Kellylee Evans' interest in jazz was accidental. Lost on the campus of Ottawa's Carleton University, where she studied law and English, she mistakenly reached the music department and fell for what she heard. A vocalist who crosses between jazz and mature retro-R&B, her career received a push in 2004 when she finished second in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, judged by the likes of Quincy Jones, Flora Purim, and Al Jarreau. She debuted independently in 2006 with Fight or Flight, which was nominated for a Juno Award and followed the next year by a live version. Nina, a pared-down tribute to Nina Simone, as well as The Good Girl, were released in 2010. The former won a Juno Award in the category of Best Vocal Jazz Album. Collection includes: Fight or Flight? (2006); The Good Girl (2010); I Remember When (2013).

‘Mingus’, the album by Joni Mitchell from 1975 is the result of a 45-minute meeting arranged by Mingus’s wife between Mitchell, who was drifting towards a style of music jazzier than her previous output and Charles Mingus. Mingus was sadly waiting to die from motor neurons disease. Unable to play, he was bored, and his wife was keen to get him interested in something. Mingus sang the melodies into a tape recorder, chords were added by Sy Johnson, and Joni wrote the lyrics and organised the recording sessions. The band on the album were members of Weather Report. Mingus died before the project was complete. To ensure enough material was ready for the album, Joni added a song of her own ‘Wolf’. The album was cooly received by admirers of both musicians.

A nice compilation of jazz lounge, to spend the evening with a glass of fine wine. Eddie Higgins, Steve Kuhn, Ted Rosenthal, Nicki Parrott, Enrico Rava, Eddie Alen, Phil Woods, and more, and more…

Four is a winner: that was the unanimous opinion of critics and audiences alike on the first album from German-Swedish supergroup 4 Wheel Drive. The eponymous debut disc from this band of bandleaders went straight to the top spot as best-selling jazz album in Germany for2019. And the media didn’t hold back with their praise either: “Four first-league jazz musicians with pure joy of playing and a love of good pop music”, said ZDF’s “heute-journal” about this spirited and enjoyable group, which combines trombonist/singer Nils Landgren, pianist Michael Wollny, bassist/cellist Lars Danielsson and drummer Wolfgang Haffner. AllAboutJazz, a leading American jazz website, asked whether this album might be worth adding to a listener’s collection, and answered the question succinctly:”4 sure”.

Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer and Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima have some things in common. As artists, each is essentially in a category completely of his own. Both are musicians who can always conjure something special from their chosen instruments.

Based in Tokyo, Keiko Higuchi is a vocalist and instrumentalist internationally renowned both for her solo performances and extensive collaborations in the world of underground improvisation, jazz and the avant garde. On Vertical Language, Higuchi has created an evocative and hauntingly beautiful album that unfurls in equal parts light and darkness, form and emptiness. On solo voice and piano as well as in duets with bassist Louis Inage, Higuchi performs a collection of songs and improvisations that take unexpected paths; her voice and piano starkly, soulfully emerge. They gradually take form as sparse notes resonate and build into intense layers of sound. The music is unvarnished and deeply personal- it embraces traditional Japanese and spiritual musics as well as even jazz and bossa nova but never completely turning itself over to their familiar forms.

Rene Marie's second CD for MaxJazz is, for the most part, a very enjoyable CD. This extremely gifted singer has a very appealing voice and is a talented arranger as well. Her playful arrangement of "Them There Eyes," with bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, is very refreshing, with some fine scat singing, too. Her unusually deliberate and rather sexy take of "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" adds pianist Mulgrew Miller and also has some fine scat singing, too. Her Latin chart for "I Only Have Eyes for You" proves catchy, with some tasty guitar playing from John Hart. "It's All Right With Me" is slowed to a snail's pace with Chris Potter's noodling bass clarinet and Hurst's brooding bass backing her powerful vocal…

After trying her hand at writing her own vintage-inspired material with 2014's Into Colour, singer Rumer returns to her core inspiration of covering classic '60s and '70s pop with 2016's sophisticated This Girl's in Love (A Bacharach & David Songbook). Produced by her husband and longtime collaborator Rob Shirakbari at Capitol Studios, This Girl's in Love finds Rumer applying her supple vocals and soft-focus aesthetic to songs written by the legendary team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. While Rumer has most certainly sung many of these songs in live settings, it's surprising, given her association with the time period, that she's never actually recorded any of this material in the past.

The most beautiful lounge & jazz songs by Roger Beck, Rever Sound, Nova Bossa Ltd. and many more on one compilation!

2 CD, 50 greatest hits. Petula Clark, Joan Baez, Brenda Lee, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Linda Ronstadt, Nina Simone, Connie Francis, Carole King, Cher, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Gloria Gaynor, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Olivia Newton-John, Judy Garland, Billy Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and more, and more…

Flip Phillips was a tenor saxophonist who came to the fore in the post-war era playing with the bands of Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Frankie Newton, and was perhaps most famously associated with Norman Granz’ Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts in the late ‘40s and into the 1950s.

Big Jay McNeely was an R&B saxophonist, whose music ran the gamut of R&B styles, from jazz-tinged pieces and pure blues to out-and-out rock ‘n’ roll, and was famous as one of the leaders in the “honkin’” saxophone style alongside the likes of Sam ‘The Man’ Taylor, King Curtis and Lee Allen, developing a wild stage act as he as he explored every sound the sax could make played in every bizarre position. He recorded for a variety of labels after making his debut with Johnny Otis, and this great-value 53-track 2-CD collection comprises A & B sides of his singles with his band The Blue Jays on the Savoy, Exclusive, Aladdin, Imperial, Veejay and Swingin’ labels, during this era. It features his R&B No. 1 with “Deacon’s Hop” in 1949 that immediately brought him to public attention, along with his other R&B hits “Wild Wig” and, from later years “There Is Something On Your Mind”. On some of his releases he featured vocalists like Clifford Blivens, Ted Shirley, Jesse Belvin, Mercy Dee Walton and Sonny Warner as well as organist Leon Haywood. He was one of the most distinctive and unusual R&B artists of the ‘50s and this collection is an entertaining trawl across his primary recording career.

Annekei grew up in a family of music. Her parents were both jazz musicians and her 4 brothers - just like herself - mastered their instruments at a very young age. She sings, plays the piano and guitar in addition to writing and arranging her own material. At 19-years-old, Annekei moved from her home country, Denmark, to pursue her musical ambitions in New York City. In 2006 she signed with a Japanese label and released her self-titled debut album in September the same year. The single "Brother" made it to #4 on the Japanese charts within 2 weeks of release, rose to #1 vocal album on Japanese iTunes and landed her the title: "Best New Foreign Artist" at the AD LIB AWARDS 2006. Annekei 3rd solo album "Touch" produced by legendary guitarist Lee Ritenour and featuring a prolific group of musicians from Los Angeles.

Manchester-based jazzy pop group who scored hits in the 1980s, but remained relevant for decades.

Whirlwind is elated to announce the signing of internationally-acclaimed artist Natacha Atlas and her October 4th release Strange Days. Heralded as one of the world’s most distinctive voices, she’s carved a path synthesising western and middle eastern vocal traditions with mind-blowing dexterity. Natacha’s latest work sees her push vocal and musical boundaries even further by effortlessly weaving jazz traditions into her already unique blend.