We think this guy's one of the best new jazz vocalist to emerge over the past decade, and this album – his 4th for Blue Note – is far and away his best! The album was recorded live at Chicago's Green Mill nightclub – with nice small combo backing by Laurence Hobgood, Rob Amster, and Michael Raynor, plus guest horn work by Von Freeman, Eddie Johnson, and Ed Peterson. Kahil El'Zabar also plays percussion, and Jon Hendricks joins in on vocals a bit. But the best part is Elling's voice – which is a sweet mix between Mark Murphy at his best, and earlier vocalese masters, like Hendricks or Joe Lee Wilson. The album features mostly straight-ahead jazz vocalizing – with little of the hipster monologues that have ruined other Elling albums – and it includes an incredible version of Wayne Shorter's "Night Dreamer", plus the cuts "Oh My God", "Esperanto", "My Foolish Heart", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", and the King Pleasure classic "Don't Get Scared". A real treat – especially if you like Cleveland Watkiss' Green Chimneys album, or any of the good Mark Murphy recordings for Muse! CD

Terry Callier's first album for Cadet – and the kickoff of one of the greatest three album runs that any soul artist ever recorded! This one's got a different feel than the later two, as it takes songs by Terry, and structures them with these little musical "segue" tracks in between every song, done in a sparer folksy style that recalls Terry's roots in the Old Town scene in Chicago. At the time, Terry was making the transition from folk artist to soul singer – and he'd been picked up by Jerry Butler and The Dells as a promising young songwriter, one of the best talents of the second generation of Chicago soul stars. The record's a stripped-down affair that features a small group with Charles Stepney on harpsichord and organ, Callier on guitar, and backing vocals by Minnie Riperton, Shirley Wahls, and Kitty Haywood. The album kicks off with Terry's great little pop ditty "Ordinary Joe" – probably the catchiest song he ever wrote – then rolls into more somber titles like "Occasional Rain", "Do You Finally Need A Friend", "Golden Circle", and "Blues For Marcus". A totally unique album – and a prime example of the genius that was coming out of Chicago at the time! (Soul, Vocalists) CD

Massive music from Ella Fitzgerald – 2CDs worth of sublime small group recordings – all of them live, and all of them previously unissued before the Hip-O/Verve Select box set! The set follows the same format of the Verve Ella In Hollywood album – recorded in a small club setting, with combo backing that really lets Fitzgerald open up and swing – inflecting the tunes with the kind of warmth and spontaneity that she brought to her famous live performances of the time – which were almost always more compelling than her studio sides, no matter how great those were too! Vols 1 & 2s feature material from two weeks' worth of recording in May of 1961 – with backing from Jim Hall on guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums. A brief intro rolls into beautiful material on 2CDs – 37 tracks in all: "Lover Come Back To Me", "Too Close For Comfort", "Little White Lies", "I Found A New Baby", "Perdido", "'Round Midnight", "Take The 'A' Train", "Mr Paganini", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "I Can't Get It Started", "Give Me The Simple Life", "Lorelei", "Witchcraft", "That Old Black Magic", "Lullaby Of Birdland", "Imagination", "Joe Williams' Blues" and more. CD

With Milt Jackson and Roy Eldrige. Titles include "I Want A Little Girl", "Crawdad Hole", "Juke Joint Blues", and "How Long How Long Blues". (Blues, Vocalists) CD

Massive music from Ella Fitzgerald – 4CDs worth of sublime small group recordings – all of them live, and all of them previously unissued! The set follows the same format of the Verve Ella In Hollywood album – recorded in a small club setting, with combo backing that really lets Fitzgerald open up and swing – inflecting the tunes with the kind of warmth and spontaneity that she brought to her famous live performances of the time – which were almost always more compelling than her studio sides, no matter how great those were too! The first 3CDs feature material from two weeks' worth of recording in May of 1961 – with backing from Jim Hall on guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums – and CD four features Ella returning to Hollywood for two more nights in 1962, with trio backing from Paul Smith on piano, Middlebrooks on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. There's a massive 77 tracks in all – handsomely package in a hardcover 7" square book – which also features beautiful color pages inside, lots of notes on the music, and design that's every bit as groovy as the old albums on Verve. Titles include "Joe Williams' Blues", "It's De-Lovely", "Lorelei", "I Can't Get Started", "Round Midnight", "Perdido", "Little White Lies", "Lover Come Back To Me", "Across The Alley From The Alamo", "Love For Sale", "Exactly Like You", "Mack The Knife", "Teach Me Tonight", "My Kind Of Boy", "It Had To Be You", "Hard Hearted Hannah", "All Of Me", and "Too Darn Hot/Ella's Twist". And, in case you're wondering, there's almost no repetition in the set at all – all discreet, unique tunes – not just the sort of rehash you might get in other concert box sets of this nature! CD

Two of the biggest singers who ever worked for Verve Records – captured perfectly at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957! Ella Fitzgerald steps out with a strong, lively groove on the first half of the set – swinging things with a looser, more upbeat quality than on some of her mellower Verve studio sets of the late 50s – really grooving it up with small combo backing from the trio of pianist Don Abney! Billie Holiday also gets some small combo backing too – a hip trio with Mal Waldron on piano, Joe Benjamin on bass, and Jo Jones on drums – often a bit more laidback than the group on Ella's sides, but in a great way that helps Holiday hit a very intimate sound, even before this large audience. Ella sings "This Can't Be Love", "Body & Soul", "April In Paris", "I Got A Crush On You", and "Airmail Special" – and Billie sings "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "What A Little Moonlight Can Do", "My Man", "Willow Weep For Me", and "Lady Sings The Blues". CD also features 3 more unissued bonus tracks by Ella – "Too Close For Comfort", "Lullaby Of Birdland", and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter". And, added to all of this are 7 more tracks recorded by Carmen McRae at Newport, not issued by Verve in the 50s because Carmen was working for Decca! These sides feature trio backing too – from groups featuring Ray Bryant and Junior Mance on piano – on titles that include "Body & Soul", "Skyliner", "I'll Remember April", "Perdido", and "Love Is Here To Stay". CD