Comprised of vocalist Petra Magoni and bassist Ferruccio Spinetti, Musica Nuda are an Italian vocal jazz-pop duo whose popularity carried over to neighboring countries, especially France, during the mid-2000s. Born in Pisa, Tuscany, on July 28, 1972, Magoni studied music at the Conservatory of Leghorn and at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Milan. A versatile singer, she performed opera at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa early in her career while at the same time fronting a local rock group, Senza Freni. Petra Magoni (1996) marked her full-length solo album debut and was followed by a second solo album, Mulini a Vento (1997). She subsequently adopted the moniker Sweet Anima and released an eponymous album of English-language songs written by Lucio Battisti in 2000. In addition, she collaborated with Giampaolo Antoni in the electro-pop duo Aromatic, which resulted in the album Still Alive (2004). Most successful among her recording ventures, however, was Musica Nuda, a vocal jazz-pop collaboration with Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel bassist Ferruccio Spinetti that made its critically acclaimed eponymous album debut in 2004.

This album is definitely a transitional one for Anita O'Day. Four of the dozen performances are taken from June 1963. Her trio joins the singer on four of her "hits" ("Sweet Georgia Brown," "Boogie Blues," "Tea for Two" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"), which were O'Day's final recordings until 1970 due to personal problems. The remainder of this set is from 1975-76, with several trios backing O'Day on a repertoire dominated by swing standards. Although her voice was not as young, O'Day was still in good form at that point, making this album a worthwhile acquisition for her fans.

This lovely jazz vocalist recorded something like 150 songs for the Atlantic label alone, about a quarter of which are collected here on this double-CD set. Fans may fear a set of poor song choices with such a large number of recordings to choose from, but the songstress herself was involved in the compiling, working with an enthusiastic producer who seems to get a bigger kick out of music than anyone on the planet, Joel Dorn. This collection comes with his usual send-offs, dripping with camaraderie, and a sense of deep appreciation for the works of art he is presenting. These recordings brings us a voice with all the colors of the rainbow dropped into one swinging and well thought out instrumental combination after another. Jazz fans can listen for blowing from top-flight players such as Frank Foster, Al Cohn, Maynard Ferguson (his tracks are also recommended for dogs as well as jazz fans), Jaki Byard, Oliver Nelson, and Clark Terry. Even the mighty Mongo Santamaria is on hand. Chris Connor and her arrangers must have had pretty consistent good taste with their choice of material, because there are less lemons in the batch than one might expect skipping around through more than a dozen albums spread out over an equal number of years.~Eugene Chadbourne

When Rosemary Clooney recorded for Concord in the '80s and '90s, her voice was noticeably thinner than it had been in the '50s. This isn't to say that she sounded bad - despite her limitations and the fact that she didn't have the range or chops of her youth, Clooney could still win you over with her sensitive interpretations of lyrics. And Concord deserves credit for generally providing her with talented arrangers and musicians, as well as tasteful material (as opposed to the type of novelty items she was often given at Columbia in the '50s). On At Long Last, the singer is united with the Count Basie ghost orchestra, which is directed by trombonist Grover Mitchell. Although Clooney was a jazzy pop singer rather than a true jazz singer, the Basie band is definitely a jazz band, and it definitely swings hard on familiar standards like "Old Devil Moon," "Willow Weep for Me" and "Just in Time." Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" is especially revealing…

Vocalese is the eighth studio album by Jazz band The Manhattan Transfer, released in 1985 on the Atlantic Records. This album is considered to be The Manhattan Transfer's most critically acclaimed album. It received 12 Grammy nominations, making it second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller as the most nominated individual album. It also received extremely high ratings from music critics, including a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating from Allmusic. The album peaked at number 2 on the Top Jazz Albums and number 74 on the Billboard 200. The album's title Vocalese refers to a style of music that sets lyrics to previously recorded jazz instrumental pieces. The vocals then reproduce the sound and feel of the original instrumentation. Jon Hendricks, proficient in this art, composed all of the lyrics for this album.

"Four!!!"; "This Is Hampton Hawes: The Trio Vol. 2"; "For Real!" plus eight tracks from "Everybody Loves Hampton Hawes-The Trio Vol.3" (minus 2 x tracks due to timing constraints).

For their 20th anniversary Club des Belugas are releasing a 3-CD album "Best of 2002 - 2022", with 51 tracks and a total playing time of 3 hours and 50 minutes. A compilation of the best-selling tracks on the one hand, and what the band believes to be the best tracks on the other (which is often, but not always, identical). Club des Belugas is one of the leading Nujazz bands in Europe, perhaps in the world. They combine contemporary European Electro, Lounge & Nujazz Styles with Brazilian Beats, Swing and American Black Soul of the fifties, sixties and seventies using their unique creativity and intensity. Since 2002 they released 12 studio albums, a 2CD live album, a live DVD, 22 singles, 1 EP and a 3 CD album BEST OF 2002 - 2022.

Switzerland-born singer Susanne Abbuehl studied with the influential vocalist Jeanne Lee (1939-2000) while attending the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, amidst her wholehearted interest in North Indian classical music. On her first release for ECM, Abbuehl and her fellow European musicians render an often thought-provoking program, augmented by the infamous "ECM aesthetic." However, the thrust of this outing emanates from the vocalist's incorporation of e.e. cummings' poems set to her music, while she appoints lyrics to a few Carla Bley compositions. Abbuehl possesses enticingly affectionate vocal attributes coupled with her soft incantations and atmospheric means of spinning a tale. Clarinetist Christof May serves as a near perfect foil for Abbuehl, as he frequently contrasts the singer's animated lyrical approach and tenderly stated choruses…

Maybe you can't hold on to a dream, but dreams can trigger strong emotional cross-currents. And so it was for singer Malia on her popular, long-lived Echoes of Dreams .Released in 2004, the songs on that album form the basis for her new recording, Ripples . It is not a remake in the normal sense; rather, these emotive ebbs and flows are direct links to this British-African artist's highly emotional acknowledgement of her roots. Accompanied by pianist Alexandre Saada's sensitive play and his arrangements for the string trio, Malia has radically stripped down her original work, moving from the playful pop-jazz style of her earlier career towards a raw, blues and soul-drenched sound that, more than ever, relies on the strength and passion of her voice.

Roberta Flack enjoyed delayed gratification with her debut, First Take. The album came out in 1969, but it didn’t reach #1 on the pop and R&B charts until 1972, after a song from the record – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – was featured in Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film, Play Misty for Me. The song would stay atop the singles chart for six weeks in 1972 before winning the Grammy® Award for Record of the Year in 1973.

The most beautiful jazz swing songs by Slim Pickins & His Twenty-Niners, Skip Martin & His Prohibitionists, The Storyville Stompers and many more on one compilation!

As the Manhattan Transfer went on, so did the legacy of the jazz vocal ensemble. In that regard, though the competition was scarce, this group did elevate the art form to a higher level without much compromise. This two-CD, 39-track compilation represents many of the high points of the group. If anything is missing, some of the vocalese influenced by Eddie Jefferson should have been included. Still most fans will recognize "Ray's Rockhouse," "Route 66," "Four Brothers," "Tuxedo Junction," "That Cat Is High," "(Sing) Joy Spring," and their immortal take of the Jon Hendricks lyric to "Birdland." Unless it is a complete collection, you'd be hard pressed to find a better grouping of the Manhattan Transfer's prime body of works.

Francis Albert Sinatra (/sɪˈnɑːtrə/; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and producer. Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century. Sinatra is among the world's best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million record sales globally.
Born to Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era and was influenced by the easy-listening vocal style of Bing Crosby. He joined the Harry James band as the vocalist in 1939 before finding success as a solo artist after signing with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers".

Mark Murphy's 2005 Verve album, Once to Every Heart, focused on the veteran jazz vocalist's rare, even singular ability with ballads and torch songs. Produced by Till Brönner, the great flügelhorn player, it was an album that brought Murphy's name back toward - if not into - the jazz mainstream and offered another side of his work to the ever hip European DJs who revere his catalog. Love Is What Stays is a deeply satisfying and, in places, even astonishing reflection on time and its passage. Memory, reverie, regrets, victories, hipster mysticism, and wonderfully canny theatrically poetic wordplay all come to bear in these songs. Released 50 years after his debut - when he was already being hailed as one of the music's great singers - it is more adventurous and downright wily in its aims than anyone could have hoped for. And those aims? They are reached with relative ease. The group of players is no less wide ranging: Lee Konitz makes an appearance…

Kandace Springs' latest project, recorded in collaboration with the Academia de Música de Espinho's Orquestra Clássica de Espinho, is a heartfelt and sonically gorgeous tribute to one of her favorite artists, Billie Holiday, and her last great album, Lady in Satin. That album, comprising 12 songs from the great American songbook, was recorded in 1958 with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Ray Ellis.Kandace and the Academia spared no effort and expense in re-crea1ng and reimagining the sound and feel of that original recording, and the resulting creation has a romantic lushness that is rarely heard in music today.Classic songs, a critically, acclaimed orchestra, beautiful arrangements, and the soaring, soulful voice of Kandace Springs, all combine to make this record a milestone in her career.