The first ever album by Dory Previn – recorded in the late 50s for Verve, as Dory Langdon! Just a year later, Dory would marry composer and pianist Andre Previn, but their professional relationship had already begun, as Andre plays piano here, along with jazz guitar great Kenny Burrell. It's done in an intimate jazzy style that's stylistically a world away form Dory's singer-songwriter records of the 70s, but it's charming, worthy stuff! Titles include "Can't We Be Enemies", "Lonely Girl In London", "Leprechauns Are Upon Me", "Carefree Love", "No", "Sea Shells", "Gooney Bird", "Just For Now", "Forget Me" and more. CD

A very cool album from the Italian branch of RCA Records – and a set that features a host of artists from other nations who briefly stopped over in Italy, and recorded some of these gems for the label! There's a core energy to the set, which balances contributions from a few key artists, mostly from America – and for jazz fans alone, the set is noteworthy for two tracks that have trumpeter Chet Baker blowing with orchestrations from a young Ennio Morricone – "So Che Ti Perdero" and "Il Mio Domani"! And there's plenty of other great bits too – singer Helen Merrill working with maestro Armando Trovajoli on "Nessuno Al Mondo" and "Estate" – plus Perez Prado on "Guaglione" and "Arrivederci Roma", Antonio Prieto on "Papa" and "Baciami", and even some very cool cuts from young poppers Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka. (Jazz, 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". CD

Louis Armstrong's given the world a number of famous Christmas tunes over the years – but oddly, he never issued a full album of Holiday music over the course of his many decades of recordings – a fact that's finally corrected here, with the first-ever full length record of Louis' Holiday songs! The album's maybe most noteworthy for its final track – an unissued reading of "A Visit From St Nicholas" by Armstrong, with piano backing from Sullivan Fortner – and the album also includes a duet with Velma Middleton on "Baby It's Cold Outside", and with Ella Fitzgerald on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" – next to other cuts that include "Christmas Night In Harlem", "Cool Yule", "Zat You Santa Claus", "Christmas In New Orleans", "Moments To Remember", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", and "What A Wonderful World". (Holiday Music, Vocalists) CD

Louis Armstrong's given the world a number of famous Christmas tunes over the years – but oddly, he never issued a full album of Holiday music over the course of his many decades of recordings – a fact that's finally corrected here, with the first-ever full length record of Louis' Holiday songs! The album's maybe most noteworthy for its final track – an unissued reading of "A Visit From St Nicholas" by Armstrong, with piano backing from Sullivan Fortner – and the album also includes a duet with Velma Middleton on "Baby It's Cold Outside", and with Ella Fitzgerald on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" – next to other cuts that include "Christmas Night In Harlem", "Cool Yule", "Zat You Santa Claus", "Christmas In New Orleans", "Moments To Remember", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", and "What A Wonderful World". (Holiday Music, Vocalists) LP, Vinyl record album

A real treasure from Ella Fitzgerald – a huge batch of previously unreleased live recordings from the 50s, all done at the legendary Chicago nightclub Mister Kelly's! However, the set's noteworthy not just because it's rare, but also because it offers Ella up in a relaxed, unfettered setting – a nice contrast to the smoother sound of the Verve studio albums of the time – or some of the more hyped-up festival appearances too – and instead, there's a personal, intimate sound here that's quite wonderful throughout, and which has really re-ignited our love of Ella's music! The sound quality is great – no dodgy crowd recording here – and the backing is by a trio that includes Lou Levy on piano, Max Bennett on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums. 2CD set is divided up into a "main show" and a "late show" – and titles include "Perdido", "Your Red Wagon", "I'm Glad There Is You", "Bewitched", "The Lady Is A Tramp", "Joe Williams Blues", "Witchcraft", "In The Wee Small Hours", "Exactly Like You", "S'Wonderful", and "My Funny Valentine". CD

A really beautiful record from the Japanese scene of the 70s – a record that's noteworthy not just for the really lovely vocals of Taeko Onuki but also for the keyboards and arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto! Here, Sakamoto is in a surprisingly soulful mode – working with great help from jazz musicians Shigeharu Mukai on trombone and Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, in a set of fusion-tinged backings that have a lot more in common with some of the Cali/Japanese R&B-tinged sets than they do with Sakamoto's later work to come! The sound is wonderful – as Taeko's Japanese lyrics glide wonderfully over the jazzy backings – on titles that include "Sargasso Sea", "Silent Screamer", "Summer Connection", and "Law of Nature". (Japanese, 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". 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". LP, Vinyl record album