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Four early 80s classics from Johnny Mathis – presented here in a single 2CD package! Different Kinda Different is a tremendous start to the 80s for Johnny Mathis – and a set that really continues that strong shift into soul-based territory he begun in the 70s! Gene Page handles a lot of the arrangements here, and gives the whole thing that strong blend of strings and soul that he worked on other 70s classics for different artists – a perfect approach for that magnificent Mathis voice, especially when the tunes have a bit of a groove! Two of the best numbers here – "Different Kind Of Different" and "I'll Do It All For You" – are duets with Paulette McWilliams, who'd recorded on her own, but who really seems to hit her stride with Johnny, and in a way that's different than any of his other soul partners in duets. Other titles include "Never Givin Up On You", "With You I'm Born Again", "I Will Survive", "The Lights Of Rio", and "Love Without Words". Friends In Love is mature 80s work from Johnny Mathis – a set that features two duets with Dionne Warwick, plus some other nice material that shows that Johnny wasn't going to be left behind in the shadows of his older work! At some level, the approach of the 80s, and the rise of a new sort of adult contemporary scene, really helped Mathis find a new audience – especially when teaming with Dionne, who was also having a rebirth at the time! Titles include the classic duet title cut "Friends In Love", and another duet on "Got You Where I Want You" – plus other titles that include "What Do You Do With The Love", "When The Lovin Goes Out Of The Lovin", "I Remember You & Me", and "Somethin's Goin On". Special Part Of Me is a sweet 80s set from Johnny Mathis – one of those great later albums when he brought a good deal of soul into the mix! The feel here is almost more modern R&B than the vocal jazz mode that first brought Johnny fame – and it turns out that the Mathis mode is wonderful for such a setting – rich and full of feeling, and arguably better than some of his younger contemporaries on the charts! The ballads are beautiful, but there's also a few surprising midtempo numbers – and titles include a sublime remake of "Love Won't Let Me Wait", done with Deniece Williams – plus "Love Never Felt So Good", "Simple", "Priceless", "One Love", "Right Here & Now", and "Lead Me To Your Love" – plus "You're A Special Part Of Me", a duet with Angie Bofill. Live is a later live album from Johnny Mathis, and one that brings together classics, newer cuts, and a few titles he'd never sang before – all served up with a sound that shows the continuing strengths of the legendary singer! There's a variety of arrangers used on the set – including Gene Page and Michel Colombier – and titles include "Orange Colored Sky", "When A Child Is Born", "Begin The Beguine", "I Believe In Love", "Fly Away", "99 Miles From LA", and "A Certain Smile". CD

One of the most striking, most unusual settings for the voice of Leon Thomas we've ever heard – a rare 1970 performance with the Brit group Nucleus – done right at the same time that Thomas was recording his classics with Pharoah Sanders! The initial approach is similar, and the songs are familiar – but the overall execution is quite different given the change in instrumentation – as the Nucleus lineup includes Ian Carr on trumpet, Chris Spedding on guitar, Karl Jenkins on piano and oboe, and Brian Smith on tenor, saxophone, and flute! Tracks are all nice and long, and rhythms begin with a slightly similar mode to Thomas' other records – but the use of Spedding's guitar is especially striking, as is Carr's trumpet – which has a very different quality than any American player that Thomas ever worked with. The sax and oboe lines are especially nice – often exotic, but in more of a European spiritual way than an American one – and throughout it all, Thomas really holds the course with some wonderful vocals – on long tracks that include "One", "Chains Of Love", "The Journey", "Echoes", "Damn Nam", and "The Creator Has A Master Plan". (Jazz, Vocalists) CD

Includes the songs "I Wish You Love", "The Folks That Live on the Hill", "He Needs Me", "I Should Care", "June Night", "Impossible", "Try a Little Tenderness", "I'm Glad There Is You", "Love I've Found You", "Tower of Strength", "Serenade In Blue", "Don't Worry About Me", "Perdido", and "Stella by Starlight". CD

A beautiful classic from mid 60s Verve – and the kind of a session that we wouldn't have expected to come off so well! In a style they were using with older artists at the time, Verve brought Ella and Duke into the studio together – with Duke's band and compositions providing the structure of the set, and Ella handling vocals. The tunes are mostly Ellington classics, but they provide a nice change of pace for the Fitzgerald of the 60s – taking Ella into more sophisticated territory on some darker themes that really surprised us. Players are all of the Ellington stalwarts of the time – and titles include "Imagine My Frustration", "Duke's Place", "What Am I Here For", "Azure", "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing", "Passion Flower", and "Something To Live For". CD

23 classic tracks from Nina's prime early years – laid out on one studio LP, and one great live set, recorded at Town Hall in New York! Titles include classics like "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", "Fine & Mellow", and "I Don't Want Him" – plus "Middle of The Night", "Summertime", "Return Home", "Chilly Winds Don't Blow", and "That's Him Over There". Lots of nice stuff, and it's some of her best material for the Colpix label! CD

A wonderful set from vocalist Johnny Holiday – recorded in later years, but with a depth that easily matches his classics! The album's got a definite bossa bent – as you'd guess from the title – and Johnny's rich, deep vocals work with the music in ways that are quite similar to Tony Bennett's best bossa-styled recordings of the 60s – surprisingly full of feeling, but with the right sort of careful balance to live up to the best bossa traditions, too! The notes are a bit lacking in detail, but we believe the set was done in collaboration with Sam Most – who plays some great jazzy flute, amidst light rhythms and just a dash of strings. Titles include "Triste", "Wave", "Dindi", "This Happy Madness", "Meditation", and "One Note Samba". CD

The title definitely gets it right on this one – as the set's about as perfect a collection of Eartha Kitt's work as you could ever hope to find – a surprisingly huge batch of music that not only includes familiar hits and holiday classics, but also some unusual rare bits as well! At 22 tracks, the package is hardly an accidental collection of Kitt's music for RCA – and instead, it's really well-chosen, and thoughtfully put together – with remastering from the first generation session masters, and some liner notes that offer great insight to Eartha's music. Titles include "Je Cherche Un Homme", "I Want To Be Evil", "Mink Schmink", "Let's Do It", "C'Est Si Bon", "Just An Old Fashioned Girl", "Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell", "Thursday's Child", "Angelitos Negros", "Lovin Spree", "The Blues", "The Heel", "Santa Baby", "Proceed With Caution", "Uska Dara", "Under The Bridges Of Paris", "My Heart Belongs To Daddy", "Monotonous", "I Wantcha Around", "Lilac Wine", and "Annie Doesn't Live Here Any More". CD

An incredible meeting of two massive Chicago talents – with results that are even more amazing than you might think! We've always loved the music of flute player Nicole Mitchell – and have reveled in watching her get even more righteous and sophisticated in her projects in recent years – and we've always had deep respect for the words and wisdom of Haki Madhubuti, a writer who makes us incredibly proud to live in the Windy City. Yet together, these two genius talents resonate with even more strength than we might ever have imagined – as Nicole turns in some of her deepest music in years, to set up the right kind of setting for Haki's words – all served up in a mixture of jazz and spoken passages that almost blows away most classics of this nature from the 70s! The group is wonderful – with Mitchell on flute, alongside Pharez Whitted on trumpet, Tomeka Reid on cello, Harrison Bankhead on drums, Renee Baker and Zara Zaharieva on violins, Tomas Fujiwara on drums, and Jovia Armstrong – and singer Ugochi provides additional vocal support for Madhubuti's spoken lead – as the group also soars out on some strong instrumental passages too. The scope of Mitchell's writing is even broader than before – and titles include "Rise Vision", "Move Into Our Own", "Gwendolyn Brooks", "Often Hard To Believe", "Woman Black", "We Walk The Way Of The New World", "Peace Starts Inside You", "Blackman Unfinished", and "Too Many Of Our Young". (Jazz, Vocalists) CD

One of Flora Purim's 70s classics – an album recorded with that soaring breezy vocal style that she virtually invented – heard here before it got too old, and too copied by other singers! The set's a live one, filled with lots of energy – and recorded before a very enthusiastic crowd at the 1974 Montreux Jazz Fest. Players include David Amaro on guitar, Pat Rebillot and Wagner Tiso on electric piano and organ, Ron Carter on bass, Roberta Silva on drums, Airto on a range of percussion – and guest vocals and a bit of guitar from Milton Nascimento on one track! Airto, Nascimento, and Tiso arranged the set – and tracks include "O Cantador", "Bridge", "500 Miles High", "Cravo E Canela", "Baia", "Uri", and "Jive Talk". (Brazil, Vocalists) CD

A tremendous record from one of the hippest soul singers ever – and an album that has Gil Scott-Heron really pushing forward after his initial classics for the Flying Dutchman label! There's less spoken material here and more sung passages – as Gil's really discovering his confidence as a singer, moving effortlessly between jazz and soul – and getting superb accompaniment from Brian Jackson, who plays both acoustic and electric piano next to Gil's electric. Backings are spare – just bass and drums – and it's no surprise that the album was released on the legendary Strata East label, as it rivals the rest on that imprint for righteous spiritual power! Titles include Gil's classic "The Bottle" – which went on to become a huge hit in many versions – plus the beautiful "Your Daddy Loves You", heard here in the original version – and the tunes "Peace Go With You Brother", "Back Home", "Rivers Of My Fathers", and "A Very Precious Time". Plus, this US reissue has 4 bonus cuts, including live versions of "Winter In America", "Your Daddy Loves You", and "The Bottle/Guan Guanco" – and an alternate take of "Song For Bobby Smith". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

One of the greatest albums ever from Lorez Alexandria – an ultra-hip singer who recorded for Impulse and King, but who sounds especially wonderful on this rare date for Chess Records! The album's got a groove that definitely lives up to its title – a jazzy, bouncy sort of rhythm that's definitely "for swingers only", and which is a nice contrast to overdone torch or standard jazz vocal modes. Alexandria's singing is completely sublime – quite fluid, yet with a soulful depth that's really amazing – and her backing combo is equally hip – a group led by John Young on piano, and also featuring George Eskridge on guitar, Jimmy Garrison on bass, Phil Thomas on drums, and Ronald Wilson on flute and tenor – an obscure player whose reed work really makes the album sparkle! The song choices are great too – a mix of some under-recorded gems and a few blue-toned classics – all redone amazingly by Lorez with a sound that's quite unique. Titles include her classic Argo reading of "Baltimore Oriole", which begins with an amazing drum/bass passage that's worth the price of the album alone – and other tracks include "The End Of A Love Affair", "Baltimore Oriole", "All Or Nothing At All", "Mother Earth", "Love Look Away", and "Traveling Down A Lonely Road". CD

Later Atlantic Records material from the legendary Ray Charles – a set that definitely lives up to the genius of the title, in that it shows a real sense of development in Ray's music! Charles has moved from the shorter R&B of his early Atlantic singles, to embrace some greater jazz-based sophistication – served up here with players who include Paul Gonsalves and Zoot Sims on tenor, Clark Terry and Joe Newman on trumpets, Melba Liston and Al Gray on trombones, and Freddie Greene on guitar – all players who really shift things towards a richer, fuller sound – setting the stage for Charles 60s growth at ABC Records, but with less of the country modes. Titles include Charles takes on classics like "Just For A Thrill", "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin", "Am I Blue", and "It Had To Be You" – and the record also features a young Marcus Belgrave delivering a trumpet solo on "Alexander's Ragtime Band". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

The magnificent voice of Gregory Porter is a wonderful fit for the Holiday season – full of feeling, and coming across with a sense of honest, human emotion that really makes the music come alive! Gregory's definitely in more of the soul side of his spectrum than the jazz of his roots – but he delivers things with a mature, sophisticated vibe that's balanced nicely between the two at most moments – with a sense of care that makes most of the album resonate with Christmas classics from artists like Donny Hathaway, Bill Withers, and Luther! Titles include the great "Everything's Not Lost", plus "Purple Snowflakes", "Christmas Waltz", "Someday At Christmas", "Christmas Wish", "Do You Hear What I Hear", and "Heart For Christmas". (Holiday Music, Vocalists) CD

Completely wonderful work from Georgie Fame – a stone cooking collection of his mid 60s mod recordings for Columbia Records in the UK – a unique combination of jazz, soul, and R&B – all delivered with a style so original, it can only be dubbed Fame-like! Georgie's approach really digs deep on the American scene – a bit of New Orleans soul, a dose of New York soul jazz, all filtered together with a London appreciation of the best elements of both, and delivered with a tightness that almost beats out most US recordings that even try to come close! The collection does a great job of avoiding material already compiled on the Polydor Fame set from years back – and really goes for upbeat, hard-grooving numbers that show why Georgie's music had such a big role in the hippest sides of the London scene of the 60s. Titles include "Sweet Thing", "Something", "Point Of No Return", "Lil Darlin", "El Bandido", "Dawn Yawn", "Music Talk", "Outrage", "It's Got The Whole World Shakin", "Move It On Over", "Last Night", "The World Is Round", and "See Saw". CD

A pair of Capitol Records classics from Nancy Wilson – back to back with bonus tracks too! On Today My Way, Nancy Wilson takes on the sound of today – circa 1965 – singing her versions of songs by a host of other female singers of the time, and blowing away most of them in the process! Wilson is the consummate portrait of soul and class throughout – working well well-balanced arrangements that are mostly from Sid Feller, plus a few more from Oliver Nelson – often with a mix of syncopated rhythms and strings that echo Bacharach a bit, but which are much better fitted to Nancy's personal style! Titles include "Reach Out For Me", "Dear Heart", "Welcome Welcome", "I'm All Smiles", "Don't Come Running Back To Me", and "Take What I Have". Nancy Naturally is a great one from Nancy Wilson – a set that has the singer working with full arrangements from Billy May, who's got this surprisingly subtle approach at times that works really well with the soulful currents in Nancy's vocals! The approach is almost more like Oliver Nelson, especially with the bluesier currents that May brings into the horns at points – and the album scores equally well on the groovers and the more slinky numbers that are especially wonderful – almost an update of an earlier Dakota Staton mode, but a bit more hip – as we'd expect from Wilson! Titles include "Watch What Happens", "Smack Dab In The Middle", "I Wish I Didn't Love You So", "In The Dark", and "Ten Years Of Tears". CD features 6 bonus tracks too – including "Be True To Me", "Go Away", "The Power Of Love", "That Special Way", "Afterthoughts", and "Where Does That Leave Me". CD

Trend-setting vocal work from Oscar Brown Jr – one of the hippest singers of his generation, and a vocalist who really took things to the next level in the 60s! Brown's got a sound that's partially influenced by the vocalese of Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks, and other singers of the 50s – but his groove here is also a bit more fluid and lyrical too – thanks to some great lyrics penned by Oscar, some of which went on to become classics over the years. Like his predecessors, many of the tunes chosen by Brown got their start as jazz instrumentals, but sparkle anew here with fresh lyrics that really liven them up a lot – tales of sin and soul and a lot more, often delivered with a good sense of wit. Titles include great vocal versions of "Dat Dere", "Work Song", and "Afro-Blue", plus some of his great original compositions, like "Brown Baby", "But I Was Cool", and "Rags and Old Iron". The arrangements are great, with a nice jazzy sound – and the group includes the excellent Floyd Morris on piano! CD features 5 bonus tracks that include "Straighten Up & Fly Right", "Forbidden Fruit", "World Of Grey", "Mr Kicks", and "Hazel's Hips". CD