Here's Louis from his first flush of success at the Famous Door in New York City. Backed by his New Orleans gang, Prima's distinctive style was already emerging on material like "How'm I Doin'," "Plain Old Me," "Sweet Sue," "Lazy River," "Dinah," and the original version of "Sing Sing Sing." Although the backing is strictly New Orleans (and thus a long way stylistically from his later Capitol sides with Sam Butera & the Witnesses), most of the tunes boast the highly inventive clarinet work of Pee Wee Russell, and Prima's horn is well to the fore on these sides. One for hardcore Prima fans.

Altoist/arranger Benny Carter's classic Further Definitions is a revisiting, instrumentation-wise, to the famous 1937 session that Carter and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins made in France with two top European saxophonists (Andre Ekyan and Alix Combelle) and guitarist Django Reinhardt. The all-star group (which also includes Hawkins, altoist Phil Woods, Charlie Rouse on second tenor, pianist Dick Katz, guitarist John Collins, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Jo Jones) performs a particularly inspired repertoire. Carter's charts, which allow Hawkins to stretch out on "Body and Soul," give everyone a chance to shine. "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Crazy Rhythm" hold their own with the 1937 versions, and "Blue Star" and "Doozy" prove to be two of Carter's finest originals. Although Benny Carter was not actively playing much at the time (this was his only small-group recording during 1963-1975), he is heard in typically prime form. Very highly recommended.

On this album, jazz guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli pays simultaneous tribute to the pop music of his adolescence (Steely Dan, Billy Joel, the Allman Brothers, Elvis Costello) and the jazz tradition in which he, as a member of the celebrated Pizzarelli dynasty, was steeped from his earliest years. The album title refers to the fact that the program takes classic pop songs and puts them in jazz settings: thus you'll hear a cool bossa nova arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris," a completely natural lounge-lizard setting of Tom Waits' "Drunk on the Moon," and a hard-swinging, boppish version of James Taylor's "Traffic Jam" that sounds like it was written for the Manhattan Transfer and incorporates the Joe Henderson composition "The Kicker."

This issue of Buddy DeFranco's recordings as a leader of both a quintet and an orchestra between 1949 and 1952 is a welcome one. The material on these 24 cuts is standard fare from the swing era, which was way over by 1949, but it proves that DeFranco knew how to lead a big band and swing hard as a soloist in a quintet setting - especially with the company he kept. Some of his crew on these sides include Serge Chaloff, Teddy Charles, Teddy Kotick, Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Jimmy Raney, and Al Cohn, just to name a few. Arrangements for these tunes were done by DeFranco, George Russell, and Manny Albam, which gives the listener a taste of the varied sonic interests of the great clarinetist. The sound on these sides is a tiny bit thin, but that's a minor complaint. The material swings no matter the arrangement or the size of the band. This is an intimate look at an often overlooked jazz great.

Buck Clayton played smooth trumpet, warm and precise every step of the way. The first session included here appeared under the nominal leadership of Count Basie's rhythm guitarist, Freddie Green. After Lucky Thompson introduces "I'm in the Mood for Love," Sylvia Sims sings the lyric in attractive, easygoing tones. The flip side, an uncredited original called "Sugar Hips," is a typical mid-1945 exercise in what was at the time called both "rebop" and "bebop." Swing was now ready to morph into music of greater rhythmic and harmonic complexity. This track provides a fine example of Shadow Wilson's superb handling of hi-hat and drums. Sammy Benskin demonstrates a fine, muscular pianism. Dicky Wells seems to enjoy riding along on a tide of what were at the time decisively modern changes…

Cole Porter was one of a handful of American musical colossi. He had the genius to conjure up improbable rhyming lyrics to catchy melodies delivering not only a single song but as often or not a whole conundrum of numbers collected within the sphere of a show. This collection of 40 songs exemplifies the talent of Cole Porter and is a testament (tribute) to his longevity in musical history. Wit, humour, sophistication, rhythmic and key changes are small change to his ability.Who else could win a challenge to produce 'Miss Otis Regrets' after questioned whether he could write lyrics from the next words he heard? The cast of star celebrities in this collection say it all. Sinatra, Bennett,Crosby, Ella, Billie,Nat,Marlene, Judy to name a few. Also, the bigger bands of not so long ago, Nat Gonella, Jack Hylton, Geraldo. These need preservation orders and what better than endorse the master composer Mr Cole Porter? Add this to your collection.

Dear Mr. Cole is a Nat King Cole tribute album by jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli. "This CD was made exclusively for the Japanese market, the brainstorm of BMG representative Ikuyoshi Hirakawa. He wanted me to record the favorite songs of Nat Cole as voted by the readers of the Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal. They also voted on the trio they wanted to record it and that was myself (John Pizzarelli), Christian McBride (bass) and Benny Green (piano). We recorded it over a two-day period in NYC at Clinton Studios. The CD was received very well in Japan and was subsequently released on the heels of New Standards in the states."

Singing trombonist Jack Teagarden came up in the jazz and dance bands of his native Texas and the surrounding territories. By the end of the '20s he was making noise with the Eddie Condon mob in New York City, where the South-and-Midwesterners quickly learned that authentic, New Orleans-Chicago-styled jazz could be performed in public if you didn't need to eat more than one meal per day. The paying gigs were with society dance bands, and Teagarden made ends meet during the first half of 1930 by serving in the brass sections of orchestras under the direction of Ben Selvin and Sam Lanin, as well as the toothpowder and toothpaste-affiliated Ipana Troubadours. This type of economic problem solving would lead to his being contractually tethered to the Paul Whiteman Orchestra during the years 1933-1939. In 2006, the Jazz Oracle label released a thrilling 25-track collection of recordings that document Teagarden's professional activity during the first grueling months of the Great Depression.

Companion Soundtrack to the James Erskine-directed documentary on the breathtaking talent of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday featured with her band, The Sonhouse All Stars, performing her classic works including I Only Have Eyes For You, God Bless The Child, Strange Fruit and more. Billie features newly unearthed interviews from those who knew Holiday best — Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie among them.

While director Francis Coppola's potboiling crime drama set against the gloriously tumultuous backdrop of Harlem's famed Cotton Club nightspot of the '20s and '30s didn't quite come together as a cinematic whole, John Barry's efforts at supervising, scoring, and recreating the energetic jive and wail of the era very nearly carry the day. The opportunity was likely a dream come true for the former jazzman turned film scorer; his adaptations of standards by Ellington and Cab Calloway are reverent yet energetic, infused by original music that weaves it into an accessible and rewarding tapestry of time, place, and art. Great soundtrack.

Honoring the enduring inspiration of Frank Sinatra, That’s Life is Willie Nelson’s second album of classics made famous by The Chairman Of The Board. Willie’s first ode to Frank, 2018's My Way, earned Willie the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Solo Album, and That's Life finds Nelson (who has penned a few standards himself) inhabiting 11 more of the most treasured songs in the Great American Songbook including the title track, "Luck Be A Lady,” "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "I Won't Dance" (a duet featuring Diana Krall).

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks - Original Recordings (1969) {Epic–Sony Music WK 75053 rel 1991}
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© 1969, 1991 Epic / CBS / Sony Music Special Products | WK 75053
Rock / Jazz Blues / Western Swing Revival / Contry Rock / Country Folk

Original Recordings was Dan Hicks' initial solo effort as well as the debut of his "Hot Licks." Unlike the overamplified electric jug band music that the Charlatans had been creating during Hicks' stint as their drummer and occasional vocalist, this new band performed a refreshing blend of jazz swing with country & western. Their understated performance style stood in stark contrast to the burgeoning heavy metal and acid rock that were en vogue as the '60s became the '70s. Featured on this album is a seminal version of the "Hot Licks" that were only together briefly.

Buddy Rich - Big Swing Face (1967) {Pacific Jazz CDP 7243 8 37989 2 6 rel 1996}
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© 1967, 1996 Pacific Jazz / Capitol Records | CDP 7243 8 37989 2 6
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Mainstream Jazz / Swing / Drums

This album came out a year after I'd caught Rich with Sinatra, a period when, above all, the great drummer wasn't afraid to swing! Beginning in 1968 Rich, like so many other jazz musicians, practically became paranoid of the walking-bass 4/4 swing pattern that had served everyone from Basie to Charlie Parker to Bill Evans so well. A pulse as fundamental to life as a heart beating or a lung breathing was no longer sufficiently "emphatic" to be heard, or understood, by the '60s generation. Rich tried to "connect" with the Beatles-Stones audience by going to a quasi-rock repertory along with the addition of electric bass. Fortunately, this phase lasted for only several years, and by 1974 Rich was once again validating the swing tradition of Basie, Goodman, Dorsey and his own roots.

Genre-defying, Grammy Award-winning band The Mavericks have announced the November 2nd release of their first-ever holiday album, Hey! Merry Christmas!. Always a group to forge their own path, The Mavericks wrote eight original songs for Hey! Merry Christmas! featuring the group's distinctive blend of rockabilly Latino, folk, swing, blues, jazz, and more.