Great material from this legendary vocal group! CD

The Kirby Stone Four took the jazz vocal harmony style of groups like the Four Freshmen or The Hi Los, and they punched it up a bit, adding in a bit of humor and showmanship, in a mode that made them very popular with the live audiences in the Nevada clubs that were often their home turf. LP, Vinyl record album

The groovy Cuarteto D'Aida were sort of a Cuban version of the Quarteto Em Cy – in that they took a basic American jazz harmony vocal style (from groups like the Four Freshmen or Hi-Los), and gave it a all-female reading, with Latin grooves to change up the sound nicely! The legendary Omara Portuondo is in the group here – and the album features some wonderfully jazzy backings by Chico O'Farrill, which further add to the sound of delight in the set! The album was recorded live in Havana, and it's got a really unique sound that makes it one of our favorite RCA International dates from the time. Titles include "Tabaco Verde", "El Bombon De Elena", "Totiri Mundachi", "Chachita", "Profecia", and "Cuanto Me Alegro". LP, Vinyl record album

Dreamy harmony jazz from the great Hi-Los – one of the hippest groups of the 50s, with a sweet quartet approach similar to The Four Freshmen, and which had a huge effect on pop in the 60s! The tunes on the set feature the group working with either Frank Comstock or Marty Paich – in an amazing style that turns just about any song into a unique little affair, voices sliding and colliding, running together with incredible richness that really opens up the tunes. Titles include "Lady In Red", "Some Minor Changes", "Fascinating Rhythm", "Small Fry", "My Sugar Is So Refined", "I Married An Angel", and "Love Walked In". CD

A really heft collection of unreleased live recordings by this great Brazilian vocal group – one that almost seems to double their catalog of albums from the 70s! MPB4 got their start in the 60s, at a time when Brazil was really in love with harmony styles borrowed from American groups like The Hi-Los and Four Freshmen – and while many of the other Brazilian groups used the vocal modes in a bossa style, MPB4 were always able to take things one step further – often going for musical modes that brought a different sort of complexity to their harmonies, which only increased as the group moved into the 70s! You'll hear plenty of that here – as the live recordings mostly just feature their voices with a bit of light percussion and acoustic guitar – leaving plenty of space for their amazing vocal interplay right up front in the mix. The set features five full length concerts on CD – two recorded in Peru, one in 1973 and one in 1974 – plus sets recorded in 1975 and 1976. CD

Excellent work by composer/leader Pete Rugolo – Stan Kenton's old partner in modernist jazz, and the force behind excellent work by June Christy, The Four Freshmen, and others. This album's got a great "crime jazz" sound – with an approach that sort of starts at the Peter Gunn level, but which gets much crazier as the record goes on. Titles include "The Teaser", "Richard Diamond Theme", "Who's Sam?", "All Star", and "Teen Age Rock". LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of 90s recordings from Trio Esperanca – a group who'd recorded Brazilian harmony material in previous decades, but who are even better here than they were in the early days! At some level, Trio Esperanca might have been the greatest surviving practitioners of a style that emerged in Brazil during the bossa years – when those rhythms were mixed with harmonies inspired by American jazz groups like Four Freshmen or the Hi-Lo's. Yet here, Trio Esperanca are also often acapella – just using their voices, but never in a hokey way that you might have from a more mainstream group – really exploring the rhythms and tonal complexities of Brazilian music, on titles that include "Aguas De Marco", "Garota De Ipanema", "De Passagem", "O Pato", "Corcovado", "Lanca Perfume", "Que Nem Gilo", and "Berimbau". CD

Lots of postwar gems from Capitol Records – 20 tracks that include work from Peggy Lee, Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Nancy Wilson, Al Belletto, Ann Richards, Dakota Staton, Ray Anthony, Chet Baker, The Four Freshmen, and Ethel Ennis! CD

Very groovy bit of jazz vocals that brings together two of the rarest LPs on the Dawn label. The 4 Most were a jazzy vocal quartet – ala the Hi Lo's or Four Freshmen – and this rare Dawn session has them singing the hip arrangements of Joe Derise, with accompaniment by Al Cohn, Gene Quill, Hank Jones, Oscar Pettiford, and others. The set has a nice swing in a Hi-Lo's way, and includes the tracks "Bernie's Tune", "Similau", "Ooh! Baby It Scares Me", "Blue Prelude", and "You're Blase". Bob Stewart's a light-voiced jazz vocalist with an icy moody sound that's a perfect match for the combo that backs him, which includes Herbie Mann, Matt Matthews, Joe Puma, Oscar Pettiford, and Kenny Clark. Tracks on that set include "Skylark", "Caravan", "Blue Prelude", and "Laura". Both LPs have been 24-bit remastered, and repackaged very nicely! CD

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 echoes of the Hi Los or Four Freshmen from the time! Pat plays piano and Bev Kelly's the other female voice in the group – blended nicely with the voice and bass of John Doling and vocals and drums of Johnny Whited. Tracks are often familiar Bethlehem jazz numbers, but they're given a really groovy twist in this setting – and although the group only recorded 2 albums, we love them both to death! Titles include "Somebody Loves Me", "Sunday Kind Of Love", "Gone With The Wind", and "Have You Met Miss Jones". LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy vocals from 70s Japan – a very hip male quintet, and one with the same harmony sound as The Four Freshmen or The Hi-Los! Given the date of the record, the tunes are a bit more contemporary – but still swung by the group with a very jazzy style, one that often has sweet small combo backings stepping along with the vocals! There's a bit of a bossa influence going on with the instrumentation – especially on the percussion, and the album's use of flute and organ – and titles include "Windows Of The World", "Call Me", "The Look Of Love", "The Girl From Ipanema", "Yesterday", "Strangers In The Night", and "Theme From Un Homme Qui Me Plait". CD