The New York Allstars - Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop!!: The New York Allstars Play Lionel Hampton

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:28
Size: 145.3 MB
Styles: Swing, Vibraphone jazz
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[ 9:27] 1. Air Mail Special
[ 6:47] 2. Moonglow
[ 6:01] 3. Ring Dem Bells
[ 3:49] 4. Indian Summer
[ 5:23] 5. Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop
[ 3:15] 6. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
[ 7:07] 7. Avalon
[ 7:35] 8. Rose Room
[ 3:59] 9. Body And Soul
[10:01] 10. Flying Home

Bass – Dave Green; Clarinet – Antti Sarpila; Drums – Ed Metz Jr.; Leader – Randy Sandke; Piano – Thilo Wagner; Rhythm Guitar – James Chirillo; Tenor Saxophone – Antti Sarpila; Trombone – Roy Williams; Trumpet – Randy Sandke; Vibraphone – Lars Erstrand.

Trumpeter Randy Sandke heads a strong group of American and European swing/mainstream players on a set of ten songs associated with vibraphonist/bandleader Lionel Hampton. Sandke, trombonist Roy Williams, and Antti Sarpila (on clarinet and saxophones) make for a solid front line, while vibraphonist Lars Erstrand sometimes comes close to duplicating the sound of Hampton. The octet romps through such songs as "Air Mail Special," "Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop," "Avalon," and of course an extended "Flying Home," along with some other swing standards and ballads. The music is as fun and infectious as one would expect, with Sandke in particular in fine form. ~Scott Yanow

Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop: The New York Allstars Play Lionel Hampton

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Peggy Lee - The Lost 40s & 50s Capitol Masters (2-Disc Set)

In mining the cavernous Capitol Records vaults for very rare and in some cases previously unheard  Peggy Lee recordings, The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters picks up where other praiseworthy CD anthologies left off.

Over the past ten years, Peggy collectors have enjoyed such multi-CD collections as Miss Peggy Lee (1998), The Complete Peggy Lee and June Christy Capitol Transcription Sessions (1998), and The Singles Collection (2002). Through these extensive projects and some valuable single-disc compilations -- most notably Capitol Collectors' Series (1990) and Rare Gems and Hidden Treasures (2000) -- collectors have savored hundreds of recordings from the fertile first portion of Lee's solo recording career (1944-1952), many of them never reissued during the long-playing album era and others entirely unreleased. Following in that tradition, Collectors' Choice Music, in association with EMI Music Special Markets, releases The Lost '40s and '50s Capitol Masters, featuring 39 tracks not found on any of the above releases -- nor on any other solo Peggy release from Capitol/EMI.

Of particular interest to collectors are the twelve previously unreleased tracks, including the enduring standards A Cottage for Sale and Something to Remember You By, along with some slightly less familiar titles that nonetheless have been recorded by many other singers through the decades: I've Had My Moments; Trouble Is a Man; A Hundred Years from Today; and Music, Maestro, Please. Other previously unreleased tracks are true obscurities: I Don't Know What to Do Without You, Baby (co-written by Peggy's Lady and the Tramp songwriting partner, Sonny Burke); Don't Give Me a Ring on the Telephone (a Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke song parody); and Pick Up Your Marbles and Go Home (co-written by Steve Nelson of Frosty the Snowman fame).

In addition to the twelve previously unreleased tracks, two songs are heard in previously unreleased alternate versions: Don't Be So Mean to Baby and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Both alternates were recorded three months before the versions that Capitol issued.

Album: The Lost 40s & 50s Capitol Masters (Disc 1)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 58:51

Size: 134.7 MB

Styles: Vocal

Year: 2008

[3:02] 1. Ain't Goin' No Place

[2:52] 2. A Cottage For Sale

[2:49] 3. Don't Be So Mean To Baby

[2:57] 4. Aren't You Kind Of Glad We Did

[3:12] 5. I've Had My Moments

[2:57] 6. Swing Low Sweet Chariot

[3:09] 7. Trouble Is A Man

[3:01] 8. Music, Maestro, Please

[2:45] 9. It's Lovin' Time

[2:41] 10. Ain'tcha Ever Comin' Back

[3:04] 11. It Takes A Long, Long Train With A Red Caboose (To Carry My Blues Away)

[3:10] 12. The Freedom Train

[3:16] 13. A Hundred Years From Today

[2:54] 14. Keep Me In Mind

[3:09] 15. Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere

[2:56] 16. Love Ye

[2:56] 17. What'll It Getcha

[2:40] 18. I Wanna Go Where You Go, Then I'll Be Happy

[2:41] 19. I Don't Know What To Do Without You Baby

[2:29] 20. Neon Signs (I'm Gonna Shine Like Neon Too)

The Lost 40s & 50s Capitol Masters (Disc 1) 

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Album: The Lost 40s & 50s Capitol Masters (Disc 2)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 48:40

Size: 111.4 MB

Styles: Vocal

Year: 2008

Art: Front

[3:16] 1. A Man Wrote A Song

[2:25] 2. Sunshine Cake

[3:13] 3. Run For The Round House Nellie

[2:19] 4. Cannonball Express

[1:33] 5. Don't Give Me A Ring On The Telephone (Until You Give Me A Ring On My H

[1:54] 6. If I Could Steal You From Somebody Else

[3:12] 7. Ay Ay Chug Chug

[2:48] 8. Something To Remember You By

[2:41] 9. Climb Up The Mountain

[2:33] 10. Pick Up Your Marbles (And Go Home)

[2:30] 11. That Ol' Devil (Won't Get Me)

[2:23] 12. If You Turn Me Down

[2:41] 13. Boulevard Café

[2:26] 14. It Never Happen' To Me

[2:58] 15. So Far, So Good

[2:06] 16. My Magic Heart

[3:00] 17. Telling Me Yes, Telling Me No

[2:32] 18. Shame On You

[2:01] 19. Goin' On A Hayride

The Lost 40s & 50s Capitol Masters (Disc 2)  

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Milt Jackson - At The Kosei Nenkin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:51
Size: 169.1 MB
Styles: Vibraphone jazz
Year: 1977/1998
Art: Front

[ 8:46] 1. Killer Joe
[ 4:04] 2. Get Happy
[10:22] 3. All Blues
[ 8:15] 4. St. Thomas
[10:05] 5. The Prophet Speaks
[ 7:18] 6. Bolivia
[ 7:19] 7. Birk's Works
[ 6:49] 8. Stolen Moments
[10:50] 9. Bye Bye Blackbird

Bass – Ray Brown; Drums – Billy Higgins; Piano – Cedar Walton; Tenor Saxophone – Teddy Edwards; Vibraphone – Milt Jackson.

This double album features vibraphonist Milt Jackson with some of his best musical friends (tenor-saxophonist Teddy Edwards, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Billy Higgins) for a typically swinging set of standards. It is particularly welcome to hear the underrated Edwards in this setting and all of the musicians are in top form on such superior songs as "Killer Joe," "St. Thomas," "Bolivia" and "Bye Bye Blackbird."

At The Kosei Nenkin

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Don Lanphere, Jon Pugh - Don Still Loves Midge

Styles: Saxophone And Cornet Jazz

Year: 1997

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 73:26

Size: 169,7 MB

Art: Front

(5:38)  1. London By Night

(5:08)  2. Deep In A Dream

(5:31)  3. A Blues For Midge

(4:48)  4. The Right To Love

(5:34)  5. Just The Way You Are

(4:23)  6. Purple Shades

(5:31)  7. That Old Feeling

(4:50)  8. Prelude To A Kiss

(4:31)  9. Ellis In Wonderland

(6:03) 10. Sinatra Medley: The Sky Fell Down / Some Other Time / Why Try To Change Me Now?

(6:08) 11. My Buddy

(5:46) 12. Gray-Blue

(5:12) 13. As Long As There's Music

(4:17) 14. Early Autumn

As a sequel to the previously released Don Loved Midge, veteran saxophonist Don Lanphere again performs a variety of lyrical pieces (mostly older standards) that he and his wife Midge had long enjoyed, plus his originals "Blues for Midge" and "Ellis in Wonderland," and bassist Doug Miller's "GrayBlue." The music swings; there is plenty of melody caressing by the leader and the boppish treatments put the emphasis on melodic development. Lanphere displays fairly distinctive voices on tenor, alto and soprano (which he plays very much in-tune), Jon Pugh has a few pretty cornet solos and guitarist Dave Petersen and trombonist Jeff Hay help out on a few selections. Highlights include the revivals of some obscure but worthy songs including Carroll Coates' "London by Night," Lalo Schifrin's haunting "The Right to Love" and the long-forgotten "Purple Shades." Lanphere's rendition of "Early Autumn" is of particular interest because he had succeeded Stan Getz in Woody Herman's Orchestra and was wise enough to hold on the original sheet music that Getz had used nearly a half-century earlier. A pleasing effort that is easily recommended. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/don-still-loves-midge-mw0000031476

Personnel: Don Lanphere (saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone).  Jon Pugh – (cornet);  Jeff Hay – (trombone); Dave Peterson – (guitar);  Marc Seales – (piano);  Doug Miller – (bass);  John Bishop – (drums).

Don Still Loves Midge

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Della Reese - Della

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 1960
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 34:27
Size: 63,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:38)  1. The Lady Is A Tramp
(2:50)  2. If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight
(2:26)  3. Let's Get Away From It All
(2:28)  4. Thou Swell
(2:28)  5. You're Driving Me Crazy
(3:39)  6. Goody Goody
(2:39)  7. And The Angels Sing
(3:08)  8. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
(2:28)  9. I'm Beginning To See The Light
(2:36) 10. I'll Get By
(1:46) 11. Blue Skies
(5:15) 12. Someday You'll Want Me To Want You

Della Reese was never a hardcore jazz singer. Her specialty was traditional pre-rock pop, and unlike jazz-oriented singers Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae, among many others she was not improvisation-minded. Therefore, her work must be judged by pop standards instead of jazz standards. Anyone who isn't a myopic jazz snob realizes that pop standards aren't necessarily low standards; in fact, traditional pop singers like Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Tony Bennett, and the seminal Bing Crosby have had very high standards. And similarly, Reese brings high pop standards to Della. Recorded in 1959, this excellent album finds Reese backed by an orchestra that Neal Hefti arranged and conducted. Hefti's presence doesn't automatically make Della a jazz session, but he provides tasteful arrangements for a pop singer who has jazz, blues, and gospel influences. In 1959, Reese was very much in her prime, and she is quite soulful on performances of "Blue Skies," "Thou Swell," and other standards. The singer also tackles "The Lady Is a Tramp," one of the many gems that Sinatra defined. Reese, to her credit, doesn't even try to emulate Sinatra's version; instead, she provides a playful interpretation that is rewarding in its own right. ~ Alex Henderson  http://www.allmusic.com/album/della-mw0000658820

Della

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Doc Cheatham - The Fabulous Doc Cheatham

Styles: Trumpet Jazz

Year: 1983

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 42:27

Size: 97,8 MB

Art: Front

(5:08)  1. Big Butter & Egg Man

(4:28)  2. Deed I Do

(6:13)  3. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

(5:11)  4. The Man I Love

(2:31)  5. Swing That Music

(5:25)  6. 'Round Midnight

(5:08)  7. Jeepers Creepers

(3:35)  8. I Double Dare You

(4:44)  9. Flee As A Bird / St. James Infirmary

One of the very last survivors of the early days of jazz, trumpeter Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham attracted attention from the historically- inclined right up to his death in 1997 at the age of 91. His career recapitulated much of the history of jazz as a whole: he came of age hearing and playing with the New Orleans masters of the music's classic period; he participated in the big band movement that defined jazz in the 1930s; after the Second World War he affiliated himself with popular Latin dance orchestras on one hand and appeared with select, connoisseur-oriented small-group jazz combos on the other. As if defying time, his later recordings and performances were his best, and it was toward the end of his life that he allowed himself more often to step into the spotlight as a soloist.

Doc Cheatham was born in Nashville on June 13, 1905. Cheatham took up the cornet and soon after the trumpet as a teenager, taking lessons from two itinerant circus trumpeter brothers named Professor N. C. Davis and Professor C. M. Davis. He landed a job in the pit orchestra at Nashville's Bijou theatre, which played host to great performers of the black touring circuit of the 1920s such as Bessie Smith. He also played in a small band based at Nashville's historically black Meharry Medical College, acquiring the nickname “Doc” as a result. His parents hoped that he would indeed become a doctor, but instead Cheatham headed for Chicago, a city that was just coming into its own as a jazz mecca when he arrived in 1925. Rubbing elbows with already-legendary trumpeters like Louis Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, and “King” Oliver, he took another crucial step forward musically when he learned to read musical notation. “I was in {pianist} Charlie Johnson's band only one night,” he recalled in a Down Beat interview. I was fired that same night. . . .I couldn't read the show music. So that's when I got busy down there. I found a teacher, Viola something.” In 1927 Cheatham made his first recording.

Cheatham moved to the East Coast in 1927 and did stints with several celebrated bands, including McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Stable employment came during an eight-year tenure with bandleader Cab Calloway, from 1932 to 1940. Cheatham had been recommended by jazz musician Benny Carter. Calloway's band, often performing at New York's renowned Cotton Club, was one of the most successful of the era. The rigors of life on the road took a toll on Cheatham's health, and in 1939 he was hospitalized for nine weeks suffering from anemia and exhaustion, this lead to a hiatus and turning point in Cheatham's career. During World War II he essentially put his performing career on hold, opening a teaching studio in New York and taking a job with the U.S. post office. But he would reenter the music world again.

Joining a band led by Eddie Heywood Jr. Cheatham backed vocalist Billie Holiday in performances at the Cafe Society club, and took solos that showed some of the directions in which he would later develop. New popular musical forms also proved suited to his talents; Cheatham found ready employment after the war when trumpet-oriented Latin dance bands began to gain popularity. For a time, Cheatham played in the orchestra of the incredible Cuban-born bandleader Perez Prado. He continued making jazz appearances as well, and backed Holiday again on a widely viewed 1957 CBS television broadcast called “The Sound of Jazz.” Cheatham's big break came at the age of 60, early in 1966, when he was asked by clarinetist Benny Goodman to join his quintet for a series of performances at the Rainbow Room club. “I was honored to play on the same bandstand as him, whether I played good or not,” Cheatham told Down Beat. Later that year Cheatham toured Europe with a Goodman ensemble. The performances ushered in a astonishing period of late-life creativity.

Cheatham embarked on a seven-year regimen of practice and study, aiming to transform himself into a great soloist. Even in 1993 he told Time that “I study my jazz all the time, trying to improve myself.” From the late 1970s onward, he was a fixture of New York's live jazz scene, and recording opportunities often flowed his way. There was “Swingin’ Way Down in New Orleans,” in ’95 where he plays traditional standards brilliantly.He joined 23-year-old Nicholas Payton for a series of duets on his final recording, 1997's “Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton.” Doc performed right up until the end of his long and productive life, and left us an inspiring legacy. Cheatham was influenced by legends like Armstrong, but created a style uniquely his own. This courtly, restrained musician lived nearly the entire history of jazz, and ended up being accorded his own chapter in that history. http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/doccheatham

Personnel:  Bass – Bill Pemberton;  Drums – Jackie Williams;  Piano – Dick Wellstood;  Trumpet, Vocals – Doc Cheatham

The Fabulous Doc Cheatham

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Frank Sinatra - Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Johnny Mercer

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 50:38
Size: 93,0 MB
Art: Front

(2:28)  1. Too Marvelous For Words
(3:18)  2. Day In - Day Out (Ballad Version)
(3:27)  3. Laura
(2:23)  4. Jeepers Creepers
(4:44)  5. Blues in the Night
(2:38)  6. Something's Gotta Give
(3:21)  7. Fools Rush In
(4:21)  8. P.S. I Love You
(3:46)  9. When the World Was Young
(4:03) 10. That Old Black Magic
(2:52) 11. Autumn Leaves
(2:28) 12. I Thought About You
(2:56) 13. Dream
(3:24) 14. Day In - Day Out (Swingin' Version)
(4:23) 15. One For My Baby (And One More For the Road)

This isn't a definitive collection mainly because Frank Sinatra went on to record so many more great Johnny Mercer tunes for his Reprise label. But what does make it onto this CD is top-shelf. Since Sinatra was justly renown for his sensitive way with a lyric, it makes sense to compile numbers that were by written by Mercer, his favorite lyricist. Both men excelled at throwing away jazzy, seemingly off-the-cuff lingo ("Jeepers Creepers") or at spinning sophisticated, worldly narratives "When the World Was Young." This may help explain why so many of these songs became the definitive versions. 

Sinatra puts the twisted sexual obsession back into the film noir theme "Laura," turns "Autumn Leaves" into a wintry funeral dirge, and places so much behind-the-beat jazz phrasing into "Too Marvelous for Words" that the number really does live up to its title. Other highlights include the two versions of "Day In - Day Out" (one's an up-tempo swinger and the other is a ballad version with a swelling arrangement that matches the bizarre "when I awaken/I awaken with a tingle" lyrics), the frenetic "Something's Gotta Give," and the wondrous "One for My Baby," which quickly became one of Sinatra's signature songs. ~ Nick Dedina  http://www.allmusic.com/album/frank-sinatra-sings-the-select-johnny-mercer-mw0000126624

Personnel includes: Frank Sinatra (vocals).

Frank Sinatra Sings the Select Johnny Mercer

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