One of the rarest Lee Hazlewood albums ever – a mid 70s set recorded for Polydor in Sweden, and one that represents a really unique chapter in Lee's career overseas! At times, the album's got a very strong country feel – more so than even other Hazlewood records, which always had a bit of twang – yet at other points, the record moves into more familiar vocal work – recalling some of the modes that Lee had laid down on his best work of the late 60s. Not all songs are originals, but Lee definitely makes all the music his own – and the arrangements by David Whitaker and Lars Samuelson move around in good ways to match the spirit of Hazlewood's mood on each tune. This reissue features some really great notes – filled with the kind of personal recollections that make Lee's life seem like it was always a blast to live – and titles include "The Rising Star", "Come On Home To Me", "It's For My Dad", "Paris Bells", "Hello Saturday Morning", "Wait Till Next Year", "LA Lady", "I've Got To Be Moving", "Mother Country Music", and a great version of "It Was A Very Good Year". CD

The cover of this one might make the album one of the campiest records on Verve – but the session's a surprisingly great one, with a straighter vocal approach than you'd guess! Monica's got a really sweet vocal style – a bit sexy, and certainly adult – arranged here with some nice jazzy touches from Frank DeVol, working in backings that are a lot hipper than those we remember him using with other singers from the time. Monica handles herself like a big girl in front of all those Marines – all-woman, but clearly not giving it away to the first man in blue who walks down the street. Titles include "Blues In The Night", "Miss You", "Rough Ridin", "All Alone", "The Song Is You", "Undecided", and "I'll Be Seeing You". CD

A way hipper record than you'd guess from a group with a name like "Rare Silk" – and some of the best group jazz vocalese recorded in the 80s! The group is a quartet of voices – 3 female, 1 male – and they come together in a style that's far less hokey than most of the other practictioners of this mode at the time – a timeless sort of hipster approach that's really got a lot of the same sort of energy as Mark Murphy on Muse! Backing is small combo jazz on all numbers, with some really sweet keyboards on a few of the best tracks – and titles include versions of Flip Nunez's "Happying", Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay", Richie Cole's "New York Afternoon", Chick Corea's "Spain", Stanley Turrentine's "Sugar", and Eddie Harris' "You Know It's Wrong". CD

Very cool! This CD is a compilation of 2 albums by the groovy Blossom Dearie – one rare, and one not so rare. The rare one's Blossom's 1970 record cut for Fontana UK, entitled That's Just The Way I Want To Be, and featuring some amazing Brit easy arrangements that are right out of the Sound Gallery/Sound Spectrum scene! The style of the record is very different than others by Blossom, and the swinging groovy orchestrations are a perfect accompaniment for her lively sing-song voice. Titles on that one include "Long Daddy Green", "Inside A Silent Tear", "That's Just The Way I Want To Be", and the great "I Like London In The Rain". Plus, the CD also includes the record Give Him The Ooh-La-La, which was issued over here by Verve, and which also adds 9 extra cuts to the CD, for a total of 21 tracks in all. Buy it for the rare Fontana LP – and savor the extra 9 cuts as a bonus! CD

Magnificent work from European jazz vocalist Karin Krog – a landmark album that shows why she sings like no other singer! On this 1974 session, Karin moves far beyond the standard jazz of her roots – into territory that's spacey, cosmic, and filled with the best influences bubbling underground in the Euro scene of the 70s. The backing group features Steve Kuhn on keyboards, Steve Swallow on bass, and Jon Christensen on drums – all working out these beautiful modal patterns that unlock Karin's cool and icy vocals. The tunes are all pretty incredible too – vocal versions of originals by Kuhn, like "Meaning Of Love", "Sometime To Go", and "Raindrops Raindrops"; a very cool version of Joni Mitchell's "All I Want", a rare Jon Hendricks' lyrical version of JJ Johnson's "Lament", and a sweet and breezy take on the Michel Colombier tune "We Could Be Flying"! CD

A magical pairing discovered late in Ella's career – but one that brought whole new life into her music! The album revives the duo of Fitzgerald and Pass in the same spare duet setting that made for a few key Pablo records in the 70s – but there's a slight difference here in the way that Joe's handling his guitar – sometimes a bit bolder, and recorded more up in the mix – so that his chromatic hues share center stage equally with Ella's vocals. If anything, this new approach is even better than before – and Pass seems like a much more confident player, one who's a perfect choice to keep the fire going in Ella's aging vocals. Titles include "Girl Talk", "Blue & Sentimental", "Speak Low", "Comes Love", "At Last", "There's No You", and "Gone With The Wind". 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