Caro Emerald is a Dutch jazz singer who emerged in 2009 with the smash hit single "Back It Up" and made her chart-topping album debut in 2010 with Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor. Born Caroline van der Leeuw on April 26, 1981 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, she studied music at the conservatory, specializing in jazz and subsequently working as a vocal coach. Her breakthrough success came in 2009 with the single "Back It Up," written and produced by David Schreurs and Jan van Wieringen of Grandmono Records, along with songwriter Vincent de Giorgio. "Back It Up" began as a summertime hit but ended up spending 21 weeks on the Dutch charts, from July to December. Its popularity was enhanced by a couple different remixes, one by Kraak & Smaak and another featuring Madcon.

This is an essential package! Whoever put this together obviously knew what they were doing, and all is placed in chronological order. Discs 1-3 are a terrific compilation of material from the MGM years, consisting of commercial recordings of soundtrack materal. If no recording was commercially released, the original soundtrack is used-great for such numbers as "Hoe Down" with Mickey Rooney! But the last disc makes this package essential-here is a pristine soundboard recording of Judy's final performance at the Palace Theater, MYC-2/24/52! She was concluding a 19-week engagement, and the atmosphere is electric. Fantastic stuff!

Pat Martino has released a duo album with Grammy Award-winning keyboard player/arranger Gil Goldstein. This is also a re-performance of their classic 1976 album "We'll Be Together Again." With that in mind, Gil dared to use a Fender Rhodes. The sound it produces has a healing taste that will soothe not only jazz fans but everyone. The compositions included are mainly famous jazz songs that are popular in Japan in response to offers from Japan, but also include Pat's originals.

George Benson Simply one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history, George Benson is an amazingly versatile musician whose adept skills find him crossing easily between straight-ahead jazz, smooth jazz, and contemporary R&B. Blessed with supreme taste, a beautiful, rounded guitar tone, terrific speed, a marvelous sense of logic in building solos, and, as always, an unquenchable urge to swing, Benson's inspirations may have been Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, but his style is completely his own. Not only can he play lead brilliantly, he is also one of the best rhythm guitarists around, supportive to soloists and a dangerous swinger, particularly in a soul-jazz format; skills he first garnered attention for as a member of Brother Jack McDuff's band in the early '60s. Benson can also sing in a lush, soulful tenor with mannerisms similar to those of Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway. In a sense, he is the guitar-playing equivalent of Nat King Cole, a fantastic instrumentalist whose smooth way with a pop vocal helped solidify his prowess in the marketplace. It is this combination of singing and guitar playing that has garnered him numerous accolades and chart success, including most notably his 1976 breakthrough Breezin', which topped the pop, R&B, and jazz charts and took home Grammy Awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Record of the Year.

Since 2014, drummer/bandleader Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth have led an incredible collective of musicians brought together as a groove-based funk, hip-hop and jazz group which has amassed a global audience. With Mustard n’Onions – the follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Swagism – the band brings the funk to new levels with an album of originals featuring bassist MonoNeon (Prince), keyboardist Dominique Xavier Taplin (Toto), saxophonist/arranger Sylvester “Sly5thave'' Onyejiaka and more alongside special guest keyboardist and legend Bernard Wright.

Duke Jordan Trio and Quintet is an album by American pianist Duke Jordan recorded in 1955 and first released on released on Don Schlitten's Signal label before being acquired by the Savoy label.

Bassist Red Mitchell, who had led two fairly obscure sessions for Bethlehem in 1955, came up with a gem on his lone Contemporary set as a leader. Based in Los Angeles at the time, Mitchell utilized pianist Lorraine Geller and two up-and-coming players: James Clay (who splits his time between tenor and flute) and, in one of his first recording sessions, drummer Billy Higgins. The quartet performs then-recent tunes by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Clifford Brown ("Sandu"), a pair of Mitchell originals, "Scrapple From the Apple" and "Cheek to Cheek." Despite Higgins' and (to a lesser extent) Clay's connections with Ornette Coleman, the music is strictly high-quality modern mainstream bop of the era. Easily recommended to collectors of straight-ahead jazz.

The fourth volume in Verve's Verve Remixed series was a long time in coming considering how quickly the label spit out the first three. Nonetheless, it is a welcome addition to that shelf if remixes are your personal thang. This set concentrates, once more, on vocalists, and the array is rather startling on the surface, though it's sequenced beautifully. As with any of these packages some cuts work better than others, but there are some true highlights here. Marlena Shaw's reading of Ashford & Simpson's "California Soul" is given a killer treatment by Diplo and Mad Decent, keeping the entire thing rooted in its source material and stretching it with judiciously added bits of early funk, Ramsey Lewis-style soul-jazz, and hip-hop…

This LP for Prestige helped establish alto sax giant McLean on the jazz scene. He was joined by trumpeter Donald Byrd (who shines with the altoist on Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation”) and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley (also bopping hard on the tune), in a date solidified by McLean’s rhythm section: Mal Waldron on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums. McLean also plays ballads, including Waldron’s sublime tune “Abstraction.” Writing in the original notes, Ira Gitler said, ”Jackie McLean is musically coming of age. His playing, out of Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, has become a personalized, more individual voice in 1956 and he has not lost any of the basic emotion, swinging qualities that help his style live up to the second syllable of his last name so well.” Hybrid Mono SACD for sale individually and as part of Analogue Productions’ Prestige Mono Series. Mini "old style" gatefold jacket packaging.

The Classics volume on Anita O'Day covering 1945 through 1950 takes her through the first five years of her solo career - after her breakout with Gene Krupa (and "Let Me Off Uptown"), but before the immense success of her Verve years. The only hit present is the bright novelty "Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip," but fortunately O'Day didn't record many castoffs then; instead, par for the course during the late '40s was her bluesy romp version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?," another Cole Porter tune recorded at the same session. Her sweetly swinging versions of "Them There Eyes" and "I Told Ya I Love You, Now Get Out" are excellent, and the backing includes high-caliber musicians Benny Carter, Dave Barbour, and pianist/arranger Ralph Burns.

Let the sound of the night drums and the cry of the horns empower you! The cratediggers of Jazz Dispensary are proud to present a collection of jams propelled by the spirit of nature, protest, and freedom, featuring songs from pioneering musicians Joe Henderson, Gary Bartz, Ran Blake, Azar Lawrence, A.K. Salim, and The Dungills.

Ndidi Onukwulu integrates jazz, rhythm and blues, world, folk, and bluegrass - to name a few genres - into a sound that is silky and soulful, whimsical and relevant"- Critics At Large

A monumental innovator, icon, and maverick, trumpeter Miles Davis helped define the course of jazz as well as popular culture in the 20th century, bridging the gap between bebop, modal music, funk, and fusion. Throughout most of his 50-year career, Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. It was a style that, along with his brooding stage persona, earned him the nickname "Prince of Darkness." However, Davis proved to be a dazzlingly protean artist, moving into fiery modal jazz in the '60s and electrified funk and fusion in the '70s, drenching his trumpet in wah-wah pedal effects along the way.

In lieu of picking up one of the trumpeter's fine Blue Note releases (Una Mas, Whistle Stop), listeners new to the work of Kenny Dorham should definitely consider this somewhat overlooked Riverside date from 1959. The set features plenty of Dorham's varied and sophisticated horn work and four of his top-drawer originals. The theme is spring, and Dorham responds with his soon to be jazz standard "Spring Is Here" and three other fine seasonal tributes: the title track, "Poetic Spring," and "Spring Cannon." This last cut is also a tribute to Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, who guests in fine style here with a bevy of fleet and highly melodic solos. Rounding out the group, baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne, French horn player David Amram, and pianist Cedar Walton add very nicely to the album's breezy yet provocative air. Essential listening for Dorham fans.

History of Soul Records presents the third of a series of anthologies covering the genesis of soul music. Part of the History of Soul series, this double CD presents 56 breathtaking blues and spiritual tracks and some of the most impassioned, compelling vocal performances ever to be recorded. The accompanying illustrated booklet sets out the historical background and explains some of the technical features that make these beautiful songs the precursors of soul music. The Five Blind Boys Save A Seat For Me, Dorothy Coates righteous 99 And A Half, the Soul Stirrers pop-infused yet impassioned Touch the Hem Of His Garment and the Staple Singers glowering Uncloudy Day are not mere stylistic affectations. The uncompromising emotional fire of these records directly reflects the struggles of their times. Similarly, the declamatory exuberance of Ray Charles s call and response classic I ve Got A Woman, the lived-through resilience of BB King s Ten Long Years and the forthrightness of Bobby Bland s It s My Life Baby all speak directly of a new-found African American boldness, the boldness of the self-validated and the determinedly free spirited. These are the sounds and soul of those reclaiming their seat of choice on the bus. Exuberance and rebellion, individuality and community, pain and joy, nature and spirit: this is the music of people who refused oppression.