A very cool record – the great Burt Bacharach presented in a mix of songs and music in a special package for radio! The set was a promo-only release – and if you love the man as much as we do, it's a real treasure! LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary bit of jazzy soul – recorded by an obscure female singer from Milwaukee! Penny's got a warm style that's pretty darn nice on its own – but it's made even better by the great arranger Richard Evans, who helped out a lot on the session. The feel is very much in the Chicago sophisti-soul mode – and at times, the record sounds a lot like Marlena Shaw's best work in the 70s, particularly her sides for Blue Note in the early part of the decade. Includes the great original "Too Soon You're Old" – a jazz dance classic for many years – plus a stellar cover of Gil Scott Heron's "Lady Day & John Coltrane", and the tracks "What's Goin On", "Slow Hot Wind", "He's Come Back", and "Rain Sometimes". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

One of the only two vocal jazz albums that the Blue Note label recorded back in the day – and a haunting batch of tracks from a young Sheila Jordan! The style here is quite different than that of Jordan's later, more experimental records – and this early session shows her as an extremely talented young vocalist, with a unique approach that adds a sparkling modernist touch to familiar tunes – yet which still keeps things in a relatively more straightforward fashion. There's a great mixing of older and newer visions in the set – not just in Jordan's vocals, but also in the small combo backing by the trio of Barry Galbraith on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Titles include great versions of "Baltimore Oriole", "Dat Dere", and "Hum Drum Blues" – plus the tunes "I'm A Fool To Want You", "Am I Blue", "Laugh Clown Laugh", and "Who Can I Turn To?". CD

With Cedar Walton on piano! CD

Two great lost albums from Carmen – very different than her earlier work, kind of a mixture of jazz, soul, and pop, in territory that's a bit like work by Nancy Wilson or Marlena Shaw. Sound of Silence has Carmen working with arrangments by Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Jones – nicely jazzy, but with other sophisticated touches that open up Carmen's palette a lot. Titles include "Watch What Happens", "Sound Of Silence", "MacArthur Park", "Can You Tell", and "Gloomy Sunday". Portrait Of Carmen is one of her hippest LPs ever, and a great set of vocal gems that often gets overlooked. Arrangements are by Benny Carter, Shorty Rogers, and Oliver Nelson – and the album's got a swinging groovy style that pushes Carmen past her schmaltzier jazz vocal roots. The album kicks off with an amazing reading of Tommy Wolf's "I'm Always Drunk In San Francisco", done by Carmen in a way that makes you know she owns the song – and then it moves through a compelling blend of compositions that includes "My Very Own Person", "Ask Any Woman", "Boy, Do I Have A Surprise For You", and "Elusive Butterfly". CD

One of the only two vocal jazz albums that the Blue Note label recorded back in the day – and a haunting batch of tracks from a young Sheila Jordan! The style here is quite different than that of Jordan's later, more experimental records – and this early session shows her as an extremely talented young vocalist, with a unique approach that adds a sparkling modernist touch to familiar tunes – yet which still keeps things in a relatively more straightforward fashion. There's a great mixing of older and newer visions in the set – not just in Jordan's vocals, but also in the small combo backing by the trio of Barry Galbraith on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Titles include great versions of "Baltimore Oriole", "Dat Dere", and "Hum Drum Blues" – plus the tunes "I'm A Fool To Want You", "Am I Blue", "Laugh Clown Laugh", and "Who Can I Turn To?". CD

A great album from the late 70's, featuring the excellent jazz vocalist backed by a totally tight group led by Gildo Mahones. The sound is deep and loud, and there's some nice phat bass on here, particularly on the intro to "Baltimore Oriole", which has a nice break sound at the beginning. A great track, with a nice jazz dance feel to it! Other titles include "Little Boat (O Barquinho)", "Until It's Time For You To Go", "Perhaps", and "Greatest Love Of All". LP, Vinyl record album

A very moody album from Chris Connor – one that features arrangements by Ronnie Ball and Jimmy Jones, on a somber set of songs that makes the album one of Chris' darkest for Atlantic! Most of the tunes are in small group settings – a bit tightly arranged, but in a good way that gives the record a kind of June Christy sort of sound – never to overdone on the vocal tip, with a sense of restraint that only further creates tensions in the tunes! There's a level of sophistication here that's way different than the somewhat cheesy image on the cover – and titles include "Where Flamingos Fly", "Alone Together", "I'm Glad There Is You", "If I Should Lose You", "Here's That Rainy Day", and "Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Genius! It's hard to go wrong with Arthur Prysock in the 60s – and an album like this is key proof of why he was one of the best male singers of his generation – even if nobody seems to remember that now! There's a mix of darkness in with the bold, adult, masculine approach here – a wonderful blend that really keeps things on edge. LP, Vinyl record album

Arranged and conducted by Horace Ott – with Melvin Sparks on guitar, Ernie Hayes on piano, and Bernard Purdie on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Unforgettable", "Mona Lisa", "Too Young", "Red Sails In The Sunset", "Portrait Of Jennie", and "Answer Me My Love". LP, Vinyl record album

The great Harold Mabern kicks it hard with a key core group – then finds a way to open up with some surprise guest artists as well – including singers Gregory Porter, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, and Norah Jones! The core of the album features Mabern's piano rocketing out with rhythm from John Webber on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums – and getting some strong tenor work from the mighty Eric Alexander – and as the set goes on, the group also brings in Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Steve Turre on trombone. But the key force here is the singers – especially Porter and Elling, who seem to find an old school space with the group that really takes them back to their roots. Elling sings on "You Needed Me", "Portrait Of Jennie", and "Billie's Bounce"'; Porter sings on "Afro Blue" and "The Man From Hyde Park"; Monheit sings on "I'll Take Romance" and "My One & Only Love"; and Norah Jones sings on "Don't Misunderstand" and "Fools Rush In". CD also features Alexis Cole on "Such Is Life" – and the instrumental tracks "The Chief", "Mozzin", and "Bobby Benny Jymie Lee Bu". (Jazz, Vocalists) CD

A landmark album from Nina Simone – a set that really pushes her far past just the standard realm of jazz vocals, and which also helped really establish her role as one of the most righteous singers of the 60s! The set's maybe extremely noteworthy for Nina's original tune "Four Women" – a righteous portrait of four different women and their struggles – unique for its time, and a key part of the early Women's Liberation movement! The rest of the album has a similar political undercurrent – sometimes subtle, but there nonetheless – as Nina works magic on tunes that include "Break Down & Let It All Out", "Either Way I Lose", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", and "That's All I Ask". 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

Titles include "Unforgettable", "Mona Lisa", "Too Young", "Red Sails In The Sunset", "Portrait Of Jennie", and more. (Funky 45's, Vocalists) 7-inch, Vinyl record

A second helping of songs from the Nat King Cole songbook – served up by Mark Murphy as one of his most sensitive albums of the time! Backings here are relatively spare on all tracks – just guitar on some numbers, bass on others, or keyboards on the rest – a very different style than Nat King Cole would have ever used, and a method that really helps Murphy transform these tunes! There's hardly any sort of Cole-like phrasings at all – and the album sparkles beautifully with Mark's well-though inflections on the lyrics. Titles include "Don't Let Your Eyes Go Shopping", "The End Of A Love Affair", "For All We Know", "Maybe You'll Be There", and "Portrait Of Jennie/Ruby". LP, Vinyl record album

Not really a recital in the "live" sense, in that the album's a studio session – but a great batch of classic Verve sides by Billie Holiday! The care and quality of the record definitely demonstrate that the Verve years are some of Holiday's best – and for the session, Norman Granz has backed up Billie with a great batch of musicians – including Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Flip Philips on tenor, Barney Kessel on guitar, and Oscar Peterson on piano. Tracks include "Remember", "Yesterdays", "He's Funny That Way", "Stormy Weather", "My Man", and "Lover Come Back To Me" – and the cover has a portrait of Billie by David Stone Martin! LP, Vinyl record album

The great Harold Mabern kicks it hard with a key core group – then finds a way to open up with some surprise guest artists as well – including singers Gregory Porter, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, and Norah Jones! The core of the album features Mabern's piano rocketing out with rhythm from John Webber on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums – and getting some strong tenor work from the mighty Eric Alexander – and as the set goes on, the group also brings in Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Steve Turre on trombone. But the key force here is the singers – especially Porter and Elling, who seem to find an old school space with the group that really takes them back to their roots. Elling sings on "You Needed Me", "Portrait Of Jennie", and "Billie's Bounce"'; Porter sings on "Afro Blue" and "The Man From Hyde Park"; Monheit sings on "I'll Take Romance" and "My One & Only Love"; and Norah Jones sings on "Don't Misunderstand" and "Fools Rush In". CD also features Alexis Cole on "Such Is Life" – and the instrumental tracks "The Chief", "Mozzin", and "Bobby Benny Jymie Lee Bu". (Jazz, Vocalists) CD

A very rare slice of work from Charles Mingus – sides recorded for his Debut label that featured vocalists in the lead! Backing is by Mingus-led combos on all tracks – but the presence of singers makes for a great change in the music – not a sleepy, torch jazz vocal style – but much more in the inventive style of singing that would crop on on a handful of Mingus dates from later years – heard here in much more experimental modes. Jackie Paris' work is an especially great revelation – as it's a real contrast to some of his straighter later stuff – but The Gordons are great too, the vocal group from which Honi Gordon sprang to do her solo album for Prestige. Bob Benton sings on a few numbers too – and other players include Lee Konitz on alto, Paige Brook on flute, Hank Jones on piano, and Max Roach on drums – and titles include "Portrait", "I've Lost My Love", "Precognition", "Make Believe", "Paris In Blue", "Montage", "You & Me", "Cupid", "Can You Blame Me", and "Bebopper". (Jazz, Vocalists) CD

A landmark album from Nina Simone – a set that really pushes her far past just the standard realm of jazz vocals, and which also helped really establish her role as one of the most righteous singers of the 60s! The set's maybe extremely noteworthy for Nina's original tune "Four Women" – a righteous portrait of four different women and their struggles – unique for its time, and a key part of the early Women's Liberation movement! The rest of the album has a similar political undercurrent – sometimes subtle, but there nonetheless – as Nina works magic on tunes that include "Break Down & Let It All Out", "Either Way I Lose", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", and "That's All I Ask". CD

A rare session from indie soul legend Penny Goodwin – a previously unissued live performance from 1974, featuring small combo backing in a sweet and jazzy mode! Penny's got a voice that's instantly recognizable – a bit raspy, in the mode of Esther Phillips – but cooler and more sophisticated, with a Marlena Shaw-like hipness that really fits the tracks on the set. Most of the numbers are traditional jazz standards, swung by Penny and a small piano trio – in a mode that's a lot more intimate than, but equally soulful to, the fuller backings used on her classic Portrait Of A Gemini album. Titles include "What's Going On", "Inner City Blues", "Midnight Sun", "Little Girl Lost", "On A Clear Day", "Day Dreaming", and "Where Is The Love". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album from Nina Simone – a set that really pushes her far past just the standard realm of jazz vocals, and which also helped really establish her role as one of the most righteous singers of the 60s! The set's maybe extremely noteworthy for Nina's original tune "Four Women" – a righteous portrait of four different women and their struggles – unique for its time, and a key part of the early Women's Liberation movement! The rest of the album has a similar political undercurrent – sometimes subtle, but there nonetheless – as Nina works magic on tunes that include "Break Down & Let It All Out", "Either Way I Lose", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", and "That's All I Ask". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD