, Le chambre dans mon maison, Trouver moi un vrai homme, Jusqua un lamme devenir un rose, Te pour pas prendre mon homme, more.
Set of 5 CDs, only $19.99 (It would cost $39 to purchase used copies of these five volumes individually online!!)
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Page Morton Black, PAGE ONE
1995 "comeback" CD (for wont of a better word) by this '60s vocalist, famed for singing the commercial jingle of Chock Full o' Nuts coffee, a company owned by her husband, William Black. At the time, Black performed in tony New York hotels—the Pierre, the Sherry Netherland, the Warwick—and in 1961 she recorded her sole album, MAY YOU ALWAYS, for MGM.
She eventually retired and began primarily devoting herself to philanthropic and social activities—that's her, at right, with Muhammad Ali and Peter Max, a truly bizarre trio, hustling for charity—but 34 years later, the widow Black, heiress to the coffee fortune, decided to release her first CD. She is guided by pianist Barry Levitt, who leads the sextet and three backup singers supporting her, and who also produced, meaning that he is also responsible for dragging Black into the modern day with this selection of mostly standards with—get this—a reggae beat. High camp? Most definitely. One for Ripley? You decide....
Songs include May You Always (her theme song), You Better Go Now, Until the Real Thing Comes Along, I Don't Know Why (I Just Do), If I Love Again, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Don't Blame Me, My Foolish Heart and, strangely, three songs by r&b songwriter Timmie Rogers—If the World Should End Tomorrow, Peace, and God Bless God—12 in all, NOW 2.99 [WAS $3.99]
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Matt Dusk, TWO SHOTS
2004 CD—already out of print!—by this contemporary jazz singer and songwriter. Dusk had recorded four independent albums in his native Canada before signing with Decca Records and releasing this, his major-label debut. The label spared little in production values—on all but one of the tracks Dusk is backed by either London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, or the London Session Orchestra—and the album went gold in Canada (as did his subsequent GOOD NEWS). It also yielded a hit single, U2's Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad, a bluesy saloon song which, interestingly, Nancy Sinatra recorded around the same time. (That same year, Dusk appeared as the lounge entertainer in the Fox-TV reality series THE CASINO.)
Here Dusk performs Fly Me to the Moon and a ballad version of Lennon & McCartney's Please Please Me but, mostly, original tunes written by Dusk and a variety of collaborators, incl. The Theme from Loaded Gun, Cold as Ice, Lonely Road, Precious Years, Every Mother's Son, Miracle, Don't Go Looking, more—a total of 13 tracks, incl. a bonus track (a "Hot Nugget Remix") of Two Shots of Happy, $4.99
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Barbara Lea, A WOMAN IN LOVE
1991 Audiophile Records CD featuring the eight tracks from the very first album by this sublime jazz singer, a 1955 Riverside 10" LP recorded with the Johnny Windhurst Quartet, here supplemented by four sides recorded in 1978, when it was originally issued on a 12" LP. The original album features As Long as I Live, Kalmar & Ruby’s Thinking of You, Love is Here to Stay, I Didn’t Know About You, Love Me (by Victor Young and Ned Washington), The Best Thing for You, Willard Robison’s A Woman Alone with the Blues, and Come Rain or Come Shine. The newly added tracks, recorded with Billy Taylor on solo piano, are I’m Old Fashioned, Too Late Now, What Is There to Say?, and I See Your Face Before Me, $7.99
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Kevin Koelbl, SOMEWHERE IN TIME
2000 debut CD, on the LML cabaret label, by this LA-based cabaret singer, backed by a septet led by John Boswell on piano.
Like so many performers, Koelbl (who last name is pronounced "cable") got his start appearing in musicals in regional theater across the country. Eventually his career expanded and he found himself starring in musical revues around the globe (including Tokyo Disneyland), replacing Michael Crawford in EFX at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and performing his own nightclub act at venues like the Cinegrill, Gardenia Room—and the Debbie Reynolds Hotel & Casino (!!).
13 tracks, incl. The Way You Look Tonight, the John Barry title tune (also reprised in a separate medley with It Could Happen to You), Maury Yeston's Unusual Way, Dream Dancing, Tonight (the song from EFX, not the Sondheim tune, a duet with fellow Angeleno Cari Golden), Ten Minutes Ago / So This Is Love, How Will I Ever Find My Way? (by gay jazz singer-songwriter Steven Kowalczyk), Time After Time, You Are My Home (from Frank Wildhorn's THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL), two songs by Stephen Schwartz (Rewriting History, written with Steven Lutvak, and Someday, written with Alan Menken for Disney's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME), more, NOW $6.99 [WAS $8.99]
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The Tablerockers featuring Earlene Owens, TAXI
Impossible to find, out of print 1986 album featuring guest vocalist Earlene Owens, an excellent but obscure blues singer reminiscent of Esther Phillips.
Based, like The Tablerockers, in the Midwest, Owens has toured internationally with blues legend Albert King and has recorded with Chicago guitar great Magic Slim (on his album SPIDER IN MY STEW). But any other recordings are scarce (if indeed they exist at all), and she has never released an album under her own name. According to the website Blues Access, "Owens' big-attitude, nasal vocals tear it up in her four songs," those songs being Going Fishing, Little Red Rooster Medley, Taxi, and a Shufflin’ with Slim Medley (which also features a guest appearance by Magic Slim on guitar).
This 1986 recording was produced by our friend, the late—and great—Midwest jazz impresario Butch Berman, and it was released on CD by his own Berman Music Foundation. Butch played keyboards (and occasional guitar) in this blues-rock band, which performs covers of songs by Ray Charles (Blackjack), King Curtis (Blue Nocturne), Mike Bloomfield (Maudie), Jimmy McGriff (All About My Girl), and more, with lead vocals handled by guitarist Sean Benjamin—10 tracks in all, $8.99
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Bobby Caldwell, BLUE CONDITION
Bobby Caldwell, COME RAIN OR COME SHINE
Special price on this set of two CDs, the only albums of standards released by this popular contemporary crooner, songwriter and musician.
On BLUE CONDITION (1996), backed by a full orchestra, Caldwell sings Street of Dreams, Angel Eyes, Beyond the Sea, You Go to My Head, Don't Worry 'Bout Me, I Concentrate on You, All the Way, I Get a Kick Out of You, Smile, and three original tunes—The Girl I Dream About, Tomorrow, and Stuck on You. Booklet incl. complete lyrics.
COME RAIN OR COME SHINE (1999) features 13 numbers arranged by Ray Ellis, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Quincy Jones, and others. Songs: I'll Be Around, title tune, Ill Wind, The Best Is Yet to Come, Indian Summer, Old Devil Moon, I've Got the World on a String, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, I've Got You Under My Skin, Day In—Day Out, the self-penned April Moon, Beyond the Sea, more. Set of 2 CDs only $9.99
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Datevik, BALLADS FROM THE BLACK SEA
Hard to find 1997 CD by this Armenian jazz singer popular in Russia and now based in the US. According to the All Music Guide, Datevik is "a talented jazz vocalist with a wide range and an appealing voice."
Here, backed by the Larry Willis Trio and guest Russian tenor sax player Igor Butman, Datevik sings 10 songs: Perdido, My One and Only Love, Willow Weep for Me, Alec Wilder's A Child Is Born, I'm Beginning to See the Light, Sophisticated Lady, My Favorite Things, Charlie Parker's Confirmation, Desafinado, and Improvisation on Antouni (a 19th century Armenian piece), NOW $5.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Kim Nalley, SHE PUT A SPELL ON ME
Subtitled KIM NALLEY SINGS NINA SIMONE, this 2006 CD features nine songs by one of San Francisco's most respected and popular jazz singers. (Michael Tilson Thomas produced her 2010 live CD!) According to her publicity materials, "Kim Nalley combines a devastating stage presence with finely tuned powerful voice....Glamorous, garrulous and dramatic like a diva of the 1950’s, Kim evokes an era when women were classy and brash."
The CD was recorded live during Nalley's sold-out performances of her one-woman tribute show at her own club, Jazz at Pearl's (which, regrettably, is now shuttered). Backed by a quintet led by renowned Bay Area jazz pianist Tammy Hall on piano, Nalley performs My Baby Just Cares for Me, In the Evening by the Moonlight, See-Line Woman, You Can Have Him, I Put a Spell on You, House of the Rising Sun, Trouble in Mind, Mississippi Goddamn, and I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free, $7.99
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The Puppini Sisters, BETCHA BOTTOM DOLLAR
Hit 2007 debut CD, on prestigious the Verve label, by this retro vocal trio—Italian Marcella Puppini and Britain's Stephanie O'Brien and Kate Mullins—specializing in 1940s-style close harmony. An eclectic program of 14 songs: Sisters, Blondie's Heart Of Glass, Mr. Sandman, Tu Vo Fa L'Americano, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B, Sway, Java Jive, Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, I Will Survive, Heebie Jeebies, Morrissey's Panic, Jeepers Creepers, and In the Mood, $6.99
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Doris Day, LOVE & MAGIC
Excellent price on this out of print 2000 import—41 tracks on 2 CDs. There is a smattering of hits—It's Magic, Sentimental Journey, A Guy Is a Guy, Canadian Capers (Cuttin' Capers)—and forgotten pop tunes, like Light Your Lamp, Crying My Heart Out for You, While the Music Plays On, and I’ve Gotta Sing Away These Blues. But, mostly, these are songs from the Great American Songbook, highlighted by rarely heard songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn (It’s a Great Feeling, That Was a Big Fat Lie, I’m in Love), Harry Warren (My Dream Is Yours, Someone Like You), and Johnny Mercer (I Ain't Hep To That Step But I'll Dig It).
Other songs include 'S Wonderful, My Blue Heaven, You Ought to Be in Pictures, A Hundred Years from Today, September in the Rain, I'm a Big Girl Now, Don't Worry 'Bout Me, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Singin' in the Rain, Blue Skies, I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good, Be Anything (But Be Mine), You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me, Stardust, S'posin', I'm in the Mood for Love, It’s You or No One, You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me, Again, I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful), The Very Thought of You, Too Marvelous for Words, I Could Write a Book, I’ll String Along with You, Let’s Be Buddies, Just You—Just Me, and more. 2-CD import, $6.99
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Chris McNulty, WHISPERS THE HEART
Most recent CD, from 2006, by this superb New York-based jazz vocalist and composer.
Australian-born McNulty has been singing since the '70s. She spent her early career performing throughout Australia and Southeast Asia, singing pop, r&b and, eventually, jazz. It was only after emigrating to the US in the late '80 that she released her first solo CD, 1991's WALTZ FOR DEBBIE, on the Discovery label. Since then, she has released a total of five albums.
According to the All Music Guide, McNulty is "a warm, tasteful jazz vocalist with a gentle touch and a subtle sense of swing." And according to her own publicity materials, McNulty "combines a rich, expressive voice with a deep sense of swing, a natural feel for the blues, and an impressive ability to improvise. On recordings and in live performance, she spontaneously reconstructs melodies while retaining the essence of the original lyrics."
Backed by a variety of small combos, with an appearance by special guest Frank Wess on tenor sax, McNulty performs 12 songs: Summer Me—Winter Me, Make it Easy on Yourself, Leonard Bernstein's Lonely Town, When Love Was You and Me (by Thad Jones, with lyrics by Abbey Lincoln), Jobim's If You Never Come to Me, Come Rain or Come Shine, I Should Care, How Deep Is the Ocean?, and four original tunes, incl. Lullaby for a Young Boy and Springosphere, $7.99
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Keely Smith, VEGAS '58—TODAY
On this 2005 Concord release, as part of her latter-day renaissance, Keely Smith continues her musical survey of the Las Vegas tradition of entertainment. (Her three previous Concord releases were SWING, SWING, SWING and individual tributes to Sinatra and Basie.) Subtitled RECORDED LIVE AT FEINSTEIN'S AT THE REGENCY, this CD features support from a nine-man lounge-style band. Smith, then 73 but sounding decades younger, performs a program of songs mostly from her association with Louis Prima in the '50s and '60s, when the couple reigned over the still relatively nascent desert resort.
19 songs, many of them rendered in medleys: I Wish You Love / That Old Black Magic, What Kind of Fool Am I?, I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, Just a Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody, Sweet and Lovely, More than You Know, When You're Smiling / The Shiek of Araby, Don't Take Your Love from Me, Buona Sera, Basin Street Blues / When it's Sleepy Time Down South, Lazy River, Angelina / Che La Luna / Zooma Zooma, and Jump, Jive an' Wail, $5.99
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Marion Williams, CAN'T KEEP IT TO MYSELF
Out of print 1993 CD by this famed gospel singer.
23 spirituals—five penned by Williams but most of them traditional: Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, Live the Life I Sing About in My Song, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?, Got on My Traveling Shoes, Mary Mary, The New Gospel Train, I Just Can' t Keep it to Myself, Ain't He Good, God's Amazing Grace, Come Out the Corner, Leave You in the Hands of the Lord, Ride in the Clouds, Press on (Like the Bible Said), Hark the Voice, I'll Never Return No More, Packin' Up, I Heard the Voice, I'm So Glad, O Lord Remember Me, I Have a Friend, Loose the Man, and Lazarus.
16-pg. booklet incl. extensive liner notes and rare photos, NOW $3.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Michele Anastasio, GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE
Michele Anastasio, MORE!
Special price on this set of two CDs by this fine, veteran cabaret and theater performer, based formerly in New York and now in Florida. Interestingly, renowned jazz pianist Alan Broadbent makes a rare appearance on both these albums, playing guitar (!!) in the small combos which accompany Anastasio. What's more, MORE! is highlighted by the only recorded version of When Do I Think About You?, a rare song by David Zippel and Earl Rose.
Anastasio has had a long and varied career in show business. She has performed in musical theater (both regionally and in New York), recorded commercial jingles, enjoyed a six-year stint singing the National Anthem at Giants Stadium, released four solo CDs, and appeared both as a soloist and with orchestras in New York nightclubs and even internationally, from Tuscany to the annual Dean Martin Festival in Steubenville, Ohio.
On GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE, her 1999 debut, Anastasio sings Watch What Happens, title tune, I've Grown Accustomed to His Face, The Nearness of You, My One and Only Love, On the Street Where You Live, Since I Fell for You, My Favorite Things, My Funny Valentine, Route 66, For Sentimental Reasons, Night and Day, and two versions of A Foggy Day—14 tracks in all.
In addition to the above, MORE! (2001) includes I Will Wait for You (with Broadbent guesting on piano here), title tune, The Look of Love, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, The Boy from Ipanema, But Not for Me, That's All, That Old Black Magic, Embraceable You, I Only Have Eyes for You, Under Paris Skies, and Crazy. Set of 2 CDs only $11.99
Helena Vondrácková, THE BROADWAY ALBUM
Out of print 1993 import CD by this Czech singer, whose career has spanned five decades. Though relatively unknown in the US, Vondrácková is said to be the best-selling Czech singer of all time, and with 87 releases pictured in the discography on her website, it is not hard to believe.
Now in her 60s (that's a recent glamor pic, at right), Vondrácková got her start in the 1960s, when she formed the popular group Golden Kids. She subsequently went solo, performing throughout the world, including two sold out concerts, in 2000 and 2005, at Carnegie Hall. Vondrácková is still active: Her latest album was released in 2010 and she has appeared in, among other things, the Slovak and the Polish version of DANCING WITH THE STARS.
Along the way, she has appeared in Czech productions of musicals like HELLO, DOLLY!, CATS, LES MISÉRABLES, and MISS SAIGON, which doubless gave her the inspiration for THE BROADWAY ALBUM, which she recorded in both Czech and English.
We have the latter, fortunately—15 songs mostly from Broadway musicals: New York, New York (the Kander & Ebb song, of course), People, Till I Loved You (from Maury Yeston's GOYA), Wouldn't it Be Loverly?, I Dreamed a Dream, Somewhere, I Don't Know How to Love Him, Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man, Memory, Send in the Clowns, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, Over the Rainbow, All I Ask of You, The Way We Were, and The Last Night of the World. Import, $15.99
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Mel Tormé, JAZZ 'ROUND MIDNIGHT
Out of print 1994 entry in the Verve Records popular JAZZ 'ROUND MIDNIGHT series. 16 of Tormé's most romantic, intimate songs recorded during his years with the label (1958-1962). During that time Tormé was backed by ensembles led by the likes of Marty Paich, Russ Garcia, and Johnny Mandel, bands that included such jazz greats as Jimmy Rowles, Art Pepper, Frank Rosolino, Jack Sheldon, Mel Lewis, and Red Callender—all present here.
Songs: A Sleepin' Bee, Lonely Town, I Wished on the Moon, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, Hello Young Lovers, Alone Together, Blue and Sentimental, Just in Time, Born to Be Blue, Li'l Darlin' (Don't Dream of Anybody but Me), How Did She Look?, How High the Moon, Body & Soul, Moonlight in Vermont, Blue Moon and, naturally, 'Round Midnight, $6.99
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Carmen McRae, André Previn, Gerry Mulligan, et al., [Original Soundtrack], THE SUBTERRANEANS
Original 1991 issue of the classic "beat" soundtrack—out of print in every edition—to the 1960 movie based on Jack Kerouac's novel. The jazz score, composed by Previn, is highlighted by Coffee Time, which was recorded by McRae especially for the film, and by Like Blue, which would become one of Previn's most famous jazz themes. Previn also plays piano here, heading an all-star jazz ensemble that boasts luminaries like Mulligan, Art Pepper, Shelly Manne, Jack Sheldon, Art Farmer, Russ Freeman, Red Mitchell, Bob Enevoldsen, and others.
10 more tracks: Look Ma—No Clothes, Analyst, Bread and Wine, Raising Caen, Things Are Looking Down, Guido's Blackhawk, Why Are We Afraid?, The Rose and the End, Two by Two, and Should I, $7.99
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DAVID GURLAND
1999 solo CD—the sole release by this talented young cabaret and theater performer who, tragically, died of a brain aneurysm only last December at the age of 43.
Gurland had been active on the New York scene since the late '80s, performing at venues like Eighty-Eights and the Laurie Beechman Theatre. He appeared in shows Off-Off-Broadway and had most recently joined the vocal quartet Uptown Express, with whom he recorded a group CD, TAKE YOU THERE, in 2010.
Here, backed by a rhythm section supplemented variously by cello and tenor sax, Gurland sings 10 songs: Anyone Who Had a Heart, Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home, Billy Joel's Vienna, Accentuate the Positive, At Last, You Should Know (by Tom Andersen and Tim DiPasqua), Every Breath You Take, and covers of hits by Kathy Mattea (Love Travels, Where You've Been) and Collin Raye (Not That Different), $9.99
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Kay Weber, Bob Crosby & His Orchestra, ASSOCIATED TRANSCRIPTIONS, VOL. 2
Three rare vocals by the obscure Kay Weber and three by Bob Crosby highlight this 2003 import CD—21 radio transcriptions by Crosby's popular outfit. Weber, who sang with the Dorsey Brothers before joining Crosby, performs Jerome Kern's Never Gonna Dance and two obscure songs by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, Talking Through My Heart and You Came to My Rescue. Crosby sings Peter Piper (a rarely heard tune by Johnny Mercer and Richard Whiting), You on My Mind, and Bye Bye Baby. Plus 15 instrumentals, incl. Long Ago and Far Away, When a Lady Meets a Gentleman Down South, The Way You Look Tonight, You Dropped Me Like a Red Hot Penny, Fidgety Feet, It's the Gypsy in Me, Through the Courtesy of Love, My Kingdom for a Kiss, There Goes My Attraction, T'ain't No Use, Come Back Sweet Papa, more. Import, NOW $5.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Michelle Nicastro, TOONFUL
Hard to find Asian pressing (with an alternate cover, seen here) of this 1993 album, out of print in every edition, by this popular singer prominent among the new generation of theater and cabaret performers.
Nicastro has performed in musical theater (on Broadway in Elmer Bernstein and Don Black's 1983 flop MERLIN and as Éponine in the national tour of LES MISÉRABLES), in movies, and on TV. But she is perhaps best known for providing the voice of Princess Odette in the 1994 cartoon feature THE SWAN PRINCESS, and for her projects as a recording artist. Nicastro has released four solo albums on the prestigious Varèse Sarabande label; she also appears on many of the label's popular anthologies, as well as the cast recordings of PARDON MY ENGLISH and MASADA.
On this CD, subtitled SONGS FROM THE CLASSIC ANIMATED FILMS, Nicastro sings 15 toonful toons from cartoons: Betty Boop, Cruella de Vil, The Second Star to the Right, I've Got No Strings, When You Wish Upon a Star / I'm Wishing, Baby Mine, Heigh-Ho, I Wanna Be Like You, Somewhere Out There, and a TV Toon Medley (including themes from Mighty Mouse, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Popeye, The Jetsons, Magilla Gorilla, and The Flintstones). Plus songs from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE LITTLE MERMAID, and ALADDIN. Booklet incl. complete lyrics in English. Import, $10.99
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Soesja Citroen, HERE AND NOW
Soesja Citroen, DON'T CRY BABY
Special price on this set of two import CDs by this popular acclaimed Dutch jazz singer, both on the prestigious European jazz label Challenge.
According to the All Music Guide, "Although not well known in the U.S., Soesja Citroen is among Holland's top jazz singers and has commanded a lot of respect in European jazz circles. Her influences include Abbey Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, among others, and she is an expressive interpreter of lyrics as well as a talented composer/lyricist. Though Dutch is her native language, Citroen's English is excellent—and she sings with only a slight trace of a Dutch accent."
We have an AUTOGRAPHED copy of HERE AND NOW, her 1994 release. Backed by a quartet, Citroen sings a dozen standards and jazz tunes in English: As Long as I Live, My Shining Hour, Duke Ellington's rarely heard The Lonely Ones (written with Don George), Some Other Spring, Old Devil Moon, Thelonious Monk's In Twilight (Crepuscle with Nellie) (with lyrics by Citroen), But Beautiful, I'm Just a Lucky So and So, Mel Tormé's Born to Be Blue, Never Make Your Move Too Soon, Peel Me a Grape, more. [CD booklet is AUTOGRAPHED in silver pen, albeit very faintly.]
DON'T CRY BABY (2005) is a collection of self-penned jazz tunes. Citroen writes songs in English as well and, backed only by piano and bass, she offers 16 of them here: Just Another Man, title tune, Out of the Blue, Song for You, From the Start, The Samba Calls, Last September, Wise Women Know, Tropic Night, Miles Apart, Good Old Jazz, Daddy's Girl, Charming Guy, Fantasies Are Free, Love Can't Be All Fun, and Long as You Pay. Booklet incl. complete lyrics. Set of 2 import CDs only $9.99
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Samantha Samuels, SIMPLY SAM
1996 debut CD by this veteran Bay Area cabaret performer. In recent years, Samuels has set aside her solo performing career in favor of arts producing and education. But in her heyday, the '70s and '80s, she not only won countless local cabaret awards but performed at venues like the Oak Room in New York, the Cinegrill in Hollywood and, closer to home, the famed Plush Room.
On this "intimate and distinctive recording," Samuels performs a smattering of familiar tunes with an emphasis on the dramatic—If We Only Have Love, 50 Percent, God Bless the Child, and I'm Coming Home Again (by Carole Bayer Sager and Bruce Roberts). But the bulk of the album consists of original songs by her longtime collaborators, Steven Shore (who also plays piano here) and Eric Vetro. Songs include Person to Person (The Telephone Song), The Clock, And if You Love The Man, You Make it Feel Like Home, First Love, Goodbye Never Ends, I'm Doing Okay, more—12 tracks in all, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Yvonne Roome, 4 CDs
Special price on this set of four CDs—one of them AUTOGRAPHED—by this New York-based jazz singer d'un certain âge.
SOMETHING COOL—Helen Merrill and Anne Phillips supply backing vocals on this, Roome's 1992 debut album, which features support from an ensemble that includes Toots Thielemans, Bob Kindred, and Torrie Zito (who also arranged and conducts). 14 tracks, incl. It Amazes Me, title tune, two songs by Irving Berlin (After You Get What You Want and the obscure Where Is My Little Old New York?), You'd Better Love Me, John Meyer's I'd Like to Hate Myself in the Morning, My Old Flame, I Got Lost in His Arms, Spring Will Be a Little LateThis Year, More Than You Know, An Occasional Man, Dindi, a traditional Swedish folk song, more;
JAZZMINE—AUTOGRAPHED copy of her 1995 CD, highlighted by Duke Ellington's rarely heard A Gypsy Without a Song, with Toots Thielemans again making a special guest appearance. 13 more songs, incl. Blue Prelude, I Concentrate on You, They Say it's Wonderful, I'm Glad There Is You, Jobim's Insensatez, Hello Young Lovers, Day In—Day Out, and no fewer than five songs by Gladys Shelley: Make it Last, I Didn't Even Know He Was Gone, I Did Everything Wrong with the Right Man, He Will Call Again, and Clown Town;
LA VIE EN ROOME—The invisible hand of Gladys Shelley seems to also be behind this 1996 CD, subtitled THE MUSIC OF GLADYS SHELLEY AND OTHER GREATS. The casually downplayed "other greats" actually include Yip Harburg and Burton Lane (Old Devil Moon), Edith Piaf (La vie en rose), Jay Gorney (You're My Thrill), Ahlert & Turk (Mean to Me), Mack David (You're Too Dangerous, Cherie), the composers of two vintage international tunes, A Rua Dos Meus Ciumes and Au revoir (J'attendrai), and others.
Clearly none of them has the same influence or investment (presumably philanthropic) in the project as the mysterious Ms. Shelley, who is again represented by a multitude of six tunes: Peace and Harmony (with music by Ray Ellis), How Did He Look?, No Man Is Going to Change Me, I Don't Hear the Music Anymore, The Feeling Doesn't Go Away, and Lifestyle;
ROOME FOR LOVE—Her 2007 CD. 14 songs, incl. September in the Rain, Young and Foolish, September Song, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, Bizet's Habanera (!!), Some Enchanted Evening, Blue Skies, I Could Write a Book, I Love You, Autumn in New York, Caravan, two songs by Brian Gari—I Don't Wanna Know and How Well Did You Know Ann? (in a medley with Ann Ronell's Willow Weep for Me), more.
Set of 4 CDs only $24.99
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Linn Maxwell, TIMES LIKE THESE
2003 CD by this cabaret singer with a strong background in opera, here backed by Tedd Firth on piano. A classy and esoteric program of 18 tunes mostly from musicals, highlighted by a rare song from Bock & Harnick’s flop musical THE BODY BEAUTIFUL (Hidden in My Heart), a three-song medley from Rick (LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE) Besoyan’s THE STUDENT GYPSY—a score that was never recorded—and Where Do I Go from Here?, a lovely song cut from Bock & Harnick’s FIORELLO!
Plus He’s a Tramp, Kiss Her Now (from DEAR WORLD), three Kurt Weill songs (Pirate Jenny, Nana’s Lied, Saga of Jenny), When in Rome, Sondheim’s Uptown Downtown, Maltby & Shire’s And What if We Had Loved Like That?, Moonfall (from EDWIN DROOD), Adam Guettel’s Awaiting You, Ahrens & Flaherty’s Times Like This, So What? (from CABARET), I’d Rather Be Remembered (by Erv Raible and Shelly Markham), more, $9.99 |
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Ms. Jaz, CHANCES
Ms. Jaz, ME TOO LIVE
Special price on this set of both solo CDs released to date by this Cincinnati-based vocalist (whose real name is actually Sheila Jordan—Sheila A. Jordan!) Ms. Jaz has toured throughout the South, sung in regional jazz festivals, performs as a member of Jubal ("a Contemporary Gospel Ensemble"), and appeared in numerous local theatre productions.
On CHANCES, her 2002 debut CD, Jaz (as she is called) performs a smattering of standards—Imagination, This Masquerade, My Funny Valentine—but mostly original tunes written by her producer, keyboard and bass player, Kerry "Smurf" Jordan, a veteran of the Cincinnati music scene. Nine tracks in all.
Of greater interest is her 2006 follow-up, ME TOO LIVE, a program of mostly standards, recorded in performance "on the 'Rooftop' at Chez Nora,...Covington, KY." Songs: The Boy From Ipanema, My Funny Valentine, Imagination, Guess Who I Saw Today, Route 66, Get Here, Sade's Sweetest Taboo, and Me Too (by—who else?—"Smurf," who also plays bass in the quintet backing Jaz). Set of 2 CDs NOW $5.99 [WAS $6.99]
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Nanci Griffith, RUBY'S TORCH
This 2006 CD finds the popular contemporary folksinger-songwriter forging a new torch repertoire out of mostly contemporary material, supported by a full orchestra. At the same time, she sets down her own pen, for the most part; only two of the songs here (Late Night Grande Hotel, Brave Companion of the Road) are her own compositions.
Griffith offers a lovely version of In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning but the remaining tunes are of more recent vintage, with three songs by Tom Waits forming the heart of the project—Ruby's Arms, Grapefruit Moon, and Please Call Me, Baby. Plus Jimmy Webb's If These Walls Could Talk, Bluer Than Blue (the 1978 Michael Johnson hit), When I Dream (which has been covered by artists like Helen Reddy, Crystal Gayle and Willie Nelson), Drops from the Faucet, and Never Be the Sun (popularized by contemporary Irish folksinger Dolores Keane)—11 songs in all
The All Music Guide says of RUBY'S TORCH, "[Griffith's] voice has more discipline, more refinement, and she has made her Texas drawl work for her in the most elegant and intimate way....[E]verything here works in context, and provides as seamless a record as she's given listeners this century thus far," $5.99
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Stanley Jordan, STATE OF NATURE
Latest album, from 2008, by this famed jazz guitarist, pianist and "musical visionary," his first release in five years. According to Amazon.com, "STATE OF NATURE shines with Jordan's pioneering techniques, including simultaneous playing of both guitar and piano." Songs: All Blues, Horace Silver's Song for My Father, How Insensitive, Mozart's Piano Concerto #21(Andante in F Major), Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out, and nine original tunes, incl. Forest Garden, A Place in Space, Ocean Breeze, Shadow Dance, Healing Waves, Prayer for the Sea, more, $2.99
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Peter Cousens, CORNER OF THE SKY
Out of print 1994 import by this Australian actor and singer popular Down Under, thanks to frequent appearances in TV, theater, cabaret and musicals. Cousens starred as Raoul in the West End production of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and, in Australia, as Marius in LES MISÉRABLES and Chris in MISS SAIGON (a role he reprised on the 1995 2-CD complete recording).
On this, his debut CD, he performs 14 songs backed by a full orchestra: When I Grow Too Old to Dream, Love Changes Everything, Come to Me—Bend to Me, If Ever I Would Leave You, Something's Coming, Macushla (the old Irish ballad), You'll Never Walk Alone, Maria, Corner of the Sky, Cryer & Ford's Old Friend, All I Ask of You, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, and two songs from Maltby & Shire's CLOSER THEN EVER (What Am I Doin'? and If I Sing). Import, NOW $6.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Johnny Mercer, MOON RIVER
Subtitled MERCER SINGS MERCER, this out of print 2005 import pairs two 1974 albums recorded by Mercer in London and never released domestically. Here Mercer sings 28 of his own songs, backed by the Harry Roche Constellation and by Pete Moore & His Orchestra, incl. several lesser-known tunes, like The Air-Minded Executive, Pineapple Pete, Little Ingénue, Whatcha Ma Call It, Not for Sale, It's Great to Be Alive, I Wanna Be in Love Again, Shooby Dooin', Little Ol' Tune, and Show Your Linen, Miss Richardson. Plus You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby, Too Marvelous for Words, Talk to Me Baby, The Midnight Sun, I'm Old Fashioned, Something's Gotta Give, Tangerine, Satin Doll, Autumn Leaves, The Days of Wine and Roses, That Old Black Magic, Moon River, Summer Wind, Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home, Come Rain or Come Shine, Goody Goody, I Thought About You, and One for My Baby. Liner notes by Alec Wilder. 2-CD import, $11.99
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Susie Butler, SUSIE SINGS SARAH
AUTOGRAPHED copy of the 2000 debut CD by this Bay Area-based jazz singer, a tribute to her idol, the great Sarah Vaughan.
Nine songs: Can't Get Out of This Mood, Whatever Lola Wants, Yesterdays, Lullaby of Birdland, It's Alright with Me, Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year, Nice Work if You Can Get It, It Might As Well Be Spring, and Misty. AUTOGRAPHED, $9.99
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John Barrowman, ASPECTS OF LLOYD WEBBER
His 2007 album. Nine songs from SUNSET BOULEVARD (title tune, Too Much in Love to Care), ASPECTS OF LOVE (Love Changes Everything, Seeing Is Believing), WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (title tune), EVITA (High Flying Adored), PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (All I Ask of You, Think of Me), and JOSEPH...TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (Any Dream Will Do), $7.99
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Frederica von Stade, FLICKA
Subtitled ANOTHER SIDE OF FREDERICA VON STADE, this out of print album on Columbia was the first crossover effort by the famed operatic mezzo.
Von Stade performs The More I See You and That's All, but the bulk of the program is divided evenly between songs written by Rodgers & Hart—Wait Till You See Him, I Like to Recognize the Tune, Spring Is Here, and I Could Write a Book—and Jeremy Lubbock, who is best known as an arranger and conductor. In the latter capacity, Lubbock displays his talents on the full orchestra that backs von Stade here. And as a composer, he is represented by four songs co-written with Faith Clark—Lullaby, He Is My Man, Once Again, and Play Me Your Light, $6.99
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Anna Russell, THE ANNA RUSSELL ALBUM
CD featuring almost the entire 1972 2-LP reissue of the first two Columbia albums by this popular comedienne. In the late 1940s, Russell began carving her own special niche, one in which both classical music and comedy overlapped giddily, and she occupied it for more than three decades of a highly successful career. Recorded live at New York’s Town Hall in the early '50s, these are the albums that made her international reputation.
Backed only by a piano, Russell presented satirical monologues which revealed the more comic aspects of a broad spectrum of classical music, from her famous parody of Wagner (The Ring of the Nibelungs—An Analysis) to the traditional folk song (British—Pure but Dull: "I Love the Spring"). The remaining titles speak for themselves: Introduction to the Concert (By the Women's Club President), How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera, For Loud Singers with No Brains: "Ah Lover!" (from the operetta THE PRINCE OF PHILADELPHIA), For Singers with Tremendous Artistry but No Voice: "Schlumph; Je n'ai pas la plume de ma tante", For the Dramatic Soprano: "Schreechenrauf", Russian folk song: "Da, Nyet, Da, Nyet", and Coloratura aria "Canto Dolciamente Pipo" (from the opera La Cantatrice Squelante)—nine tracks with a total running time of 77 min., $7.99
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Marlene Ver Planck, LOVES JOHNNY MERCER
1988 CD of her 1979 album, with five bonus tracks recorded nine years later with the same musicians—a quartet featuring Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar and Milt Hinton on bass. 21 songs: I Remember You, That Old Black Magic, Early Autumn, Hit the Road to Dreamland, Skylark, Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home, Fools Rush In, Let's Take the Long Way Home, I'm Old Fashioned, Jeepers Creepers, Midnight Sun, Something's Gotta Give, I Thought About You, Out of This World, P.S. I Love You, My Shining Hour, Summer Wind, Charade, Love's Got Me in a Lazy Mood, How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehen?, and Day In, Day Out, NOW $9.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Craig Heesch, FROM OUT OF THE WINGS
2005 debut CD by this excellent sixtysomething crooner in the Sinatra style.
According to his bio, "In 1961 a young vocalist named Craig Heesch was singing and recording as Craig Adams for Overland Records in Hollywood, California....Craig and Jimmy Sheldon wrote and recorded the song, The Girl With the Golden Hair, which was Craig's first release and later featured in a Hollywood film starring Jane [sic] Mansfield" (her last film, 1968's tawdry SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED).
Heesch gave up show business to pursue a technical career, "developing and introducing new proprietary technology to the scientific world." But upon retiring, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream, and the result is the appropriately-titled FROM OUT OF THE WINGS, produced by Jim Pike, the founder and lead singer of The Letterman.
Backed by a full orchestra, Heesch performs 13 tunes from the Sinatra catalog: Somewhere Along the Way, A Day in the Life of a Fool, They Can't Take That Away from Me, All or Nothing at All, I'll Be Seeing You, Come Rain or Come Shine, Night and Day, Time After Time, Put Your Dreams Away, The Song Is You, As Time Goes By, I've Got You Under My Skin, and Come Fly with Me, $7.99
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Cassandra Wilson, BLUE SKIES
Cassandra Wilson, BELLY OF THE SUN
Special price on this set of two CDs—one early, one recent—by this superb and popular jazz singer.
BLUE SKIES, which we have in its original import edition, was Wilson's first album of standards, released in 1988. Backed by a trio that includes Mulgrew Miller on piano and Terri Lynn Carrington on drums, Wilson performs 10 evergreens: Autumn Nocturne, title tune, Shall We Dance?, I'm Old Fashioned, My One and Only Love, I've Grown Accustomed to His Face, I Didn't Know What Time it Was, Sweet Lorraine, Polka Dots & Moonbeams, and Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You?
On BELLY OF THE SUN (2002), according to the All Music Guide, "Cassandra Wilson continues to move down a highly eclectic path....While displaying a jazz singer's mastery of melodic nuance and improvisatory phrasing, Wilson draws on a variety of non-jazz idioms—roots music, rock, Delta blues, country, soul—to create a kind of earthy, intelligent pop with obvious crossover appeal." Here, customary instrumentation, including an array of guitars (acoustic, steel, electric, slide resonator) is supplemented by the more rarefied sounds of the mandolin, bouzouki, banjo and...plastic tub!
Wilson performs blues numbers like Mississippi Fred McDowell's You Gotta Move, Robert Johnson's Hot Tamales, and Darkness on the Delta (a duet with octogenarian pianist "Boogaloo" Ames). But the All Music Guide raves, "Wilson and band are in peak interpretive form on...ethereal reinventions" of popular songs like The Weight, Dylan's Shelter from the Storm, Waters of March, Wichita Lineman, and James Taylor's Only a Dream in Rio. Plus four originals, incl. Just Another Parade (with India.Arie sharing vocals) and the Caribbean-tinged Drunk as Cooter Brown—13 tracks in all. Set of 2 CDs only $7.99
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Nina Simone, A SINGLE WOMAN
Her acclaimed 1993 studio comeback album, on the Elektra label.
While Simone was best known for her politically conscious songs assailing racism and injustice, this album is a collection of ruminative love songs, including three by Rod McKuen, the meister of songs about love and loneliness—Love’s Been Good to Me, Lonesome Cities, and the title tune (originally A Single Man). Simone’s vocal interpretations are at the forefront on this CD; she plays piano on only a single track. Peggy Lee alumnus Michael Melvoin provides piano accompaniment on the remaining tracks, leading a series of small ensembles that include trumpeter Jack Sheldon and guitarist John Chiodini.
Seven more: If I Should Lose You, Just Say I Love Him, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, the self- penned Marry Me, The More I See You, Il n’y a pas d’amour heureux, and Papa Can You Hear Me?, NOW $4.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Nancy Nelson, SWEET AND LOW-DOWN
2002 import, on the Dutch jazz label Challenge, by this fiftysomething vocalist, who sings jazz at clubs in the New York area and performs sacred music in churches near her New Jersey home. Nelson began singing professionaly as a teenager and has gigged with the likes of Bobby Hackett, Eddie Condon, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa.
Here Nelson is backed by the quartet of the esteemed Keith Ingham on a collection of 17 evergreens:
Shall We Dance?, title tune, I Don't Know Enough About You, I'll Take Romance, Love Turned the Light Out (by John Latouche & Vernon Duke), Easy to Love, Sand in My Shoes, Cheek to Cheek, Sam Coslow's Moon Song, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Old Devil Moon, Moonglow, Reach for Tomorrow (by Jimmy McHugh and Ned Washington), Cow-Cow Boogie, Night and Day, Irving Berlin's Fools Fall in Love, and Let's Take a Walk Around the Block. Import, $7.99
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The Clark Sisters, A SALUTE TO THE GREAT SINGING GROUPS / THE CLARK SISTERS SWING AGAIN
1996 import CD pairing two of the three LPs recorded by this jazz-influenced close harmony vocal quartet (not to be confused with the current gospel music group of the same name).
The four Clark Sisters from North Dakota found fame in 1944 when they replaced The Pied Pipers in the orchestra of Tommy Dorsey, though the bandleader changed their name to The Sentimentalists. The group had a number of hits with the band, like I Should Care, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, On the Sunny Side of the Street, and Chicago. But the sisters eventually went out on their own in 1953, recording under their own name, since the ill-tempered Dorsey would not allow them to call themselves The Sentimentalists, or even acknowledge in their publicity that they had ever sung under that name.
According to the All Music Guide: "Although they never achieved the fame and fortune of some of their contemporaries (like the Andrews Sisters and the McGuire Sisters), the Clark Sisters' recordings are today actually more highly-prized by jazz aficionados, for their unique vocal stylings, in which they often emulate (and in fact sing the actual charts for) instrumental sections. By contrast, neither the Andrews Sisters, nor the McGuire Sisters are today considered to be part of the jazz lexicon, despite their chart success."
On these two albums, from 1962 and 1959 respectively, they are accompanied by the orchestra of Charles Bud Dant. Songs: My Blue Heaven, Until the Real Thing Comes Along, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, Paper Doll, I'll Get By, I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, Dream, Sugartime, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You, Undecided, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles, When I Take My Sugar to Tea, St. Louis Blues March, Hot Toddy, Song of India, I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, I Can't Get Started, In the Mood, When Day Is Done, Take the "A" Train, Sugar Blues, One O'Clock Jump, and two songs by Harry James (Trumpet Blues, The Mole). Import, $10.99
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Laurel Massé, AGAIN
We have only a single copy of this extremely collectible, long out of print 1990 solo CD by jazz singer Massé, who gained fame as an early member of The Manhattan Transfer, with whom she recorded four albums. According to the All Music Guide, "That all ended in 1979 when she was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Massé was forced to drop out of the [group] and spend two years recuperating." She made a full comeback, however, and went on to record four albums of her own, of which this is her third.
Backed by a large ensemble, Massé performs a program of 11 tunes, with an emphsis on ballads and the standard jazz repertoire: Jumpin' at the Woodside, title tune, Something's Coming, a vocalese version of Sonny Rollins's Oleo (with lyrics presumably by Massé herself), Tout Bas (Speak Low), I've Got the World on a String, On the Street Where You Live, Lazy Afternoon, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, I've Got Just About Everything, and My One and Only Love, NOW $10.99 [WAS $30.99]
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Jane Powell, Fred Astaire [Original Soundtrack], ROYAL WEDDING
1991 CD issue of this 1951 soundtrack, featuring an original score by Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane. Every edition of this soundtrack is out of print on CD!
Songs incl. Too Late Now, How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?, You're All the World to Me (in which Astaire performs his famous dance on the walls and ceiling), Ev'ry Night at Seven, Open Your Eyes, The Happiest Day of My Life, I Left My Hat in Haiti, What a Lovely Day for a Wedding, more—12 tracks in all, $6.99
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Shirley Horn & Dizzy Gillespie, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? / THE REAL THING
Two complete '60s albums—one by each of these jazz greats—on one CD.
Originally released in 1973, Horn’s WHERE ARE YOU GOING? was a conduit between the major label albums of her earlier, and never fully realized, career, and the five albums she recorded for the Danish jazz label Steeplechase starting in 1978, which ultimately led to her late-career renaissance—a contract with Verve Records, the release of 11 acclaimed albums, and the renown she had deserved from the start.
Fronting her own small combo, Horn sings Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg's The Eagle and Me, Jack Segal's Something Happens to Me (which Blossom Dearie also covered), Do It Again, the self-penned Consequences of a Drug Addict Role, Dinah Washington's Come on Home, L.A. Breakdown, and two songs by Bobby Scott (A Taste of Honey and the title tune).
Gillespie, heading up ensembles which include James Moody on tenor sax and Eric Gale on guitar, performs Summertime, Closer, the self-penned N'Bai, High on a Cloud, and five songs by his pianist Mike Longo: Matrix , Alligator , Soul Kiss, Let Me Outta Here, and Ding-A-Ling, $8.99
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Sam Arlen, Harold Arlen, ARLEN PLAYS ARLEN
Subtitled A TIMELESS TRIBUTE TO HAROLD ARLEN and released in 2004 to commemorate the Arlen Centennial, this CD features a dozen instrumentals by tenor saxophonist Sam Arlen, the composer's son, plus one track, It's a New World, sung by Harold Arlen himself, originally released on the Walden Records label in 1955. Thanks to modern technology, Arlen is now accompanied by his son, his daughter-in-law Joan (on piano) and a full orchestra in a new version of this old recording.
Backed variously by a full orchestra, a big band and a sextet, Sam Arlen performs So Long, Big Time!, That's a Fine Kind o' Feedom, Moanin' in the Morning, Last Night When We Were Young, Ill Wind, Let's Fall in Love, Stormy Weather, Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home, Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead / If I Only Had a Brain, Come Rain or Come Shine, Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea, and Over the Rainbow. Booklet incl. complete lyrics and rare photos, $4.99
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Maye Cavallaro, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of all three CDs, two of them AUTOGRAPHED, by this popular Bay Area-based jazz singer.
IN THE MIDDLE OF A KISS—AUTOGRAPHED copy of her extremely rare 1990 debut CD, virtually impossible to find anywhere else, a collaboration with the late pianist Abe Battat. Battat leads the quintet backing here and supplies three vocals, on How Little We Know (the Carolyn Leigh song), I See Your Face Before Me, and It Could Happen to You (a duet with Cavallaro). Cavallaro sings I See Your Face Before Me, No Moon at All, Make Someone Happy, (Song for) A Rainy Afternoon (by Carroll Coates), I Didn't Know What Time it Was, Like a Lover, He's Funny That Way, And it All Goes 'Round and 'Round (by Bernard Ighner, composer of Everything Must Change), and two songs by Battat (Once You Were Mine, and the title tune);
NEVER LET ME GO—Her 1998 sophomore CD, AUTOGRAPHED, backed by a sextet featuring Mimi Fox on guitar. 12 songs: I'll Close My Eyes, title tune, The Night We Called it a Day, Foolin' Myself, Baby Don't You Quit Now (by Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Rowles), Born to Be Blue, More than You Know, Lennon & McCartney's In My Life, Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, Love Me or Leave Me, Get Rid of Monday (by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke), and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea;
Maye Cavallaro and Mimi Fox, HEARTS—2003 collaboration with virtuoso guitarist Fox. 12 songs: Paul Simon's dazzling Under African Skies, title tune, Till There Was You, Only Trust Your Heart (by Sammy Cahn and Benny Carter), Spring Is Here, Horace Silver's Peace, Save Your Love for Me, Elvis Costello's Almost Blue, and no fewer than four songs by Duke Ellington— Don't Get Around Much Anymore, I Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues, I'm Beginning to See the Light, and Daydream.
Set of 3 CDs, 2 of them AUTOGRAPHED, only $29.99
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Steve Wolfe's Jazz Cruisers Featuring Guenevere Wolfe, JOYBUTTON
1997 release by this respected tenor saxophonist, his sextet, and wife Guenevere, who sings My Heart Stood Still, The Thrill Is Gone, Get Out of Town, I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good, and Wolfe's own Ships, Planes and Choo Choo Trains. She also shares vocals with Wolfe on Baby, it’s Cold Outside and Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired (another original). Plus three instrumentals—Book of Life, title tune, and Lift Off, $5.99
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Lynda Jamison, KNOW WHAT I'VE LEARNED
1996 debut CD by this popular Pittsburgh-based cabaret singer.
Several rarely heard tunes highlight this 14-song program: I Won't Believe My Eyes, I'll Be There (by Johnny Mandel and Dave Grusin, respectively, both with lyrics by the Bergmans), Charles DeForest's Know What I've Learned, Later for Love (by Carroll Coates), Leslie Bricusse's Something in Your Smile, and Somebody Come and Play (by Joe Raposo). Plus Alec Wilder's Blackberry Winter, Close Enough for Love, Tenderly, Falling in Love with Love, Old Devil Moon, Witchcraft, more, $4.99
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Debbie Voltura, FLYIN' HIGH!
Debbie Voltura, WHO'S IN THE WAY BUT ME
Special price on this set of two of the seven albums released by this excellent pop vocalist and songwriter, based in southern California
FLYIN' HIGH!, Voltura's 1992 debut, features a dozen songs: Someone to Watch Over Me, Through the Eyes of Love (by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager), Our Love Is Here to Stay / It Had to Be You, Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac, Come Rain or Come Shine, Smile, Unconditional Love (the Donna Summer hit), Over the Rainbow, David Pomeranz's It's in Every One of Us (covered by The Hollies, Mary Travers, and Cliff Richard), and three original numbers, incl. the title tune.
WHO'S IN THE WAY BUT ME (1999) balances cover songs and nine self-penned tunes. The former includes When Sunny Gets Blue, This Masquerade, Fly Me to the Moon, The Greatest Love of All, and Wind Beneath My Wings. Among the latter are I Surrender, title tune, You Loved Me (Tommy's Song), The Only Man, Old Friends, and Compulsive Buyer. Set of 2 CDs only $7.99
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Mary Dukes, INTRODUCING THE DIVINE MS. MARY
2001 CD by this excellent L.A.-based contemporary blues singer, backed by Jerry Rosen's 32-20 blues band (which Dukes regularly fronts), with guitarist South Side Slim guesting on four tracks.
Dukes has previously sung backup for artists like Marvin Gaye, Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, and Earth, Wind & Fire, but this is her first outing under her own name. A review of the CD on the Blues On Stage website rhapsodizes, "Ms. Dukes enthralls with sensuousness, jazzy inflections, and quality-laden vocal work. Her range is never challenged and she knows how to entice with volume and timbre. When looking to discover new blues talent, finding Ms. Mary is like striking gold; immediately and continually rewarding," adding, "Wading into material written and arranged by Rosen, the band throws down tight executions, sharp deliveries, and fluent passages and solos throughout. [Organist Deacon] Jones' powerful organ keeps the mixes emotive, the rhythm section hits hard, and Rosen and Slim provide tremendous string action."
According to Amazon.com, the music is "Chicago style blues in the spirit of Magic Sam and Otis Rush, with strong gospel influenced vocals. The CD features 'West Side' minor key tunes, mid tempo shuffles, some funky stuff and bit of R&B." 11 songs written by Rosen: Too Much to Drink, Money in My Pocket, Worried Blues, Mississippi Mister, Nobody's Clown, I Tried, You Go Your Way, Justice, I Wish You Would Have, One More Kiss, and I'll Show You, $3.99
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Joanne O'Brien, ISN'T IT ALWAYS LOVE
1999 debut solo CD by this classically-trained vocalist, who primarily sings popular music and is active in the LA in the musical theater scene. (See her Broadway album with fellow cabaret singer Lee Lessack, below.) According to O'Brien's bio, "At Christmas you can find her on stage as Joan Crawford in the Cult Musical JUDY'S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS in Hollywood."
Backed by a sextet led by John Boswell on piano, O'Brien performs a program of 14 mostly contemporary ballads: Natalie Merchant's Verdi Cries, title tune (by Karla Bonoff), Alan Menken's Sailing On, That's All, a lovely ballad version of Dusty Springfield's I Only Want to Be with You, Ann Hampton Callaway's How Do I Trust My Heart?, Something I Thought I'd Never Do, a medley of Lennon & McCartney's Golden Slumbers and Dream a Little Dream, David Friedman's We Live on Borrowed Time, There Will Always Be a You (by Donna Summer), Cheryl Wheeler's Summerfly, the traditional Gift of Love, Southbound Train (by Julie Gold), more, NOW $5.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Lemuel West, IN GOOD COMPANY
Subtitled THE NEW YORK SESSIONS, this 1999 release (which we have in the original pressing, not the made-to-order CD-R offered by Amazon) is by a jazz singer who is actually based in the San Francisco Bay Area. But only in New York, apparently, could West assemble a quintet that included two former members of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, James Williams (piano) and Bill Pierce (tenor sax), for his debut effort.
11 songs: Blame It on My Youth, When I Fall in Love, Will You Love Me Tomorrow?, When You Wish upon a Star, After the Lights Go Down Low, But Not for Me, Falling in Love With Love, Nature Boy, Ain't Misbehavin', Over the Rainbow, and Being Green, $5.99
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Dominique Eade, MY RESISTANCE IS LOW
Dominique Eade, WHEN THE WIND WAS COOL
Special price on this set of two CDs, both AUTO- GRAPHED, by this prominent Boston-based contemporary jazz vocalist and songwriter. Eade studied at New England Conservatory, where pianist Ran Blake became an important influence (and where she herself has taught since 1984). She began her recording career in 1990, releasing five albums to date, and she continues to perform and teach voice today. (According to her bio, "Her students have included Luciana Souza, Kate McGarry, Sara Lazarus, Lisa Thorson,...Roberta Gambarini, and many others.")
MY RESISTANCE IS LOW (1994), is one of two albums Eade recorded for Accurate, the New England-based indie jazz label. Backed by a trio led by Bruce Barth on piano and featuring George Mraz (bass) and Lewis Nash (drums), Eade performs a stunning ballad version of the title tune, plus Hit the Road to Dreamland, You Don't Know What Love Is, The Tender Trap, Just Another Blues (an old Nat King Cole stune), and five original songs, incl. Avenue A, Out in the Stars, Late Autumn Evening, and Sometime Tonight—10 in all.
By 1997's WHEN THE WIND WAS COOL, Eade had been signed to RCA Records, with all the increased advantages that that implies—a production helmed by Ben Sidran and a backup of 10 musicians, led by Fred Hersch on piano and including special guest Benny Golson on tenor sax. Subtitled THE SONGS OF CHRIS CONNOR & JUNE CHRISTY, the CD—now out of print—features 13 songs: When the Wind Was Green, All About Ronnie, Intrigue (by Ervin Drake), I’ll Take Romance, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Wind, Moonray, Something Cool, Poor Little Rich Girl, Ridin’ High, Lullaby of Birdland, Tea for Two, and Goodbye. Set of 2 AUTOGRAPHED CDs only $10.99
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Marlene Ver Planck, LIVE! IN LONDON
1993 CD by this respected and prolific jazz vocalist, recorded in live performance with the Roy Babbington Trio at London's Pizza in the Park.
15 tracks: Watching You (an obscure tune by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh), Someone to Light Up My Life, This Happy Madness, Cole Porter's It's Bad for Me, Let's Face the Music and Dance, Falling in Love with Love, Jerome Kern's Let's Begin, Get Out of Town, So in Love, Say it Isn't So, Music Is My Best Friend (which has also been recorded by Joyce Breach), Lover, I Wanna Be Around, Body & Soul, and a DOCTOR DOLITTLE Medley (Something in Your Eyes / I Think I Like You / When I Look in Your Eyes), NOW $6.99 [WAS $10.99]
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Rebecca Parris, A PASSIONATE FLING
1996 CD of the 1984 album by this venerated Boston-based jazz singer.
The All Music Guide cites the influence of both Carmen McRae and Nancy Wilson on Parris on this early work. "But for Parris," they add, "bringing the influence of Wilson, Carmen McRae, or anyone else to a CD isn't a matter of mindless imitation. She is a very recognizable vocalist herself, and her brassy, robust interpretations...are as personal as they are gritty."
Backed by quintet, Parris performs 'Round Midnight, Miles Davis's All Blues (with lyrics by Oscar Brown, Jr.), Teach Me Tonight, Freddie Hubbard's Little Sunflower, Over the Rainbow, and four tunes by producer Stan Ellis—We Were One, I Never Noticed Until Now, Crazy World of Love, and For Today, Tomorrow and Always (Sonnet for a New Friend). (According to liner notes, the recording of A PASSIONATE FLING originally started out as a session to record demos of Ellis's tunes.) $10.99
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Philip Chaffin, Rebecca Luker, WARM SPRING NIGHT
The first and, to date, apparently the only recording of a rare tune by George & Ira Gershwin, Evening Star, highlights the 2005 sophomore CD by this talented New York-based cabaret performer (and co-founder of the superb PS Classics theater label). Also, Broadway star Rebecca Luker makes a special guest appearance, duetting with Chaffin on the rarely heard Sailing at Midnight, from Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz's flop 1944 musical SADIE THOMPSON.
Accompanied by a full orchestra, Chafin offers 12 more tastefully chosen selections: Haunted Heart, Sondheim's Silly People (cut from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC), My Romance, There's a Room in My House (from the flop 1962 musical A FAMILY AFFAIR), Out of My Dreams, Heaven in My Arms (by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein), That's All, If it's True (from Ricky Ian Gordon's MY LIFE WITH ALBERTINE), Don't Ever Leave Me, a medley of You've Come Home and You're Far Away from Home (both from WILDCAT, the latter actually cut from the show), and two songs from KING DAVID by Alan Menken and Tim Rice (Warm Spring Night and When in Love), $8.99
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Pamela Ward and Paul Cherrington, SOMETHING OLD—SOMETHING BLUE
Out of print 1992 import CD, a collection of mostly "traditional songs and ragtime blues," old-style songs from both sides of the Atlantic by singer Ward and singer-guitarist Charrington. Based in the UK, this British folk duo—get this—"first met in the United Arab Emirates through a mutual love of music and became two founding members of a folk club in Abu Dhabi."
With the support of an eight-piece band, they perform 18 songs: Makin' Whoopee / Ain't Misbehavin', I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl, Jamaica Farewell, The Water Is Wide, Phil Ochs's There But for Fortune, Shake That Thing, Every Time You Go Away (the Hall & Oates hit), Cincinnati Flow Rag, Lovely Water Melons, Yarmouth Town, Victory Rag, Easter Carol, Losers, Early Morning Rag, The Greenwood Laddie, more. Import, NOW $4.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Triad, TERRY'S TAVERN
Out of print 1994 CD by this vocal trio, about whom virtually no information can be found save for that in the scant liner notes. Triad consists of British singer Trisha Lee, Terry Ayers, and Frederic Boyle (who "has performed as a pianist with such groups as The Platters, The Shirelles, Bobby Rydell, and Johnny Tillotson"). Ayers and Boyle both play keyboards and composed virtually all the contemporary jazz tunes here. Backed by a 10-piece band, the group sings, in addition to Donald Fagen's Walk Between Raindrops, Age of Bebop, title tune, Passion Overflow, Here in Paradise, Always Dreaming, You and I, Last Goodbye, more—10 in all, $4.99
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Louis Armstrong, THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION
Out of print 2000 3-CD compilation—59 tracks spanning five decades of recordings for Vocalion, Decca, and Verve by this legendary and influential singer and trumpeter.
Amazon.com calls this "a remarkable overview of Louis Armstrong's career, beginning with 1924 recordings with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra...all the way through the decades to include the pop hits from the 1960s, like Hello, Dolly and What a Wonderful World. Along the way, there's plenty to document Armstrong's position as the first great soloist of jazz, its first great singer, and a popular entertainer whose charm was as unique as his musical talent."
"The 1920s are represented by his stellar performances as a 'sideman’ to regular associates, like his wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, and clarinetist Johnny Dodds. The 1930s find him leading his own bands, big and small, and recording with Jimmy Dorsey and Bing Crosby (Pennies from Heaven), and the Mills Brothers [In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree]. The '40s and '50s are the years of the All-Stars, with Armstrong's trumpet joyously exploding in the company of such fellow giants as trombonist Jack Teagarden and pianist Earl Hines."
The recording of Pennies from Heaven actually also features Frances Langford, and there are other duets with labelmates Billie Holiday (You Can't Lose a Broken Heart), Ella Fitzgerald (Stompin' at the Savoy), Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (You Rascal You), and Oscar Peterson (Sweet Lorraine). There are also tracks with the Casa Loma Orchestra and the orchestras of Gordon Jenkins, Russ Garcia, and Sy Oliver, with support throughout from notable jazz sidemen too numerous to even mention.
Other songs include Copenhagen, Shanghai Shuffle, I'm Goin' Huntin', Melancholy, I'm in the Mood for Love, On Treasure Island, Thanks a Million, Ev'ntide, Dippermouth Blues, Jubilee, Ain't Misbehavin', Jeepers Creepers, Rockin' Chair, West End Blues, Savoy Blues, Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, I'm Confessin', You're a Lucky Guy, Wolverine Blues, Sweethearts on Parade, Perdido Street Blues, Coal Cart Blues, Groovin', Panama, My Monday Date, A Kiss to Build a Dream On, When it's Sleepy Time Down South, Weary Blues, Wild Man Blues, Dream a Little Dream of Me, Cabaret, many more. CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE TRACK LISTING.
3 CDs in a fold-out folio, slipcased, with a 40-pg. booklet incl. extensive liner notes and rare photos, $14.99 [Some wear to outer slipcase]
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June Hutton, Martha Tilton, Ethel Waters, Helen O'Connell, The Crew Cuts, et al., THE JOHNNY MERCER SONGBOOK
Long out of print 1989 compilation—20 songs composed by Johnny Mercer, taken from the extensive vaults of RCA Records. The above perform, respectively, In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening (with Eddie Fisher), And the Angels Sing (with Benny Goodman's Orchestra), Jeepers Creepers, Tangerine, and You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby.
There are two songs each by Tony Martin (Laura, Autumn Leaves), The King Sisters (On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, Accentuate the Positive), Lena Horne (One for My Baby, Day in— Day Out), and the Glenn Miller Orchestra (G.I. Jive, sung by Ray McKinley & The Crew Chiefs, and That Old Black Magic, sung by Skip Nelson & the Modernaires).
Plus Rosemary Clooney (Too Marvelous for Words), Kate Smith (The Days of Wine and Roses), Dinah Shore (Blues in the Night), Henry Mancini (Moon River), Perry Como (Come Rain or Come Shine), Norman Luboff Choir (Dream), and Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra (Fools Rush In), $7.99
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Marie Bergman and The Danish Radio Big Band, BUT BEAUTIFUL
We previously misidentified Bergman's 1998 CD FRUIT as the Swedish jazz singer's first English language CD of standards and jazz tunes. But it turns out that it was actually this hard to find 1994 import, a collaboration with the renowned 20-piece Danish Radio Big Band.
Since beginning her solo career in 1974, Berman has been acclaimed in her native country for her many recordings and for her numerous appearances representing Sweden in the Eurovision contest. Here she sings, in nearly flawless English, 10 songs, incl. Like Someone in Love, title tune, You Don't Know What Love Is, Invitation, All of Me, Someone to Watch Over Me, I Fall in Love Too Easily, Imagination, John Coltrane's Naima, more. Import, $11.99
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Bette Midler, SINGS THE ROSEMARY CLOONEY SONGBOOK
As the story goes, Barry Manilow called up his erstwhile employer Midler in 2003 and told her he had a dream they'd reunited to record a tribute to their mutual friend Rosie Clooney. And so, after a nearly 30-year separation, they did. Midler and her former pianist and Musical Director buried the hatchet and produced this loving 11-song homage to the Rosie of the '50s—when both the singer and her voice were at their freshest and loveliest—for Clooney's old label, Columbia Records.
Among the highlights here are Midler's duets with Linda Ronstadt (Irving Berlin's Sisters) and Manilow (On a Slow Boat to China) and, especially, her interpretation of This Ole House, transformed from the novelty it became in the hands of Rosie's producer Mitch Miller into something approaching a classic folk ballad. The result is heartfelt and genuinely poignant, ranking among Midler's finest ballad performances.
Eight more songs, some arranged and conducted by Patrick Williams and by the great Ray Ellis: Come On-A My House (which works surprisingly well with a hip hop-flavored arrangement), You'll Never Know, Hey There, Tenderly, Mambo Italiano, Memories of You, White Christmas, and In the Cool, Cool, Cool fo the Evening, $5.99
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Debbie Shapiro Gravitte, THE ALAN MENKEN ALBUM
Out of print 1994 CD by this popular cabaret and theater singer. 15 songs from Menken's theater and movie scores, highlighted by two songs cut from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (We'll Have Tomorrow and Crystal, Ronette & Chiffon), Daughter of God (a rarely heard pop tune written with the late Howard Ashman), and songs from KICKS: THE SHOWGIRL MUSICAL (I Want to Be a Rockette, You Are the Only One) and the movies BABE (Growin' Boy), NEWSIES (Seize the Day, Santa Fe), and the never-produced (dare one say aborted?) LITTLE PRINCESS (Take Care of My Heart).
Plus Suddenly Seymour (from LITTLE SHOP...) and five more songs from his biggest successes— BEAUTY & THE BEAST (title tune), THE LITTLE MERMAID (Poor Unfortunate Souls, Part of Your World), ALADDIN (One Jump Ahead), and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (Someday / God Help the Outcasts), NOW $7.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Annette Sanders, ON MY WAY TO YOU
Out of print CD by this fine jazz singer, backed by an ensemble featuring Michael Abene on piano, Joe Cocuzzo on drums, and guests Randy Brecker on flugelhorn and Jerry Dodgion on saxophone.
Sanders began recording in the mid '60s. Bobby Scott signed her to Mercury Records (for whom she apparently released only one single), and in 1966 Benny Goodman chose her as the vocalist for his prestigious Rainbow Grill engagement. (Recordings of the gig were only recently released by the Yale University Music Library.) Sanders was soon in demand as a singer for studio sessions and commercial jingles, at the same time acquiring a reputation as a first-rate vocalist on the New York jazz scene. She has since been the featured vocalist in Dick Hyman's popular 92nd St. Y jazz series, performed with The Canadian Brass at Avery Fischer Hall, concertized at Kennedy Center, and released eight albums, including a 2007 duet CD with Bob Florence. Still, major success has eluded this fine vocalist. As the All Music Guide puts it, "Annette Sanders has a warm and expressive voice; it is surprising that she is not better known."
On this 1995 release, Sanders performs some of the loveliest ballads in all the Great American Songbook—Dearly Beloved, Wild is the Wind, I've Never Been in Love Before, You're Nearer, People Will Say We're in Love, and Skylark. Other songs include Waltz for Debby, the title tune (by Michael Legrand and the Bergmans), Velas (by Ivan Lins), and two songs by drummer Cocuzzo (Rio Is Her Name, Maybe One Day)—a dozen tunes in all, $11.99
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Lina Nyberg, SO MANY STARS
1996 import by this popular and award-winning Swedish contemporary jazz singer and songwriter.
Nyberg formed her own group, the "Lina Nyberg Kvintett," in 1990 and released her first CD in 1993. Since then she has toured throughout the world and released 13 more albums, including this one. Backed by combos ranging from a piano-drum duo to a dektette, Nyberg performs So Many Stars, On the Street Where You Live, I'll Be Seeing You, For All We Know, Going to Chicago, and eight originals (in English), incl. Once I Was Like You, Lost But Still, Ordinary Day, My Castle, Nothing New, and Alone—13 tracks in all. Booklet incl. complete lyrics. Import, $10.99 [Used copies of this CD sell on Amazon starting at $30!!] [NOTE: Some writing on booklet and rear tray card]
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April Aloisio, BRAZILIAN HEART
Her 1994 debut CD, the first of six released by Aloisio to date. 16 songs, incl. You Go to My Head, Centerpiece, Horace Silver's Nica's Dream, The Man I Love, Love for Sale, Bud Powell's Duid Deed (with lyrics by Joanie Pallatto), It Ain't Necessarily So, Hermeto Pascoal's Bebê, and five songs by Jobim—Agua de Beber, One Note Samba, Meditation, Morro Não Tem Vez, and Só Tinha de Ser com Você, NOW $2.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Roseanna Vitro, 5 CDs
Special price on this set of five CDs by this acclaimed jazz singer, who is backed throughout by ensembles led by her longtime Musical Director, renowned jazz pianist Kenny Werner.
REACHING FOR THE MOON—Her out of print, collectible 1991 CD, featuring guest artists Joe Lovano and Kirk Walum on saxophone and Harvie Swartz on bass. 10 songs: Les McCann's rollicking samba I Bet You Thought I'd Never Find You (with lyrics by Jon Hendricks), Slow Hot Wind, Kenny Rankin's little-known In the Name of Love (recorded by Peggy Lee), You Are There, Gathering Stones (by Werner), Yesterdays, Irving Berlin's Reaching for the Moon, In a Sentimental Mood, Milton Nascimento's Canção Do Sal, and The Island;
PASSION DANCE—1996 CD on the prestigious Telarc label. 11 songs, incl. Whisper Not, title tune (by McCoy Tyner, with lyrics by Vitro), For Heaven's Sake, Out of This World, Stanley Turrentine's Long as You're Livin', Freedom Jazz Dance, Blue Monk, More Than You Know, Strollin' (an adaptation of Charles Mingus's Nostalgia in Times Square), more;
CATCHIN' SOME RAYS—Subtitled THE MUSIC OF RAY CHARLES, this out of print 1997 tribute features backing from a variety of ensembles, ranging from quartet to an 11-piece band, and featuring special guest David "Fathead" Newman on tenor sax. 12 tracks: Unchain My Heart, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin', You Don't Know Me / Ruby, One Mint Julep, Lonely Avenue, The Danger Zone, I Don't Need No Doctor, Night Time Is the Right Time / But on the Other Hand, Tell Me You'll Wait for Me, Them That's Got, Sticks and Stones, and Roll with My Baby;
Roseanna Vitro, TROPICAL POSTCARDS—Import audiophile edition (Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio CD, playable on all CD players) of her 2004 Brazilian CD, highlighted by a duet with singer Tom Lellis (on Reza) and featuring guest Joe Lovano on sax. 10 more songs: Wave, I’ll Be Seeing You, Jobim’s Song of the Jet (Samba Do Aviao), I Remember You, Land of Wonder (Terrestris), In Search of My Heart (a McCoy Tyner instrumental with lyrics by Vitro), and two songs each by Milton Nascimento— Cravo e Canela (Cinnamon Flower) and Certas Cancoes (Some Songs)—and Ivan Lins—Kisses (with lyrics by the Bergmans) and I Just Need Your Kisses;
LIVE AT THE KENNEDY CENTER—Her 2005 CD recorded at the KC Jazz Club at Kennedy Center. 11 songs, incl. Like Someone in Love, Randy Newman's I Think it's Going to Rain Today, Do Something, Serrado (by Djavan), Black Coffee, Donny Hathaway's Tryin' Times, Like a Lover, Commitment (by Werner), two songs by Bill Evans (Epilogue, with lyrics by Vitro, and Twelve Tone Tune), more.
Set of 5 CDs only $29.99 (It would cost $42 to purchase used copies of these six volumes individually on Amazon!!)
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Billie Holiday, SELECTED LIVE RECORDINGS
This hard to find 2004 CD seems to be the sole volume released in a series called MERLOT MOODS, which apparently went defunct immediately thereafter. Nevertheless it boasts 13 rare live performances by Holiday from a variety of sources and venues: Carnegie Hall (Lover Come Back to Me, Stormy Weather, Billie's Blues), Apollo Theatre (Tenderly), Storyville (He's Funny That Way), THE TONIGHT SHOW (Them There Eyes), THE EDDIE CONDON SHOW (Lover Man, I Cover the Waterfront), Armed Forces Radio (My Man), Red Hill Inn (Willow Weep for Me, Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, I Only Have Eyes for You), and the 1953 reality show THE COMEBACK STORY ("in which celebrities explain how they overcame physical disabilities or other kinds of adverse fortunes in their lives"), $8.99 [CD is slightly scuffed but guaranteed to play perfectly]
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Anne Runolfsson, AT SEA
1997 debut CD, the only solo CD to date by this acclaimed singer, who was Julie Andrews’ understudy—and performed her role over 100 times—in VICTOR, VICTORIA, going on to recreate the role in the national tour. Runolfsson's singing has been praised by the N.Y. Times for its ability to alternate "between ethereal melodiousness and piercing big-moment resonance." Her career, too, has reflected that "flexible virtuosity," encompassing performances with major orchestras at venues like Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall and Hollywood Bowl, as well as more intimate outings at Rainbow & Stars, The Pump Room, Cinegrill, and Russian Tea Room (the latter earning her a MAC Award as Best Female Vocalist). Runolfsson has also had leading roles on Broadway (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, CYRANO—THE MUSICAL) and Off Broadway (David Friedman's LISTEN TO MY HEART) and appears on cast recordings of LES MISÉRABLES and LISTEN TO MY HEART.
15 songs, incl. Janis Ian's This Must Be Wrong, Ballad of the Sad Young Men, Dad (an "Icelandic drinking song"!!), I Get Along Without You Very Well, Goodnight My Someone / When I Fall in Love, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Maury Yeston's New Words, The Water is Wide, The Look of Love / Speak Low, How Can I Be Sure, the self-penned My Baby, and three songs by David Friedman—the title tune (co-written with Runolfsson), and musical settings of two poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay (Mariposa, Sorrow)—15 in all. (You can find a rather wacky appreciation of Runolfsson's version of Ding Dong the Witch is Dead by actor-writer-radio host Seth Rudetsky HERE. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $5.99
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Ron Kaplan, LOUNGING AROUND
Ron Kaplan, NEW YORK
Special price on this set of two CDs by this excellent West Coast crooner, and the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit American Songbook Preservation Society. Kaplan has done his part for the Great American Songbook by releasing seven albums of standards, including these two, LOUNGING AROUND, released in 2000 (though we have the 2006 remastered version), and NEW YORK, release in 2007.
The former contains nine songs, with a total running time of 48 min.: Here's That Rainy Day, Moanin', In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Just One of Those Things, Caravan, No One Ever Tells You (by Carroll Coates), How Insensitive, Blues in the Night, Cry Me a River, I Surrender Dear, and What a Wonderful World.
On NEW YORK, Kaplan is backed by a quintet composed of top Bay Area musicians led by the the great Larry Dunlap (who also arranged and produced) on piano, and featuring Noel Jewkes on sax and clarinet and Seward McCain on bass. Kaplan performs a dozen numbers about the Big Apple: Give it Back to the Indians, Sunday in New York, Harlem Nocturne, Drop Me off in Harlem, Jumpin' with Symphony Sid, Manhattan, On Broadway, Forty Second Street, Take the "A" Train, Lullaby of Broadway, New York State of Mind, and New York, New York / Broadway. Set of 2 CDs only $7.99
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Johnny Horton, AMERICA REMEMBERS...
TV packaging featuring 20 original recordings—including 12 of the 13 charting hits—by this legendary country and rockabilly singer active during the '50s.
Ironically, Horton's string of hits only began in 1959, a mere year before he died, at age 35, in a car accident with a drunk driver. (That's Horton, at right, with colleague Johnny Cash on the steps of an Arkansas post office, earlier that year.) The biggest of those hits included The Battle of New Orleans (which won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording), Sink the Bismark, and North to Alaska (from the John Wayne movie of the same name). Indeed, Horton became known for his "saga songs," which celebrated the pioneer spirit and began the "historical ballad" craze of the late '50s and early '60s—songs like The Jim Bridger Story, about the famed 19th century Western explorer and mountain man, and tunes with titles like Johnny Reb, Comanche, Johnny Freedom (Freedomland), and When it's Springtime in Alaska (It's 40 Below).
All the above are included here, along with a dozen more: Whispering Pines, Old Slewfoot, Honky Tonk Man, I'm Coming Home, All for the Love of a Girl, The Mansion You Stole, I'm Ready if You're Willing, I'm a One-Woman Man, Sleepy-Eyed John, They'll Never Take Her Love from Me, All Grown Up, and Sal's Got a Sugar Lip, $4.99
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Dinah Shore, COCKTAIL HOUR
Out of print 1999 entry in this popular series of 2-CD sets by vocalists of the '30s, '40s and '50s. 28 of Shore's early hits for the Bluebird, Victor and Columbia labels: Be Careful, it's My Heart, Buttons and Bows, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Shoo Fly Pie & Apple Pan Dowdy, "Murder" He Says, Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly), I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me, The Gypsy, Personality, I Wish I Didn't Love You So, Blues in the Night, Blue Skies, What'll I Do?, I Fall in Love Too Easily, Someone to Watch Over Me, Always, Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside), I Got Lost in His Arms, Mood Indigo, A Wonderful Guy, Come Rain or Come Shine, Sleepy Lagoon, Two Silhouettes, Dinah's Blues, Lazy Countryside, All My Love, Sooner or Later, and Yes, My Darling Daughter. 2-CD set, NOW $6.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Marisa Monte, UNIVERSO AO MEU REDOR
The most recent CD, from 2006, by this internationally popular Brazilian singer, "the most acclaimed female vocalist to arise in Brazil during the 1990s," and the winner of multiple Latin Grammy Awards. On this, Monte's first exploration of the samba, the music of the Brazilian carnaval, she performs a few older classics, but mostly newer works. Many are by the singer herself, co-written with longtime collaborators Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes and, in one instance, David Byrne, who duets with her on the quirky Statue of Liberty ("New York City is on my mobile / Great desire, kitchen fire / Where are you, Statue of Liberty?") (The pair had previously duetted together, on Waters of March, on the 1996 AIDS benefit CD RED HOT + RIO.)
In addition to vocalizing, Monte contributes to the rhythmic atmosphere by playing ukulele, kalimba, shakers, metalofone, cymbals, bells, electric guitar—and nail file!
Amazon.com raves, "She wraps her dulcet, spicy mezzo-soprano, with its clarinet-like timbre that sometimes recalls that of Gal Costa, around a well-chosen set of hip-swinging charmers, accompanied by traditional instruments....Hers is the kind of artistry that awes as it soothes; it draws no attention to itself yet every song flows into another like pearls on a string. Lushly sensual and suavely intimate...." And the All Music Guide adds, "Timeless and modern at the same time, it is a mature album of gentle sambas, replete with rare elegance and beauty."
14 songs in all. Booklet incl. complete lyrics in Portuguese and English, $4.99
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June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Mel Tormé, et al. [Original Soundtrack], GOOD NEWS
Out of print original 1991 Sony issue of the score to this classic 1947 MGM movie musical, highlighted by the inclusion of a song cut from the film, An Easier Way, written by Roger Edens, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and sung by June Allyson and Patricia Marshall.
The score primarily consists of songs by DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, with the addition of two now-famous numbers, The French Lesson, written by Edens, Comden and Green (sung by Allyson and Lawford) and Pass That Peace Pipe, written by Edens, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane (sung by Joan McCracken and Ray McDonald). Plus The Best Things in Life Are Free, Just Imagine (both sung by Allyson), Good News / Tait College (McCracken), Varsity Drag (Allyson and Lawford), Lucky in Love (entire cast), He's a Ladies Man (Lawford, Tormé, McDonald), and orchestral music—a total of 13 tracks, $6.99
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Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, ONE HOUR MAMA
AUTOGRAPHED copy of the 1996 debut CD by this immensely popular San Francisco-based swing singer and her band. 11 songs, many of them associated with the great ladies of blues and jazz, like Alberta Hunter (Downhearted Blues), Anita O'Day (And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine), Ida Cox (One Hour Mama), Dinah Washington (New Blowtop Blues), Albinia Jones (What's the Matter with You?), and Little Esther (Oo Poppa Do). Plus Squeeze Me, Walk Right In—Walk Right Out (The Walking Blues), Blue Skies, Going to Chicago Blues, and Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea. AUTOGRAPHED on front cover ("To Suzanne..."), NOW $7.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Mel Tormé, IT'S A BLUE WORLD
Mel Tormé, CALIFORNIA SUITE
Special price on this set of two vintage recordings by Tormé from the mid '50s.
IT'S A BLUE WORLD, his classic first album for the prestigious Bethlehem Records label, released in 1955, is out of print on CD in every edition. According to the All Music Guide: "Mel Tormé had spent the first decade of his solo career being treated by record companies as a pop singer when Bethlehem offered to treat him as a jazz artist in 1955. The label requested that his first album be a collection of ballads, probably noting the recent success of Frank Sinatra's IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS....The 15-piece orchestra assembled by his accompanist Al Pellegrini backed the singer, and Pellegrini, Sandy Courage, Andre Previn, Marty Paich, and Russ Garcia wrote the arrangements Tormé sang with delicate precision, caressing the lyrics. Despite the album title, his interpretations had none of the darkness of Sinatra. Rather, Tormé invested the songs with warmth and confidence....IT'S A BLUE WORLD marked a turning point in Mel Tormé's recording career."
12 songs, melancholy yet smooth: Till the Clouds Roll By, title tune (by Wright and Forrest), Stay as Sweet as You Are, Isn't it Romantic?, You Leave Me Breathless, Jimmy Van Heusen's rarely heard All This and Heaven Too, I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store), How Long Has This Been Going On?, I Know Why (And So Do You), Wonderful One (by Paul Whiteman and Ferde Grofé), I Got it Bad and That Ain't Good, and Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Subtitled DEDICATED TO THE GOLDEN STATE, the CALIFORNIA SUITE CD features the 1957 version of Mel Tormé's famous jazz suite. (That's the original album pictured here.) Originally recorded for Capitol Records in 1949, Tormé's musical narrative was expanded and given a greater jazz flavor in this recording, which was released on the Bethlehem Records label and arranged and conducted by the great Marty Paich. Paich plays piano and conducts an orchestra of jazz luminaries and noted studio musicians, incl. Barney Kessel, Mel Lewis, Dave Pell, Don Fagerquist, Felix and Eleanor Slatkin, Pete Candoli, Ted Nash, and Stella Castellucci.
Backed by the Bethlehem Chorus, Tormé handles the lead vocals on We Think The West Coast Is The Best Coast In The Land (a theme which recurs throughout), Golden West, They Go To San Diego, Sunday Night In San Fernando, Got The Gate On The Golden Gate, L.A. Poor Little Extra Girl, Coney Island, Atlantic City Boardwalk, more—a dozen tracks in all. Set of 2 CDs only $14.99
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Carly Simon, John Travolta, Jimmy Webb, FILM NOIR
Simon’s 1997 album of mostly standards—her third, highlighted by duets with John Travolta (Two Sleepy People) and Jimmy Webb (Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year), and by the title tune, a new song by Simon and Webb. Webb also arranged and conducted some of the songs, as did Van Dyke Parks, Arif Mardin, and Torrie Zito (who also composed an instrumental interlude, Fools Coda).
Plus eight more songs: Lili Marlene, Don’t Smoke in Bed, Last Night When We Were Young, I'm a Fool to Want You, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, You Won't Forget Me (popularized by Shirley Horn), Laura, and the rarely-heard Somewhere in the Night (the theme from the TV drama NAKED CITY and a 1963 hit for Teri Thornton).
Disc is enhanced CD-ROM Multimedia Presentation including a music video of Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye and interviews with Simon. Liner notes by Martin Scorcese (!!), $5.99
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Dale Kristien, THE BEAUTY OF BROADWAY
1994 solo debut CD by this musical theater performer, best known for her performance as Christine in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, first on Broadway and then during the show's entire four-plus-year run in LA. (That's Kristien, at left, looking indeed like a Broadway beauty and, at right, looking rather more witchy, with a UFO—Unidentified Foxy Object.)
Kristien performs selections from the musical theater, including rarely heard tunes from 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE (Take Care of This House), KWAMINA (Another Time, Another Place, in a medley with The Sweetest Sounds), ON A CLEAR DAY... (He Isn't You), PETER PAN (Tender Shepherd, paired with Never Never Land), and FIORELLO! (When Did I Fall in Love?, in a medley with Dear Friend). Plus Glitter and Be Gay, I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, How Could I Ever Know? (from THE SECRET GARDEN) and, of course, three songs from PHANTOM (Think of Me, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and All I Ask of You)—11 tracks in all.
Amazon customers are extravagant and unanimous in their praise for Kristien's lovely soprano and for her CD, with comments like, "I'd give this album 10 stars if I could"...."the finest voice I have ever heard"...."without a doubt the finest singer in the theater today"...."the most beautiful voice I have heard in many years"...."flawless in technique without sacrificing passion"....and "her voice is one in a million. If you love a soprano voice like Lisa Vroman, Rebecca Luker, or Julie Andrews, I'm sure you will love this album," NOW $3.99 [WAS $8.99]
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Gerard Carelli, LUCKY TO BE ME
Impressive 2000 sophomore effort by this superb singer and onetime trombonist with the Ray Charles Orchestra. Carelli is based in New York, where he fronts a variety of outfits, from quartets to big bands, performing at venues like The Rainbow Room, The Waldorf-Astoria, and Lincoln Center.
On this swinging effort, Carelli's eight-piece band includes John Oddo, Rosie Clooney’s longtime pianist/conductor, and bassist Jay Leonhart. Carelli actually makes one of Cole Porter’s lesser tunes, Leader of a Big-Time Band, into a sizzling jazz tune. The rest of the album showcases his warm, casual, even sexy delivery on a well-chosen line-up of 13 more songs: New York, New York (the good one), title tune, Some Other Time (the good one), How Are Things in Glocca Morra?, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Old Devil Moon, They Say It’s Wonderful, It Never Entered My Mind, So in Love, Always, I've Got the World on a String, Once in Love with Amy, and the self-penned Well Worth Waiting For, $5.99
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Mondo Fax, TEMPORARY PROFANITY
1994 release by this singing satirist, aka Alan Glasser, who is touted in his bio as "the world's most irreverent comedy socio/political songwriter," which may or may not be true, and who is also known as "The Singing Judge," which is most definitely true, since his day job is as an attorney who also servee as a Judge Pro Tem for the L.A. Superior and Municipal Courts. Glasser is best known as the writer of Eat My Shorts, the 1984 Rick Dees novelty hit, which he covers here.
According to his bio, Mondo Fax "started writing socio-political satirical music long ago, when he was still the Musical Director for Jim Nabors and Natalie Cole, as well as playing guitar and/or singing backup vocals for John Davidson and Olivia Newton-John." A multi-instrumentalist, he performs solo, singing to tracks on which he has laid down all his own accompaniment.This CD is one of seven released by Mondo/Glasser to date—albums with titles like MUSIC TO PEE YOUR PANTS BY, OKLAHOMOPHOBIA!, and LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY QUEER. It's no surprise to learn that his music has been featured by Dr. Demento, and an L.A. Times review of one of his live performances in 1996 was headlined "Kovacs-Style Nuttiness Takes the Stand."
Here are 11 topical numbers (at least, topical in 1994), songs about newsmakers like the Menendez Brothers, Rodney King, Rush Limbaugh, the Gulf War, and Lorena Bobbitt ("Lorena, let's not be crazy fools / Well, I think it's pretty petty to be using your machete / On my family jewels"). Songs: Eat My Shorts, Iraqui Mountain High, Viet Conga, There Ain't No Sanity Claus, Blowin' My Brains Out Over You (I Love Eric, I Love Lyle), Tango Tomaine, Bring Back the Sixties, Doity Voids, The Ballad of Big Toosh Limber, The Rodney-Reggie Stomp, and Lorena, Don't Cut Off My Love. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $6.99
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Sarah Vaughan, SASSY SWINGS THE TIVOLI
Rare and highly collectible 1987 Japanese import—the "complete version" of this legendary jazz concert, recorded live at Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. The original 1963 album contained a mere 10 selections, while this 2-CD set contains 32 performances captured over four nights—which means that this set contains 22 tracks never issued previously!
Backed by The Kirk Stuart Trio, Vaughan sings Baubles, Bangles and Beads, I Feel Pretty, Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey?, Misty, Sometimes I'm Happy, Tenderly, Sassy's Blues, Polka Dots & Moonbeams, Poor Butterfly, I Could Write a Book, Time After Time, All of Me, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, I'll Be Seeing You, Maria, Fly Me to the Moon, The Lady's in Love with You, Honeysuckle Rose, Day In—Day Out, The More I See You, Say it Isn't So, Black Coffee, Just One of Those Things, On Green Dolphin Street, Over the Rainbow, What Is This Thing Called Love?, Lover Man, and I Cried for You, as well as alternate takes of the last three.
Booklet incl. complete lyrics. 2-CD Japanese import, NOW $29.99 [WAS $34.99]
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Marion Montgomery, NICE AND EASY
1992 import CD of a 1989 live performance at Ronnie Scott’s by this expatriate American jazz singer. Montgomery enjoyed a long and successful career in England until her death in 2002 at age 67, and she was a frequent performer at Scott's famous London nitery. Here she is accompanied by a quintet led, on occasion, by her husband, composer-conductor Laurie Holloway, on piano.
13 songs: I Wonder What Became of Me, It Amazes Me, Bye Bye Blackbird, Loads of Love (from NO STRINGS), But Not for Me, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Ain’t No Sunshine, Nice Work if You Can Get It / Easy to Love, Blues in the Night, Summertime, The Man I Love, Partners in Crime (by Rupert Holmes), and If You Can't Keep the One You Love. Import, $6.99
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Kate Westbrook, CUFF CLOUT
Subtitled A NEOTERIC MUSIC HALL, this out of print 2004 CD is a full-length work by Westbrook, an American expatriate singer and songwriter/librettist living in England, and singer John Winfield.
Westbrook's musical career began in 1974 when she joined a brass band led by her husband, British composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook. Since then, with his support she has, according to Wikipedia, "generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces," of which CUFF CLOUT seems to be an example.
Among other things, Westbrook has performed the role of Anna in Brecht and Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS with the London Symphony Orchestra, and has she has sung opera, contemporary music, and popular music on radio, television and stage. Her work includes collaborations with artists like Phil Minton, the free-form jazz vocalist and trumpeter, and The Orckestra, "a 12-piece English avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in...1977 with the merger of avant-rock group Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong." Westbrook is also an instrumentalist—she plays tenor horn and piccolo—not to mention an accomplished painter.
According to her publicity, "With CUFF CLOUT, Kate Westbrook presents a new take on the English Music-Hall....In her...'Music-Hall for the 21st century', Kate brings together the disparate elements of traditional Music-Hall in a thoroughly contemporary context. Her lyrics embrace tragedy and comedy, and range from high art to knock-about. By inviting 8 composers from across the whole spectrum of contemporary music to set her texts, Kate has ensured a rich and surprising mix of musical genres....Kate and her accomplice [singer] John Winfield produce an astonishing variety of vocal performances and characterisations, sometimes solo, sometimes as a double act, as they move through a sequence of dramatically varied musical settings."
Backed by 20 musicians, Westbrook and Winfield perform nine numbers with a total running time of over 68 min., many of them with intriguing decriptions: My Lazy Goodheart ("a parlour ballad"), title tune, Toad's Washerwoman ("song for a be-bop diva"), Riddle ("a contrary love song"), Glidden, One Cezanne Apple ("a song of death"), Devil and the Canny Lad ("a parable"), Even / Uneven, and Oceans, Straits, Currents and Seas. Booklet incl. complete lyrics. Import, $5.99
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Mary Taylor, VICTIM OF LOVE
Import CD by this excellent "southern soul" singer, who nonetheless hails from New England.
Like many blue singers, Taylor began singing as a youngster in church. But soon, barely a teenager and well under age, she found herself "touring the chitlin' circuit clubs in Florida and the Carolinas." Taylor is among the finest of the new wave of female blues singers, and she, too, was tapped by JSP, the UK blues and jazz label, to record this, her first album, which was released in 2000. Based in Connecticut, "Hartford's soul queen" continues to perform and record. She is also an ordained minister, who operates a "dance ministry" for women and young girls and "teaches holistic health through her total fitness programs"
Taylor performs 10 contemporary blues songs written by Bruce Feiner, who is billed as a "songwriter, producer, musician and arranger" and who, indeed, produced this CD; arranged all the horns and strings; and plays organ, piano and tenor sax in the small, tight blues combo which backs Taylor, supplemented by The Nutmeg Horns. Songs incl. Mama's First Rule, title tune, Better Watch Your Step, Our Eyes Will Be Cryin', Not My Kind of Man, Things Will Be Alright, Nobody Wins, more. Import, $4.99
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Tina May Trio, ONE FINE DAY
Import CD by this respected British-born jazz singer. According to the All Music Guide, "Having a dusky soprano with a three-octave range which she employs with flexibility and imagination to interpret both traditional standards and newer material, Tina May continues to occupy a strong position as a premiere jazz vocalist."
May has performed or recorded with artists like Ray Bryant, Kenny Clarke, Scott Hamilton, The Echoes of Ellington Orchestra, and the BBC Big Band. She has appeared with various ensembles—both her own and others'—at venues like Ronnie Scott's, the Edinburgh Festival, Pizza on the Park, and Cleo Laine and John Dankworth's Stables, including a 2000 performance at the Globe Theatre alongside artists like Laine and Dankworth. She has performed throughout the world, including an appearance in New York at the Jazz Standard. More recently May toured France—twice—singing the lead role in a new French production of LADY IN THE DARK.
May has released 13 albums under her own name, including this one, from 2000, with "more of a chamber concept." Here May's trio, led by her longtime pianist Nikki Iles, is joined by special guest Alan Barnes, who plays all horns (baritone, bass clarinet, alto, and tenor). 10 songs: Make Someone Happy, title tune (by Ray Bryant), I'll Be Seeing You, Whaley Whaley (The Water Is Wide), Andy Lutter's Bop 'til You Drop (Bop People) (with lyrics by May), Spring Is Here, 'S Wonderful, The Vain Desire (John Ireland's setting of A.E. Housman's poem), Pure Imagination, and Chick Corea's The Aerialist. Import, $8.99
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Ethel Smith, TICO TICO
High camp meets bravura musical talent on this out of print 2004 import, subtitled 28 ORIGINAL MONO RECORDINGS 1944-1952. Lightning fingerings characterized the music of the "First Lady of the Hammond Organ," best known for her hit recording of Tico Tico.
After headlining New York's St. Regis Hotel, Smith secured a long engagement at the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, where she immersed herself in local musical traditions. It was there that she heard the traditional Argentine favorite Tico Tico, which she recorded in 1944, selling nearly two million copies. She subsequently married actor Ralph Bellamy (who knew?); joined the hit radio show YOUR HIT PARADE; appeared in movies like Esther Williams's BATHING BEAUTY, GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS, and CUBAN PETE (opposite Desi Arnaz); and toured and recorded extensively throughout the '50s and '60s. Smith retired in the '70s, performing only occasionally until her death in 1996 at the age of 85.
In addition to Tico Tico, songs include My Mother’s Waltz (with a Bing Crosby vocal), The Parrot on the Fortune-Teller’s Hat, The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, Easter Parade, The Green Cockatoo, Blame it on the Samba, Fiddle-Faddle, The "Harry Lime" Theme (Third Man Theme), The Galloping Comedians, The Scottish Samba, The Breeze and I, Monkey on a String, The Syncopated Clock, Poinciana, The Wedding of the Painted Doll, Liza, I Got Rhythm, La Bamba de Santa Cruz, The Samba Polka, Mambo Jambo, Three-Cornered Tune, Delicado, more. Import, $7.99
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Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim, CHICAGO BLUES MASTERS
Out of print 1995 entry in the Capitol Records series of classic blues recordings. 17 tracks by two veteran bluesmen, Muddy Waters and the less well known but highly influential Memphis Slim, whom the All Music Guide describes as "an amazingly prolific artist who brought a brisk air of urban sophistication to his frequently stunning presentation [and who]...assuredly ranks with the greatest blues pianists of all time."
The CD is highlighted by five tracks recorded live at a "folk song festival" at Carnegie Hall in 1959: Hoochie Coochie Man, Walkin' Through the Park (both by Waters), Boogie Woogie Memphis, Rollin' and Tumblin', and How Long (Memphis Slim). (Only three of these appear to have been previously released, on a 1959 album of the concert produced by Alan Lomax.)
These are supplemented by two studio sides by Waters (Blow Wind Blow, Rock Me), but the bulk of the CD consists of 10 of the 12 songs from Memphis Slim's 1961 United Artists album BROKEN SOUL BLUES: John Henry, Gee Ain't It Hard to Find Somebody?, Stackalee, When the Sun Goes Down, All This Piano Boogie, How Long, Bye Bye Baby, Slim's Slow Blues, Love My Baby, and Someday Baby. 26-pg. booklet incl. extensive liners notes and rare photos, NOW $3.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Sarah Vaughan, 1960-1964
1996 import—13 sides recorded by Vaughan for Roulette Records and seven others from a session with her trio and clarinetist Woody Herman, subsequently released on the VJC label. Vaughan is accompanied by bands led by Count Basie, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, and Gerald Wilson, featuring such jazz luminaries as Harry "Sweets" Edison, Barney Kessel, Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Benny Powell, Frank Wess, and Freddie Green.
20 songs: Perdido, Solitude, When Your Lover Has Gone, When Sunny Gets Blue, I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Come Spring, Just One of Those Things, I'll Be Seeing You, The Lady's in Love with You, The More I See You, I Cried for You, Gloomy Sunday, On Green Dolphin Street, But Not for Me, Poor Butterfly, Moonglow, The Man I Love, Witchcraft, Moanin', and Midnight Sun. Import, $5.99
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Betsyann Faiella, CAN I BE FRANK?
2001 debut, on the LML cabaret label, by this excellent New York-based singer, a tribute to the Chairman of the Board. Faiella performs What Makes the Sunset?, Here Goes, No One Ever Tells You, and 10 other songs more common to such tributes: Learnin' the Blues, All the Way, The Tender Trap, Only the Lonely, All My Tomorrows, That's Life, I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, I've Got You Under My Skin, I Get Along Without You Very Well, and I'm Confessin', $5.99
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Jonathan Poretz, A LOT OF LIVIN’ TO DO
2006 debut CD by this Bay Area-based crooner, who enjoys a regular monthly gig at San Francisco's prestigious Rrazz Room and has appeared as Frank Sinatra in TRIBUTE TO FRANK, SAMMY, JOEY & DEAN (THE RAT PACK) in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and on the East Coast.
Backed by an ensemble that features Vince Lateano on drums and Noel Jewkes on sax, trombone and winds, Poretz performs 11 standards: A Lot of Livin’ to Do, Then I’ll Be Tired of You, Come Rain or Come Shine, How Insensitive, I’ll Remember April, It Never Entered My Mind, This Time the Dream’s on Me, On the Street Where You Live, I See Your Face Before Me, Just One of Those Things, and My Time of Day / I’ve Never Been in Love Before, NOW $5.99 [WAS $6.99]
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Deidre McCalla, EVERYDAY HEROES & HEROINES
1992 CD by this lesbian singer-songwriter, who was, according to her bio, "raised around the folk music scene of McDougal Street in New York, where she began her career." Her first release, FUR COATS & BLUE JEANS, was a folk album recorded for Roulette Records in 1973, when McCalla was only 19. In the '90s, she moved to the Bay Area and eventually released three albums on the Oakland-based Olivia Records label, including this one. Here she receives backing support from San Francisco musician Bonnie Hayes and some of the most prominent names in women's music, like Linda Tillery, Teresa Trull, Vicki Randle, and Nina Gerber.
10 songs: All Over the World, title tune, Outside, Your Heart Left Long Ago, Girl You Don't Know, Each Time, If a Song Could Make You Stay, Come Too Far, Blessings, and Sing Me to Sleep. Booklet incl. complete lyrics, $2.99
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Miles Phillips, MIGHT AS WELL BE…
2000 solo debut CD by this popular New York-based cabaret singer and theater performer, winner of the 2008 MAC Award for Outstanding Male Vocalist. Recorded live at Judy’s in Chelsea, his act at the time was bracketed by two Neil Sedaka songs from WHERE THE BOYS ARE—Turn on the Sunshine
and the title song—which should give you a good idea of where Miles Phillips is coming from. In between is a well-chosen array of songs drawn from the worlds of pop, jazz and musicals: It Might as Well Be Spring, J.D. Souther’s Prisoner in Disguise (popularized by Linda Ronstadt on her 1975 album of the same name), Hooray for Love, Dave Frishberg’s Another Song about Paris, You Must Believe in Spring, My Favorite Year, the undeservedly neglected Who Are You Now? (from FUNNY GIRL), I Don’t Know Why, Just in Time, a medley of two rarely heard songs by Charles Strouse—Wanting (written with Stephen Schwartz, from RAGS) and the breathtaking It Would Have Been Wonderful (written with Martin Charnin, from ANNIE WARBUCKS)—and two other medleys, I Get a Kick Out of
You / Come Back to Me and Another Hundred People / Eleanor Rigby, $7.99
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Vocal Jazz and Pop Grabbag—12 CDs
Incredible price on this set of 12 eclectic vocal jazz CDs.
Sachal Vasandani, EYES WIDE OPEN—Surprisingly strong 2007 debut CD by this young Thelonious Monk Competition
semi-finalist. Billboard called the album "a superb debut of
distinctive originals and intelligent makeovers that teem with a fresh vitality." Described as a "male Norah Jones," Vasandani performs three originals and a diverse collection of pop and jazz covers, incl. A Flower is a Lovesome Thing, Sade’s It's Only Love That Gets You Through,
September in the Rain, Percy Mayfield’s Strange Things Happen, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Jobim’s I Was Just One More For You, Naked As We Came (by alt-folk band Iron & Wine), and two songs by Shirley Horn, whom he credits as a major influence (You Won't Forget Me, I Could Have Told You). Promo copy in cardboard picture sleeve;
Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Herbie Hancock, et al., RIVER: THE JONI LETTERS—Pianist Hancock's 2007 tribute album of songs written (mostly) by his sometime collaborator Joni Mitchell, the first jazz album in 43 years to win the Grammy Award as Album of the Year (and only the second jazz album to win in the entire history of the awards). Guest vocals by Mitchell (Tea Leaf Prophecy), Leonard Cohen (The Jungle Line), Norah Jones (Court and Spark), Tina Turner (Edith and the Kingpin), Luciana Souza (Amelia), and Corinne Bailey Rae (River). Plus four instrumentals performed by Hancock's quintet, featuring Wayne Shorter on saxophone—Both Sides Now, Sweet Bird, and two songs said to be inspirational to Mitchell, Shorter's Nefertiti and Duke Ellington's Solitude. Promo copy with rear tray card only, no booklet;
Cassandra Wilson, THUNDERBIRD—Her 2005 release on the prestigious Blue Note label, produced by guitarist T Bone Burnett, who also plays in the band backing Wilson, along with Jim Keltner on drums and special guest Keb Mo on guitar and vocals. Songs: Blind Lemon Jefferson's Easy Rider, Red River Valley, Willie Dixon's I Want to Be Loved, Close to You (by Jakob Dylan), and half a dozen self-penned tunes (Go to Mexico, Tarot, It Would Be So Easy, Poet, Strike a Match, and Lost). Promo copy with rear tray card only, no booklet;
Tony DeSare, LAST FIRST KISS—Sophomore CD by this up and coming young New York singer, songwriter and pianist, who is being groomed to join the ranks of adult-pop heartthrobs Michael Bublé, Jamie Cullum and Peter Cincotti. According to the All Music Guide, "LAST FIRST KISS enters the race as an early contender for one of the best releases of 2007." Backed throughout by an ensemble that features Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar and Ted Firth on piano, DeSare offers a mix of 13 standards, contemporary songs, and original tunes, incl. There Will Never Be Another You, title tune, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, Oh! Look at Me Now, Carole King's I Feel the Earth Move, They Can't Take That Away from Me, How Deep Is the Ocean?, Kiss (by Prince), more—13 in all. Promotional copy in cardboard picture sleeve;
Sonos, SONOSINGS—2009 debut CD on the Verve Forecast label by this LA-based vocal collective. According to Amazon.com: "Emerging from the Southern California college a cappella scene with the singular aim of turning the genre on its head, Sonos reinvents a 21st century songbook with bold reinterpretations of vital indie artists who inspire the sextet. The result is a spellbinding fusion of ancient and contemporary sounds, as songs by the likes of Radiohead (Everything in its Right Place), Sara Bareilles (...she joins Sonos for a rendition of her Gravity), Fleet Foxes (White Winter Hymnal), Bon Iver (Re: Stacks), Rufus Wainwright (Oh What a World), Björk (Joga), Imogen Heap (Come Here Boy) and other cutting-edge creators are transformed into mesmerizing vehicles for voices only. The repertoire also extends to the iconic mainstream, hence their radical trip-hop rendition of the Jackson 5's I Want You Back and their soulful take on Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence." 11 songs in all. Promo copy with front sleeve only;
Michael McDonald, SOUL SPEAK—On this 2008 CD the popular singer-songwriter and former lead singer of The Doobie Brothers takes his interest in soul music beyond the scope of the Motown covers which comprised his two previous albums. 14 songs: Baby, Can I Change My Mind? (the Tyrone Davis hit), You Don't Know Me, Van Morrison's Into the Mystic, Walk on By, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, Living for the City, For Once in My Life, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (the Aretha Franklin-George Michael hit), Love T.K.O., Bob Marley's Redemption Song, and three original tunes. Promo copy with rear tray card only, no booklet;
Mercedes Sosa, CORAZÓN LIBRE—The iconic Argentinian singer's 2005 CD on the prestigious Deutsche Grammophone label, winner of the Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. 16 songs, incl. Niños de Nuestro Olvido (The Children of Our Forgetting), title tune, Sólo Pa' Bailarla (Just for Dancing), Como Flor del Campo (Like a Wildflower), Sufrida Tierra (Suffering Land), La Canción es Urgente (The Song Is Urgent), Todo Cambia (Everything Changes), Lapachos en Primavera (Lapacho Trees in Springtime), El Olvidau (The Forgotten), more. Promo copy with front sleeve only;
Erin Boheme, WHAT LOVE IS—2006 CD on the Concord Jazz label by this young singer and songwriter. According to the All Music Guide, "[T]his 2006 release has as much to do with jazzy pop as it does with jazz. But even though Boheme is by no means a jazz purist, she is clearly jazz-influenced....So stylistically, this crossover effort (which is best described as traditional pop meets vocal jazz meets adult contemporary) isn't inappropriate for Concord....Concord was obviously hoping to reach the Norah Jones crowd with WHAT LOVE IS, which makes sense because Boheme's vocals hint at Jones in addition to hinting at Billie Holiday. Boheme favors a sweetly girlish approach, although she seems to be aiming for some of Julie London and Peggy Lee's sultriness as well." A mixture of familiar songs and original tunes: Let's Do It, I Love Being Here with You, Let's Make the Most of a Beautiful Thing (recorded by Nancy Wilson in 1968), Teach Me Tonight, Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason, and half a dozen self-penned tunes, incl. One Night with Frank, What Love Is, Don't Be Something You Ain't, and Someone to Love. Promo copy in slimline case with no artwork;
Engelbert Humperdinck, LET THERE BE LOVE—His 2005 CD. A smattering of classics (It Had to Be You, the title tune, Stand by Me) but mostly covers of popular contemporary songs: With You I'm Born Again, When You Say Nothing at All, and songs made famous by Bill Withers (Just the Two of Us), Orleans (Dance With Me), Boz Scaggs (We're All Alone), Bryan Adams (Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?), Nick Lowe (You Inspire Me), and more—14 in all. Promo copy with rear tray card only, no booklet;
Bobby McFerrin, BEYOND WORDS—2002 CD on the Angel-Blue Note label by this virtuoso jazz vocalist. Backed by small groups, with guest Chick Corea on piano and Fender Rhodes on six tracks, McFerrin sings Corea's Windows and 15 original songs;
Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, PLAYLIST—2007 CD, the eleventh album by, and a unique departure for, this famous r&b superstar—nine acoustic covers of contemporary folk and folk-rock songs, plus two original songs. Special guest Brandy sings with Babyface on Please Come to Boston. Plus nine more: Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, Dan Fogelberg's Longer, Diary (by David Gates), Time in a Bottle, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, two songs by James Taylor (Fire and Rain, Shower the People), and two self-penned tunes (The Soldier Song, Not Going Nowhere);
Dave Rounsaville, RECORDED LIVE!—CD by this New Jersey-based singer-guitarist. 12 numbers recorded on WDVR radio's Heartlands Hayride program, incl. Summertime Blues, the country classic Turn Your Radio On, This Land Is Your Land, What Friend We Have in Jesus / You Are My Sunshine, Mississippi John Hurt's Monday Morning Blues, two songs covered by country singer Don Williams (Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good and Tulsa Time), two songs by John Denver (Take Me Home, Country Roads and This Old Guitar), more.
Set of 12 CDs NOW $24.99 [WAS $29.99] [NOTE: Some CDs above that have no artwork are nonetheless pictured at left]
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Joyce Breach and Richard Rodney Bennett, LOVER AFTER ALL
1993 CD by Breach, who is, along with Pinky Winters, arguably our finest living singer of American popular song. Here she is accompanied on solo piano by the illustrious Richard Rodney Bennett.
Not unlike Peggy Lee, Joyce Breach is a minimalist. She literally just sings—sings in a lovely voice with a slight but not unappealing nasal quality, a total absence of vocal and stylistic tics and tricks, and a subtle yet unerring and direct connection to the lyric of any song she sings.
Bennett's well-recognized abilities as a composer are matched by his talent as both a sensitive accompanist and an accomplished singer in his own right. All three are in evidence here, since Breach performs three of Bennett's compositions (You Give Me the Runaround, I Never Went Away, and the title tune), and Bennett shares the vocal spotlight on three duets: Gershwin's The Half-of-it Dearie Blues, Isn't This a Lovely Day? / It's a Lovely Day Today, and Good-Time Charlie (by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke).
In its write-up of this album, the All Music Guide has this to say: "It takes a special person to be a successful cabaret singer. Not only must the person have a reasonable set of vocal chords but, even more important, he/she must be a good storyteller. The fact is, many top cabaret performers aren't blessed with vocal techniques that are all that great. But they have a matchless way with the lyrics that rivets listeners to their seats, either in clubs or by their CD players. Bobby Short, Elisabeth Welch, and Barbara Lea are among the better practitioners of this vocal art. Pittsburgh native Joyce Breach can also claim membership in this select club. Not only does she have the requisite elegance with the lyrics of the songs she sings, but she has better-than-ordinary vocal facilities....This album is filled with expressive renditions of musical pieces, well-known and not so familiar, by a singer with unsurpassed lyrical sensitivity and storytelling skills. Highly recommended."
13 more songs: It Amazes Me, Thanks for the Memory, This Year's Kisses, Dance Only with Me (by Jule Styne and Comden & Green, from SAY, DARLING), Remind Me, The Things We Did Last Summer, All or Nothing at All / Get Out of Town, and more esoteric entries by Cole Porter (It Must Be Fun to Be You, from MEXICAN HAYRIDE), Stan Freeman and Franklin Underwood (Be Warmer This Winter), Charles DeForest (When Do the Bells Ring for Me?), Alan Broadbent (Heart's Desire), Loonis McGlohon (The End of the Line), and Duncan Lamont (Manhattan in the Rain), $3.99 [IMPORTANT NOTE: CD only! Both booklet and rear tray card are missing!]
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Kimiko Itoh, 5 CDs
Special price on this set of five CDs by this Japanese jazz singer, who sings in English and who has been active on the international scene since two of her albums, FOR LOVERS ONLY and FOLLOW ME, were released domestically in the late '80s on none other than Columbia Records.
FOR LOVERS ONLY—Out of print 1987 CD, featuring a trio that includes Eddie Gomez on bass, with special guest Michael Brecker on tenor sax. Nine songs: The Look of Love, For All We Know, Let it Be Me, Somewhere, All in Love Is Fair, Dindi, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Tania Maria's Together, and Interlude (by her pianist, Masahiko Satoh);
FOLLOW ME—The emphasis is on the contemporary on this out of print 1989 CD, featuring backing by a rhythm section (including Gomez on bass and Hugh McCracken on guitar) and a string orchestra. Itoh performs If I Loved You but, mostly, the work of modern-day songwriters like Herbert Kretzmer, who wrote the English lyrics for LES MISÉRABLES (Follow Me), Billy Joel (New York State of Mind), John Lennon (Love), Paul Simon (Bridge Over Troubled Water), Chuck Mangione (He's Gone), and Gene McDaniels (Meet Me on the Moon, Second Chance), who also passed away earlier this month—10 in all;
SOPHISTICATED LADY—Michael Brecker and Eddie Gomez again lend support on this out of print 1995 CD, which also features Ralph MacDonald on percussion, John Tropea on guitar, and a string orchestra that includes Gloria Agostini on harp. 12 songs: So Many Stars, title tune, What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, My Romance, When I Fall in Love, Alone in the World (by Jerry Goldsmith and Alan & Marilyn Bergman), Here's to Life, Corcovado, A Song for You, Yesterday, Love Me Tender, and Close to You. Booklet incl. complete lyrics;
STANDARDS MY WAY—Michael Brecker and Ralph MacDonald join an array of Japanese jazz musicians on this 1997 program of 12 mostly standards, recorded in Tokyo. Songs: The Shadow of Your Smile, Prelude to a Kiss, Old Devil Moon, You Must Believe in Spring, Dave Grusin's Hurricane Country, This Masquerade, Moon River, But Beautiful, Time After Time, Autumn in New York, You've Got a Friend, and Wives and Lovers. Booklet incl. complete lyrics;
AT THE MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL—Recorded in 1997, this out of print CD captures Itoh in live performance, accompanied only by internationally renowned jazz pianist Makoto Ozone. Together they perform nine numbers: On a Clear Day, Skylark, Sometimes I'm Happy, Somewhere, My Funny Valentine, Fly Me to the Moon, The Island, Bluesette, and Follow Me. Booklet incl. complete lyrics.
Set of 5 CDs, only $24.99
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Frank Sinatra, LIVE IN PARIS
1994 CD capturing Sinatra's never-before-released 1962 debut in Paris at the Lido. Backed by a sextet, Sinatra sails through 25 numbers: At Long Last Love, Too Marvelous for Words, In the Still of the Night, They Can't Take That Away from Me, I Could Have Danced All Night, I Love Paris, The Lady Is a Tramp, Goody Goody, Imagination, Moonlight in Vermont, Without a Song, I've Got You Under My Skin, I Get a Kick Out of You, The Second Time Around, My Funny Valentine, April in Paris, Chicago, Night and Day, One for My Baby, A Foggy Day, Ol' Man River, Nancy, Come Fly with Me, You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, and Day In, Day Out, NOW $5.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Acoustix, JAZZ, JAZZ, JAZZ
1998 CD by this popular Texas-based vocal quartet, highlighted by an arrangement of Unforgettable written especially for the group by the great Gene Puerling. Over the 20 years of its existence, the group has toured extensively, throughout North America and internationally, and released five CDs. This one, from 1998, received two nominations for Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, including Best Jazz Album. Primarily an a cappella group, Acoustix is joined on this album on five songs by the Dallas Jazz Orchestra.
11 more songs: Poinciana, title tune (an original composition), The Nearness of You, All the Way, Shine on Your Shoes / Steppin' Out with My Baby, Day by Day, Route 66, Orange Colored Sky, Graduation Day / It's a Blue World, Straighten Up and Fly Right, and a nearly 8-minute Simon & Garfunkel "Montage", $6.99
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Julie London, LONELY GIRL [twofer]
Though it is not billed as such, this out of print 1996 import is actually a pairing of two albums on one CD by this sultry singer on one CD. LONELY GIRL, from 1956, features London at her most intimate, sensitively accompanied throughout by Al Viola on solo guitar. LATIN IN A SATIN MOOD is her Latin-themed album from 1963. (The original albums are pictured here, though this CD features different artwork.)
While the popular EMI-UK reissue of LONELY GIRL is missing one track (What'll I Do), this CD features all 13 songs from that album, incl. Moments Like This, title tune, It's the Talk of the Town, When Your Lover Has Gone, Where or When, All Alone, I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City, When Your Lover Has Gone, Mean to Me, Remember, How Deep Is the Ocean?, and Don't Take Your Love from Me. LATIN IN A SATIN MOOD features 12 songs: Perfidia, Sway, Frenesi, You Belong to My Heart, Come Closer to Me, Vaya Con Dios, Adios, Besame Mucho, Be Mine Tonight, Amor, Magic Is the Moonlight, and Yours. Import, $9.99
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D.C. Anderson, BALLAD
A song co-written with Broadway composer Carol Hall, Leave You Now, highlights this 2004 CD, one of nine CDs by this popular New York-based cabaret singer-songwriter. Backed by a trio of piano, guitar and bass, Anderson sings 10 more songs he co-wrote with a variety of lesser-known composers: The Bird and I, Chocolate Is Fine, If You Touch Me, Human Fondue, It Will Always Be Me, I Can Do This, You're the Same, I Don't Know My Way Around a Dream, I Can't Help but Hope, and Don't Know, NOW $4.99 [WAS $6.99]
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Lizz Wright, THE ORCHARD
2008 CD—the third by this popular young singer, who records for the Verve family of labels.
Wright's 2003 debut album, SALT, garnered her immediate critical acclaim, a place at the top of the Billboard jazz charts, and favorable comparisons to artists like Norah Jones, Oleta Adams and Jill Scott, thanks to her strong, rich vocals and her original songs. She performs mostly self-penned tunes, but the ones that are not reflect the eclecticism of her music, a blend of jazz, folk, r&b, and gospel—in this case, songs like Ike Turner's I Idolize You, Strange (by Mel Tillis), Led Zeppelin's Thank You, and Bernice Johnson Reagon's Hey Mann.
Interestingly, several of the original tunes on this album were co-written with Reagon's daughter, Toshi Reagon, incl. the haunting and lovely Coming Home, Leave Me Standing Alone, My Heart, When I Fall, This Is, and Song for Mia—a dozen tracks in all, $1.99 [CD is very scuffed but guaranteed to play perfectly]
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Original Soundtracks, THE PIRATE, PAGAN LOVE SONG / HIT THE DECK
Hard to find, out of print 1987 CD of a 2-LP set containing music from three movie musicals, an entry in the THOSE GLORIOUS MGM MUSICALS series of soundtracks released in the early '70s by MGM Records.
The CD features all five of the songs from Cole Porter's THE PIRATE, starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly—Be a Clown, Love of My Life, Mack the Black, Nina, You Can Do No Wrong—plus the instrumental Pirate Ballet. So, too, all five songs from PAGAN LOVE SONG, starring Howard Keel and Esther Williams—Why Is Love So Crazy?, title tune, House of Singing Bamboo, Tahiti, and Singing in the Sun. The songs are by Harry Warren and Arthur Freed (though Nacio Herb Brown penned the title tune).
The music of Vincent Youmans (with lyrics by Irving Caesar, Leo Robin and Clifford Grey) was used for HIT THE DECK (1955), and this CD includes the entire original soundtrack LP. An all-star cast—Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller, Jane Powell, Vic Damone, Tony Martin, Russ Tamblyn, and Kay Armen—performs 12 songs: Sometimes I'm Happy (two versions), Hallelujah!, More Than You Know, Keeping Myself for You, Chiribiribee (Chiribiribin), Lady from the Bayou, Join the Navy! / Loo-Loo, I Know That You Know, A Kiss or Two, Lucky Bird, and Why, Oh, Why?, $9.99
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Sofia Laiti, THE MIDNIGHT SUN WILL NEVER SET
Out of print, collectible 1996 original CD (not the made-to-order CD-R offered by Amazon) by this Finnish-born, New York-based jazz singer. Hailing from the frozen northern wastelands of Lapland (!!), Laiti began studying classical musical at the Music Conservatory in Kuopio before moving on to jazz singing—and to Helsinki where, in the '80s, she soon became one of Finland's premier jazz singers. In 1991 she immigrated to New York, where she recorded her first album, MANHATTAN MEMORIES, in 1989 for Columbia Records Finland. She has since performed at venues like Birdland, Iridium, The Village Gate, Tavern on the Green, and Blues Alley in Washington, D.C.
MIDNIGHT SUN…, her third release, is produced by Houston Person, who also plays sax and leads the quartet backing Laiti here. 12 songs: For Heaven's Sake, title tune (by Quincy Jones), I'll Close My Eyes, I Can't Believe that You're in Love with Me, Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye, A Place in the Sun, When Your Lover Is Gone, They Say it's Wonderful, But Beautiful, I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, Fever, and New York State of Mind, NOW $5.99 [WAS $7.99]
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Ethel Waters, 1926-1929
Highly collectible 1993 import, part of the French Classics label’s prestigious Chronological series of jazz recordings. 24 sides recorded by this legendary early jazz singer, highlighted by several ultra-rare tracks. Waters is accompanied by various artists, including Will Marion Cook's Singing Orchestra, The Ebony Four ("male voice quartet") and, on solo piano, James P. Johnson and Clarence Williams.
There are, of course, hits and songs associated with Waters, like Am I Blue?, My Handy Man, Guess Who's in Town?, Birmingham Bertha, I'm Coming Virginia, Lonesome Swallow, and West End Blues. But a number of these sides are not available on any other CD: I Want My Sweet Daddy Now, Paul Whiteman's Smile, My Special Friend Is Back in Town, Home (Cradle of Happiness), He Brought Joy to My Soul, Jersey Walk, My Baby Sure Knows How to Love, Someday Sweetheart, Take What You Want, We Don't Need Each Other Any More, and Weary Feet.
The remaining half dozen tunes are scattered among other miscellaneous Waters CDs, although they are still not easily found: Take Your Black Bottom Outside, Get Up Off You Knees, Do What You Did Last Night, Some of These Days, Organ Grinder Blues, and One Sweet Letter from You. Import, $20.99
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Dolores Gray, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, et al. [Original Soundtrack], IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER
Out of print original 1991 Sony issue of the soundtrack to this 1955 MGM movie musical.
The score, by Andre Previn (music) and Betty Comden & Adolph Green (lyrics), is highlighted by two of Dolores Gray's campiest numbers, Thanks a Lot but No Thanks and Music is Better than Words, the former in particular revered by drag queens the world over.
Cyd Charisse sings Baby, You Knock Me Out (with Lou Lubin). Gene Kelly solos on I Like Myself and joins co-stars Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd on Once Upon a Time, The Time for Parting, The Blue Danube (Why Are We Here?), and March, March. Plus songs by Dailey (Situation-Wise), Lubin (Stillman's Gym), and David Burns (The Time for Parting), Dolores Gray's singing commercial (Klenzrite), and orchestral music—17 tracks in all, with a total running time of over 41 min., $6.99
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Nancy Wilson, TURNED TO BLUE
On her latest album, from 2006, Wilson is backed by a variety of ensembles, from a trio to strings to a 19-piece band, with guest appearances by James Moody, Hubert Laws, Billy Taylor, Tom Scott, and Andy Narell.
11 songs: I'll Be Seeing You, Take Love Easy (by Duke Ellington and John La Touche), Taking a Chance on Love, These Golden Years (by jazz singer-pianist John Proulx), This Is All I Ask, I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up (by Artie Butler), Old Folks, Turned to Blue (a Maya Angelou poem set to music by Jay Ashby), Be My Love, Just Once (by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill), and Knitting Class, $6.99
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Roslyn Kind, COME WHAT MAY
Original 1994 issue of this, the debut CD by Barbra Streisand's kid sister, a highly talented vocalist in her own right, about whom the L.A. Times once wrote, "She's too good and too special to have to worry about comparisons with older siblings." While still in her teens, Kind recorded the first of two albums for RCA Records, which led to appearances on TV (including multiple stints on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW) and at clubs like the Persian Room. Since then, she has appeared on Broadway (3 FROM BROOKLYN) and off (the Canadian premiere of LEADER OF THE PACK, the LA production of William Finn’s ELEGIES) and at venues like San Francisco's Rrazz Room, New York's famed Grand Finale, The Cinegrill, the Playboy Club and, in 2006, Carnegie Hall, where she performed with her pal Michael Feinstein.
Songs: Somebody Loves Me, title tune (by Allee Willis), Ann Hampton Callaway's sublime Perfect, How Do You Keep the Music Playing?, a medley of Meadowlark and Living Colors (by Scott Warrender, composer of DAS BARBECU), The Man that Got Away, a long Romance Medley, and Can You Read My Mind?, $8.99
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Luciana Souza, THE NEW BOSSA NOVA
2007 CD by this Brazilian-born singer, highlighted by a duet with James Taylor on Taylor's Never Die Young.
Souza has been nominated four times for a Grammy Award as a jazz vocalist. She graduated from Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music and released her first solo album in 1999. She has since released eight more albums, six for Sunnyside Records and two for Verve (including this one, her debut effort for the label).
According to the All Music Guide, "Luciana Souza's concept of 'new bossa nova' is melding Brazilian rhythms onto adult contemporary folk-pop MOR songs....[O]verall, this is a sultry program of romantic ballads and softly toned introspective tracks." In addition to the above, Souza performs Waters of March and unique interpretations of songs by Joni Mitchell (Down to You), Leonard Cohen (Here it Is), Randy Newman (Living Without You), Brian Wilson (God Only Knows), Sting (When We Dance), Walter Becker and Donald Fagen (Were You Blind That Day, Love is for Strangers), Michael McDonald (I Can Let Go Now), the late cult folk-punk singer-songwriter Elliott Smith (Satellite), and more—12 in all, $6.99 |
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Graham Bickley, Valerie Masterson, et al., THE TIMELESS SONGS OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN
Out of print 1995 import—a dozen popular Rodgers & Hammerstein tunes collected from various solo albums, London and studio cast recordings, and from a pair of import 4-CD sets of theater songs.
Songs by Shona Lindsay (The Sound of Music, Do Re Mi), Graham Bickley (Younger than Springtime and, with Lindsay, No Other Love), Valerie Masterson (Getting to Know You, Hello Young Lovers), Muriel Dickinson (You'll Never Walk Alone, Climb Ev'ry Mountain), John Diedrich and Roasmund Shelley (People Will Say We're in Love and, with Madge Ryan, Surrey with the Fringe on Top), baritone Thomas Allen (Some Enchanted Evening), and the Philharmonia Orchestra (Carousel Waltz). Import, NOW $2.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, THE SWINGERS
Out of print, highly collectible 1988 CD of the 1959 album, on the prestigious World Pacific label, by this important and influential trio, generally acknowledged as the greatest vocal group in all of jazz. Backed by greats like Zoot Sims, Tommy Flanagan, Russ Freeman, and Jim Hall, LH&R sing Clap Hands! Here Comes Charlie (originally issued on a LP by drummer Sonny Payne) and the 10 songs that comprised the original SWINGERS album: Hendricks's own Love Makes the World Go Around and vocal versions of songs by Sonny Rollins (Airegin), Charlie Parker (Now's the Time), Miles Davis (Four), Zoot Sims (Dark Cloud), Hampton Hawes (Jackie, with lyrics by Annie Ross), Oscar Pettiford (Swingin' 'Til the Girls Come Home), and three by Randy Weston (Little Niles, Where, and Babe's Blues), $16.99
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Gary Lemel, MOONLIGHTING
Out of print CD on Atlantic by this fine singer—and Warner Brothers Records executive (!!)—featuring a duet with special guest Paula Cole (on Call Me Irresponsible). This 1999 tribute to Bobby Darin was arranged and conducted by Roger Kellaway, who also plays piano on most tracks, and features instrumental support from the likes of Grady Tate, the Brecker Brothers, Steve Khan, Lew Soloff, and Elvin Jones.
Nine more songs: After Today (by Leslie Bricusse), Beyond the Sea, I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her, Easy Living, Somewhere, Hello Young Lovers, Skylark, By Myself, and Mack the Knife, $5.99
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Liz Callaway, THE BEAT GOES ON
Out of print, collectible 2001 CD by this popular theater singer—an homage to the pop music of her youth. ("My first LP was the Original Cast Recording of HAIR" she writes in the liner notes.) Backed by an orchestra, Callaway performs 15 groovy "pet sounds": Here, There and Everywhere, Half as Big as Life (from PROMISES, PROMISES), Moon River, You Don't Own Me, Frank Mills, Monday Monday, The Beat Goes On / Feelin' Groovy, Wedding Bell Blues, Leavin' on a Jet Plane, When I'm Sixty-Four, Wouldn't it Be Nice?, Downtown, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, Didn't We? / MacArthur Park, and Up, Up and Away, NOW $11.99 [WAS $19.99]
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Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Peggy Lee, et al., GET HAPPY
Excellent price on this 2-CD import. Disc 1 features duets from Garland’s legendary but short-lived 1963 TV variety show. Judy sings with Streisand (Hooray for Love Medley, Get Happy / Happy Days Are Here Again), Merman (Friendship Medley), Peggy Lee (I Like Men Medley), Lena Horne (Day In, Day Out), Vic Damone (West Side Story Medley), Jack Jones (Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald Medley), Tony Bennett (I Left My Heart in San Francisco Medley), Mickey Rooney (You’re So Right for Me), Mel Tormé (The Trolley Song), Plus medleys with Bobby Darin, Liza Minnelli, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (Let There Be Love / You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You, which is actually taken from a 1962 Garland TV special).
Disc 2 features Judy's closing night performance of her 1952 Palace Theater engagement, a concert that was never officially recorded or released. Tracks: Call the Press / On the Town, Judy at the Palace Medley, Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody, Get Happy, A Couple of Swells, Love, A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow, Liza, After You’ve Gone, Over the Rainbow, more.
20 tracks on 2 CDs with a total running time of over 2 hrs., $7.99
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Col. Bruce Hampton, STRANGE VOICES
Subtitled A HISTORY—1977-1987, this out of print 1994 CD collects 26 digitally remastered early tracks by this eccentric Southern alternative blues rocker and sometime movie actor. (That's Hampton, at right, in his motion picture debut in Billy Bob Thornton's SLING BLADE in 1996.)
According to the All Music Guide, "The Atlanta-born Hampton has been kicking around the Southern music circuit since the early '60s; as the Hampton Grease Band, he released MUSIC TO EAT on Columbia Records in 1969....Clearly influenced by both Zappa and Beefheart, but more grating and even less accessible to the rock underground, they took early-'70s avant-rock aesthetics near their extremes. This guaranteed an eternal cult reputation for the group, but also ensured that their commercial success in their own time was virtually nil....After the Grease Band folded, Hampton released a solo effort (ONE RUINED LIFE OF A BRONZE TOURIST in 1978) and then founded...The Late Bronze Age." The Late Bronze Age released two albums, OUTSIDE LOOKING OUT (1980) and ISLES OF LANGERHAN (1982). The Colonel recorded a second solo album, ARKANSAS, in 1984 and by 1987 the group had broken up.
It is from these last four albums, released prior to the formation of his best-known group, the "nuevo-hippie" Aquarium Rescue Unit, that these tracks are taken, with the exception of three previously unreleased cuts (A Vital Capacity for Dogma, Jack the Rabbit, and Hold the Ground Down). Other songs include Elevator to the Moon, title tune, King Greed, Farmers Earn Livings, Basically Frightened, Sea Cow, Pen Pals Diminished, Celtic Annoyance, A Stained Soul Cringes at the Small Details in the Mirror of Embarrassment, Fat Brooms Brush the Number Bush, The Imposition According to Vasco da Gama, Rehearsals for Fainting (Been False Accused), Frolic With Closet Lizards, In the Roof of My Mouth, more, $4.99
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Irene Kral, LADY OF LAVENDER
Original edition of this 1998 CD (not the made-to-order CD-R offered from Amazon) of previously unreleased studio and live recordings by the late, great jazz singer.
The CD is highlighted by three rare songs by Fran Landesman, whose work Kral often championed during her career—Unlit Room, Poems to Eat (both written with Bob Dorough), and On Top of Mt. Tipsy. 10 more songs: Burke & Van Heusen's It's Anybody's Spring, Lucky to Be Me, Dave Frishberg's Wheelers & Dealers, The Song is You, Tim Hardin's Misty Roses, and several obscure contemporary tunes—Once Upon Another Time, Benjamin, Straight Ahead, Little Bitty Boy, and the title tune, NOW $11.99 [WAS $14.99]
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Carla White,THE SWEETEST SOUNDS
Out of print 2000 Japanese-only release by this respected jazz singer, who died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 56. White studied with Lennie Tristano for four years, and later with Warne Marsh, eventually enjoying a lengthy solo career which produced eight albums, of which this is actually the penultimate.
Backed by a trio, with special guest Lew Tabackin on tenor sax, White sings 11 songs: It's Easy to Remember, title tune, I Didn't Know About You, Bittersweet (Billy Strayhorn's obscure Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus-Eaters, with lyrics by Roger Schore), Two Lost Souls, Midnight Sun, This Can't Be Love, Alone Together, Love for Sale, the self-penned But I Was Wrong, and Day In, Day Out. Japanese import with obi strip, $10.99
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Mel Tormé, THAT'S ALL
Out of print 1997 CD compiled by Sony wunder-producer Didier Deutsch—"the original 12 tracks of the [1965] all-ballad album THAT'S ALL coupled with 12 of Tormé's great Columbia singles on CD for the first time," two of them previously unreleased. Songs: Haven't We Met?, title tune, You'd Better Love Me, I Know Your Heart (also from HIGH SPIRTS), My Romance, The Nearness of You, I Remember Suzanne (by Tommy Wolf), The Folks Who Live on the Hill, What Is There to Say?, Alec Wilder's I See it Now, Once in a Lifetime, Isn't it a Pity?, I've Got You Under My Skin, Paris Smiles (the theme from IS PARIS BURNING? by Maurce Jarre and Livingston & Evans), Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?, P.S. I Love You, Hang on to Me (by Peter Matz), The Second Time Around, Ev'ry Day's a Holiday, Harry Chapin's Seventeen, Ho-Ba-La-La, and three self-penned tunes (Only the Very Young, One Little Snowflake, and The Christmas Song). Liner notes by Will Friedwald, $10.99
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Kate Scott & Tony Heath Sextet, PARALLEL LIVES
Out of print 1996 CD by this husband-wife duo, saxophonist and flutist Tony Heath and vocalist Kate Scott.
Scott moved to New York in 1986, where she met Heath while pursuing a career as a professional singer. The two performed together in top jazz spots like Birdland, The Metronome, and The Five Spot before relocating to Arizona to found the Birdland Ranch Wildlife Conservation Area, where Scott is currently studying veterinary medicine "in order to apply the healing arts to domestic animals as well as wildlife." (I can dig it.)
Eight vocals and two instrumentals: O Amor Em Paz (Once I Loved), Sheila Jordan's The Crossing, Farmer's Market (Art Farmer's instrumental with a lyric by Annie Ross), Ah Leu Cha (a Charlie Parker instrumental with lyrics by Scott), Wave, Take Five, Wayner Shorter's Footprints, and three original songs—Green Is the Color of Spring, title tune, and Ocean's Call, $6.99
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Jimmy Soul, THE BEST OF JIMMY SOUL
Out of print 1991 collection on the Rhino label, featuring 18 songs by this pop singer, best known for his 1963 million selling hit If You Wanna Be Happy. Soul's first (and only other) hit single was 1962's Twistin' Matilda (And the Channel) which is, of course, also included here. When he was unable to replicate those early successes, however, Soul (né James McCleese) abandoned his career in music and joined the U.S. Army. He died of a heart attack in 1988, at the age of 45.
Here are 16 album tracks and, mostly, singles, as well as the previously unissued Food of Love and a rare alternate version of Church Street in the Summertime. Plus My Baby Loves to Bowl, Take Me to Los Angeles, Treat 'Em Tough, When Matilda Comes Back, A Woman Is Smarter in Every Kinda Way, My Girl—She Sure Can Cook, I Hate You Baby, Change Partners (not the Irving Berlin song), Go 'Way Christina, I Know Why Dreamers Cry, Guess Things Happen That Way, One Million Tears, Hands Off, and She's Alright, $4.99
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Lorraine Fielder, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of three CDs, all out of print, by this LA-based contemporary jazz singer.
UP TO STANDARD (1996)—Backed by pianist Eric Tillman, Fielder performs What Is This Thing Called Love?, 'Round Midnight, Am I Blue?, Do Nothing 'Til You Hear from Me, The Very Thought of You, and the self-penned See Ya' Soon. Plus one instrumental (There's Been a Change);
FEELIN' FREE (1994)—Backed by a quintet, Fielder sings How High the Moon, Sesame Street, Luiz Bonfá's Gentle Rain, You Go to My Head, When Sunny Gets Blue, Rainbow (by Abbey Lincoln and Melba Liston), The Days of Wine and Roses, Body & Soul, Horace Silver's Peace, the self-penned title tune, more—11 in all;
GOING PLACES (2003)—Backed by a septet, Fielder sings Once I Loved, Lazy Afternoon, Yesterdays, It's Only a Paper Moon, Old Devil Moon, A Child Is Born, Solitude, The Man I Love, Scene from a Dream (by bassist Michael Logan), the self-penned title tune (which is also rendered in an instrumental version), more—12 in all.
Set of 3 CDs, only $14.99
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Double Take, SIX STRINGS, ONE VOICE, TWELVE MOODS
Hard to find 2003 2-CD import by this Malaysian guitar and vocal jazz duo—the Tuck and Patti of the Pacific Rim, you might say. Filipino singer Mia Palencia was a mere 14 when she joined guitar virtuoso Roger Wang to form Double Take. In the short time they were together, the pair recorded two albums—including this one, recorded when Palencia was only 18—before she left to pursue a solo career.
SIX STRINGS... would probably be worth owning if only to add to your collection the one special thing that's missing—a CD recorded live in Kuala Lumpur. Fortunately, there is more to recommend it. The bonus disc in particular—those half dozen songs recorded in live performance—is a real find. Palencia's vocals are startling in their confidence, maturity, and ease—five standards sung with a completely natural sense of jazz and virtually no trace of an accent. Songs: Almost Like Being in Love / L.O.V.E, Black Coffee, I Say a Little Prayer, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, and Orange Colored Sky. Plus Windy and Warm, the classic guitar instrumental.
Disc 1 features 12 songs: Mona Lisa, a Filipino folk song, two Malaysian pop songs, three contemporary jazz tunes written by Wang (and sung in English), and five impressive instrumentals. 2-CD import, NOW $9.99 [WAS $11.99]
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Eva Cassidy, SONGBIRD
1998 posthumous anthology by this legendary singer, whose reputation spread beyond her native Washington, D.C. only after her tragic early death from cancer in 1996, at the age of 33. The tracks here are culled from the three albums Cassidy released during her brief lifetime, EVA BY HEART, LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY, and THE OTHER SIDE.
Noting her "hauntingly beautiful vocals," Amazon.com says, "Cassidy sang with an unaffected purity and an astonishing ability to make both classic and contemporary songs sound like they were written just for her. Sting's Fields of Gold finally lives up to its title through the alchemy of Cassidy's transcendent rendition, while other tracks on this anthology showcase her ease in the realms of pop (Christine McVie's Songbird), soul (People Get Ready), gospel (Wade in the Water), and traditional standards (Autumn Leaves and Over the Rainbow). Framed by understated jazz and pop arrangements, Cassidy's clear, soulful voice and exquisite phrasing make her that rarest of vocalists whose interpretations are a complement to any song. A fine introduction to a true talent."
Plus Pete Seeger's Oh, Had I a Golden Thread, Wayfaring Stranger, I Know You by Heart, and Time Is a Healer—10 in all, $5.99
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HOT TOWN JUBILEE
Out of print 1999 CD by this six-member band, based in the Bay Area and fronted by vocalist Elisa Lynn. According to the liner notes, the group's "mission is to preserve the spirit of hot jazz and swing from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s," which they do in 10 numbers: Everybody Loves My Baby, Caravan, Julia Lee's Come on Over to My House, Beggin' Mama Blues, My Blue Heaven, My Daddy Rocks Me, Louis Prima's It's the Rhythm in Me, Hot Rhythm Blues, and two instrumentals (Moten Swing, Mystery Rhyme), $4.99
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Original Soundtrack, INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE
Elliot Goldenthal's rich, haunting score to this 1994 movie. 19 themes include Libera Me, Born to Darkness pts. I & II, Lestat's Tarantella, Claudia's Allegro Agitato, Escape to Paris, Marche funèbre, Santiago's Waltz, Théâtre des vampires, Armand's Seduction, Plantation Pyre, Scent of Death, Abduction & Absolution, Lestat's Recitative, and more, plus final credits (Sympathy for the Devil, performed by Guns 'n' Roses), NOW $2.99 [WAS $5.99]
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Marilyn Scott, NIGHTCAP
This superb jazz singer’s 2004 CD of standards, produced by George Duke (who plays keyboards throughout) and featuring a guest appearance by Dori Caymmi on guitar and vocals.
Eight songs: I Wished on the Moon, Here’s That Rainy Day, If it’s the Last Thing I Do (by Sammy Cahn & Saul Chaplin), Yesterdays, Stardust, Here’s to Life, Isn’t This a Lovely Day?, and Smile, $5.99
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George Winston, Leo Kottke, Tangerine Dream, et al., WINDHAM HILL CHILL 2
Subtitled MORE ESSENTIAL TRACKS FROM THE ORIGINAL CHILL OUT LABEL, this 2003 2-CD compilation features 28 titles (with a total running time of almost two hours) by some of the biggest names in new age music, culled from albums released on Windham Hill, the label that pioneered and popularized contemporary instrumental music. Evocative music by the above and many others, incl. Yanni (In the Mirror), Shadowfax (Another Country), Jim Brickman (Shades of White), Michael Hedges (Ragamuffin), Liz Story (Inside Out), Michael Manring (Sung to Sleep), Alex de Grassi (Clockwork), Sean Harkness (Green Mountain Trail), Phil Coulter (Year of the French), Rubaja & Hernandez (Puerta del Sol), Lili Haydn (The Longing), State of Grace (Stabat Mater), Fred Simon (That Fall), and Will Ackerman (The Moment in Which You Must Finally Let Go of the Tether Which Has Held Your Hope Airborne). 2-CD set, $4.99 [Some warpage to booklet due to minor water damage]
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Mandy Patinkin, MAMALOSHEN
On this 1998 CD, Patnkin mines the music of his Jewish heritage and of the Jewish experience in America, as well as songs by popular Jewish-American songwriters.
The CD is highlighted by two duets with Judy Blazer (Song of the Titanic, Belz), and by Yiddish versions (!!) of Maria (from WEST SIDE STORY), Paul Simon's American Tune, Take Me Out ot the Ball Game / God Bless America, White Christmas, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and The Hokey-Pokey (the last two rendered in a medley with Ten Kopeks).
Backed by a 33-piece orchestra and at times a choir, Patinkin performs nine more songs—all sung in Yiddish, with several orchestrated by Don Sebesky—incl. Raisins and Almonds, Oyfn Pripetshik, Paper Is White, Motl the Operator, Under Your White Stars, Rabbi Elimeylekh, Papirosin, Yome Yome, more—16 in all. 48-pg. booklet incl. complete lyrics in Yiddish with English translations. Slipcased, $5.99
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E.C. Scott, HARD ACT TO FOLLOW
1998 sophomore CD by this popular blues singer, one of the most heralded of the new generation of blues singers and a W.C. Handy nominee for Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year.
In the '90s, according to her bio, "E.C. Scott and her band Smoke built a strong following in the San Francisco Bay Area with their dynamic performances at local clubs and a year long stint as the house band at Slim's, at the time San Francisco's premier blues nightspot." Since then
she has performed at blues festivals throughout the U.S. and released four albums, three of them on the famed blues label Blind Pig.
Scott won instant acclaim in the blues world with the release of her very first album. Blues Revue said, "Scott has one of the sexiest, smoothest, and most understated deliveries in the genre and is a powerhouse entertainer to boot. E.C. is a wonderful soul singer and an effective and invigorating blues interpreter." Living Blues added, "E.C. Scott must be ranked among the best of the promising female blues singers in recent years." Many critics noted that she was a singer, not merely a shouter, who sang with grace and control as well as passion.
Downbeat gave HARD ACT TO FOLLOW four stars, noting, "Scott cooks up a lusty set of bumping barrelhouse blues, thumb-slapping funk, gutsy circa-'60s rhythm & blues, and a couple of soul beauties. Equally impressive is Scott's songwriting, informed by contemporary issues." And Stereo Review wrote: "At a time when so many singers sound tortured and too many song-writers have nothing to say, E.C. Scott is a fresh blast from the past."
Scott sings Missionary Man (The Eurythmics hit) and 10 self-penned tunes: Don’t Touch Me, title tune, Queensize Bed, Lyin’ and Cheatin’, Men Gossip Too, Steppin’ Out on a Saturday Night, Another Night in Paradise, Tell Me About It, Sweet Man of Mine, and If You’re a Good Woman, $4.99
Michael Legrand, et al., LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG, UN ÉTÉ 42, LE MESSAGER, YENTL
Out of print original 1995 issue of this collaboration between Michel Legrand and virtuoso French harpist Catherine Michel (Mrs. Legrand to you). Legrand claims he paid scant attention to the harp as a solo instrument until he met Michel. It was then that he decided to spotlight her in newly arranged suites of music from his films.
Here Michel, the Grand Orchestre Symphonique and Legrand (conducting and playing harpsichord) perform music from THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, THE SUMMER OF '42, YENTL, and Legrand's unjustly overlooked score to Joseph Losey's 1970 film THE GO-BETWEEN—four suites with a total running time of over 69 min. Import, $8.99
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Steve Gatlin, IT'S ONLY A PAPER MOON
Out of print 1998 solo CD of standards by one third of the famous country- and gospel-singing Gatlin Brothers. (That's Steve Gatlin, center, pictured here with his two brothers.)
Backed by a small big band, Gatlin sings a dozen songs: It Had to Be You, title tune, The Good Life / I Wanna Be Around, Almost Like Being in Love, Change Partners, L-O-V-E, Buddy Johnson's It's Obdacious, Unforgettable, Blue Finger Lu, It's Impossible, Shine on Harvest Moon / Blue Moon, and Let the Good Times Roll, $6.99
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Carmen Lundy, SELF PORTRAIT
Out of print 1995 CD by this respected contemporary jazz vocalist, a blend of standards and original tunes. Backed by an ensemble that includes Cedar Walton (piano), Ernie Watts (tenor sax), and John Clayton (bass), Lundy sings My Ship, Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, Jobim's Triste, 'Round Midnight, My Favorite Things, and half a dozen originals: Better Days, Firefly, These Things You Are to Me, I Don't Want to Love Without You, Old Friend, and Forgive Me, $8.99 [Slight writing on back of booklet]
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Audrey Lavine, THIS IS NO DREAM
2000 debut CD by this New York-based cabaret and jazz singer and MAC Award winner (and five-time nominee).
Lavine has sung cabaret at New York nightspots like The Metropolitan Room, The Ballroom, Don't Tell Mama, and Judy's Chelsea; performed extensively in regional theater (including playing Bebe Neuwirth's wife in Judith Viorst's HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND OTHER HUMILIATIONS); and, on Broadway, understudied Betty Buckley and Barbara Cook in the infamous CARRIE, as well as Teresa Stratas in RAGS. (She appears on the Broadway cast recording of the latter.) (That's Lavine, at right, in a 2009 production of BRECHT ON BRECHT in New York.)
16 songs, incl. Lieber & Stoller's Honey, Can I Put on Your Clothes? (introduced by Streisand on her SONGBIRD album), Shaking the Blues Away, Egyptian Ella (the 1931 Ted Lewis hit), When You Wish Upon a Star, Dolly Parton's Waltz Me to Heaven, Sentimental Gentleman from Georgia, a wild vocal version of David Rose's Holiday for Strings (with lyrics by Lavine herself), One Mint Julep, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's I Had Myself a True Love, How Long Has This Been Going On?, How Sad No One Waltzes Anymore (by Brad Ross), Fascinating Rhythm, Billy Joel's She's Always a Woman, I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, and an unusual medley of Wail of the Reefer Man, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Suzanne Vega's Caramel, $8.99
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Nancy Kelly, SINGIN’ & SWINGIN’
1997 sophomore CD by this fine and respected New York-based jazz singer. Backed by small combos, Kelly performs 12 songs: On a Slow Boat to China, I Concentrate on You, Duke Pearson's Jeannine, Till There Was You, The Joint Is Jumpin', At Long Last Love, Young and Foolish, That's All, It's All Right With Me, Stormy Weather, Come in from the Rain, and Through the Fire (by Cynthia Weil and David Foster), $5.99
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Janice Borla, LUNAR OCTAVE
1996 CD by this respected contemporary jazz vocalist.
According to her publicity materials, "Janice Borla has made utilizing her voice as a jazz instrument her artistic mission, applying it to her explorations of instrumental jazz tunes by modern and contemporary jazz composers and participating in the improvisatory process as an equal member of an ensemble. Her recordings and performances have earned consistently high praise as a result of her luxurious sound, superb technique, adventurous repertoire and truly imaginative vocal improvisations….
"Often cited for her adventurous, risk-taking approach, Borla continually challenges herself, keeping vocal improvisation front-and-center in her performances. As veteran jazz journalist and broadcaster Neil Tesser notes: 'She shatters the stereotype of the jazz vocalist as a poseur or wannabe, infatuated with the idea of improvisation but lacking the mettle to carry it off: she's a musician who happens to play voice.'"
Here, backed by a small combo, Borla perfoms Beauty and the Beast (by Wayne Shorter and Mark Murphy), Abbey Lincoln's Bird Alone
'Round Midnight, Cafe (by Norma Winstone and Brazilian composer-guitarist Egberto Gismonti), Milton Nascimento's Bridges, two songs each by John Coltrane (Naima, Equinox) and Bill Evans (Very Early, with lyrics by Carol Hall, and Five, with lyrics by Borla), and more—10 in all, $7.99
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Dionne Warwick, 3 CDs
Special price on this set of three CDs by this great pop and r&b singer.
DIONNE WARWICK SINGS COLE PORTER
Out of print original issue of this 1990 album featuring special guests Grover Washington, Jr. and Stanley Jordan and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Peter Matz, Marc Shaiman, Arif Mardin, and others. 13 tracks: Begin the Beguine, I Concentrate on You, Night and Day, I Love Paris, I Get a Kick Out of You, What Is This Thing Called Love? / So in Love, You're the Top, I've Got You Under My Skin, It's All Right with Me, Anything Goes, All of You, Just One of Those Things, and Night and Day (Jazz Version). Booklet incl. complete lyrics;
Dionne Warwick, Cyndi Lauper, Gladys Knight, et al., MY FRIENDS & ME
On this 2006 album on the Concord label, Warwick revisits a dozen of her biggest hits with the help of contemporary divas from the worlds of pop, country, r&b, and even world music. Warwick duets with Lauper (Message to Michael), Knight (I'll Never Love This Way Again), Olivia Newton-John (Wishin' and Hopin'), Celia Cruz (Do You Know the Way to San Jose?), Wynonna Judd (Anyone Who Had a Heart), Gloria Estefan (Walk on By), Reba McEntire (I Say a Little Prayer), Mya (Close to You), Kelis (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head), Lisa Tucker (Then Came You), and Cheyenne Elliott (Love Will Find a Way). Warwick solos on an updated version of Déjà Vu and, aided by Deborah Cox, Chanté Moore, and Angie Stone, brings the socially conscious Windows of the World into the new millenium with a rap interlude (by Da Brat) about Iraq, Katrina and other controversial issues;
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THE VERY BEST OF DIONNE WARWICK
2000 compilation—16 classic sides from one of the most impressive catalogs of hits by any singer in popular music. Songs: Walk on By, Alfie, I Say a Little Prayer, (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls, Do You Know the Way to San Jose?, Promises Promises, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Message to Michael, Trains and Boats and Planes, Don't Make Me Over, Anyone Who Had a Heart, The Windows of the World, This Girl's in Love with You, Are You There (With Another Girl)?, Then Came You (with the Spinners), and Reach Out for Me. Attractive picture disc with 16-pg. booklet incl. extensive liner notes and photos in color and black & white.
Set of 3 CDs only $14.99
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SCOTT COULTER
2001 CD on the LML cabaret label by this thirtysomething, New York-based tenor, a protégé of composer Stephen Schwartz, who makes a special guest appearance here, playing solo piano for Coulter on three songs (as well as supplying the liner notes).
Since beginning his professional career in the early '90s, Coulter has starred in a national tour of FOREVER PLAID; appeared in the original Philadelphia production of FLOYD COLLINS; devised and sung in the award-winning GET YOUR TICKETS NOW (a revue of songs from flop shows); and begun performing his own popular solo cabaret shows.
But most auspiciously, after catching the attention of Schwartz, Coulter became a regular cast member of STEPHEN SCHWARTZ AND FRIENDS, a three-person touring concert performance, singing alongside the alternating Debbie Gravitte and Liz Callaway and Schwartz himself.
On this, his debut CD, Coulter sings 10 numbers, accompanied only by solo piano, played by some of New York's best cabaret pianists, among them Tim DiPasqua and the aforementioned composer. Schwartz plays piano on his own In Whatever Time We Have (a duet with Debbie Gravitte), Just Around the Riverbend / Corner of the Sky, and the rarely heard Cry Without a Reason. Plus It Goes Like it Goes (Theme from NORMA RAE, by David Shire and Norman Gimbel), My Foolish Heart, Brenda Russell's Get Here, Cry Me a River, Nobody's Side (from CHESS), Since You Stayed Here, and DiPasqua's Maybe You Didn't Hear Me, $7.99
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Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, et al., THE VERY BEST OF EMMYLOU HARRIS
2005 CD—20 of the most popular songs by this revered folk and country singer-songwriter, highlighted by duets with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (To Know Him Is to Love Him), Roy Orbison (That Lovin' Feelin' Again), and Gram Parsons (Love Hurts).
Harris's songs, many of them #1 hits and Grammy winners, are culled from a variety of sources, including traditional ballads (Wayfaring Stranger, Green Pastures); tunes by contemporary singer-songwriters like Jimmy Webb (Making Believe), Gillian Welch (Orphan Girl), and Townes Van Zandt (Pancho & Lefty); self-penned numbers (Michelangelo, Here I Am, Boulder to Birmingham); and songs by veteran country performers like Floyd Cramer and Conway Twitty (Lost His Love on Our Last Date), Buck Owens (Together Again), the Louvin Brothers (If I Could Only Win Your Love), and Dallas Frazier (Beneath Still Waters).
Other songs include The Connection (2005 Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance), Calling My Children Home, Delbert McClinton's Two More Bottles of Wine (a #1 single), One of These Days, more. Slipcased, 99¢ [CD is very scuffed but guaranteed to play perfectly]
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Marianne Faithfull, Paul McCartney, Elton John, et al., TWENTIETH-CENTURY BLUES
Subtitled THE SONGS OF NOEL COWARD, this 1998 AIDS benefit CD, produced by Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, brought Coward's music to a new generation of audiences with interpretations by top contemporary pop-rock performers, all recorded especially for this project and not available elsewhere.
The above perform, respectively, Mad About the Boy, A Room with a View, and the title tune. Plus songs by Pet Shop Boys (Sail Away), Bryan Ferry (I'll See You Again), Sting (I'll Follow My Secret Heart), Robbie Williams (There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner), British comic Vic Reees (Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington), The Divine Comedy (I've Been to a Marvelous Party), Texas (Parisian Pierrot), Space (Mad Dogs and Englishmen), Shola Ama with Craig Armstrong (Someday I'll Find You), Suede featuring Raissa (Poor Little Rich Girl), Damon Albarn with Michael Nyman (London Pride), more—15 tracks in all, $5.99
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Sarah Brightman, WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER
Rare UK import, a gorgeous three-panel digipak housing a CD EP featuring four tracks: the title tune (from her 1997 album TIMELESS, backed by The London Symphony Orchestra) and three songs from her 1996 album FLY—A Question of Honour, Heaven Is Here, and I Loved You. Import, NOW $4.99 [WAS $9.99] [Very slight scuffing on front cover]
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All items are used DVDs unless otherwise noted
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Carmen Miranda, Alice Faye, Vivian Blaine, Charlotte Greenwood, et al., THE CARMEN MIRANDA COLLECTION
Deluxe 5-DVD set, five movies (three of them in Technicolor) starring the legendary Brazilian bombshell, including her classic THE GANG'S ALL HERE. Plus GREENWICH VILLAGE, SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS (the Cole Porter stage hit–with only the title tune left intact!), IF I'M LUCKY, and DOLL FACE. Interestingly, Vivian Blaine co-stars with Miranda in the last three, and Perry Como is also featutred in the last two. Other co-stars include Benny Goodman, Harry James, Phil Silvers, and Don Ameche.
There are tons of bonus features, incl. the full-length documentary CARMEN MIRANDA: THAT GIRL FROM RIO; two featurettes (BUSBY BERKELEY: A JOURNEY WITH A STAR and the 25-minute WE STILL ARE!, Alice Faye' s last film); two full episodes of radio's THE PHIL HARRIS-ALICE FAYE SHOW; deleted scenes; theatrical trailers; photo galleries; audio commentary; and subtitles in English, Spanish and French.
5 DVDs with a total viewing time of over seven hrs.(!!), each disc housed in its own plastic case inside an attractive slipcase (pictured here), $24.99 [new copies retail at $49.99!!]
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Ella Mae Morse, Betty Roché, Ann Miller, et al., REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY
Hard to find privately issued DVD-R (from the now-defunct vintagefilmbuff.com) of this popular 1943 wartime extravaganza, which has never been commercially released.
Morse sings Cow Cow Boogie with Freddie Slack's band; Roché performs Take the 'A' Train with Duke Ellington; and Miller performs Thumbs Up and V for Victory. Plus performances by Frank Sinatra (Night and Day), The Mills Brothers (Cielito Lindo, Sweet Lucy Brown), The Radio Rogues (Wabash Moon, When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain), Count Basie (One O'Clock Jump), and Lee and Lyn Wilde with Bob Crosby's Orchestra (Big Noise from Winnetka).
DVD includes 14-min. Harry James short, TRUMPET SERENADE, which features a vocal by Helen Forrest (He's 1-A in the Army and He's A-1 in My Heart). 78 min., $10.99
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Lisa Kudrow, THE COMEBACK
Lisa Kudrow received a well-earned Emmy nomination for her performance in this regrettably short-lived 2005 HBO comedy series, which Entertainment Weekly nonetheless named one of the ten best shows of the decade, calling it "the most brilliantly brutal satire of reality TV ever captured on screen." This 2-DVD set includes all 13 episodes from the first and only season of this hilarious comedy, produced by Kudrow and SEX AND THE CITY writer Michael Patrick King.
Kudrow stars as Valerie Cherish, "a former B-list sitcom actress desperate to revive her career" by starring in both a reality show and a pedestrian new sitcom, ROOM AND BORED, where she is relegated to a supporting role and suffers various indignities at the hands of castmates and producers. Kudrow here establishes, with perfection, the comic delivery she is currently displaying on Showtime's WEB THERAPY—knowing, simultaneously funny and poignant, even heartbreaking—a style far removed from that of traditional sitcoms like FRIENDS and far too subtle for network television (at least in the past, since we're now seeing it in superior shows like THE OFFICE).
Bonus Features: VALERIE AFTER THE LAUGHTER ("an exclusive new interview with the beloved actress"); Valerie Backstage at DANCING WITH THE STARS; audio commentary by Lisa Kudrow. 2-DVD set, slipcased, $7.99
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Connie Francis, Georgia Gibbs, Eydie Gormé, Barbara McNair, et al., STEVE ALLEN TV SHOWS VOL. I-IV
Four discs from a privately issued five-DVD set of kinescopes of TV's THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW and STEVE ALLEN PLYMOUTH SHOW—seven programs with a running time of almost 6½ hrs. The shows, which aired between 1953-62, include rarely seen musical performances by all of the above, but the highlights are perhaps the ultra-rare appearances by legendary be-bop singer-musician Slim Gaillard and by the obscure Erin O'Brien, who recorded only one album for Coral Records in 1959 (though she was apparently a featured vocalist on Allen's show for two years).
There is also music by Abbe Lane, Patrice Munsel, Steve Lawrence, Phil Harris, Tony Bennett, Erroll Garner, Frankie Avalon, Xavier Cugat, Les Brown & His Band of Renown, Fats Domino, The Four Diamonds, Steve Allen himself, and others. Plus comedy routines featuring the likes of Ginger Rogers, Jerry Lewis, Jonathan Winters, Don Knotts, Henny Youngman, and Buck Henry, as well as Allen's famous mock poetry reading of Gene Vincent's Be-Bop-a-Lula.
NOTE: This DVD set was issued with this well-deserved warning: "Due to the age and condition of the source media, the picture quality sometimes falls below regularly accepted standards." 4 DVDs, $19.99
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Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY
1949 musical co-starring Oscar Levant and Billie Burke and featuring a score mostly by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin. Songs include They Can't Take That Away from Me, You'd Be Hard to Replace, My One and Only Highland Fling, Weekend in the Country, Shoes with Wings On, Manhattan Downbeat, more.
Special features include featurette (REUNITED: ASTAIRE AND ROGERS TOGETHER AGAIN); vintage short (ANNIE WAS A WONDER); cartoon (WAGS TO RICHES); theatrical trailer; and subtitles in English, French and Spanish. 109 min., color, $5.99
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Sissy Spacek, Sally Kellerman, William Hurt, et al., VERNA: USO GIRL
An entry in the prestigious Broadway Theatre Archive's series of television dramas, this 1978 TV adaptation of a short story by Paul (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, THE SNOW GOOSE) Gallico received Emmy nominations for its writing and direction, and for supporting actor Howard (FIORELLO!, 1776) Da Silva (who won).
Originally broadcast on PBS's GREAT PERFORMANCES, the story concerns a young girl (Spacek, fresh from her performance in CARRIE) who entertains the troops during World War II but harbors unrealistic dreams, ambitions, and ideas of her own talent (or lack thereof). Co-starring Sally Kellerman and William Hurt
90 min., color, $7.99 [new copies retail at $24.99!!]
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Roseanne Barr, BLONDE AND BITCHIN'
Her 2006 HBO stand-up Comedy Special. Here "bitchin'" is, of course, less a rad compliment than an participial adjective describing Roseanne in her normal state—bitching, bluntly and with humor, on a wide variety of topics.
Special Features: Interview with Roseanne; photo gallery; and comic featurettes on her encounters with her makeup artist, a motivational coach, and friends after the show.
69 min. (not including special features), color, $3.99
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The Delta Rhythm Boys and The Mills Brothers, SING, BROTHER, SING
Out of print 2004 DVD—rare TV appearances and, mostly, vintage "soundies" from the 1930s and '40s by these two popular
male harmony vocal groups.
The Delta Rhythm Boys perform Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me, Undecided, St. Louis Blues, Jersey Bounce, Dry Bones, Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin', Snoqualomie Jo Jo, Take the "A" Train, and Jack, You're Playing the Game.
The Mills Brothers sing Caravan, Opus One, Rocking Chair, Lazy River, Till Then, Cielito Lindo, You Always Hurt the One You Love, and Paper Doll.
45 min., black and white, NOW $2.99 [WAS $4.99]
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Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis, George Segal, WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
Sizzling, controversial 1966 film adaptation of this hit 1962 stage drama by Edward Albee, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including nominations for all four principles, who went through their paces under the expert guidance of Mike Nichols, in his film directorial debut. (The movie won five Oscars, including awards for Taylor, Dennis, and cinematographer Haskell Wexler.)
Special features include audio commentary by Haskell Wexler; subtitles in English, French and Spanish; and both widescreen and standard (full screen) versions. 131 min., $5.99
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Lucille Ball, Maureen O'Hara, DANCE, GIRL, DANCE
Three rare songs by Wright & Forrest—Morning Star, Jitterbug Bite, and Mother, What Do I Do Now?—highlight this 1940 B-flick starring a pre-sitcom Lucy in a dramatic role, directed by Dorothy Arzner, the only major female film director of Hollywood's golden age. (The last two songs are sung by Lucy, who also sings Beer Barrel Polka.) Lucy stars as an ambitious dancer who abandons ballet and becomes a burlesque performer.
According to Wikipedia, "In 2007, DANCE, GIRL, DANCE was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant', describing it as Arzner's 'most intriguing film' and a 'meditation on the disparity between art and commerce.'" Co-starring Louis Hayward, Ralph Bellamy, and Maria Ouspenskaya.
Special Features: Vintage comedy short (JUST A CUTE KID); a "classic cartoon" (MALIBU BEACH PARTY); and subtitles in English and French. 89 min., black & white, attractive picture disc, $6.99
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Jon Hendricks Group, Phil Woods, A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE PARKER
Subtitled BIRDMEN & BIRDSONGS, this 2003 DVD features live concert performances by these two jazz veterans, recorded in Cannes in 1990.
The Jon Hendricks Group consists of Hendricks, daughters Michelle and Aria, wife Judith, and Kevin Burke. Here they perform Everything Happens to Me, Parker's Mood (by Charlie Parker), Billy's Bounce, Night and Day, Jay McShann's Hootie's Blues, and What Price Love.
Plus four instrumentals by the Phil Woods Quartet: Charlie Parker's Steeplechase, My Old Flame, Neal Hefti's Repetition and All Bird's Children (written by Woods).
65 min., color, $4.99
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William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, THE KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
2008 special edition of this acclaimed 1985 movie, now with a second disc of Bonus Features. The film received four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and won William Hurt an Oscar for Best Actor as the flamboyant, tale-spinning homosexual Molina. It also formed the basis of the hit 1993 Broadway musical of the same name.
Based on Manuel Puig's novel, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN "takes a penetrating look at the role of sex and politics under an oppressive right-wing regime. The timeless story...follows the complex relationship between two distinctly different men with opposite views about life—building with powerful emotional crescendo as they gradually come together in a stunningly transcendental conclusion." (I haven't seen the movie but I think this means they lip-lock at some point.)
The centerpiece of the bonus disc is the full-length documentary TANGLED WEB: MAKING KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. Plus three featurettes (incl. FROM NOVEL TO FILM and SPIDER WOMAN ON BROADWAY, featuring Chita Rivera, Kander & Ebb, et al.); photo gallery of over 150 images; presskit; theatrical trailer; "trivia track"; and subtitles in French and Spanish.
Feature runs 120 min., bonus disc runs 2 hrs., 45 min. Color, widescreen, $5.99 [new copies retail at $34.98!!]
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Frances Langford, Gale Storm, Helen Morgan, Martha Tilton, Vivian Blaine, et al., 20 MOVIE PACK—MUSICALS
Incredible price on this set of five digitally remastered DVDs—an unbelievable 20 movies, with a total viewing time of 27 hours!!!
The centerpiece of the set is an excellent print of MGM's TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY and the many A-list stars it featured, such as Judy Garland, Virginia O'Brien, Angela Lansbury, Lena Horne, June Allyson, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, and Kathryn Grayson.
But the other films, many of them obscure B movies, nonetheless featured performances, both musical and dramatic, by Frances Langford, Gale Storm, Helen Morgan,
Martha Tilton,
Vivian Blaine, Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Paulette Goddard, Carmen Miranda, Perry Como, The King Cole Trio, Art Tatum, Helen O’Connell, Bebe Daniels, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Rudy Vallée, and many others.
The other films are: SECOND CHORUS, GLORIFYING THE AMERICAN GIRL, THE FABULOUS DORSEYS, ALL-AMERICAN CO-ED, DELIGHTFULLY DANGEROUS, TROCADERO, DOLL FACE, CALENDAR GIRL,
PEOPLE ARE FUNNY, RHYTHM IN THE CLOUDS, DIXIANA, SWING HOSTESS, BREAKFAST IN HOLLYWOOD,
LET'S GO COLLEGIATE, SITTING ON THE MOON, FIESTA, CAREER GIRL, MINSTREL MAN, and SING, COWBOY, SING.
Black & white, some color. Set of 5 DVDs only $11.99
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Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Oscar-winning 1951 film musical starring Leslie Caron and Gene Kelly, who turns in one of his most famous screen performances. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS also features French musical hall star Georges Guétary. Together they sing and dance to songs by the Gershwins. In addition to Best Picture, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS won Oscars for its screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner), costumes, art direction, cinematography, and music scoring. Gene Kelly sings Our Love Is Here To Stay and I Got Rhythm; Guétary sings I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise and Nice Work if You Can Get It; and they duet on By Strauss and 'S Wonderful. The several dance numbers include the famous American in Paris Ballet, and Oscar Levant performs the third movement from Gershwin's Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra. 114 min. Includes theatrical trailer and subtitles in English and French, $2.99
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Used and in good condition, unless otherwise noted
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Leigh W. Rutledge, THE NEW GAY BOOK OF LISTS;
You don't have to be gay to enjoy this 1996 book, compiled by Leigh W. Rutledge, a collection of nearly 100 provocative, funny and informative lists on countless topics (with, admittedly, a decided emphasis on male homosexuality). Hours of browsing fun, or amuse friends at parties with trivia like:
—14 famous men (and 2 puppets) who have publicly denied being gay
—11 admonitions in Leviticus that fundamentalists often conveniently forget about;
—Dr. James Packer's 6 signs your son may be turning into a homosexual;
—5 men who were raised as girls;
—12 alleged cures for homosexuality;
—14 men who paid at least once for gay sex;
—3 fascinating severed penises;
—18 celebrity homophobes;
—19 prominent individuals who supported the idea of homosexual rights before 1930;
—10 well-known women who married gay or bisexual men;
—5 men it would have been better not to go home with;
and many, many more. 204 pgs., very good condition trade paperback, $1.99
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Marianne Faithfull, FAITHFULL—AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, UK style. Written with noted rock-star biographer David Dalton, this is the 1994 memoir of the singing "bird" of the swinging '60s, a notorious consort of the Rolling Stones, who finally came into her own in the late '70s with the release of her classic album BROKEN ENGLISH.
Hardcover, 310 pgs.; 16 pgs. of black & white pictures. There is a break at one place in the spine and slight damage to two pages which were partially stuck together, $1.99 [originally published at $22.95]
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Mikita Brottman, HOLLYWOOD HEX
The title and two subtitles of this out of print volume—DEATH AND DESTINY IN THE DREAM FACTORY, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF CURSED MOVIES—say it all. A fascinating look at the dark and deadly side of Tinseltown through an examination of "cursed" films like ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE EXORCIST, POLTERGEIST, and TWILIGHT ZONE—THE MOVIE, to name a few.
According to the jacket copy, "HOLLYWOOD HEX is a study of films that have. in one way or another, resulted in death and destruction. Some are directly responsible for the accidental deaths othose involved in their creation; others have caused tragedy indirectly by inspiring occult movements, serial killers, copycat crimes, psychotic behavior in audiences, or bizarre and freakinsh coincidences....
"Subjects covered range from the earliest Hollywood suicides and jinxed movies, to the death cult of James Dean, to links with Charles Manson, Satanic churches, snuff culture and mass murders, plus the mysterious death of Bruce Lee and the equally strange demise of his son Brandon.
"In the tradition of Kenneth Anger's HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, HOLLYWOOD HEX discloses and examines the dark, enigmatic connections between cinematic narratives and human catastrophe, forming a psychogeographic study of the Dream Factory which will fascinate the reader with its implications."
Illustrated throughout. Out of print 1999 trade paperback in very good condition. 202 pgs., $9.99 [originally published at $19.99; used copies of this start on Amazon at $16!]
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Eddie Condon & Hank O'Neal, EDDIE CONDON'S SCRAPBOOK
Out of print volume, profusely illustrated with literally hundreds of rare photos, caricatures, newspaper clippings, advertisements, programs, album covers, and correspondence, all documenting a life in jazz.
Guitarist and bandleader Eddie Condon began his professional career in 1922 with the now-forgotten Hollis Peavey's Jazz Bandits. Between then and 1973, the year this book was published (and the year he died) Condon made his mark every area of the jazz world. He sponsored a famous series of jazz concerts at New York's Town Hall. He fronted his own band, recording for labels like Decca and Commodore. In 1945 he opened Eddie Condon's, one of New York's most famous jazz clubs, which he operated for more than 20 years. And in the '40s and '50s he hosted his own highly popular radio and TV jazz programs.
In the interim, Condon recorded and performed with virtually every great musician of the swing era—Fats Waller, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, and Lionel Hampton, to name a few. And he accompanied great singers like Mae Barnes, Teddy Grace, Thelma Carpenter, Maxine Sullivan, Jimmy Rushing, Sarah Vaughan and, most famously, Lee Wiley, with whom he performed and recorded extensively. (That's Wiley pictured here with Condon's group in 1943.)
It's all here in this valuable entry jazz history, with extensive text throughout by Condon and a foreword by John Steinbeck (!!).
Hardcover, like new condition, strong unbroken binding, slight scuffing to dust jacket, NOW $7.99 [WAS $9.99]
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Jerry Sterner, OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
Though it premiered in 1989, this insightful and prescient drama about "the cannabilistic nature of big business"—buyouts, hostile takeovers, layoffs—resonates as strongly today as it did then—perhaps even more so.
The play won acclaim, garnering the Outer Critics Circle award for Best Off Broadway Play, and critic John Simon raved, calling it "funny, serious, suspenseful, involving, disturbing, and above all, expertly crafted....Epic grandeur and intimate titillation combined. It is the most stimulating kind of entertainment."
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY was made into a 1991 movie starring Gregory Peck, Piper Laurie, Dean Jones, and Danny DeVito.
Published by Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 92 pgs., extremely good condition trade paperback, $1.99
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Dorothy Kilgallen, MURDER ONE
Out of print 1967 paperback by this famed newspaper columnist and TV game show panelist of the '50s and '60s. Here is the intrepid reporter's accounts of six sordid cases "that shocked, scandalized and fascinated the nation...[with] for the first time...facts and testimony the newspapers deemed unprintable."
"Here is Dorothy Kilgallen at her blistering best" (according to the book jacket) as she reports on the notorious case of Dr. Sam Sheppard, convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in 1954 (and acquitted in a new trial 12 years later), and five other cases now forgotten in the annals of true crime, including:
—Robert Allen Edwards who took his pregnant girlfriend Freda McKechnie to the beach for a late-night swim and clubbed her to death in the water;
—Eva Coo, who purchased life insurance policies on her slow-witted handyman and then beat him to death him with the help of a female accomplice;
—Mary Frances Creighton and her lover Everett Applegate, who poisoned Applegate's wife with arsenic. (Applegate was also found guilty of statutory rape with Creighton's daughter.)
268 pgs. Spine of front cover has been taped, 99¢
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John Simon, REVERSE ANGLE
Subtitled A DECADE OF AMERICAN FILMS, this hard to find 1983 hardcover volume features reviews—466 pages of them—by the most discerning, and savagely witty, film critic of our generation during an especially fertile and innovative period in filmmaking.
Reviews of GREY GARDENS, WHAT'S UP DOC?—both pictured here—FIVE EASY PIECES, OUTRAGEOUS!, CABARET, DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE, KLUTE, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, MADE FOR EACH OTHER, LOST HORIZON, PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, THE WAY WE WERE, BADLANDS, FUNNY LADY, AT LONG LAST LOVE, GREY GARDENS, LUCKY LADY, A STAR IS BORN, Robert Altman's 3 WOMEN, HAIR, THE MAIN EVENT, THE ROSE, ALL THAT JAZZ, and literally hundreds more—nearly 250 in all!—making for incredibly entertaining reading. Hardcover. Book itself is in brand new condition; some minor tearing to dust jacket. (Book is not illustrated.) $4.99 [originally published at $11.95]
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Bev Kelly, POWERWORDS TO KEEP YOU IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT: A JOURNEY HOME TO YOURSELF
Though we are not selling it ourselves, we wanted to make a point of telling you about the new book by our good friend Bev Kelly. Most of my customers know Bev as a truly great jazz singer, who began recording in the '50s for labels like Bethlehem and Riverside, and continues to write and record today. (Her latest, self-produced CD is PORTRAIT OF NINE DREAMS.)
But in her home of Long Beach, California, Bev is known by many as a professional psychotherapist, who has been in practice for over 25 years. Bev has just published her first book, POWERWORDS, which is available in trade paperback through Amazon.com and through the publisher, Wheatmark. It's the kind of self-help book that is invaluable to anyone striving to increase self-knowledge and self-esteem, and to "bring about positive life change, a sense of well-being, and peace of mind by exploring and more clearly understanding how you feel and why. POWERWORDS is a workbook for personal growth and self-discovery, designed to take the willing reader on an experiential journey of self-exploration through a combination of original affirmations, exercises, inspirational quotes, client experiences, and psychology-related text."
On Amazon you'll see praise for the book from professional colleagues, one of whom writes, "Walk into any chain bookstore and it is a good bet that you will find a bestseller about the importance of building self-esteem. Most of these are great reads, but few give the concrete tools to build upon self-worth, and that is only part of the gift of POWERWORDS."
You can find more of Bev Kelly—words and music—at her website www.bevkellyphd.com.
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Michael Mascioli, All Music Services
44 Prosper St., #3
San Francisco, CA 94114-1633
 michael@allmusicservices.com
 (415) 864-8222
"I think we'd better get started, Schatze. Some of the kids are beginning to foam over."
—Loco Dempsey ("How to Marry a Millionaire")
"I have a list of people that almost killed me."
—Theda Blauough ("It Had to be You")
"You all seem a little hostile-wostile....I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but I just quit smoking and drinking
and went on a diet all at the same time, so I'm practically on the verge of a little nervo-breako-downo."
—Sally-Anne Vassar ("The Bunch")
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