For decades, Joe Mooney's only Atlantic LP, Joe Mooney's Songs, was out of print - and if a collector was able to find a rare copy at a vinyl swap meet, he/she knew that the thing to do was grab it at once. Then, in 1999, the album finally became available on CD when Koch Jazz reissued it as Lush Life. An intimate session that finds Mooney on vocals and organ, Lee Robinson on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums, Lush Life shows just how charismatic a singer Mooney could be. Some of Mooney's admirers compared his casual, smooth, relaxed style of singing to that of Nat King Cole, and while that isn't a bad comparison, Mooney's highly accessible versions of "Lush Life," "My One and Only Love," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and other standards point to the fact that he was most certainly his own man…

In 1993 the Giants of Jazz label released a collection drawing upon seven different Verve albums by Anita O'Day (1919-2006), a skilled and at times somewhat formidable vocalist who had the kind of chops and temperament usually associated with trumpeters, drummers, and booking agents. Recorded in early December 1955, "Honeysuckle Rose" first appeared on the album This Is Anita; technically speaking, this track falls outside of this collection's stated timeframe of 1956-1962. "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Don't Be That Way" come from Pick Yourself Up, an LP that took almost all of 1956 to create. "Star Eyes" as well as tracks one through seven were taken from Anita O'Day Sings the Winners, a 1958 release that found her backed by a somewhat slick orchestra under the direction of Russ Garcia. Anita O'Day seems to have spent a lot of time in the recording studios during April 1959; during that month she made a Cole Porter album with Billy May (cuts 13 through 21) and collaborated with Jimmy Giuffre on the Cool Heat album, from which "Hershey Bar" was extracted. During 1962 this stunning woman made an LP with Gene Harris and the Three Sounds (see track eight "Whisper Not") and teamed up with vibraphonist Cal Tjader on the marvelous Time for Two album, the source for her rendition of Dave Frishberg's pleasantly smutty opus, "Peel Me a Grape."

For Carly Simon, Film Noir is a way to explore traditional pop classics. Using smoky saloon songs like "Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye" as a blueprint, Simon and producer Jimmy Webb create a seductive, intimate atmosphere. Simon's vocals aren't naturally suited to this material, but she acquits herself well, and the two duets – one with Webb and one with John Travolta ("Two Sleepy People") – are charming additions to an ingratiating album.

Though his influence proved less durable than his record sales, Frankie Laine was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1950s, swinging jazz standards as well as half a dozen Western movie themes of the time with his manly baritone. Laine's somewhat artificial Western nature proved more successful in far-off England, where he set two chart records in 1953: his version of "I Believe" stayed at number one in the U.K. for an incredible 18 weeks, and his two subsequent chart-toppers that year ("Hey Joe," "Answer Me") set a record by putting Laine at number one for 27 weeks during the year.

After being a premier vocalist in the '60s, Warwick seemed to have hit a stylistic wall by the early '70s. By the time she signed with Warner Bros. in 1970, Warwick attempted many styles and producers. Then Came You, released in 1975, has her teaming with both Jerry Ragovoy and, for one track, Thom Bell. Jerry Ragovoy was a successful producer who had Garnet Mimms and Howard Tate among his credits. For this effort, Ragovoy assembled a strong New York session band, including John Tropea, Leon Pendarvis, and Bob Babbitt. The first track, "Take It From Me," has Warwick getting a more R&B styled production rather than MOR. That was perfect since her voice had matured, attaining an effortless warmth and ease. Here she wasn't so much an interpreter of "great material," her voice and charm were the primary draw. Ragovoy's track "Move Me No Mountain" has a Barry White-styled backing, and Warwick got a chance to be more sensual.

Tony Bennett’s first album of celebrity duets (2006's Duets: An American Classic) featured an impressive cast of superstars answering the call from the dean of pop vocalists, but the arrangements were overly safe – virtually all of them ballads with soft strings or brassy finger-snappers. Duets II follows the first by five years and features, surprisingly, a cast just as star-laden, but also arrangements that are much more dynamic, and suitable for each song and its participants. (Marion Evans, a veteran whose career goes back nearly as far as Bennett's, handles the charts for a few of the best here.)