All Categories — All Formats  

Duke Ellington and Mary Poppins? Sounds like a terrible combination – but it's actually pretty darn great! You see, the key words in the title are "plays with" – as Duke takes the core score of the film and, working with Billy Strayhorn, comes up with some groovy little tunes that really depart from the originals – and become perfect backdrops for the modern Ellington genius of the 60s. Solo work on the set is by Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Cootie Williams, and Harry Carney – and overall, the album's got that nice punchy feel of Ellington's other Reprise sides – and makes especially nice use of the modal quality of some of the tunes from the film. Titles include "Jolly Holiday", "The Life I Lead", "I Love To Laugh", "Stay Awake", "Chim Chim Cheree", and "Feed The Birds".

Duke Ellington and Mary Poppins? Sounds like a terrible combination – but it's actually pretty darn great! You see, the key words in the title are "plays with" – as Duke takes the core score of the film and, working with Billy Strayhorn, comes up with some groovy little tunes that really depart from the originals – and become perfect backdrops for the modern Ellington genius of the 60s. Solo work on the set is by Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Cootie Williams, and Harry Carney – and overall, the album's got that nice punchy feel of Ellington's other Reprise sides – and makes especially nice use of the modal quality of some of the tunes from the film. Titles include "Jolly Holiday", "The Life I Lead", "I Love To Laugh", "Stay Awake", "Chim Chim Cheree", and "Feed The Birds".

A smoking selection of seventies funk – a perfect introduction to the genre, and one that's overflowing with the kind of classics that got first got us started loving music like this! The set list is decidedly hip – cuts that didn't always get much play back in the day, but which have gone onto become huge over the decades – thanks to deep digging by serious collectors, or sampling by hip hop acts – or even by the raving reviews of funk fanatics like us! The package features a massive 19 tracks in all – with loads of heavy drums, sharp guitars, and raw soul vocals – on titles that include "Watts Breakaway" by Johnny Otis, "Got To Get A Knutt" by New Birth, "Afro Strut" by Nite-Liters, "The Dapp" by African Music Machine, "It's Alright" by Bobby Rush, "Good Thing (part 2)" by Casey Jones, "Ice Cold Daydream" by Shuggie Otis, "One Monkey" by Kim Melvin, "Get It Where You Find It" by Jesse Gresham Plus 3, "Pull My Coat" by Eddie Jacobs Exchange, "Toe Hold" by Al Kooper, "Soul Train" by Little Royal, "It's Not How Long You Make It" by Shay Holiday, "It's Just Begun" by Jimmy Castor, "Soul Drums" by Bernard Purdie, and "Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter" by Nina Simone.

Ann-Margret at her grooviest – singing the super-groovy theme from The Swinger – perhaps her greatest film appearance ever! There's a mod bounce to the album that goes way way beyond any of Ann's other albums of the period – thanks to arrangements from Marty Paich, Quincy Jones, and Johnny Williams – all of whom put a nice sort of lilt in the backings, and manage to capture Ann at her sexiest. The title tune "The Swinger" is worth the price of entry itself – as it's a catchy, guitar-twanging number delivered in an incredibly breathy mode – supported by 2 great instrumentals from the film as well, "Swinger's Holiday" and "Kelly's Dance". But even on more conventional numbers, Ann's got a great sound here – bringing whole new sexy life to tracks that include "I Wanna Be Loved", "By Myself", "I Just Want To Make Love To You", "More", and "Cute".