In 1963, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin persuaded Duke Ellington to see her future husband, Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand), play in a club in Europe. Ellington was impressed by both of the recent South African émigrés and arranged with Reprise to record them. While Brand's record came out within a year, Benjamin's debut was lost and not heard for decades, even by the singer. As it turned out, engineer Gerhard Lehner had made a second copy and kept it for all of these years, so the initial 1997 release of this important session was possible. Backed by pianist Ibrahim, bassist Johnny Gertze, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, and (on two songs apiece) Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, and occasionally joined by violinist Svend Asmussen (who here plays exclusively pizzicato, as if he were using a high-pitched guitar), Benjamin's voice sounds quite beautiful…

Pianist and singer Patricia Barber's second album (and major-label debut) is a consistently interesting, but not always completely rewarding, array of original instrumentals, vocal standards, and surprise cover versions. The arrangement of "Summertime" that opens the program is eerie almost to the point of creepiness, and all the more effective for it: after a long instrumental prelude, Barber sings the lyrics over the most minimal bass-and-piano unison pedal point, her voice goosed with reverb and wailing softly like a ghost. "Subway Station #5," the original composition that follows, is nervous, jumpy, barely tonal, and moves niftily from a contrapuntal and polyrhythmic introduction into a straight swing section…

Very Truly Yours was released in 1955 and was the first album that Jimmy Scott recorded for the Savoy label. After spending the better part of a decade singing in ensembles, first with Lionel Hampton and then with the New Orleans bandleader Paul Gayten, Scott was poised to make a name for himself as a solo artist. These dozen songs, executed with a small jazz combo supporting him (including Charles Mingus on bass), find Scott in beautiful voice, confidently investing himself in well-chosen covers as well as some of his own great originals. From the opening number ("Imagination"), it's clear that you're hearing a rare and expressive voice.

With 2022's Fifty, Grammy-winning vocal quartet the Manhattan Transfer celebrate their 50th birthday in illustrious fashion, collaborating with Germany's WDR Funkhausorchester. Founded in the 1960s by the late Tim Hauser, the Manhattan Transfer helped repopularize '40s-style vocal harmony jazz, swing, and traditional pop, all while incorporating contemporary pop and dance elements. Here, original members Janis Siegel and Alan Paul, along with longtime member Cheryl Bentyne and Trist Curless (who joined after Hauser's passing in 2014), look back on the group's albums and revisit some of their favorite songs.

Much can be said about the late Amy Winehouse, one of the U.K.'s flagship vocalists during the 2000s. The British press and tabloids seemed to focus on her rowdy behavior, heavy consumption of alcohol, and tragic end, but fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals. Her platinum-selling breakthrough album, Frank (2003), elicited comparisons ranging from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan to Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill. Interestingly enough, despite her strong accent and vernacular, one can often hear aspects of each of those singers' vocal repertoires in Winehouse's own voice. Nonetheless, her allure had always been her songwriting – almost always deeply personal but best known for its profanity and brutal candor.

Susannah McCorkle suceeds where others have failed on her latest release for Concord Jazz titled, From Broken Hearts to Blue Skies. Her silky voice wraps around the classic Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington "Something to Live For," like a velvet envelope. Filled with emotional yearning, her interpretations render the listener motionless, rapt in the charisma of her phrasing and nuance. Many of the songs are indicative of broken-hearted love including "Losing Hand," a Ray Charles blues favorite from the '50s about a woman with a man gone astray. But McCorkle changes her tune and rebounds with a vibrant remedy on "I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle," in classic Bessie Smith style. Susannah McCorkle suceeds as the voice of authority, a voice that has feeling and experience and one that respects the original content of each song…

For this studio set, Anita O'Day performs with the Lou Levy trio and guests Ernie Watts on reeds, percussionist Paulinho Da Costa and either Laurindo Almeida or Joe Diorio on guitar. She mostly sticks to fresher material, some of it of more recent vintage than usual. High points include "Lost in the Stars," "You're My Everything," "Them There Eyes," "Limehouse Blues" and several bossa nova pieces. This LP, although not essential, is worth picking up.