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The Essence of Nancy Wilson: Four Decades of Music
: :Sophisticated and elegant, tart and bold, Nancy Wilson remains one of our most exemplary vocal stylists. This four-disc box is a gift for her diehard fans, focusing as it does on tracks making their debut on CD, as well as a number of tracks that have never been released at all. Through an endless range of styles and settings, Wilson's distinctive voice--crisp and biting, dexterous and translucent--commands center stage, always showing the influence of her hero Dinah Washington and remaining much the same throughout the decades. Disc 1 offers a broad ...
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The Savoy Years and More
: :Like almost every single album bearing the name and inimitable voice of this rare jazz treasure, this reissue covering Jimmy Scott's on-again, off-again relationship with Savoy Records has both its highlights and its low points. Of course, no amount of treachery or ineptitude has ever muffled Scott's long-lined, behind-the-beat ballad singing, which often sounds like a woman's. His is an absolutely original voice and one of the most ambrosial acquired tastes in all of jazz history. Recorded mostly in the 1950s and early '60s, this set showcases Scott in his prime, ...
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Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz In Los Angeles (1921-1956)
: :Throughout the history of jazz, mythical places like New Orleans's Storyville, Chicago's South Side, Kansas City's Tenderloin district, and New York's Harlem and 52nd Street were celebrated as the legendary hotspots. Thankfully, this impressive four-CD, 91-track collection featuring Nat 'King' Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Benny Carter to name a few, puts Los Angeles's famous African-American enclave, Central Avenue, on the historical map and offers the listener a zoot-suited, jitterbugged jaunt through Club Alabam, The Downbeat, and other jumpin' joints where Hollywood stars rubbed shoulders with hep cats under a pulsating Pacific ...
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The Complete Cole Porter Songbooks
: :It's rare that a great tunesmith is also a great lyricist, but Porter was both, and the formal perfection of his best songs made them favorites among both singers and instrumentalists. These three discs (two vocal, one instrumental) raid the archives for renditions by jazz types (from Ella Fitzgerald to Roland Kirk), more straightforward pop singers, and a few ringers, like Fred Astaire, who does nicely by 'I Concentrate on You.' The singers love Porter for the depth, wittiness, and just-repressed-enough sentimentality of his lyrics, and for the melodies clustered around ...
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Collectables Classics (4-CD Box Set)
: :It's rare that a great tunesmith is also a great lyricist, but Porter was both, and the formal perfection of his best songs made them favorites among both singers and instrumentalists. These three discs (two vocal, one instrumental) raid the archives for renditions by jazz types (from Ella Fitzgerald to Roland Kirk), more straightforward pop singers, and a few ringers, like Fred Astaire, who does nicely by 'I Concentrate on You.' The singers love Porter for the depth, wittiness, and just-repressed-enough sentimentality of his lyrics, and for the melodies clustered around ...
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Louis Armstrong: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
: :Louis Armstrong recorded for RCA Victor for two relatively brief periods in his long career, in the early days of his big band (1932 to '33) and in the period when he broke up the orchestra and returned to a New Orleans-style smaller ensemble (1946 to '47). This four-CD set is evenly divided between the two periods. The early big bands--first drummer Chick Webb's and then the trumpeter's own--provide a comfortable setting for Armstrong, who simply reigned supreme among jazz soloists of the period, with peerless invention and a stunning flexibility. ...
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That's the Way It Is
: :Louis Armstrong recorded for RCA Victor for two relatively brief periods in his long career, in the early days of his big band (1932 to '33) and in the period when he broke up the orchestra and returned to a New Orleans-style smaller ensemble (1946 to '47). This four-CD set is evenly divided between the two periods. The early big bands--first drummer Chick Webb's and then the trumpeter's own--provide a comfortable setting for Armstrong, who simply reigned supreme among jazz soloists of the period, with peerless invention and a stunning flexibility. ...
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Ballads, Blues & Big Bands: The Best of Nancy Wilson
: :Louis Armstrong recorded for RCA Victor for two relatively brief periods in his long career, in the early days of his big band (1932 to '33) and in the period when he broke up the orchestra and returned to a New Orleans-style smaller ensemble (1946 to '47). This four-CD set is evenly divided between the two periods. The early big bands--first drummer Chick Webb's and then the trumpeter's own--provide a comfortable setting for Armstrong, who simply reigned supreme among jazz soloists of the period, with peerless invention and a stunning flexibility. ...
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Kristina Fran Duvemala (1996 Swedish Cast)
:Album Description:1995 musical based on the Swedish emigration to America at the end of the 19th century. Abba's male half contributed much to the production: Benny Andersson composed & arranged the music; Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote the text. Comes in a slipcasebox with a 70 page booklet that features pictures from the stage production and full lyrics (though almost all are written & sung in Swedish). Crucial collector's item for die-hard ABBA fans. The song titles are written in Swedish as all. Each CD is a different brown & white picture disc. ...
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The Ultimate Collection
: :This three-CD collection provides a remarkable overview of Louis Armstrong's career, beginning with 1924 recordings with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra and carrying all the way through the decades to include the pop hits from the 1960s, like 'Hello, Dolly' and 'What a Wonderful World.' Along the way, there's plenty to document Armstrong's position as the first great soloist of jazz, its first great singer, and a popular entertainer whose charm was as unique as his musical talent. The 1920s are represented by his stellar performances as a 'sideman' to regular associates, like ...
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