Rare Bacharach galore – an assortment of under-reissued tracks all penned by the mighty Burt – most of which are from the heyday of 60s uptown soul! Despite the 1952 in the date range on the title, almost all the tunes here are from the mid 60s – that time when Bacharach was writing new tunes like a demon, and getting most of them recorded by a range of great talents on the New York scene. Singers are a good mix of soul, pop, rock, and vocal artists – and although the material was done for a variety of different labels, there's a relatively unified feel – thanks to that snapping syncopation that Burt always brought to work like this. CD features 26 titles in all – including "How About" by Della Reese, "Third Window From The Right" by Dean Barlow, "I Wake Up Crying" by Del Shannon, "I Looked For You" by Charlie Gracie, "That's Not The Answer" by Vi Velasco, "More Time To Be With You" by Brook Benton, "Three Friends" by The Turbans, "Move It On The Backbeat" by Burt & The Backbeats, "You're Telling Our Secrets" by Dee Clark, "Thirty Miles Of Railroad Track" by The Hammond Brothers, "The Story Of My Life" by Big Al Downing, "Made In Paris" by Trini Lopez, "Rain From The Skies" by Adam Wade, and "True Love Never Runs Smooth" by Don & Juan. CD

Sarah Vaughan takes on the work of Duke Ellington – almost presented here in a style that's similar to some of the Songbook albums on Verve from the 50s! Billy Byers handles most of the arrangements here – especially on the larger group numbers – but some tracks are also in a small combo mode, and are often the most interesting, because Sarah opens up with a looser feel than on some of the more "respectful" big group tracks. Titles on this first volume include "In A Sentimental Mood", "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "I'm Just A Lucky So & So", "Solitude", "Day Dream", "Lush Life", "All Too Soon", and "In A Mellow Tone". LP, Vinyl record album

A funky big band album, recorded by Thad Jones & Mel Lewis, with the great Joe Williams on vocals! The record is one of the most sought-after by the team – probably because it includes the hard breakbeat version of "Get Out of My Life Woman" that's been sampled often over the years. (Actually, hasn't every version of it been sampled by someone?) The other tracks are pretty funky, too, with nice soul groovers like "Night Time Is The Right Time", "Woman's Got Soul", and "How Sweet It Is". Players include Pepper Adams, Joe Farrell, Jerome Richardson, and Roland Hanna – and the Jones/Lewis group is at the height of its hipness here! CD

A nice little package, one that brings together three American releases of music by London's legendary Georgie Fame! First up is the classic Yeh Yeh – a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie Fame's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "I Love The Life I Live", "Point Of No Return", "Preach & Teach", "Get On The Right Track Baby", and the hit "Yeh Yeh". Next is Get Away – a great little album from Georgie Fame – with a hard raw soul sound that shows what a big crossover potential he had with the UK soul market – so much so that this batch of material was issued in the US as well! The album's got some wonderful arrangements – quite raw, with some nice organ, and plenty of heavy vocals from Georgie in a strong blue eyed soul mode. Titles include "Sitting In The Park", "Get Away", "Sweet Thing", "Ride Your Pony", "The In Crowd", "Last Night", and "Music Talk". Hall Of Fame is a bit of a best-of – a record that features some singles, and some album tracks – the latter of which aren't included here, as they'd be duplicated. The remaining material is Fame at his raw early best – working in a great soulful style, with plenty of jazzy charms – on cuts that include "Outrage", "Lil Darlin", "Sunny", "In The Meantime", "Something", "Do Re Mi", and Fame's own "Like We Used To Be". CD also features 9 more bonus tracks, some live recordings – titles that include "Bend A Little", "Telegram", "It Ain't Right", "Don't Make Promises", "Many Happy Returns", "I'm In Love With You", "Shop Around", "Green Onions", and "Do The Dog". CD

Some of the wildest music we've ever heard from the legendary Jeanne Lee – and that may be because the work here comes from the archives of drummer Sven Ake Johansson, whose madness is clearly a big part of the set! The work was recorded live on the Berliner Jazztage in 1971, and features Lee's vocals with the vibes and flute of musical/life partner Gunter Hampel – but spiced up a lot with electronics from Michael Waisvisz, who uses a version of the Putney to create some really cool sounds! Freddy Gosseye plays bass, and Johansson is his usual mad self on drums – and also plays a bit of accordion and oboe. The set features a single extended improvised performance. (Jazz, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

Killer Peggy Lee on Capitol Records – 2 very groovy albums on a single CD! Then Was Then is a sublime mid 60s effort that has Peggy working with arrangers Sid Feller, Billy May, and Cy Coleman – all of whom continue in the same groovy territory Lee hit at the time with Jack Marshall – a blend of romping rhythms, swinging jazz, and some slightly soulful touches that really come off well! The song selection is especially great – as it features some really unusual numbers that get past overdone standards, and some of the too-heard tunes from Peggy's Capitol years. Titles include "I Go To Sleep", "Then Was Then", "Seventh Son", "They Say", "Trapped In The Web Of Love", "Losers Weepers", "Shadow Of Your Smile", and "Leave It To Love". Bridge Over Troubled Water is wonderful work from Peggy Lee's newly mature years on Capitol Records – a set that follows from some of the hipper arranging and songwriting styles she was working with at the end of the 60s! Peggy's badass 60s self is even more pronounced here – as she's a forthright, adult singer on most of the tunes – workign with subjects she might not have touched at all a decade before – all with some great help on arrangements from the mighty Mike Melvoin. A few tunes are older, but most are relatively contemporary for the time of the album's release – and titles include "Something Strange", "You'll Remember Me", "He Used Me", "I See Your Face Before Me", "Always Something There To Remind Me", and "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?" CD features 3 bonus tracks – "Maybe This Summer", "Stop Living In The Past", and "This Could Be The Start Of Something Big". CD

A heck of a cool group – with a really wonderful sound! The Peddlers were a late 60s British trio, with a sound that's part soul, part jazz, part supper-club vocals – all done with a clean, clear, hard-grooving approach – and strong instrumentation that often includes a heavy dose of Hammond organ! A big chunk of the work on this album has a gently funky sound that really takes it miles from its original roots – as familiar numbers get transformed into nicely party-rocking tunes with a very hip groove – making for a few tracks that have nice breaks, and others that cook with a nice mod little sound! Keith Mansfield's helping the trio get their groove on here – and titles include their classic break take on "On A Clear Day", plus "Nobody Likes Me", "I'm A Boy In Love", "Comin Home Baby", "Just A Pretty Song", "Prime Of My Life", and "Lost Continent". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime vocal work from the lovely Chris Connor – a collection of her key mid 50s recordings for Bethlehem Records, all tracks that really helped redefine the sound of the voice in jazz at the time! Before working at Bethlehem, Chris was mostly known as the singer in the big bands of Stan Kenton and Claude Thornhill – but on these recordings, the label wisely set her up in small group format – giving Connor a newly sensitive setting that produced tracks that are still some of her greatest ever! Backings are by the Ellis Larkin Trio, The Vinnie Burke Quartet, and the Ralph Sharon Group – and the CD features 21 tracks that include "All About Ronnie", "Lush Life", "Why Shouldn't I", "Ridin High", "All This & Heaven Too", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Trouble Is A Man", "Stella By Starlight", "He's Coming Home", "Goodbye", and "A Cottage For Sale". CD

Sarah Vaughan takes on the work of Duke Ellington – almost presented here in a style that's similar to some of the Songbook albums on Verve from the 50s! Billy Byers handles most of the arrangements here – especially on the larger group numbers – but some tracks are also in a small combo mode, and are often the most interesting, because Sarah opens up with a looser feel than on some of the more "respectful" big group tracks. Titles on this first volume include "In A Sentimental Mood", "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "I'm Just A Lucky So & So", "Solitude", "Day Dream", "Lush Life", "All Too Soon", and "In A Mellow Tone". CD

A great 30-track set that spans the breadth of Nancy Wilson's years at Capitol – and which includes many of her big hits, plus some of those excellent label cuts from the early 70s that have never made it onto other anthologies. In fact, even the hits from the 60s can sometimes be elusive – especially when looking over old LPs, since they were always more readily available as singles. Whatever the case, the set finally fills in some holes in the reissue market – and includes loads of nice numbers, like "You'd Better Go", "Guess Who I Saw Today", "Streetrunner", "Life, Love, & Harmony", "Love Has Smiled On Us", "Come Get To This", "All In Love Is Fair", "Face It Girl, It's Over", "Save Your Love For Me", "Peace Of Mind", "The Greatest Performance Of My Life", and "Don't Misunderstand". CD

Mellow magic from Johnny Mathis – a late 70s set that updates his older style for a crossover audience in adult contemporary! The style is smooth and polished, but never so much so that Johnny's amazing voice can't shine through – thanks to soulful arrangements from Gene Page, who'd done plenty of work with hipper soul artists in the 70s – and Deniece Williams makes a great guest appearance on a number of tracks – really bringing Mathis into that duet style that would hit even bigger for the singer in the 80s. Titles include "If You Believe", "To Much Too Little Too Late", "How Deep Is Your Love", "It Was Almost Like A Song", and "Till Love Touches Your Life". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the earliest records by the legendary Novi Singers – and a rare MPS set that exposed the group to a larger European audience! Novi hail from Poland, but have a name that's an condensation of the English phrase "new original vocal instruments" – a great summation of the way the quartet use their voices to recreate the feel of instruments in modern jazz – a mode first explored by the Lambert Hendricks & Ross group in the US, but taken to a much farther extreme on this set! The group are supported here by a border-crossing small combo of musicians that includes Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto sax, Idrees Sulieman on trumpet, Adam Makowicz on piano, and Billy Brooks on drums – and the sound is cool, laidback, and very groovy – extremely tight, almost even more so than some of the group's Polish albums! Titles include "The Second Side", "Secret Life", "Kulfon", and "Apartment Under The Roof". LP, Vinyl record album

Three great 60s albums from jazz singer Carmen McRae – all in a single set! Second To None is one of Carmen McRae's best records of the 60s – an album done with beautiful arrangements from Peter Matz, who's probably best known for his work with Barbara Streisand at the time – and who really helps McRae take her music to the next level! Carmen was already one of the most sophisticated jazz singers of the 50s – but in the following decade, she really perfected her phrasing – and was able to grab material and make it completely her own – all with a mode that's steeped in the special sort of inflections a jazz singer can bring, but which is also able to maybe be even more adult in approach overall. The strings soar, the percussion is fairly spare and often a little bit off kilter – and Carmen emphasizes her phrasing and more earthy tendencies without any empty histrionics – on titles that include "In The Love Vain", "The Music Makes Me Dance", "Too Good", "Once Upon A Summertime", "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", and "Cloudy Morning". Live & Doin It is about as strong an example of the genius of Carmen McRae as you could ever hope to find – a live album that displays Carmen's impeccable phrasing in a very stripped-down setting – and one that also swings with a fair degree of sophisticated soul as well! Back in the 50s, Carmen paved the way for later stars like Marlena Shaw or Nancy Wilson – and here, she outdoes both of them with effortless ease – working with a very cool trio that features Norman Simmons on piano, Victor Sproles on bass, and a very young Stu Martin on drums. The set's got that strong understanding of soul that was explored even more fully in her Atlantic Records years – which really transforms tracks in unexpected ways. Titles include "Guess Who I Saw Today", "Quiet Nights", "Trouble Is A Man", "My Ship Has Sailed", "No Where", "Meaning Of The Blues", and "I Only Have Eyes For You". Haven't We Met is great work from Carmen McRae – light and groovy one minute, deeply expressive the other – but all with a sense of balance that few other singers can touch at this point in her career! Carmen's already moved past straight jazz, yet she also avoids the traps of bigger label commercial singers too – really making the best of the sophisticated charts by Don Sebesky, yet also always reminding us who's in charge! The album's on a par with the excellent work to come for Atlantic records – and titles include the groovy "Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries", "Who Can I Turn To?", "He Loves Me", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Limehouse Blues", "I'm Foolin' Myself", "Fools and Lovers", and the title track – a wonderfully groovy take on the Kenny Rakin tune "Haven't We Met". CD

Mellow magic from Kenny Rankin – an album that follows nicely from his Kenny Rankin album of a few years before, and which has a relatively similar approach! Like that one, Don Costa's at the helm – producing as well as arranging – and most instrumentation is from a core small combo that includes some great keyboard work from Wendy Haas, who warms up Kenny's sound a bit, but never in a too-smooth sort of way. A few tracks bring in some bigger strings, but still keep up the rasp and personal feel of Rankin's music – and titles include "Down The Backstairs Of My Life", "Woman Woman", "Lyin Eyes", "Strings", "After The Roses", and "What Matters Most". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful solo moment from the lovely Keely Smith – the singer who first rose to fame in a famous 50s partnership with the lively Louis Prima – but who always had a lot more to offer right under the surface! On her earlier Capitol Records albums with Prima, Keely would occasionally get the chance to step out solo and do a more sophisticated song or two – yet here, working for Reprise, she's out in the spotlight, singing to incredible Nelson Riddle arrangements, and really knocking it out of the park! Smith has a vocal range that should have made her huge – certainly in the company of the bigger, more mature female singers of the 60s – and side one of the album features mellow tracks, with some more upbeat material on side two. Titles include "Once In A Lifetime", "Little Girl Blue", "I'll Never Be The Same", "Willow Weep For Me", "New Sun In The Skies", "A Lot Of Livin To Do", and "It's Good To Be Alive". CD features two bonus tracks – "Going Through The Motions" and "When You Cry". CD

A rare set from Billie Holiday – recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958, with surprisingly great sound throughout – especially given that the session wasn't initially done for a bigger label! There's a nicely mature feel to the set throughout – that added sophistication and sadness that Billie was bringing to her vocals in the last few years of her life, at a level that makes us wish she hadn't left us so early. Backing is small combo – with a core trio of Mal Waldron on piano, Eddie Khan on bass, and Dick Berk on drums – plus guest performances from Benny Carter on alto, Gerry Mulligan on baritone, and Buddy DeFranco on clarinet. Titles include "God Bless The Child", "Willow Weep For Me", "Them There Eyes", "Billie's Blues", "Oh What A Little Moonlight Can Do", "Travlin Light", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "When Your Lover Has Gone". CD

Proof that Jack Jones is a much better singer than you might think! Forget hits like "Love Boat" or "Wives And Lovers", and check out a record like this – a wonderfully dark batch of tracks composed by French soundtrack genius Michel Legrand, recorded in Paris with arrangements and backings by Legrand himself! The record is one of the few English language albums to truly get the vocal interpretation of Legrand's work right – and it's got a depth of expression that you'd never expect to hear from Jones, a complicated approach to the tunes that's actually not that distant from a singer like Scott Walker (no surprise, as Walker always claimed that Jones was one of his biggest influences!) Titles include "One At A Time", "The Years Of My Youth", "Pieces Of Dreams", "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life", and "Blue Green Grey & Gone". LP, Vinyl record album