VA - The Very Best Jazz Vocalists (2015)

This 60 track collection is a wonderful review of jazz singing styles and a chance to hear both the most well known "names" along with the jazz singers that fans would travel miles to see and hear. The earliest recordings comes from the Second World War era and it will not surprise you to know that it is the band and voice of Cab Calloway CD1/16 & CD3/10. Louis Jordan offers one of his well known numbers CD2/18 & CD3/6. The most well known and identifiable trumpet player of the 20th Century was surely Louis Armstrong and his vocal style of scat singing can be heard on some mainstream recordings which were highly popular. Likewise the magical pairing of Louis and Ella gets a well deserved airing too. I can see the LPs of both sat beside the record player of a local watch repairer…he found there music the perfect accompaniment to carrying out repairs. Others may well have preferred the smokey haunts and late nights but this chap had his own way of relaxin'. Not everyone will agree that Frank Sinatra was a jazz singer and perhaps the bar room setting he used for "One for My Baby" is the focus of his non easy listening style but he was mainly "middle of the road". The songs chosen her are Songbook classics with the great arrangements. Fine performances from a great song stylist.

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. Billie Holiday - I Get A Kick Out Of You
02. Nat 'King' Cole - Let There Be Love
03. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Summertime
04. Ray Charles - Hit The Road Jack
05. Etta James - At Last
06. Mel Torme - Comin' Home Baby
07. Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me
08. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
09. Sarah Vaughan - Baby It's Cold Outside
10. Mark Murphy - Milestones
11. Betty Carter - One Note Samba
12. Louis Armstrong - Mack The Knife
13. Maxine Sullivan - S'Posin'
14. Jimmy Scott - If You Only Knew
15. Dinah Washington - What A Difference A Day Makes
16. Cab Calloway - The Jumpin' Jive
17. Peggy Lee - Why Don't You Do Right?
18. Oscar Brown Jr. - Where Or When
19. Johnny Hartman - Blue Skies
20. Jimmy Witherspoon - Hey, Mrs Jones

CD2:

21. Frank Sinatra - I've Got You Under My Skin
22. Nina Simone - Love Me Or Leave Me
23. Oscar Brown Jr. - Work Song
24. Anita O' Day - Mister Sandman
25. Chet Baker - My Funny Valentine
26. Eartha Kitt - I Want To Be Evil
27. Jimmy Witherspoon - I Ain't Mad At You, Pretty Baby
28. Mark Murphy - Doodlin'
29. Peggy Lee - Fever
30. Big Joe Turner - Switchin' In The Kitchen
31. Mel Torme - Too Darn Hot
32. Etta James - I Just Want To Make Love To You
33. Louis Armstrong - La Vie En Rose
34. Lou Rawls & The Les McCann Trio - (They Call It) Stormy Monday
35. Nat 'King' Cole - Just One Of Those Things
36. Ruth Brown - I Can't Hear A Word You Say
37. Ray Charles - Greenbacks
38. Louis Jordan - Choo Choo Ch' Boogie
39. Jon Hendricks - Feed Me
40. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Dream A Little Dream Of Me

CD3:

41. Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy
42. Mark Murphy - Why Don't You Do Right?
43. Carmen McRae - Take Five (With The Dave Brubeck Quartet)
44. Bobby Darin - Beyond The Sea
45. Julie London - Cry Me A River
46. Louis Jordan - Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
47. Ruth Brown - Let's Face The Music And Dance
48. Tony Bennett - The Best Is Yet To Come
49. Blossom Dearie - You've Got Something I Want
50. Cab Calloway & His Orchestra - Minnie The Moocher
51. Nina Simone - I Loves You Porgy
52. Cannonball Adderley & Nancy Wilson - Happy Talk
53. Etta James - Almost Like Being In Love
54. Mel Torme - Right Now
55. Billie Holiday - You Go To My Head
56. Nat 'King' Cole - Unforgettable
57. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Cheek To Cheek
58. Ray Charles - Get On The Right Track Baby
59. Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)
60. Oscar Brown Jr. - Mr. Kicks