One of the harder to find Sammy records, and one of the best! Sammy takes Mel Torme's drippy "California Suite", an extended work about how great California is – and he turns it into an extended chat between Sammy and a friend in a bar in New York City, with twists and turns that ... LP, Vinyl record album
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 ... LP, Vinyl record album
Sweet 70s funk from the great Oscar Brown – quite a change from his jazz-based work of the 60s, but a great new sitting for all of his wonderful wit and warmth! Brown's still a hell of a songwriter, and one with a very socially-conscious eye – sharper here than before, with lots of ... LP, Vinyl record album
A tasty compilation of Leon Thomas' work for the Flying Dutchman label – work that's clearly his best over the years, and which retains the original style of spiritual soul jazz that he pioneered with Pharoah Sanders. The groove here runs from open-ended soul jazz to some tighter numbers ... LP, Vinyl record album
Great early work from Oscar Brown Jr – a hip mix of jazz and soul, working in Brown's unique sense of showmanship, and his almost beat-like flair with a lyric! Ralph Burns and Quincy Jones handled the arrangements – and the album's filled with great original tracks by Brown, including ... LP, Vinyl record album
Pop vocal arrangements by this jazzy diva from Chicago. Arrangements are by Oliver Nelson and Jimmy Jones, and the track list includes a lot of nice lesser-known tracks like "Take a Chance", "Watching the World Go By", and "Goodbye Is A Lonesome Sound" – plus a ... LP, Vinyl record album
Oscar Brown's score for a hip play that he wrote (one of his many plays!) – performed by him, Sivuca, and Jean Pace. Despite the "show" quality of the material, this actually stands simply as a great Oscar Brown Jr. LP, and the production is nice and intimate, and sounds just like ... LP, Vinyl record album
Jazzy Verve-y grooves by this fab duo, with arrangements by Charles Calello and Claus Ogerman that are similar to those used on the pair's Grass album, but with a bit less pop psychedelia thrown into the mix. Tracks are groovy pop stuff, like "Norweigian Wood", and "The Word" ... LP, Vinyl record album
Country, Nancy's way – but fortunately that way includes some great help from Lee Hazlewood, who's working here at the height of his powers! The set's got that sly, sexy twangy cowboy mode that was Lee's greatest contribution to Nancy – and the way the album's set up, it's almost more ... LP, Vinyl record album
One of Morgana's moody LPs for Reprise, with Don Costa arrangements of cuts like "Sunny", "Watch What Happens", and "Amor En Paz". Very nice, very moody vocals, with a haunting feel that you don't always find in her other records! LP, Vinyl record album
Funky Shirley Bassey! This is a great set of Shirley's groove-happy work cut in the late 60s – hip tunes arranged by UK easy maestro Johnny Harris, best known for his fantastic work on the Stepping Stones record under his own name, forever a beathead classic! Features the great, funky big ... LP, Vinyl record album
A landmark record – not only in the career of Grady Tate, but in the realm of adult vocals as well! Grady's incredible here – cool, classy, and amazingly stepping from the role of being a simple jazz drummer, into a world of sophisticated vocals that really caught the world by surprise. ... LP, Vinyl record album
One of her great ones, with moody dark arrangements by Pete Rugolo, and some fantastic stuff like "Whee Baby", "Look Up Out There", and "Kicks". Tight west coast backing, some of her best vocals, and a great purple striped cover too! LP, Vinyl record album
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 ... LP, Vinyl record album
Nina pays tribute to an assortment of modern poets – Bob Dylan and George Harrison, as well as herself! The album collects tunes from some of Nina's other RCA albums – and features arrangements by Nina, Harold Wheeler, and Weldon Irvine – of tracks that include "I Shall Be ... LP, Vinyl record album
Really lovely work from Pat Moran – leader of one of the grooviest groups of the 50s! The Pat Moran Quartet were unique in that they were both a jazz combo and a harmony vocal group – one that mixed two male voices and two female voices in a nicely swinging way that has plenty of ... LP, Vinyl record album
A wonderful live performance by vocalist Leon Thomas – and a set that seems to link together both his own excellent solo material of the time, and his key Impulse recordings with Pharoah Sanders! The group here is a small one – with the wonderful Oliver Nelson on alto sax, showing off ... LP, Vinyl record album
Very cool, very groovy, and one of Ella Fitzgerald's hippest albums of the 60s! The set was recorded in San Francisco in the late 60s, but was issued by MPS in Germany as proof that the label always had an ear for bringing something different out of a mainstream artist. And although live, the ... LP, Vinyl record album
An excellent 70s set by Jackie & Roy – very different than their work of the 50s and 60s, with an approach that's much more far-reaching and complicated – a style that opens up their vocal talents majestically! Gone are the simpler ditties of earlier years, and in their place are ... LP, Vinyl record album
Classic jazzy blues from one of the best in the business – and an album that doesn't show up as often as it used to. Titles include "Good Jumpin", "Fickle Woman", "No Rollin Blues", "Big Fine Girl", and "Failing By Degrees". LP, Vinyl record album
An oft-overlooked jazz vocal session by Mary Ann McCall, with superb arrangements by Johnny Richards, and a nice batch of tracks that have a surprisingly dark quality to them. Titles inlcude "Blue (and Broken Hearted)", "Lover Is Blue", "Melancholy Nights", "Am I ... LP, Vinyl record album
Beautiful 50's material from Jimmy, and some of the best recordings you could ever find by him! The style is classic, with Jimmy's light wispy voice floating over the top of melancholy arrangements of tracks like "Address Unknown", "It's Over", "Am I Wrong", and " ... LP, Vinyl record album
Think what you want about Lena Horne – but this is a plenty darn groovy album! Sure, Lena's style is usually a bit classy and uptown – almost so much so that we don't really dig most of her records. But here, she's working in a very groovy style – paired with the great guitarist ... LP, Vinyl record album
A much groovier set than usual from vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon – thanks to some great backing from the combo of organist Jack McDuff, which also includes guitar from a young Melvin Sparks! The sound here is definitely in keeping with the "blues" in the title – but McDuff's ... LP, Vinyl record album
A bit lusher, and a bit more pop-vocal oriented than some of Nancy's other Capitol albums – this one has arrangements by Sid Feller, and a rich string-laden sound that's nicely juxtaposed against Nancy's soulful vocals. Titles include "Gentle Is My Love", "When He Makes ... LP, Vinyl record album
Very cool work from Anita O'Day – a session cut with Jimmy Giuffre arrangements, in a style that's a bit different than some of her other 50s work for Verve! Jimmy brings a nice touch of modernism to the record – casting the horns in ways that show his own love of creative colors and ... LP, Vinyl record album
Genius work from Nancy Wilson – the kind of Capitol Records gem that was partly jazz, partly soul, and very much in that special territory that made Wilson one of the most mature, sophisticated singers of the 60s! The record's got Nancy working through some material with bluer currents, ... LP, Vinyl record album
Lulu takes a trip down to Criteria Studios in Miami – working at Atlantic Record's new heart of southern soul for the 70s – but coming up with styles that are a fair bit like her previous outing at Muscle Shoals! As on that one, production is by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin ... LP, Vinyl record album
A great set of rare early material by Betty Carter – and just about the only way you'll ever find these titles on vinyl! The set features one album Betty Recorded for the Peacock label, with hip arrangements by Gigi Gryce and Melba Liston, and one that she recorded for ABC, with more ... LP, Vinyl record album
Something of an addition to the Verve "songbook" mode of the 50s – but it's also one that's a lot more dynamic than the others, thanks to some very jazzy arrangements from Billy May! The groove here is very upbeat and jazzy – hard-swinging in the manner that May forged with ... LP, Vinyl record album
One of the coolest albums ever cut by the Singers Unlimited – thanks to great instrumentation from the mighty Art Van Damme! Art plays accordion – in a way that works perfectly with the banks of sound and sweetness we love from the group – an instrument whose own breathy tones ... LP, Vinyl record album
Some of the best-remembered work of this legendary vocal group – a sublime session of unaccompanied vocals, done with no other instrumentation alongside the warm harmonies of the quartet! The sound here is really amazing – simple, elegant, but filled with undeniable magic – and ... LP, Vinyl record album
An excellent lost album from Nancy – and one of her most original! The record takes the sophisticated soul vocals of her late 60s albums on Capitol, and twists them with a hip LA jazzy style arranged by Don Sebesky, and performed by The Crusaders and Arthur Adams. Great stuff, and with the ... LP, Vinyl record album
An excellent album of vocals by the great Joe Williams! Joe's always been a fine singer, but with Basie, he really gets the backing he needs to do his work the best. And although this album isn't as authenico as it might be, it still comes from a time when Verve really knew how to handle singers ... LP, Vinyl record album
Although Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross started out their career singing vocalese versions of Basie tunes, they do a pretty darn great job here with Ellington – in fact, maybe even better, given the sophistication of the tracks. And while the album lacks some of the whimsy of the wonderful ... LP, Vinyl record album
Hip stuff by Nancy – and a sophisticated album of soul tracks arranged and produced by Gene Page, in a string-heavy, slightly-funky style that reminds us of Gene's work with Barry White at the time. The tracks are all pretty hip – and include titles written by Stevie Wonder, Johnny ... LP, Vinyl record album
The jazzy vocals of Grady Tate get the Philly Soul treatment – as most of this album was recorded at Sigma Sound, with arrangements by Bobby Martin, and work by the usual MFSB players. Oddly, Grady's gone for kind of a rootsy style of singing on this one – harder than on earlier albums ... LP, Vinyl record album
A self-titled set from Nancy Wilson – and a record that definitely lives up to everything the Nancy name meant at the end of the 60s! The album's got a depth that can take on comers from all corners – enough class and sophistication to match the modes of Marlena Shaw or Dionne Warwick, ... LP, Vinyl record album
A mad mad afternoon with the great Babs Gonzales – one of the hippest jazz singers ever! The set is one of Babs' best on records, and it features a mix of jazz vocals and hipster monologues that shows perfectly the mixture of talent and hustling that Babs used to make a name for himself in ... LP, Vinyl record album
How can we even begin to describe the genius of Lambert Hendricks and Ross? The group was a jazz vocal supergroup that merged three talents that had already made a big name in the bebop vocalese field – Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and the lovely Annie Ross – and the project was an ... LP, Vinyl record album
A wonderfully moody album from Abbey Lincoln – one that's a bit more laidback than some of her other efforts, but no less soulful! There's kind of a broken, jagged sound to the record – a late nite vibe that's blue and melancholy, and which gets some great support from the tenor sax of ... LP, Vinyl record album
Joe Williams was really reviving his career as a vocalist at this point – working with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band on a few well-selling records, and on this smoother set with arrangements by Horace Ott. The overall feel is kind of in a swinging Grady Tate mode, with jazziness ... LP, Vinyl record album
Though one of her groovy Hazlewood produced albums, she only does two Hazlewood-penned tunes on this one: "Coastin", and "Sugar Town". The rest of the songs are the old-timey standards like "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Vagabond Shoes", "Let's Fall In ... LP, Vinyl record album
This album is a collection of Gaillard's work from the mid-1940s that apparently doesn't turn up in too many other places. Gaillard plays with an all-star bunch of musicians including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bam Brown, Howard McGhee, Zutty Singleton, Lucky Thompson, Jack McVea, Dodo ... LP, Vinyl record album
Fantastic stuff, and proof that Rosemary Clooney was always one heck of a great singer – with strengths in jazz that you didn't always hear in her pop work! As you'd guess from the cover, Duke Ellington's leading the group on the album – and most of the tracks here are older Ellington ... LP, Vinyl record album
By the time of this early 80s recording, original Hi-Lo's member Gene Puerling had been crafting sly vocal jazz gems for MPS with the Singers Unlimited – mixing together smooth 70s production and slight electric instrumental touches, to get a sublime sound that took the harmony approach of ... LP, Vinyl record album
Classic duets between Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – done in a sweet mode that only could have been handled by Verve in the 50s! Backings are in a nice small combo mode – with Armstrong on both trumpet and vocals – and Ella and Louis carry most of the set with their great ... LP, Vinyl record album
One of Gloria's most jazz-oriented albums – featuring small combo backing from the Earl May trio, with Herman Foster on piano, Grasella Oliphant on drums, and May on bass. Tracks are sweetly done, and titles include "Stella By Starlight", "All Night Long", "Young ... LP, Vinyl record album
The title's a bit of a joke – because the record features a batch sidemen from the Count Basie band – Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Freddy Green, Billy Mitchell, Frank Foster, and others – all working with Sarah, but the Count's name is missing, due to contractual obligations! Despite ... LP, Vinyl record album
Great work from Mark Murphy – hip, electric, and with a spacious sound that's a mix of Murphy's uniquely interpretive style, and some soulful arrangements from David Matthews! The album's way more than just a bunch of standards or mellow tunes – and features a collection of well-chosen ... LP, Vinyl record album