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Titles include "September In The Rain", "Mixed Emotions", "Harbor Lights", "What A Difference A Day Makes", and "Time Out For Tears".

A pretty groovy little album from Dinah Washington – at first glance a set of older standards, but at second glance a date that features some wonderfully swinging arrangements from Quincy Jones! The Q really helps Dinah break from the usual mode here – providing here with an upbeat, tightly snapping sort of groove – that sweetly syncopated Quincy Jones sound that really helped some singers hit new heights in the 60s. And as an added delight, The Dells make a key appearance on a few tracks – singing in a harmony group style that's similar to their one album on Vee Jay – almost more in Four Freshmen modes, but in a really great way! Titles include "Am I Blue", "Tears & Laughter", "If I Should Lose You", "I Just Found Out About Love", "Wake The Town & Tell The People", and "Wee Small Hours".

Wonderful work from Dinah Washington – most of it cut in New York and Chicago in the early-to-mid 50s – peak stuff that splits a fairly even difference between her rollicking rhythm & blues mode and her jazzier vocal mode! The first half features the sassier r&b while the second half features the grander, jazzier Quincy Jones productions – which feature a who's who of incredible players! 22 tracks in all: "Fat Daddy", "Go Pretty Daddy", "TV Is The Thing","Feel Like I Wanna Cry", "Lean Baby", "Never Never", "Am I Blue", "My Man's An Undertaker", "Short Jon", "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "A Foggy Day", "What A Great Sensation", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Darn That Dream", "I Diddle", "Wasn't It" and more.

A pretty groovy little album from Dinah Washington – at first glance a set of older standards, but at second glance a date that features some wonderfully swinging arrangements from Quincy Jones! The Q really helps Dinah break from the usual mode here – providing here with an upbeat, tightly snapping sort of groove – that sweetly syncopated Quincy Jones sound that really helped some singers hit new heights in the 60s. And as an added delight, The Dells make a key appearance on a few tracks – singing in a harmony group style that's similar to their one album on Vee Jay – almost more in Four Freshmen modes, but in a really great way! Titles include "Am I Blue", "Tears & Laughter", "If I Should Lose You", "I Just Found Out About Love", "Wake The Town & Tell The People", and "Wee Small Hours".

A cool compilation that features one album of new recordings of older Dinah Washington hits – done in 1961 with backings by Quincy Jones – and another record that features some of Dinah's best bits for Mercury from the late 50s and early 60s!

A beautiful package of work from trumpeter Clifford Brown – his complete Emarcy master takes for work with three key singers in the 50s – Helen Merrill, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington! Brown's trumpet has a fluid, soulful style that's easily one of the most modern of the time – which makes for a really striking accompaniment for all vocalists included – especially Washington, who really breaks out from her bluesier modes on the Clifford Brown sides – making an argument here that the trumpeter really helped take her singing to the next level! The lavish 3CD package is in a cool 7" book-style cover, with a really beautiful full color book inside – and the set features a huge amount of work with Washington (2 of the 3 CDs) – with titles that include "No More", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "What Is This Thing Called Love", "Lover Come Back To Me", "I'll Remember April", and some ballad medley tracks from a jam session. The last CD features work with Sarah Vaughan and Helen Merrill – titles that include "April In Paris", "He's My Guy", "Jim", "I'm Glad There Is You", "I'm Crazy", "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To", "Falling In Love With Love", and "Yesterdays".

An interesting early album from Betty Carter – less jazz than some of her later work, but with a bit more of an edge than some of her ABC recordings. The album's got sort of an arranged sophisticated jazz style – in the mode of 60s work by Esther Phillips or Dinah Washington – and Betty handles some wonderful material with a dark edge, like "Two Cigarettes In The Dark", "Nothing More To Look Forward To", "Round Midnight", "I Wonder", "Who What Why Where When", and "The Good Life", all done in a sorrow-drenched style that's incredibly compelling, and a very different side to Betty's career. An album you'll be hard-pressed to find on vinyl – and nicely repacked for CD with 2 bonus cuts: "One Note Samba" and "Shine On Harvest Moon".

Although the cover of the record includes a picture of Eddie's wife, Dinah Washington, and the "Friend" in the title would seem to imply that she's on the album, the set's really just a bunch of hard jazz cuts that showcase Eddie's screaming tenor sax, and which don't include Dinah's vocals. Not that that's a problem, though, because the record's a great one, and it's a good peek at player who was one of the biggest in Chicago during the 50's, and who had a loud hard R&B sound, in a mode that was similar to other Chicago players, such as Gene Ammons and Red Prysock. The record's got a number of originals by Chamblee, plus a few tracks written by Julian Priester and Dinah Washington (but did she really write them?). Titles include "Back Street", "Strollin Sax", "Village Square", and "Swing A Little Taste".

A heavily detailed story of the great Nina Simone – her really unique place in music and American society – with a strong focus on the boundaries she broke and bridges she burned! Author Nadine Cohodas wrote a previous book on Dinah Washington, and does an even better job here with Simone – really laying out the complexity of the woman and her music, but in ways that never over-sensationalize any of the key historical details either. There's a pacing here that really shows Nina's strong commitment over the years – and the heavy notes in the back show that Cohodas really did her research. 448 pages, hardcover, with black and white images.

The Verve vaults are open again – and as with other Remixed sets, they've let in a host of hip talents to change up their classics! This time around, the results seem even better than before – thanks partly to a very strong array of mixers, including some of our own personal funky favorites – but also thanks to a change in remixing styles for this sort of work – an added complexity, and respect for the originals – so that the tunes aren't just simple smatterings of old vocals over contemporary beats! Titles include "Cry Me A River" by Dinah Washington remixed by Truth & Soul, "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" by Roy Ayers remixed by 9th Wonder, "Gimme Some" by Nina Simone remixed by Mike Mangini, "There Was A Time" by James Brown remixed by Kenny Dope, "California Soul" by Marlena Shaw remixed by Diplo, "Take Care Of Business" by Nina Simone remixed by Pilooski, "Bim Bom" by Astrud Gilberto remixed by Psapp, "Dilo Como Yo" by Patato & Totico remixed by Antibalas, "Evil Ways" by Willie Bobo remixed by Karriem Riggins, "I Get A Kick Out Of You" by Ella Fitzgerald remixed by Cinematic Orchestra, and "Tea For Two" by Sarah Vaughan remixed by Chris Shaw.

Classic jazz at a great price – and the complete original tunes used in the 3rd volume of the Verve Remixed project! The package offers a whopping great batch of older vocal work from the Verve, Mercury, and Philips catalogs – all for a price that's hardly more than that of a fancy cup of coffee at the kind of places that like to play older vocal work a heck of a lot! Titles include "Speak Low" by Billie Holiday, "Peter Gunn" by Sarah Vaughan, "Come Dance With Me" by Shirley Horn, "Just One Of Those Things" by Blossom Dearie, "Gentle Rain" by Astrud Gilberto, "Stay Loose" by Jimmy Smith, "Baby Did You Hear" by Dinah Washington, "Lilac Wine" by Nina Simone, "The Boy's Doin It" by Hugh Masekela, and "Fever" by Sarah Vaughan.

The only album we've ever heard from singer Martha Hayes – and a beautiful vocal jazz treasure all the way through! Martha's got this raspy style that's quite unique – neither the icy approach of other females of the modern 50s years, nor the bluesy inflections of the Billie Holiday/Dinah Washington camp, either – and instead, this way of sounding very personal right from the start – even on the album's familiar tunes, which shouldn't come across this well! The backings are part of the album's strength – some really moody, mellow, small combo sounds from a group that features pianist Steve Foster, bassist Don Russon, drummer Ray Alexander – and alto saxophonist Lou Fratturo, who doesn't play often, but really brings some light into a few tunes when he gets a chance. But clearly, it's Hayes who's the real star here – a wonderful singer that we'd love to hear more from, although we're happy to have discovered here! Titles include "Yesterdays", "Little Girl Blue", "Black Coffee", "Get Out Of Town", "By Myself", and "Good Morning Heartache".