Billie Holiday - The Diva Series

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:12
Size: 135,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:50) 1. Them There Eyes
(2:45) 2. Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Bear
(3:12) 3. Easy Living
(3:24) 4. Don't Explain
(3:09) 5. Billie's Blues
(2:36) 6. Love Me Or Leave Me
(5:32) 7. Just One Of Those Things
(3:30) 8. Good Morning Heartache
(4:27) 9. Speak Low
(5:41) 10. All Or Nothing At All
(3:13) 11. Strange Fruit
(4:00) 12. God Bless The Child
(3:27) 13. I Wished On The Moon
(3:13) 14. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
(3:19) 15. Fine And Mellow
(3:46) 16. Lady Sings The Blues

Part of Verve's Diva Series of compilations, this Billie Holiday collection is by no means the definitive account of her career Columbia's Lady Day: The Best of Billie Holiday takes that honor. That said, it is still a great introduction to the vocalist's singular and influential style. There is a timely flow to the track listing on most of the Diva Series albums, and this collection is no exception.

Included are such landmark recordings as "Don't Explain," "God Bless the Child," and Holiday's haunting signature tune, "Strange Fruit." Longtime Holiday fanatics will most likely already have these recordings, but for newly interested listeners, at over 14 tracks, this competes well with other similar single-disc collections. by Matt Collar
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-diva-mw0000026452

The Diva Series

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Billie Holiday - The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters Cd 1, Cd 2, Cd 3

Size: 117,5+134,6+122,0 MB
Time: 50:44+58:05+52:40
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2009
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals
Art: Front

CD 1:
01. Strange Fruit (3:11)
02. Yesterdays (3:24)
03. Fine And Mellow (3:16)
04. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues (2:49)
05. How Am I To Know (2:43)
06. My Old Flame (3:01)
07. I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You) (2:57)
08. I Cover The Waterfront (3:29)
09. I'll Be Seeing You (3:29)
10. I'm Yours (3:15)
11. Embraceable You (3:14)
12. As Time Goes By (3:10)
13. He's Funny That Way (3:14)
14. Lover, Come Back To Me (3:19)
15. Billie's Blues (3:06)
16. On The Sunny Side Of The Street (3:01)

CD 2:
01. Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be) (Single Version) (3:15)
02. No More (Single Version) (2:46)
03. That Ole Devil Called Love (Single Version) (2:52)
04. Don't Explain (Single Version) (3:20)
05. You Better Go Now (Single Version) (2:29)
06. What Is This Thing Called Love (Single Version) (3:08)
07. Good Morning Heartache (3:05)
08. No Good Man (Single Version) (3:04)
09. Big Stuff (2:29)
10. Baby, I Don't Cry Over You (1991 Box Set Version) (3:09)
11. I'll Look Around (Edit) (3:13)
12. The Blues Are Brewin' (Single Version) (3:02)
13. Guilty (3:11)
14. Deep Song (Single Version) (3:10)
15. There Is No Greater Love (Single Version) (2:56)
16. Easy Living (Single Version) (3:10)
17. Solitude (Single Version) (3:07)
18. Weep No More (Single Version) (3:19)
19. Girls Were Made To Take Care Of Boys (Single Version) (3:12)

CD 3:
01. I Loves You Porgy (Single Version) (2:54)
02. My Man (Mon Homme) (Single Version) (2:55)
03. 'tain't Nobody's Business If I Do (Single Version) (3:18)
04. Baby Get Lost (Single Version) (3:13)
05. Keeps On A Rainin' (Papa He Can't Make No Time) (Single Version) (3:14)
06. Them There Eyes (Single Version) (2:49)
07. Do Your Duty (Single Version) (3:14)
08. Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer (Single Version) (2:42)
09. You Can't Lose A Broken Heart (Single Version) (3:13)
10. My Sweet Hunk O' Trash (Single Version) (3:18)
11. Now Or Never (Single Version) (3:15)
12. You're My Thrill (Single Version) (3:21)
13. Crazy He Calls Me (Single Version) (3:01)
14. Please Tell Me Now (Single Version) (3:12)
15. Somebody's On My Mind (Single Version) (2:55)
16. God Bless The Child (Single Version) (3:08)
17. This Is Heaven To Me (Single Version) (2:50

Although many of Billie Holiday's recordings for Commodore and Decca are often overlooked -- at least in comparison to the songs that bookend her career (for Columbia and Verve) -- they include some of her best work, beginning at the end of the '30s with "Strange Fruit" and stretching to the end of the '40s with "God Bless the Child." In 1939, Billie Holiday was a jazz sensation without a hit record. She gained that hit record, and began her journey to musical immortality, when her label Columbia refused to record "Strange Fruit," and jazz fan Milt Gabler welcomed her to his aficionado label, Commodore. Gabler recorded Holiday often over the next ten years, both at Commodore and through his work at Decca in the mid-to late '40s. While on Commodore, Holiday focused on downcast ballads, including "I Cover the Waterfront" and "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" (dubbed "loser" songs by Gabler), but she also excelled with warm and affectionate material too, "Embraceable You" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Regardless of the material, her backing consisted of small groups usually led by a pair of saloon-sound maestros: Doc Cheatham on trumpet and Eddie Heywood on piano. That sound was in for a switch when Holiday moved to Decca, however, beginning with another big hit, "Lover Man," a pop ballad with the full crossover treatment -- strings and all. (Gabler had no compunction about false notions of purity, and he happily recorded Holiday with strings and backing choruses whenever the song demanded it.) Even more than her work for Commodore, Holiday's work for Decca was melancholy and resigned in the extreme, with sterling treatments of yet more loser songs: "Don't Explain," "Good Morning Heartache," "You Better Go Now," and "What Is This Thing Called Love." Individually, the songs are excellent, and as a package, The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters can hardly be beat. It's a splendid accompaniment to similar sets devoted to Billie Holiday's Columbia and Verve output, and while completists will bemoan the lack of the many alternate takes -- most of the Commodore sides have two alternate takes for each master recording, available elsewhere -- this is all the war-years Billie Holiday one could hope for. ~Review by John Bush

The Complete Commodore & Decca Masters Cd 1, Cd 2, Cd 3

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Various - Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Birth Of A Label

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:04
Size: 171.9 MB
Styles: Assorted
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[3:11] 1. Freddie Slack And His Orchestra - Cow Cow Boogie
[2:56] 2. Johnny Mercer - Strip Polka
[2:59] 3. Martha Tilton - I'll Remember April
[2:45] 4. Bobby Sherwood And His Orchestra - I Don't Know Why
[3:19] 5. Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - Serenade In Blue
[2:47] 6. Tex Ritter - Jingle Jangle Jingle
[2:41] 7. Connie Haines - At Last
[3:00] 8. Ella Mae Morse - Mr. Five By Five
[3:15] 9. Billie Holiday - Trav'lin' Light
[3:00] 10. Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra - There Will Never Be Another You
[3:07] 11. Johnny Mercer - I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City
[2:54] 12. Bobby Sherwood And His Orchestra - Moonlight Becomes You
[3:00] 13. Gordon Jenkins - White Christmas
[2:38] 14. Margaret Whiting - That Old Black Magic
[2:45] 15. Six Hits And A Miss - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[2:59] 16. Freddie Slack - Riffette
[3:09] 17. Ray Mckinley - Big Boy
[3:15] 18. Ray Mckinley - Hard Hearted Hannah
[3:03] 19. Ella Mae Morse - Get On Board, Little Chillun
[2:49] 20. Billy Butterfield - My Ideal
[3:09] 21. Ceelle Burke & His Orchestra - From Twilight 'til Dawn
[2:53] 22. Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - The Old Music Master
[3:21] 23. Nat King Cole Trio - All For You
[2:38] 24. The Pied Pipers - Pistol Packin' Mama
[3:19] 25. Johnny Mercer - G.I. Jive

From the Vaults is a multi-disc series commemorating the 60th anniversary of Capitol Records. Volume one, Birth of a Label, compiles 25 of the earliest sides issued by the label's collective brain trust: songwriters Buddy DeSylva, Johnny Mercer, and record shop proprietor Glenn Wallichs. Although many of these tunes quickly became pop standards, several have never been issued on CD before -- and of those that have previously entered the digital domain, most were transferred from sonically challenged vinyl. Tremendous care has been taken on the From the Vaults series to track down the best possible source materials. The extra effort pays off immeasurably. Capitol's incipient recordings were, as one might imagine, an ideal vehicle for Mercer's dynamic compositions. "Strip Polka," "Trav'lin' Light," and "G.I. Jive" are among his earliest pieces for the label and are included on this volume. However, the label quickly became recognized for the variety of sounds released under their moniker. Some of Capitol's earliest hits were taken from motion picture soundtracks. "My Ideal," "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "Moonlight Becomes You," and the seasonal favorite "White Christmas" are among the baker's dozen of movie songs featured on this release. Other genres to be represented by Capitol ranged from jazz ("Trav'lin' Light") to boogie-woogie ("Cow Cow Boogie"), and even early R&B ("Riffette"). A 10-page liner notes booklet contains memorabilia, vintage photos, and other previously unpublished eye candy, as well as an essay by musician and music historian Billy Vera. Initial pressings -- limited to 10,000 -- are cleverly packaged in a digi-pack designed to replicate the 78 rpm records and sleeves of the era. With such attention to sonic as well as visual detail, Vol. One: Birth of a Label is a promising start to the series. ~Lindsay Planer

Capitol Records From The Vaults: The Birth Of A Label

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Teddy Wilson - Moments Like This

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1994
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:00
Size: 182,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:26)  1. Alone with You
(3:09)  2. Moments Like This
(3:01)  3. I Can't Face the Music
(3:06)  4. Don't Be That Way
(2:57)  5. If I Were You
(3:17)  6. You Go to My Head
(3:12)  7. I'll Dream Tonight
(2:53)  8. Jungle Love
(3:15)  9. Now It Can Be Told
(2:57) 10. Laugh and Call It Love
(2:46) 11. On the Bumpy Road to Love
(2:52) 12. A Tisket A Tasket
(3:06) 13. Everybody's Laughing
(2:48) 14. Here Is Tomorrow Again
(2:42) 15. Say It with a Kiss
(3:12) 16. April in My Heart
(3:03) 17. I'll Never Fail You
(3:11) 18. They Say
(2:56) 19. You're So Desirable
(3:03) 20. You're Gonna See a Lot of Me
(2:48) 21. Hello, My Darling
(2:56) 22. Let's Dream in the Moonlight
(3:09) 23. What Shall I Say
(3:03) 24. It's Easy to Blame the Weather
(3:10) 25. More Than You Know
(2:50) 26. Sugar (That Sugar Baby of Mine

Teddy Wilson had a wonderful gift for musical paraphrase and melodic symmetry. His light-fingered, mellifluous approach to the piano was unparalleled among his peers. Art Tatum was a virtuoso genius, and Earl Hines was a great practitioner of stride piano stylings, but Wilson's subtle and dynamic playing made his brand of swing especially popular among '30s jazz audiences. Moments Like This features classic performances from Chu Berry, Benny Carter, Roy Eldridge, and Ben Webster among others, and many fine vocal selections from Nan Wynn and the great Billie Holiday, including gorgeous renditions of "You Go to My Head," "On the Bumpy Road to Love," "Let's Dream in the Moonlight" and other romantic classics. The band swings with elegance, and Wilson supports each vocalist with the kind of charm and musical insight that few before or after have equaled. http://www.allmusic.com/album/moments-like-this-mw0000080097

Personnel: Teddy Wilson (piano); Billie Holiday (vocals, background vocals); Nan Wynn (vocals); Allan Reuss, Al Casey (guitar); Ernie Powell (clarinet, cornet); Pee Wee Russell (clarinet); Benny Carter (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Edgar Sampson, Johnny Hodges, Tab Smith, Nuncio "Toots" Mondello (alto saxophone); Chu Berry, Gene Sedric, Lester Young , Ben Webster, Bud Freeman (tenor saxophone); Harry James, Jonah Jones, Roy Eldridge (trumpet); Bobby Hackett (cornet); Benny Morton, Trummy Young (trombone); Cozy Cole, Jo Jones , Johnny Blowers (drums).

Moments Like This

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Various Artists - When Love Goes Wrong: Songs for the Broken-Hearted

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:26
Size: 118,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:28)  1. Billie Holiday - Good Morning Heartache
(2:26)  2. Chet Baker - Born to Be Blue
(3:36)  3. Johnny Hartman - It Never Entered My Mind
(3:11) 4. Little Jimmy Scott - Everybody's Somebody's Fool
(3:15)  5. Peggy Lee - Woman Alone With the Blues
(3:30)  6. Beverly Kenney - A Woman's Intuition
(3:42)  7. Frank D'Rone - Everything Happens to Me
(5:38)  8. Shirley Horn - I Fall in Love Too Easily
(2:40)  9. Helen Merrill - Here's That Rainy Day
(3:40) 10. Arthur Prysock - I'm Through with Love
(2:40) 11. Dinah Washington - I'm a Fool to Want You
(2:41) 12. Billy Eckstine - What Will I Tell My Heart?
(3:25) 13. Sarah Vaughan - But Not for Me
(2:14) 14. Ella Fitzgerald - Reaching for the Moon
(5:13) 15. Mel Tormé - Gloomy Sunday

Bill Maher (as in Politically Incorrect) once stated that marriage is a lot like communism--it sounds great on paper, but in reality, it doesn't work. That's a very cynical view of romance; some marriages do work, and they work well. But at the same, one can certainly understand where Maher is coming from half of American marriages, after all, end in divorce, and many couples never even make it to the alter. Those unsuccessful relationships are the focus of When Love Goes Wrong: Songs for the Broken-Hearted, a thoughtfully assembled collection of vocal jazz and torch singing that spans 1950-1997. 

The front cover boasts an illustration that recalls the classic film noir and pulp fiction of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s an attractive blonde who just blew away her lover is led away in handcuffs, while a hat-wearing hard-boiled detective (à la Dana Andrews' character in Laura) nonchalantly puffs away on a cigarette. It's the perfect cover for a compilation that paints a dark, troubled picture of romance thanks to melancholy performances by heavyweights like Dinah Washington on "I'm a Fool to Want You," Chet Baker on "Born to Be Blue" and Jimmy Scott on "Everybody's Somebody's Fool". Shirley Horn's soulful version of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" is from 1997, although the rest of the selections are from the ‘50s and ‘60s. If one wanted to nit-pick, it would be easy to complain about the fact that Verve doesn't include any versions of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" (one of the darkest jazz pearls ever written). 

Also, Verve should have provided Billie Holiday's original 1946 recording of "Good Morning Heartache" instead of the 1956 version that opens this CD Lady Day sounded a lot better in 1946. Nonetheless, this generally rewarding, if imperfect, compilation is enthusiastically recommended to anyone who craves expressive, heartfelt torch singing. ~ Alex Henderson  http://www.allmusic.com/album/when-love-goes-wrong-songs-for-the-broken-hearted-mw0000663806

When Love Goes Wrong: Songs for the Broken-Hearted

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Various - Kissing Jessica Stein OST

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 40:19
Size: 92.3 MB
Styles: Soundtrack, Easy Listening
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[2:11] 1. Blossom Dearie - Put On A Happy Face
[4:54] 2. Sarah Vaughan - It's Crazy
[2:21] 3. Anita O'day - Taking A Chance On Love
[3:20] 4. Jill Phillips - That Could Happen To Us
[0:59] 5. Ernestine Anderson - There Will Never Be Another You
[2:24] 6. Shirley Horn - I Just Found Out About Love
[2:47] 7. Ella Fitzgerald - Manhattan
[2:43] 8. Dinah Washington - Teach Me Tonight
[4:57] 9. Matt Rollings - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
[2:07] 10. Carmen Mcrae - Exactly Like You
[2:56] 11. Peggy Lee - I Don't Know About You
[3:18] 12. Diana Krall - Devil May Care
[3:10] 13. Billie Holiday - What A Little Moonlight Can Do
[2:05] 14. Blossom Dearie - I Wish You Love

Romantic comedies aren't something new; back in 1938, Bringing up Baby (starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant) was the definitive romantic comedy of its time. But the genre has evolved over the years, and so have musical tastes. These days, the soundtracks of romantic comedies are likely to have a lot of adult contemporary or pop/rock because those styles of music appeal to their target audience: younger women. But the soundtrack of Kissing Jessica Stein, a romantic comedy from 2002, is a major exception. While other romantic comedy soundtracks will emphasize artists like Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Whitney Houston -- favorites in the adult contemporary market -- this CD is dominated by vocal jazz (with some traditional pre-rock pop here and there). Verve provides a few new recordings, but most of the soundtrack is devoted to older recordings by well-known vocalists like Anita O'Day ("Taking a Chance on Love"), Shirley Horn ("I Just Found out About Love"), Sarah Vaughan ("It's Crazy"), and Dinah Washington ("Teach Me Tonight"). The material is quite accessible -- nothing abstract or left of center -- and one doesn't have to be a really seasoned jazz fan to get into Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Manhattan" or Blossom Dearie's playful interpretation of "I Wish You Love." In fact, many of the jazz singers on this CD have over the years been able to appeal to pop fans who don't necessarily care for a lot of hardcore instrumental jazz; in other words, the type of listener who might love Vaughan and Fitzgerald but doesn't necessarily have a lot of John Coltrane or Art Blakey CDs in his/her collection. This is a pleasant, likable soundtrack that won't intimidate those who like their jazz singing accessible and easy to absorb. ~Alex Henderson

Kissing Jessica Stein OST

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