One of the rarest Kenny Burrell albums – and one of the most unusual, too! Unlike other records, on which Kenny just plays guitar – this set has the jazzman also doing a bit of singing, sweetly crooning alongside his instrument with a surprising amount of charm! Burrell's got the feel of some backroom singer in the bebop years – deep-toned and mellow, but still pretty swinging – and the album's a great illustration of this overlooked side of his talents. The group features Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Bobby Jaspar plays a bit of tenor sax at times – on titles that include "Hootchie Koo", "A Fine Romance", "The Blues Is Awful Mean", "The More I See You", "I'll Buy You A Star", "Afternoon In Paris", and "Weaver Of Dreams". (Jazz, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A record of incredible beauty – probably our favorite of all the Betty Carter comeback albums! The set starts with one of the most wonderful tunes Betty's ever written – "30 Years", a lightly grooving number told from the perspective of a woman who's losing her man after three decades of love, and which is carried off with a level of sincerity and soul that's simply incredible. The album also features a remake of Betty's classic "Open The Door", entitled "Open The Door '90", and featuring solos by Freddie Hubbard and Craig Handy. The whole thing's great, though – and other tracks include "What's The Use Of Wonderin", "Droppin Things", "I Love Music", and "Dull Day In Chicago". CD

An obscure moment in June Christy's career, but a great one too – a rare later recording, done many years after her time at Capitol Records – in a laidback setting with a hip group of west coast players! June's voice definitely shows a bit of age, but she's still head and shoulders above most jazz singers of her generation – mixing subtle feeling and darkness together beautifully, in a way that makes for a wonderfully moody record! Lou Levy leads the group on piano, and other players include Bob Cooper on tenor and flute, Frank Rosolino on trombone, and Jack Sheldon on trumpet – although the horns don't seem to appear on all the tracks on the date. Titles include "The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye", "My Shining Hour", "Once Upon A Summertime", "Show Me", "Willow Weep For Me", "Everything Must Change", and "Autumn Serenade". CD

An obscure moment in June Christy's career, but a great one too – a rare later recording, done many years after her time at Capitol Records – in a laidback setting with a hip group of west coast players! June's voice definitely shows a bit of age, but she's still head and shoulders above most jazz singers of her generation – mixing subtle feeling and darkness together beautifully, in a way that makes for a wonderfully moody record! Lou Levy leads the group on piano, and other players include Bob Cooper on tenor and flute, Frank Rosolino on trombone, and Jack Sheldon on trumpet – although the horns don't seem to appear on all the tracks on the date. Titles include "The Trouble With Hello Is Goodbye", "My Shining Hour", "Once Upon A Summertime", "Show Me", "Willow Weep For Me", "Everything Must Change", and "Autumn Serenade". LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic record from Jamie Cullum – a great singer on his own, but one whose voice is especially well-tuned to Holiday material like this! The set's one of those once in a blue moon Christmas records – not a batch of overdone standards, but instead all new material by the man himself – really fresh tunes that not only open up our December listening, but which also ensure that the record will be a Christmas classic in years to come! The backings are great – jazzy, but with the warmth of a fire after a Holiday dinner – and we might actually say that the whole thing has Jamie finding a focus for his talents that hasn't been this strong in years. Titles include "The Jolly Fat Man", "Hang Your Lights", "It's Christmas", "Turn On The Lights", "Christmas Caught Me Crying", "The Pianoman At Christmas", and "So Many Santas". (Holiday Music, Vocalists) CD

One of the weirdest, wildest albums ever from Eddie Jefferson – a real standout classic that shows him retooling his sound for the 70s! After years of writing lyrics to James Moody and Charlie Parker tunes, Eddie lays out some crazy lyrics for modern jazz standards like "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Bitches Brew", as well as "Night In Tunisia", which he'd never done before – and also offers up a great take on Cannonball's "Things Are Getting Better", not to mention Sly Stone's "Thank You Fallentinme Be Mice Elf Again"! There's a few more standard bop number in the mix too – like "Billie's Bounce" and "I Just Got Back In Town – and support is from a great group that includes Billy Mitchell on tenor, Joe Newman on trumpet, Sam Jones on bass, and Mickey Tucker on keyboards. CD

A surprisingly compelling album from Michelle Phillips – recorded years after the breakup of The Mamas & The Papas – with a smooth late 70s LA sound that works perfectly for her more mature sexy approach! Jack Nitzsche handled the production and arrangements on most of it, and the album's got more of an edge than you might think from first look or listen – slightly self-reflexive, and less a comeback attempt than an expression of identity finally put on record. Wonderful! Titles include "Aching Kind", "Trashy Rumors", "Let The Music Begin", "Victim Of Romance", "Where's Mine", "Just One Look", "Paid The Price", "Lady Of Fantasy" (the lone track here produced & arranged by John Phillips) and more (Rock, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic later album from Gil Scott-Heron – a set that came out in the mid 90s, at a time when Gil had been away from the studio for many years – but definitely hadn't lost any of the qualities that made him so great in the first place! Despite the space of a decade, the album picks up right where the Arista records left off – and in fact, maybe even gives things a deeper, jazzy current after the last few – just the right sort of production to support both Gil's message in his lyrics, and the jazz vocal style that always makes that message come across so well. The album's got a nice extended track called "The Other Side", plus nice ones like "Don't Give Up", "Spirits Past", and "Spirits". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

The songwriting of Jimmy Webb meets the studio genius of producer/arranger George Martin – for this one-off Atlantic album from 1977, a strange little set that almost has Jimmy sounding far older than his young years at the time! Martin's working in a style that follows nicely from Webb's earlier Land's End album – using full backings to color in the tunes with just the right shades and sounds to flesh them past Jimmy's vocals. But the unusual thing is the raspy, almost faltering quality of Jimmy's vocals – sung in a style that moves into his own words tentatively, as if he's rediscovering the lyrics after many years, or making them up on the spot. The mix of Webb's roughness and Martin's warmth makes the album more compelling than it might be otherwise – and titles include a version of Jimmy's classic "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", plus "The Highwayman", "Christiaan No", "Moment In A Shadow", "Sugarbird", "Where The Universes Are", and "Mixed-Up Guy". (Rock, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A funky big band album, recorded by Thad Jones & Mel Lewis, with the great Joe Williams on vocals! The record is one of the most sought-after by the team – probably because it includes the hard breakbeat version of "Get Out of My Life Woman" that's been sampled often over the years. (Actually, hasn't every version of it been sampled by someone?) The other tracks are pretty funky, too, with nice soul groovers like "Night Time Is The Right Time", "Woman's Got Soul", and "How Sweet It Is". Players include Pepper Adams, Joe Farrell, Jerome Richardson, and Roland Hanna – and the Jones/Lewis group is at the height of its hipness here! 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

Heavy soul from the great Spanky Wilson – an album that explodes with energy right from the start – in a groove that definitely lives up to the title! Spanky's got a great mix of funk and class on this set – a punch in the rhythms at points, yet also a poise in the way she delivers the lyrics – a blend that's a bit like Marlena Shaw in her earlier years – and set to some killer arrangements from the great HB Barnum! Barnum gives the record all the cool punch of his great 60s work with Lou Rawls – and nearly all the material was written by the obscure Howlett Smith – an excellent lost writer who had a real talent for coming up with cool little soul songs that rise above the usual bag of his generation. This material works great for Spanky, and together, the pair, along with Barnum, cook up a unique lost soul treat! Titles include "Apartment 101", "On The Morning After", "The Other Girl", "You're Gonna Miss Me", "Love Has Me By The Hand", and "Mighty Great Feeling". (Soul, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy soul from the great Spanky Wilson – an album that explodes with energy right from the start – in a groove that definitely lives up to the title! Spanky's got a great mix of funk and class on this set – a punch in the rhythms at points, yet also a poise in the way she delivers the lyrics – a blend that's a bit like Marlena Shaw in her earlier years – and set to some killer arrangements from the great HB Barnum! Barnum gives the record all the cool punch of his great 60s work with Lou Rawls – and nearly all the material was written by the obscure Howlett Smith – an excellent lost writer who had a real talent for coming up with cool little soul songs that rise above the usual bag of his generation. This material works great for Spanky, and together, the pair, along with Barnum, cook up a unique lost soul treat! Titles include "Apartment 101", "On The Morning After", "The Other Girl", "You're Gonna Miss Me", "Love Has Me By The Hand", and "Mighty Great Feeling". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

Amazing is right – as Timi Yuro's one of the most soulful voices of the 60s, but a singer who's often overlooked because her work fell into a unique space between jazz and soul! The CD offers a much-needed look at Timi's mid-60s years on the Mercury label – a key point of maturity, and work done after Timi's initial and better-known sides for Liberty. The style here takes the depth of Dinah Washington on Mercury and infuses it with styles that are a bit lusher, and more in the increasingly sophisticated mode of other 60s vocalists – supported by Quincy Jones production and some great backings from the legendary Bobby Scott. 24 tracks in all are featured – including the full Amazing Timi Yuro album, plus rare singles, and even a few Italian numbers! Tracks include "I Love My Man", "Johnny", "If", "All I Need Is You", "I'm Still Around", "There Must Be A Way", "Why Not Now", "Can't Stop Running Away", "Get Out Of My Life", "Could This Be Magic", "My Foolish Heart", "Cuttin In", "Ti Credo", and "E Poi Verra L'Autunno". (Soul, Vocalists) CD