... LP, Vinyl record album

A 60s LP that compiles Julia's earlier sides for Capitol – a mixture of jump blues, swing, and R&B, recorded with players that include Red Norvo, Benny Carter, Vic Dickenson, and Baby Lovett – all killer work from the early years of the labgel! Titles include "Last Call For Alcohol", "After Hours Waltz", "King Size Papa", "Snatch It & Grab It", "You Ain't Got It No More", and "Crazy World". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the weirdest records ever from Shel Silverstein – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given what a weirdo he is! The set was recorded hot on the heels of the big Johnny Cash recording of "Boy Named Sue" – and it features Shel singing that famous tune, plus a host of other original country material – all of which is quite different than the usual songs coming from Nashville in the 60s! Production was done by Chet Atkins – who must have flipped a wig recording this one – and Shel's raspy, nasally voice is surprisingly at home in the professional Nashville backings. The record's a great leftfield country relic from the 60s – and titles include "Boy Named Sue", "Dirty Ol Me", "Alimoney", "Someday's Here", "Time", "Comin After Jinny", and "Daylight Dreamer". LP, Vinyl record album

A surprisingly jazzy score – thanks to orchestrations by Ralph Burns, and musical direction by Elliot Lawrence! And of course, the vocals by Sammy Davis Jr are pretty darn nice too! (Soundtracks, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A real classic from Sammy Davis Jr & Carmen McRae! Given Sammy's great talent for personal interaction on the stage, as heard often on his key Rat Pack recordings, he's a real natural for this sort of duet mode – as he manages to talk and sing his way through the tunes beautifully, really opening up Carmen a heck of a lot, and getting her past the staid, serious mode of most of her 50s albums. Titles include "People Will Say We're In Love", "Happy To Make Your Acquaintance", "You're The Top", "Cheek To Cheek", "Baby It's Cold Outside", and "Tea For Two". LP, Vinyl record album

Great early work from Oscar Brown Jr – a hip mix of jazz and soul, working in Brown's unique sense of showmanship, and his almost beat-like flair with a lyric! Ralph Burns and Quincy Jones handled the arrangements – and the album's filled with great original tracks by Brown, including "Mr. Kicks", "Opportunity, Please Knock", Love is Like a New Born Child", "Elegy (Plain Black Boy)", "Hazel's Hips", and many more! Nice jazzy groove, and very much in the best style of Oscar's 60s work! LP, Vinyl record album

An unforgettable album from Natalie Cole – a record that came at a time when her R&B career was faltering slightly, and a set that not only helped Natalie reach a new level of sophistication in her music – but also find a huge new audience too! If the title sounds familiar, it's because it's the name of a huge hit for Natalie's dad, the great Nat King Cole – who makes a surprising appearance here via the magic of technology, as he duets with his daughter on the album's hit title track. There's a jazzy vibe to the whole set – thanks in part to some piano work by Ike Cole too – and titles include "The Very Thought Of You", "Paper Moon", "Mona Lisa", 'This Can't Be Love", "Lush Life", "That Sunday That Summer", "Avalon", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", "Nature Boy", "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup", "Thou Swell", and "Unforgettable". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

No Reservations is quite an unusual little set for the time – as it's a bit looser and less structured than most other vocal dates – very much in the spirit of Faye's famous performances in clubs, with a gritty, personal approach to the music that's really great. The orchestrations are relatively loose – often holding back to let Faye lead the way on vocals and piano, as she steps up and moves back her level of energy in some very unusual interpretations of the tunes. 12 titles in all, including the striking original "You're Heavenly", plus "Mad About The Boy", "Drunk With Love", "The Man I Love", "Night & Day", "A Hundred Years From Today", and "Miss Otis Regrets". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful set from vocalist Jon Hendricks – and quite different than most of his other work! This set was one of a few that Jon recorded while living in the UK at the end of the 60s – and it features orchestrations by Wally Stott, and production by Johnny Franz – the team who both made the Scott Walker records of the late 60s so great! The style here is a bit more subdued than that on the Scott Walker albums – warm and lush, in a mode that has Hendricks singing as a traditional vocalist, in a mellow late nite style. The album features a few original tunes – "Times Of Love", "Where", and "One Rose" – plus great versions of "I Concentrate On You", "Lil Darlin", and "Nature Boy". Oddly dark, with some nice touches – and a whole new side of Hendricks' vocals! LP, Vinyl record album

Groundbreaking work from Ketty Lester – a really important singer who equally skirted the worlds of jazz and soul! Ketty's got a great sophisti-soul style on the set – working with arrangements by Lincoln Mayorga, and coming off with a sound that would clearly go onto inspire Nancy Wilson and Marlena Shaw. Includes the hit "Love Letters", plus "You Can Have Him", "When Day Is Done", "Lonely People Do Foolish Things", "Hello Lover, Goodbye Tears", and "Looking For A Boy". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully moody album from singer Helen Merrill – recorded with backing by pianist John Lewis, in an overall feel that's got some of the styles that Lewis forged with the Modern Jazz Quartet! The tunes are familiar ones, mostly, but arranged in a style that's got wonderfully sad and somber touches – really bringing out the best of the dark qualities in Merrill's vocals. Backing is by a quartet with Lewis, Richard Davis, Hubert Laws, and Connie Kay – and titles include "Close Your Eyes", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "The Singer", "Yesterdays", "How Long Has This Been Going On", "Mad About The Boy", and "Django". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty amazing set from Esther Phillips – her final album for Kudu – and a beautiful mix of soaring soul sounds from one the most unique, emotionally-inflected soul vocalists of her era! Esther's in prime Kudu mode here – working with jazzy arrangements by David Matthews and Pee Wee Ellis, adding her unique, grit-inflected soul chanteuse vocals to a smoother mix of instrumentation that creates a perfect counterpoint that took her way past her earlier work! There's also a couple of really sweet disco skewed numbers that work incredibly well – with spacier bits of synth and a dancefloor soul bed of percussion and rhythms – and in general, the arrangements are pretty great from track-to-track! Players include Randy Brecker and Mike Brecker on trumpet and tenor sax, Bray Miles on synthesizer, Bobby Lyle on clavinet, Eric Gale on guitar, Joe Farrell on tenor sax and alto flute, percussionist Ralph MacDonald and other excellent name musicians and others bring a grand sweep and sweeter intimacy when the mood requires. Titles include "Magic's In The Air", "A Beautiful Friendship", "Boy I Really Tied One On", "Higher & Higher", and "All The Way Down". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

An interesting set – kind of a parody of the Girl Meets Boy album that had been issued a year or two before on Columbia – done with vocals by Jimmy and Ada Moore, and recorded as a "story in jazz" about love, love found, and love lost. Jimmy and Ada sing both separately and together, Buck Clayton plays a few instrumental sides – and titles include "The Blues", "Cool Breeze Woman", "Ain't She Sweet", "If I Could Be With You", and "Pretty Little Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the straighter sessions ever recorded by vocalist Bobby Troup – an intimate quartet side, with backing by Howard Roberts on guitar, Bob Enevoldsen on bass, and Don Heath on drums. Bobby sings and plays piano – in that warm, laidback LA style that's made him one of our favorite male vocalists of the time – and he's less tongue-in-cheek here than on some of his other recordings, bringing a simple but honest presentation to material that includes "Have You Met Miss Jones", "It Still Suits Me", "Little Girl Blue", "You Are Too Beautiful", "They Can't Take That Away From Me", and "The Boy Next Door". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Sarah Vaughan's first albums of Latin-tinged tracks – showing the roots of her interest in Brazilian music that would develop even more fully into the 70s. The record features a large group arranged and conducted by Frank Foster – with a host of jazz soloists, plus Latin percussion by the likes of Willie Bobo, Jose Mangual, and Willie Rodriguez. Titles include lively versions of "Jive Samba", "The Boy From Ipanema", "Mr Lucky", "Quiet Nights", and "Moment Of Truth". Tasty stuff – and very groovy! LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Time Out For Tears", "Salty Papa Blues", "September In The Rain", "This Bitter Earth", "Mixed Emotions", "Mad About The Boy", and "What A Difference A Day Made". LP, Vinyl record album

Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass return to the studio just a few years after their initial meeting – once again to work in a stripped-down duet format that's completely sublime! The spare setting is one that Ella never got in the older days – and there's an intimacy here that almost makes it like we're hearing a new singer entirely – one who's not surging over bigger band arrangements, but laying back and singing in a mode that's almost more torchy than we could have ever expected. Pass' guitar is acoustic, and gentle – and titles include "All Too Soon", "One Note Samba", "Rain", "You Took Advantage Of Me", "That Old Feeling", "I've Got The World On A String", and "Nature Boy". LP, Vinyl record album