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A rare live session from Julie London – surprising in that most of her classic work for Liberty was put together with some real studio magic! Yet this time around, the live setting's a real charm – one that makes for a whole new side of London's personality – showing the singer to be much more of an entertainer than we would have expected. The solitary sultriness of Julie's studio albums is really on the backburner – at least in the overall feel fo the recording, with its pronounced audience noise, oft-swinging arrangements, and male vocal quartet in the mix – although when London starts to sing, things often hit that familiar mode, too. Titles include a very boozy version of "Daddy" – almost drunken, we'd say – plus "Lonesome Road", "Send For Me", "Gotta Move", "I Love Paris", "Cry Me A River", and "By Myself".

One of the greatest early albums by Julie London – a record that features sublime jazz backings from the Jimmy Rowles Orchestra, in a mode that gets way past the "breathy girl with subtle guitar" sound of her first few for Liberty! Rowles' backings bring in some really nice horn work – inflecting the tunes with subtle solos and shadings of color that deepen them past London's spare and sexy presentation of the tunes – but which also don't go too far, or force Julie to do things she's not ready to do. Bobby Troup produced, and the record's got all the subtle wit of his own best efforts – and titles include two Troup numbers, "Daddy" and "Free & Easy", plus "Somebody Loves Me", "For You", "Midnight Sun", "All My Life", "Bye Bye Blackbird", and "Dream Of You".

A landmark album in 50s vocal jazz – spare, moody, and evocative tunes from Julie London – sung in a stripped-down setting that few other singers would dare at the time! The sound of the set is as sexy as the cover – intimate, personal, and breathily sung in a mode that comes across with a brashly adult presentation of the material. Backing only features Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Leatherwood on bass – leaving Julie plenty of room to take over the record with her vocals – a real masterpiece of understatement, given the setting! Titles include her famous version of "Cry Me A River" – virtually THE version of the tune – plus "I Should Care", "Say It Isn't So", "Gone With The Wind", "Laura", and "Can't Help Loving That Man".

Looking like she does on the cover, it's hard to imagine Julie London being a lonely girl – as she's very seductively posed, with that slinky bare shoulders look that no doubt helped many of her early Liberty sides sell so well! But apart from the cheesecake, the record's one of Julie's perfect late 50s sides for Liberty – spare, moody, and very smoky – all set to mellow accompaniment, and backed by some nice guitar work by Al Viola. Tracks are short and sad, and titles include "Fools Rush In", "What'll I Do", "Lonely Girl", "When Your Lover Has Gone", and "Mean To Me".

A set that has Julie London still working in the breathy and mellow style of her late 50s classics – with very spare backings that really let Julie's vocals take center stage, and often a nice guitar line in the front of the mix, picking its way through the tunes right behind Julie's voice! Titles include "My Heart Reminds Me", "Love Letters", "Broken Hearted Melody", "Fascination", "Never On Sunday", "Hey There", "I Miss You So", and "Come On-A My House".

Hard to imagine that Julie London would ever have to ask anyone to make love to her – at least not when she looks as sexy as this on the cover! The album's a key early classic for Liberty – still very fragile, personal, and up-close enough to make you think you might just be able to jump inside the cover and spend the night with Julie! Russ Garcia handles the backings with great care – a bit of gentle strings here, some light jazz there – but always letting London's breathy vocals come up very high in the mix. Titles include "Go Slow", "Lover Man", "Body & Soul", "Snuggled On Your Shoulder", and "Make Love To Me".

Sweet, sophisticated musings from Julie London – a set that has her taking on some of the coolest tunes from the first half of the 60s – including a fair bit of soundtrack themes too! Backings are by Richard Wess and Ernie Freeman, who each have their own distinct flavor – and help give the record a nice sort of balance between mellow and upbeat. There's loads of groovy tunes on the set – and London does a wonderful job with "Theme From A Summer Place", "More", "Never On Sunday", "An Affair To Remember", "Boy On A Dolphin", "The Second Time Around", "Charade", and "Wives & Lovers".

On Sophisticated Lady, Julie London's got her hair up, and is wearing a classy gown – so you can bet that the feel of the record definitely follows through with the "sophisticated" promise of the title! Things are as mellow as on London's early classics for Liberty, but there's a bit more of an orchestrated feel too – fuller backings that couch her lovely vocals in a near-perfect array of strings – usually quite gentle, and often breaking away to give Julie that personal, solitary space that usually has her singing at her best. Titles include "Make It Another Old Fashioned Please", "Sophisticated Lady", "Remind Me", "You're Blase", "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most", and "Absent Minded Me". For The Night People is mature, mellow, and totally wonderful – clear proof that Julie London was still making great music well into the 60s! The album's got a simple, unassuming charm – very much in the late nite mode you'd guess from the title, with spare backings from Don Bagley that often have a key guitar line in the mix – working along with London's vocals in the same style as the mid 50s – but with a different feel overall – a bit more mature and world-wise, which makes for a perfect fit for tunes that include "I Got It Bad", "Here's That Rainy Day", "Am I Blue", "I'll Never Smile Again", "Can't Get Out Of This Mood", and "When The Sun Comes Out".

Money, minks, and a diamond tiara – whatever Julie wants, it's pretty well laid out in the album's cover image! The set's a slinky swinger that definitely follows in the spirit of the title track "Whatever Lola Wants" – that postwar vampy sort of groove that Peggy Lee was doing so well over at Capitol – a natural fit here for Julie London, given the naturally sensuous quality of her singing! The backings have just the right sort of sexy bounce for the themes – and London sexes it up even more than usual, really adding some great life to tunes that include "Love For Sale", "Why Don't You Do Right", "My Heart Belongs To Daddy", "Take Back Your Mink", "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend", and "An Occasional Man".

An oft-overlooked gem from Julie London – a dreamy album of Cole Porter tunes, and one that has her singing with small group backing, very much in the mode of some of her best early work for the Liberty label! The group on the album's the Bud Shank Quintet – with Shank on alto and flute, Joe Pass on guitar, Russ Freeman on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Colin Bailey on drums – a great little combo who give the work a light, lyrical feel, and a bit less of the sadness of other London albums. Freeman did the arrangements, and titles include "So In Love", "Get Out Of Town", "Easy To Love", "At Long Last Love", and "In The Still Of The Night".

On Sophisticated Lady, Julie London's got her hair up, and is wearing a classy gown – so you can bet that the feel of the record definitely follows through with the "sophisticated" promise of the title! Things are as mellow as on London's early classics for Liberty, but there's a bit more of an orchestrated feel too – fuller backings that couch her lovely vocals in a near-perfect array of strings – usually quite gentle, and often breaking away to give Julie that personal, solitary space that usually has her singing at her best. Titles include "Make It Another Old Fashioned Please", "Sophisticated Lady", "Remind Me", "You're Blase", "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most", and "Absent Minded Me". For The Night People is mature, mellow, and totally wonderful – clear proof that Julie London was still making great music well into the 60s! The album's got a simple, unassuming charm – very much in the late nite mode you'd guess from the title, with spare backings from Don Bagley that often have a key guitar line in the mix – working along with London's vocals in the same style as the mid 50s – but with a different feel overall – a bit more mature and world-wise, which makes for a perfect fit for tunes that include "I Got It Bad", "Here's That Rainy Day", "Am I Blue", "I'll Never Smile Again", "Can't Get Out Of This Mood", and "When The Sun Comes Out".

A much more solidly American album than some of Vicki Benet's other efforts of the time – which were usually more French-styled than this one! This time around, Vicki's got a great breathy style that's right up there with Julie London on Liberty – a late 50s sexiness that perfectly matches her ice blond look on the cover, and her slinky slinky dress! Arrangements are relatively gentle – strings, but never too lush – and Vicki hangs mostly in a ballad mode that's perfect for the breathiness of the recording. Titles include "Our Very Own", "The Boy Next Door", "Love Me", "There's A Small Hotel", "A Shade Of Blue", and "Heartstring Melody".

A wonderful little package – way more than just a collection of soundtrack work by Italian maestro Riz Ortolani – and instead, a fully-fleshed look at his long career – with vocal, instrumental, and even some jazz titles too! The 4CD set comes in a book-styled package – with some great images from Ortolani's career in the middle, and notes in Italian – and the CDs break things up beautifully, to offer a rich look at the music in ways we hardly would have expected – showing lots of aspects of Riz's career we've never heard on CD! CD 1 features famous film themes – including "Sweet Dreams", "Africa Addion", "Yellow Rolls Royce", "The Great Dreamer", and many others. CD 2 features vocal and instrumental interpretations of Ortolani's compositions – with tracks by Jack Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Fabio Boltro, Aretha Franklin, Shirley Bassey, Erroll Garner, Johnny Mathis, Julie London, Matt Monro, and others. CD 3 is titled Unforgettable Love – and features loads of sweet 60s instrumentals, all with a soundtracky sort of feel – including "Magic Man", "Una Casa A Roma", "Lui Lui Lui", "My Blue", "Un Amore Cosi Tenero", "Easy Life", "Til Love Touches Your Life", and "True Confession". And CD 4 is the most striking of all – some rare jazz tracks swung strongly by Ortolani, most of them larger ensemble numbers – with titles that include "The Cold Nose", "St Francisco Railways", "Miami Beach", "Free Dixie", "Please Another Ball", "The Day Of Anger", and "Unna Sull'Altra".

A pretty wonderful live set of "spontaneous composition" from Keith & Julie Tippett – with moments of spare atmosphere and others of rapt tension – recorded at The Purcell Room in London, for the London Jazz Festival, captured for the BBC program Jazz On 3. The set is furnished by loose bits of hand percussion, piano and Julie's voice, always an alluring, beautiful thing! Keith plays piano, wood blocks, maraca, chimes, panpipe and more. Julie's brings both poetry and wordless vocals, playing thumb piano, shake, xylophone, hand drums and more. The performance is the single 46 minute piece "Mirror Image".

An album of season-themed tunes – similar to Julie London's Calender Girl album – although not as month-specific. Stan Applebaum's on hand to help with arrangements, and his styles here are a mix of jazzy backgrounds and some fuller, lusher styles that still have plenty of space for Joanie's vocals. Titles include "Summertime", "Autumn Serenade", "Early Autumn", "June Comes Around Every Year", and "Autumn In Rome".

Breathy vocals, jazzy backings, and a beautiful sound from singer Peggy King – an overlooked vocalist from the late 50s, but one who cut some really tremendous albums like this! The session's a great mix of sex and swing – and is proof that handled the right way, a singer like Peggy could really make magic in the studio – a kind of sensual, gentle approach that's not unlike the style of Julie London over at Liberty Records! Backings are by Henri Rene, Pete King, and Jack Marshall – often with strings, but never too lush to overwhelm the dreamy vocals – which themselves are just perfect for the tunes. Titles include "Sure Thing", "Rain", "Lazy Afternoon", "You'll Never Know", "Love Walked In", "Imagination", and "Littleboy Heart".

New and old Blue Note collide in this jam-packed 2CD set of tracks! Forget the "chillout" in the title, because a good portion of the set is real jazz from the old days, and the rest is newer material, based around the older ideals of the Blue Note idiom. Together, the music makes for a nice little package of tracks, shifting with ease from classic to future, stepping through a wider array of catalog than you might expect. Titles include "More Than This" by Charlie Hunter with Norah Jones, "Loungin" by Guru with Donald Byrd, "She's A Lady" by Patricia Barber, "Sun At Midnight" by Jason Moran, "Slow Bombing The World" by Marc Jordan, "Flute Down" by Karl Denson, "Off The Record" by Ronny Jordan, "Harvest Moon" by Cassandra Wilson, "God Bless The Child" by Stanley Turrentine, "Cantaloop (inst)" by US3, "Light My Fire" by Julie London, "Ashes" by Greg Osby, "Slow Drag" by Donald Byrd, "Soul Manifesto" by Rodney Jones, "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" by Lou Donaldson, and "It's Your Thing" by Grant Green. 24 tracks on 2CDs!

One of the few albums ever recorded by 50s vocalist Ann Richards – best known for her work with Stan Kenton in the post-June Christy days, stepping out very nicely here in a small group session! Ann's definitely got a touch of the June in her approach – but she's also a bit warmer, and slightly more lusty, and sings here with good backing that includes guitar by Barney Kessel, playing in that spare moody way he used with Julie London on her Liberty sides. Titles include "An Occasional Man", "There's A Lull In My Life", "You Go To My Head", "And That's All", "Bewitched", and "How Do I Look In Blue".

One of the greatest soul groups from the UK in the 80s – a real bright spot in the years before Soul II Soul and the rise of acid jazz – and a set we'd rank right up there with Sade's best work of the time! Working Week have a very jazzy sound at their core – acoustic rhythms, and a strong commitment to jazz at the core – no surprise, given that two of the group's three members were previously involved with Weekend! The third member is the lovely Juliette Roberts – easily one of the best Brit soul singers of the time – and an artist who really helps push some of the more American influences in the group's music – while still giving the whole thing a bit of a London sparkle, too. The mix is sublime, and the whole album's great – full of classic cuts that include "Autumn Boy", "No Cure No Pay", "Sweet Nothing", "Who's Fooling Who", "Thought I'd Never See You Again", and "Venceremos".

One of the greatest soul groups from the UK in the 80s – a real bright spot in the years before Soul II Soul and the rise of acid jazz – and a set we'd rank right up there with Sade's best work of the time! Working Week have a very jazzy sound at their core – acoustic rhythms, and a strong commitment to jazz at the core – no surprise, given that two of the group's three members were previously involved with Weekend! The third member is the lovely Juliette Roberts – easily one of the best Brit soul singers of the time – and an artist who really helps push some of the more American influences in the group's music – while still giving the whole thing a bit of a London sparkle, too. The mix is sublime, and the whole album's great – full of classic cuts that include "Autumn Boy", "No Cure No Pay", "Sweet Nothing", "Who's Fooling Who", "Thought I'd Never See You Again", and "Venceremos". Amazing reissue – with a full bonus CD, and a whopping 15 extra tracks! Working Week were early proponents of really reworking tunes for singles, especially with jazzy elements – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Veceremos (jazz dance special 12")", "Afoche", "Storm Of Light (inst)", "Bottom End", "Stella Marina (main mix)", "Inner City Blues (urbane guerilla mix)", "Who's Fooling Who (dance version)", "Venceremos (7" bossa version)", "Stella Marina (full rap)", "Pepe's Samba (live)", and "Murphy's Law (live)".