This compilation, gathered from recordings of her New York sessions in 1954, is an excellent sampler of the skills and charms of Lady Day. While the disc may appear to be just another throw-together of Holiday hits, with nothing in particular to distinguish it from the others, the arrangements, the performances and the recordings themselves are all wonderful. Backed by tight, laid-back session musicians (Oscar Peterson plays piano on many of the tracks–check out his solo on "Lover, Come Back to Me"), Holiday here enjoys the last full flush of her talents before health and substance abuse problems claimed her voice in the late '50s. In tracks like "He's Funny That Way" and "Softly," her raspy voice plays over melodies, caressing them, trailing off the end of phrases for emotional punctuation. Her tone is at once rich and wispy, managing simultaneously to convey vulnerability, despair, strength and sexuality…

Known for his virtuoso technique, power and speed, and for his extroverted performances, Buddy Rich was one of the most influential drummers in the genre, playing with several big-name bands including Tommy Dorsey before founding his own orchestra in 1946.With bands led by Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips, Count Basie, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Lionel Hampton, Roy Eldridge and Harry James, Rich has performed with top musicians in a variety of musical contexts.A fun showcase of his legendary versatility and skill.

Troy Roberts is a two-time Grammy nominee who is becoming one of the most broadly recorded saxophonists of his time. Roberts' robust saxophone playing adorns several essential recordings ranging from the legendary Joey DeFrancesco to the iconic Van Morrison to the indispensable Jeff 'Tain' Watts to the assiduous Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band, including abundant newcomers.

Legendary jazz guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and acclaimed Swiss pianist Jean-Paul Brodbeck join forces on 'The Chopin Project', a historic collaboration which finds them reinterpreting the music of Fréderic Chopin for jazz quartet.

Featuring recordings from February 1955 and released in 1958, Stay with Me is a late entry in Billie Holiday's career. She was fading, but hadn't lost the dramatic quality in her delivery, nor her ability to project and tell a shattering story. She's backed by trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy.

A 4 disc set by Mercury Records all jazz vocal classics with some outstanding vocalists. Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Patti Page, Helen Merrill, Shirley Horn, Chet Baker, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong, Abbey Lincoln, Oscar Peterson, Ernestine Anderson, Thelma Grayson, Morgana King and a few others, all have more than a few numbers on the 4 discs, all accompanied by the big band orchestras that were popular back then, great horns, stand up bass. If you don't recognize more than a few of these songs, even done by others, you my friend have been living under a rock or perhaps just listening to rock. "Take the A Train', 'Satin Doll', 'I Get A Kick Out of You', 'Mame', 'Stardust', 'The Man I Love', 'Oh Lady Be Good', 'See See Ryder, 'Honeysuckle Rose', 'Love for Sale', 'Willow Weep for Me', "Ain't Misbehavin', 'Sweet Lorraine', 'Frankie & Johnny', 'Taking a Chance on Love', 'Sweet Georgia Brown', 'Unforgettable', 'Mack the Knife', just a few of the 100 vocal classics on these discs. Just listening to the lyrics to these songs is a gas, "Got me a big date waiting for my cat, putting his shine on so he can look dap" (from Doodlin' by Sarah Vaughan). Takes me to a time I will spend a few weeks in, when I perfect my time machine and get me some stylish clothes, and more than a few hats, to fit right in. The hoodies can stay home.

Music Brokers Presents Lounge Remixes Vol.3 album original hits and the original artists genre Jazz, Chillout. Includes tracks by Shelly Sony, Roger Beck, Michelle Simonal and more.

Every Time I Feel the Spirit is a 1959 studio album by Nat King Cole, of spirituals, arranged by Gordon Jenkins. Cole is accompanied by the First Church of Deliverance Choir of Chicago, Illinois. The album was re-issued by Capitol Records in 1966 under the new title, Nat King Cole Sings Hymns and Spirituals. Several bonus tracks, recorded between 1951 and 1961 and arranged by Nelson Riddle and others, were added to later CD re-issues.

While the 1960 live album Ella in Berlin: Mack The Knife will always be the peak of Ella Fitzgerald's solo recording career, this exciting discovery is yet another example of her voice and interpretative drive being pushed to new heights by her audience. The great jazz singer's other strength as a soloist when it came to recordings—other than her fine collaborations with Louis Armstrong, which are practically their own genre—are the songbook collections she made in the studio with Norman Granz for his Verve label. While they all have their strong points, and the Duke Ellington collection where he and his band back her is exceptional, the volumes dedicated to Cole Porter and Irving Berlin rang true and sold big numbers, and it was music from those two collections that was featured in a split program at the Hollywood Bowl on August 16, 1958. The first pleasant surprise here is the sound. Project producer Gregg Field, who actually played drums with Fitzgerald for a time, has heroically recovered an enormous amount of information from the 64-year-old 1/4" tapes. Though rounded and dynamically limited, the sound is reasonably well-balanced between Fitzgerald's voice and the accompanying full orchestra. While it may be the presence of the audience spurring her on during the upbeat numbers, including many of Berlin's best-known tunes, they are delicious here.

Billie Holiday's first recordings for Norman Granz' Clef Records present a vocalist truly at the top of her craft, although she would begin a rapid decline soon thereafter. This 1952 recording (originally issued as a 10" LP, Billie Holiday Sings) places Holiday in front of small piano and tenor saxophone-led groups including jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Charlie Shavers, where her gentle phrasing sets the tone for the sessions, evoking lazy evenings and dreamy afternoons. The alcoholism and heroin use that would be her downfall by the end of this decade seems to be almost unfathomable during these recordings since Holiday is in as fine a voice as her work in the '30s, and the musical environment seems ideal for these slow torch songs…

Morning Glory: The 1973 Concert at the Teatro Gran Rex, Buenos Aires is the first official release of pianist Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell captured live at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 24, 1973.

New arrangement of Frank Zappa's "King Kong", recorded for Tobin Mueller's jazz fusion album "Prestidigitation". Features Grammy-winning guitarist Paul Nelson, Nashville's Mikie Martel on trumpet, David Dejesus on sax & flute (director of NYC's Birdland Jazz Band).Frank Zappa composed this instrumental for his 1967 album "Lumpy Gravy". The composition quickly became a concert & fan favorite. It went through at least 15 different versions on multiple Zappa releases. Many versions verge on chaos, incorporating wild solos, long improvisations.The song is also infamous due to Zappa’s dispute with John Lennon. Zappa brought the tune to a 1971 jam session at the Fillmore East. The Plastic Ono Band included it on Some Time In New York City but failed to mention it was Zappa’s song. “I don’t know whether it was Yoko’s idea or John’s, but they changed the name of the song to ‘Jamrag,’ gave themselves writing and publishing credit, and never paid me,” Zappa remarked. “It was obviously not a jam session song: It’s got a melody, it’s got a bass line; it’s obviously an organized song. Little bit disappointing.”

One of the most successful contemporary jazz singers: at home with ballads, bluesy numbers and bop flag-wavers. Collectiom includes: Never Never Land (2000); Come Dream With Me (2001); In The Sun (2002); Taking A Chance On Love (2004); Surrender (2007); The Lovers, The Dreamers And Me (2009).

'Luck Child' by Dutch jazz singer Fay Claassen, is an ode to youth and beauty, with a mix of old and new songs. Mostly those she has been singing for many years but never recorded before. Famous and beloved songs by the likes of Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach and Ennio Morricone are presented alongside new compositions by Paul Heller. Claassen has recorded her own albums together with many international jazz stars, such as Mike Stern, Kenny Werner and Toots Thielemans. She was invited as a soloist for recordings by the WDR Big Band, Bob Brookmeyers New Art Orchestra, the Millennium Jazz Orchestra and the Danish Radio Big Band. She has also worked with well-known conductors and arrangers such as Jim Mc Neely, Vince Mendoza and Michael Abene. Fay was awarded with The Golden Record for her double album 'Two Portraits of Chet Baker'.

The Hep series of Teddy Wilson recordings has been largely superseded by the more complete Classics program. This release has 16 titles from Wilson's first four recording sessions as a leader of all-star bands (skipping his solo piano records). Since Billie Holiday has vocals on 14 of the 16 songs (every one except "Sweet Lorraine" and "Sugar Plum"); this material has been reissued numerous times, but the performances do contain their fair share of classics.