Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee

Over the course of a multifaceted career that has spanned four decades, Dee Dee Bridgewater has risen to the top tier of today’s jazz vocalists, putting her own unique spin on standards as well as taking intrepid leaps of faith in re-envisioning jazz classics. For her latest recording, Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee, Bridgewater honors an iconic jazz figure, Billie Holiday, who died tragically at the age of 44 a half-century ago.… Read...

Cheryl Conley, Lemon Twist

“Phrasing with the sensitivity of a horn player, her intonation flawless” was quoted by Leonard Feather of the Los Angeles Times, while others have crowned her style, and showmanship of music, as the rebirth of Jazz. Cheryl Conley native of Pasadena California, and the eldest daughter of Britt & Alice Conley, remembers hearing the sweet sounds of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, and Etta James.… Read...

Carol Sloane

Carol Sloane was born to Claudia and Frank Morvan on March 5, 1937, in Providence, Rhode Island, the older of two daughters, but she never lived in that city. Instead, she spent her happy childhood in the small town of Smithfield, just a few short miles north of the city. Her parents worked steadily through the years of World War II in the textile mill near their home.… Read...

Tessa Souter, Obsession

Tessa Souter is a consummate and dedicated vocalist who is deservedly on the rise in the New York jazz scene and elsewhere. A contralto who sings with both precision and emotion, her impressionist and minimalist interpretations bring out the meanings of her songs while remaining true to their melodic lines. Following Listen Love (Nara Music, 2004) and Nights of Key Largo (Venus Records, 2008), Obsessioncontinues her in-depth preoccupation with the nature and experience of love, but with a slight shift to the Latin rhythmic side.… Read...

Ella Fitzgerald, “Twelve Nights in Hollywood”

This 4-CD collection is a real gem unearthed from Verve’s vaults — 73 previously unreleased live small-group recordings from the “First Lady of Song.” In some cases these are the first and/or only live versions of the songs she ever recorded. This is Ella at the creative peak of her career. Verve founder Norman Granz personally supervised the live recordings over 12 nights in 1961 and 1962 of every set Fitzgerald performed with her quartet in the intimate setting of Los Angeles’ Crescendo Club.… Read...

Next Entries »