Martina McBride - White Christmas

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:05
Size: 119.2 MB
Styles: Holiday, Country
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[1:46] 1. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
[4:07] 2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
[2:43] 3. Silver Bells
[2:28] 4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
[3:55] 5. Do You Hear What I Hear
[3:11] 6. I'll Be Home For Christmas
[3:25] 7. Winter Wonderland
[3:59] 8. O Come All Ye Faithful
[3:28] 9. Away In A Manger
[2:54] 10. Baby, It's Cold Outside
[2:12] 11. Jingle Bells
[3:19] 12. White Christmas
[3:23] 13. Silent Night
[3:39] 14. The Christmas Song
[3:46] 15. What Child Is This
[3:44] 16. O Holy Night

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. On Martina McBride Christmas, the singer delivers heartfelt renditions of "O Holy Night," "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "Away in a Manger," putting a welcome new spin on these and eight other seasonal favorites. ~ Marvin Jolly

Ann Richards (flute); Dan Lochrie, Dan Lochrie (clarinet); Bill Woodworth, Bobby G. Taylor , Bill Woodworth, Bobby Taylor (oboe); Mark Wilson Jordan, Mark Jordan (synthesizer); Dennis Wilson Quintet, Dennis Wilson (background vocals); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Brent Mason (electric guitar); The Nashville String Machine (strings); Sam Levine (flute); Skip Cleavinger (pennywhistle); Karen Winkelmann (recorder); Lee Levine (clarinet); Jim Medlin, Matt Rollings (piano); Steve Nathan (synthesizer); Joe Chemay (bass guitar); Lonnie Wilson, Shannon Forrest (drums); Eric Darken, Sam Bacco (percussion); Lisa Silver, Marabeth Jordon, Mark Ivey, Bergen White, James Ferguson, Louis Dean Nunley (background vocals).

Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Emerald - The Tracking Room, Nashville, TN; Emerald Studios; Love Shack; Masterfonics, Nashville, TN; Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, TN; Seventeen Grand recording; Sound Stage Studios, Nashville, TN; The Money Pit, Nashville, TN.

White Christmas

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Callie Cardamon - Easy Street

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 36:18
Size: 83.1 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:28] 1. Easy Street
[3:15] 2. Dream A Little Dream
[4:14] 3. When Sunny Gets Blue
[2:26] 4. Let's Do It
[3:17] 5. Love Jazz
[3:49] 6. Don't Fence Me In
[3:03] 7. When Lights Are Low
[3:01] 8. Moon River
[3:29] 9. Stormy Weather
[2:37] 10. Ain't Misbehavin'
[3:33] 11. I Remember Sky

Easy Street is a delightful collection of jazz ballads presented with simple but effective arrangements that allows the listener to appreciate Callie Cardamon beautiful voice and cool delivery.

As any good jazz singer Callie imprint every song with a bluesy feeling, singing behind the beat, a vocal technique most female jazz singers learned from the great Billie Holiday. "When sunny gets blue" and "Dream a little dream are perfect examples of the application of this technique. On "Dream a little dream" Callie even add some nice scats at the end. The sound of the clarinet played by Rob Lockart, on some of the songs gives the muisc a kind of swing era feeling, reminiscent of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. Even though the Billie Holiday delivery style can be heard in other songs like "Stormy Weather", "Don't fence me in" and "Ain't Misbehavin", the arrangements on these songs borders on bluegrass.

Some of the highlights of the album are the Cardamon original jazz ballad "Love Jazz", a song with a touch of broadway; the jazzier and faster version of the classic "Moon river"; the cool, kind of Sinatra approach to "Let's do it" and the heartfelt vocals of the lovely ballad "I remember sky". ~Wilbert Sostre

Callie Cardamon (vocals), Rob Lockart (clarinet), Larry Steelman, Jason Danielson (piano)

Easy Street

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Harry James & His Orchestra - The Hits Of Harry James

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 35:47
Size: 81.9 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[2:43] 1. The Mole
[3:30] 2. You Made Me Love You
[2:55] 3. I've Heard That Song Before
[2:39] 4. Trumpet Blues
[3:03] 5. Cherry
[3:07] 6. I'm Beginning To See The Light
[3:08] 7. Sleepy Lagoon
[2:58] 8. Two O'clock Jump
[3:19] 9. I Cried For You
[3:07] 10. Music Makers
[3:38] 11. Velvet Moon
[1:34] 12. Ciribiribin

Harry James was one of the most outstanding instrumentalists of the swing era, employing a bravura playing style that made his trumpet work instantly identifiable. He was also one of the most popular bandleaders of the first half of the 1940s, and he continued to lead his band until just before his death, 40 years later. James was the child of circus performers. His father, Everette Robert James, was the bandleader and trumpet player in the orchestra for the Mighty Haag Circus, and his mother, Maybelle Stewart Clark James, was an aerialist. Growing up in the circus, James became a performer himself as early as the age of four, when he began working as a contortionist. He soon turned to music, however, first playing the snare drum in the band from about the age of six and taking trumpet lessons from his father. At 12, he took over leadership of the second band in the Christy Brothers Circus, for which his family was then working. He attended grade school in Beaumont, Texas, where the circus spent the winter, and when he was 14 he won a state music contest as a trumpeter.

That inspired him to turn professional and begin playing in local bands. James' first job with a national band came in 1935 when he was hired by Ben Pollack. In May 1935, he married singer Louise Tobin, with whom he had two children and from whom he was divorced in June 1943. He made his first recordings as a member of the Pollack band in September 1936. Not long after, he was tapped by Benny Goodman, then leading one of the country's most popular bands, and he began working for Goodman by the end of 1936. He rapidly gained notice in the Goodman band, and by December 1937 he had begun to make recordings under his own name for Brunswick Records (later absorbed by Columbia Records). ~ excerpt from the bio by William Ruhlmann

The Hits Of Harry James

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Cory Jamison - Kemton's Cool School

Styles: Vocal, Cabaret
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:57
Size: 118,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:36)  1. It's a Most Unusual Day
(2:26)  2. Shoo Fly Pie
(3:16)  3. That's All
(2:28)  4. The Lady in Red
(3:01)  5. I Told Ya I Love Ya (Now Get Out)
(4:50)  6. The Night We Called It a Day
(2:37)  7. Ridin' High
(2:48)  8. When Sunny Gets Blue
(4:46)  9. Senor Blues
(4:04) 10. Something Cool
(3:47) 11. A Stranger Called the Blues
(2:08) 12. On the First Warm Day
(3:53) 13. Hallelujah! I Love Him So!
(2:54) 14. All About Ronnie
(2:19) 15. Chiquita from Chi-Wah-Wah
(3:54) 16. My Shining Hour

San Francisco-based Cory Jamison is one of the leading new cabaret artists in America. She has charmed audiences throughout the US with her insightful and sensitive interpretations of American popular song. Jamison is best known for her critically acclaimed interpretations of Hoagy Carmichael's music. Her popular Carmichael tribute, Star Dust Melodies, has been extended numerous times at Toulouse on the Park, Chicago's premier cabaret room, and was called "A masterful homage to Hoagy" by Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune. Jamison is currently taking Star Dust Melodies on a national tour, which began at New York's Eighty-Eight's cabaret club and continues nationally through 2000.  As the leading interpreter of Carmichael's music, Jamison was the featured Carmichael performer at the 1999 Chicago Jazz Festival with Dick Sudhalter, the Bloomington Pops Carmichael Celebration Concert with Randy Carmichael, and the Chicago Humanities Festival Carmichael Centennial event with Hoagy Bix Carmichael. Further documenting her passion for Hoagy's music, Jamison has recently released a CD tribute, Here's to Hoagy, with accompanist and musical director Dan Stetzel. According to the Chicago Tribune's CD review, "If the centennial of Hoagy Carmichael is going to inspire just one new recording, then this release deserves to be it." The CD is available nationally through LML Music. 

In addition to her Carmichael centennial performances, Jamison is known for her tributes to Johnny Mercer, June Christy, Cole Porter, and most recently, Noel Coward. She joined Patricia Morrison, Steve Ross, Barry Day, Robert Kimball, and Billy Stritch in the Chicago Humanities Festival's Noel Coward Tribute and at The Player's Club's tribute in New York City. This past year, Jamison was a featured performer at the Mabel Mercer Foundation?s Annual Cabaret Convention in New York City, where she was specially selected to perform as part of an evening honoring the 75th birthday of cabaret legend, Julie Wilson. She also performed in the West Coast Cabaret Convention in San Francisco in June of 2000. Some of her other recent appearances include Odette's in New Hope, PA, The Plush Room in San Francisco, The Cinegrill in Los Angeles, and she will be performing on October 19 at the 11th Annual Cabaret Convention at Towne Hall, and November 12 at the Chicago Humanities Festival?s tribute to Johnny Mercer featuring Billy Stritch, Margaret Whiting, and Michael Feinstein. In addition to her cabaret talents, Jamison has numerous theatre credits. In Chicago she performed the roles of Ariel and Belle in Disney?s production of A Hercules Spectacular at The Chicago Theatre. Nationally, she has appeared as Babe in The Pajama Game and in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. Cory Jamison is a graduate of Indiana University and a 1998 Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Symposium fellow. ~ Bio  http://www.amazon.com/Cory-Jamison/e/B000APIEZ8/ref=ac_dtp_sa_bio

kemton's cool school

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Paul Anka - Duets

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:07
Size: 174,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:32)  1. Walk A Fine Line
(4:39)  2. Find My Way Back To Your Heart
(4:53)  3. Do I Love You (Yes, In Every Way)
(4:07)  4. This Is It
(4:45)  5. I Really Miss You
(5:05)  6. Think I'm In Love Again
(4:12)  7. Pennies From Heaven
(4:45)  8. Crazy
(4:11)  9. You Are My Destiny
(5:03) 10. Les Filles De Paris
(5:11) 11. It's Hard To Say Goodbye
(4:20) 12. She's A Lady
(4:52) 13. Hold Me 'Til The Mornin' Comes
(5:14) 14. My Way
(4:08) 15. I'm Not Anyone
(5:03) 16. Les Filles De Paris

Released as a tie-in to Paul Anka's 2013 memoir My Way (really, would an Anka autobiography bear another name?), the 2013 collection Duets attempts to illustrate the depth of Anka's career through song, letting the singer/songwriter indulge himself with duet partners both expected and unfamiliar. There is a degree of posthumous trickery here  he sings "This Is It" with Michael Jackson and "My Way" with Frank Sinatra, two vocalists long deceased by the time Anka assembled this album  but Anka is such a creature of show biz that this sleight of hand doesn't much matter; arguably, it even enhances the splash and glitz of this deliberately showy album.

There may be a little too much modernity on Duets , Anka succumbs to Auto-Tune here and there, including on "Find My Way Back to your Heart," the only solo song here  and there's the odd sense that he's trying to appeal to every possible audience that may exist in 2013, although nothing here could conceivably be played on modern radio. Instead, Duets plays like a fantasia of pre-MTV pop, songs designed for maximum radio play even when there are no outlets for that sound. There are some pleasant moments here, to be sure  many of them play like throwbacks to 1990, including Tom Jones' new take on "She's a Lady" but it's a sound that belongs to past that's long since gone. 

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine   http://www.allmusic.com/album/duets-mw0002487037

Duets

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