A posthumous release from Patsy Cline – with tracks that include "I'm Moving Along", "Lovesick Blues", "Crazy Dreams", "There He Goes", "Lovin In Vain", and "Love Love Love Me Honey Do". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A really amazing set – a real standout, even in the career of Bing Crosby! The package was put together in 1954 – after Bing had been a solo act for over 20 years – and it features Crosby re-recording many of his classics, with cool small combo backing from the Buddy Cole trio on some tracks, and original recordings on others – all with Bing himself providing narration between the tunes – telling his full story in music! LP, Vinyl record album

A real turn to hipper territory for Xavier Cugat – a move away from more familiar Latin modes, and into a range of groovy sounds for the 60s! There's still a bit of the classic vamp we've come to know and love in Cugie – but the rhythms are leaner overall, and swing with some great mod elements that update his sound nicely. Instrumentation is heavy on percussion, but also features some electric guitar, organ, and other soul-based sounds – and while the album isn't exactly a Latin Soul set, it's certainly veering towards that territory. A number of tracks are covers, done in cool instrumental versions – and titles include "The Joker", "Concrete & Clay", "Call Me", "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", "Charade", "La Playa", and "Bang Bang" (the Cher song, not the Joe Cuba one!) LP, Vinyl record album

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... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

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... CD

A lost groover from this obscure soul jazz guitarist – recorded with some pretty interesting backing, and a firey guitar style that makes us wish he'd recorded more! The record sports two main groups backing up Forriest's guitar – one with Ernie Hayes on organ, Bernard Purdie on drums, Willie Rodriguez on conga, and Albert Winston on bass; the other with Grachan Moncur on trombone, Frank Haynes on tenor, Charles Davis on baritone, and Leo Morris on drums. Sonny's guitar work is right out front – very complicated and bluesy, mostly single-note plucked, in the manner of Grant Green, but with a lot more inflection on the strings. Titles include "Minor Blast", "My Soul Is Happy", "Mashin It", "Steppin", "Miss Dee McC", and "Bitter With The Sweet". LP, Vinyl record album

Easily one of our favorite of the Jazz Studio series on Decca – and despite the "from Hollywood" in the title, a great set of serious jazz! Geller works with a group that includes Milt Bernhardt on trombone, John Graas on French horn, Don Fagerquist on trumpet, Marty Paich on piano, and Howard Roberts on guitar – supported by the team of Curtis Counce on bass and Larry Bunker on drums. The overall approach is tight, but with lean and mean solos – similar to work by these players on labels like Mode or Nocturne at the time. Tracks are longish, and titles include "Do It Again", "Graas Point", "Laura", "Here Come The Lions", and "Paicheck". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A classic session from the second wave of LA cool jazz of the 50s – headed up by French horn player John Graas, a player as important to his instrument as Gerry Mulligan was to the baritone sax! Like Mulligan, Graas was working with an instrument that you might normally think of as clunky – but he managed to swing with an incredibly fluid style – bringing the French horn into jazz with amazing skill, and working with groups of top-shelf LA players in a tightly arranged style that crackled with energy! Graas is working here in a slightly experimental "lab" style – with larger groupings that include well-suited LA soloists like Herb Geller, Bob Enevoldsen, Dave Pell, Marty Paich, Howard Roberts and Jimmy Giuffre. 10 tracks in all, including "Canon Ball", "Friar Tuck", "Minor Call", "Le Chasse", "Mozartesque", "Pick Yourself Up", "ANdante", "Allegretto", "Softly The Horn Blows" and "Lighthouse 6/4". LP, Vinyl record album

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... LP, Vinyl record album

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Maybe one of the first-ever rock and roll full-length albums – with Bill Haley's big title cut – plus "Shake Rattle & Roll", "Two Hound Dogs", "Razzle Dazzle", "ABC Boogie", "Burn That Candle", "Rock A Beatin Boogie", "Birth Of The Boogie", "Dim Dim The Lights", and "Mambo Rock". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A jazz soundtrack double-header – one that features both the small combo and larger band version of the soundtrack to The Sweet Smell Of Success! The CD intersperses work from the larger orchestra of Elmer Bernstein and the smaller group of Chico Hamilton – laying out the tunes in a way that almost recreates their placement in the film. Elmer Bernstein's at the helm of the large orchestra – and the music's a wonderful pastiche of modes that's right up there with his sublime score for The Man With The Golden Arm – done in a similar blend of driving jazz, somber moments, and some slightly more raucous touches! As with that album, the players are all great – and soloists on the album include Pete Candoli, Ted Nash, and Shelly Manne – west coast players despite the New York setting of the film, and playing here with a fair bit of grit in their groove. The Chico Hamilton Quintet was a key part of the LA scene in the 50s, but are oddly featured as a regular club act in the movie's New York setting – but we'll gladly forgive that geographic error, given that their music on the set is so great. The quality's a bit like some of the Hamilton Quintet work on World Pacific – but there's a slightly freer, more urgent feel here too – work that's sometimes somewhat driving, and beautifully blended from the guitar of John Pisano, clarinet of Paul Horn, cello of Fred Katz, piano of Carson Smith, and drums from Chico. CD features 20 titles in all – including "Susan", "Cheek To Chico", "Jam", "Night Beat", "The Street", "Hot Dogs & Juice", "Toots Shor's Blues", "Nite Spot Rock", "Love Scene", and "Out Of Darkness". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A hard-swinging live set from Hamp – recorded in the late 40s in Pasadena, and featuring some of the group's trademark "over the top" performances! The tunes are all pretty standard stuff – "Stardust", "One O'Clock Jump", "The Man I Love", and "Lady Be Good" – but Hamp and crew really work them through – swinging things hard and really letting go on the solos – all of which come through very strongly with all the added space on the longer tunes on the set! Hamp only plays vibes on one number, but that's ok with us – since the other players include Willie Smith, Barney Kessel, Charlie Shavers, and the great Corky Cochran on tenor sax! CD

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... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Ultra-hip vocals from Rita Hovink – a Dutch singer who's got a way of making even familiar material sound pretty darn fresh! Rita's working here with a cool combo that's got a great sense of arrangement – a way of opening up the tunes and finding some unusual instrumental modes that really pave the way for Hovink's vocal interpretations. The group features Rob Van Dijk on both piano and Hammond, and Wim Overgaauw on guitar – and a few tracks feature guest instrumentation from either Carl Schulze on vibes, Harry Verbeke on tenor, or Thijs Van Leer on flute. The tunes are almost all familiar, but done in very cool ways – and titles include "Sunrise Sunset", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "After You've Gone", "Don't Sleep In The Subway", "Goodbye Charlie", "Little Man You've Had A Busy Day", and "The Fool On The Hill". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

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... LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Ear-opening work from Jon-Mark – best known as half of the Mark-Almond band with Johnny Almond, but here working as a solo act on his own – in a spare folksy mode that's right up there with some of the best on the Brit folk scene of the 60s! Jon's guitar playing alone is worth the price of admission – at a level that rivals that of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, or some of the others of the new generation that have gotten more fame over the decades – and he's also a hell of a singer, with a voice that's at once ancient and youthful, maybe more tuned towards some older themes than Dylan politics, but also with a grooviness that echoes a bit of Donovan too. Apart from two tracks here that were issued as a single, all the other material has never been released – making the whole thing a huge discovery, finally given its due. Titles include "Blues For Hobbits", "Paris Bells", "Sally Free & Easy", "Portland Town", "The Vulture", "Love From Afar", "Gotta Make The Future Bright", "The First Time", "Black Girl", "North Country Fair", and "Once I Loved A Girl". CD

Great work from soul singer Ronnie Jones – an artist who was born in the US, but cut all of this work in the swinging London scene of the 60s – where he was obviously a very big addition to the mod scene! Ronnie's got a voice that's capable of a great range when needed, but which can also stick to a tightly soulful groove too – a match of modes that has him swinging between Ray Charles moments some times, and early Gene McDaniels at others – but all with backing by the sort of combo featured on the cover, which means that there's a bit of a British bluesy current to the music as well. The whole thing's wonderful – a stunning discovery of a singer who should have had an equally big impact on these shores, and who was undeniably a precursor to soulful Brit acts to come. Titles include "Satisfy My Soul", "My Daily Souvenir", "I Need Your Loving", "My Love", "Let's Pin A Rose On You", "It's All Over", "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", "You're Looking Good", and "Mama Come On Home". CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Surprisingly straight – with backings from Jack Pleis, and Jerry singing a set of standards! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Harry Lubin did the soundtrack for this classic sci-fi digest TV show, and Decca released the whole thing in a beautiful colored foil cover, with a picture of the Milky Way raidiating colorful rays over a shiny space set! The bulk of the tracks are orchestral, but they've got a haunting quality that's a great example of the kind of eerie suspense and space themes you can get when you arrange a string section with a lot of atonal sounds! Titles include "Weird", "Paris", "Island Off Spain", "Fear", and "Jungle Aire". LP, Vinyl record album

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Early work by Carmen McRae – and a wonderfully titled set that's certainly Torchy all the way through! Carmen's singing in a lush, romantic style – working with backings from Jack Pleis and Ralph Burns – in a mode that features larger orchestrations, but which still very much has Carmen's vocals at the top of the mix. As was well demonstrated by Carmen in many later recordings, she hardly needs a band to help her set a mood – and on this set, although the orchestra is large, they're there mostly to color in the spaces between the notes, and create more of backdrop for Carmen's evocative vocals. Titles include "But Beautiful", "Midnight Sun", "My Future Just Passed", "Yesterdays", "Star Eyes", "We'll Be Together Again", and "Speak Low". CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... CD

A great little record, thanks to arrangements from Ralph Burns – who gives Mabel a hipper style than on her records for Atlantic! Titles include "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", "Once Upon A Time", "Mira", "Year After Year", "Trouble Comes", and "I've Got Your Number". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Director Quentin Tarantino has drawn plenty of inspiration from the music of Ennio Morricone over the years – either using short passages of older Morricone music in his films, or evoking the substance and style of the maestro in the way he uses sounds from other sources too! So it's only fitting that this time around, the pair are finally brought together fully – as Morricone turns out one of his best soundtracks in years for Tarantino's Hateful Eight – a brooding, suspenseful tale that owes plenty to the western generation that first sprung Morricone to global fame! Yet as with most of Ennio's best work, the style here is something that goes far beyond expectation – orchestrations that take on a style completely their own – with instrumental elements that have stronger focus amidst the larger charts, and a sense of mood and color here that's completely sublime. The record is mostly music from Morricone – written for the film – and features a few passages of dialogue from the movie, plus just a few additional tracks by The White Stripes, Roy Orbison, and David Hess. Yet it's more than fair to think of this as a complete score by Morricone – very different than the usual compilation-style soundtracks we've had before from Tarantino. LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

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... LP, Vinyl record album

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... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Early merengue tracks, nice and raw – with titles that include "La Pachanga", "Just A Minor Merengue", "Comiendome Un Cable", "National Emblem Merengue", "Trumpet In Merengue", and "La Escalarita". LP, Vinyl record album