COLEMAN HAWKINS - The Genius of Coleman Hawkins (1957-1986) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Genius may not be the right word, but "brilliance" certainly fits. At the age of 51 in 1957, Hawkins had already been on records for 35 years and had been one of the leading tenors for nearly that long. This date matches him with the Oscar Peterson Trio (plus drummer Alvin Stoller) for a fine run-through on standards. Hawk plays quite well, although the excitement level does not reach the heights of his sessions with trumpeter Roy Eldridge. by Scott Yanow

Tracklist:

1 I'll Never Be the Same 3:29

Gus Kahn / Matty Malneck / Frank Signorelli

2 You're Blasé 3:35

Ord Hamilton / Bruce Sievier

3 I Wished on the Moon 3:38

Dorothy Parker / Ralph Rainger

4 How Long Has This Been Going On? 3:54

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

5 Like Someone in Love 3:55

Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen

6 My Melancholy Baby 4:08

Ernie Burnett / George Norton

7 Ill Wind 5:33

Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler

8 In a Mellow Tone 4:45

Duke Ellington / Milt Gabler

9 There's No You 3:25

Tom Adair / Hal Hopper

10 The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise 3:49

Eugene Lockhart / Ernest Seitz

11 Somebody Loves Me 3:51

Buddy DeSylva / George Gershwin / Ballard MacDonald

12 Blues for Rene 3:03

Coleman Hawkins

Credits:
Bass – Ray Brown
Drums – Alvin Stoller
Guitar – Herb Ellis
Piano – Oscar Peterson
Producer [Original Session] – Norman Granz
Saxophone [Tenor] – Coleman Hawkins

FRED ASTAIRE - The Astaire Story (1953-1988) 2xCD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Because he was world renowned as a dancer and quite popular as a movie actor, Fred Astaire has tended to be underrated (if not completely overlooked) as a jazz singer. Although not really an improviser, Astaire's phrasing always swung and his occasional vocals on record were usually a joy. This two-CD set is something special for it features Astaire with six members of Jazz at the Philharmonic: tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips, trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Alvin Stoller. Astaire sings 34 swing standards (many of which he had originally introduced in movies), dances on three ad-lib numbers, and sits out on the instrumental "Jam Session"; the musicians have plenty of opportunities to stretch out. The biggest surprise to this classic deluxe box (which was originally four-LPs) is that Fred Astaire did not do similar projects more often throughout his career. Highly recommended. by Scott Yanow

Tracklist 1:

1 Isn't This a Lovely Day? 4:26

Irving Berlin

2 Puttin' on the Ritz 2:51

Irving Berlin

3 I Used to Be Color Blind 4:14

Irving Berlin

4 The Continental 3:28

Con Conrad / Herbert Magidson

5 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off 4:36

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

6 Change Partners 3:13

Irving Berlin

7 'S Wonderful 2:56

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

8 Lovely to Look At 3:26

Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern / Jimmy McHugh

9 They All Laughed 2:55

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

10 Cheek to Cheek 5:39

Irving Berlin 

11 Steppin' Out with My Baby 2:22

Irving Berlin

12 The Way You Look Tonight 2:57

Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern

13 I've Got My Eyes on You 2:57

Cole Porter

14 Dancing in the Dark 4:45

Howard Dietz / Arthur Schwartz

15 The Carioca 4:48

Edward Eliscu / Gus Kahn / Vincent Youmans

16 Nice Work If You Can Get It 2:07

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

17 New Sun in the Sky 2:27

Howard Dietz / Arthur Schwartz

18 I Won't Dance 3:01

Dorothy Fields / Otto Harbach / Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern / Jimmy McHugh

19 Fast Dances 2:24

Tracklist 2:

1 Top Hat, White Tie and Tails 4:00

Irving Berlin

2 No Strings (I'm Fancy Free) 2:54
Irving Berlin / Richard Rodgers
3 I Concentrate on You 2:43

Cole Porter

4 I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket 2:54

Irving Berlin

5 A Fine Romance 3:43

Dorothy Fields / Jerome Kern

6 Night and Day 5:22

Cole Porter

7 Fascinating Rhythm 2:41

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

8 I Love Louisa 2:40

Howard Dietz / Arthur Schwartz

9 Slow Dances 2:55
10 Medium Dances 2:01
11 They Can't Take That Away from Me 4:22

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

12 You're Easy to Dance With 3:22

Irving Berlin

13 A Needle in a Haystack 2:22

Con Conrad / Herbert Magidson

14 So Near and Yet So Far 3:18

Cole Porter

15 A Foggy Day 4:00

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

16 Oh, Lady Be Good 5:01

George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

17 I'm Building Up to an Awful Letdown 3:59

Fred Astaire / Johnny Mercer

18 Not My Girl 3:37

Fred Astaire / Desmond Carter / V. Phillips

19 Jam Session 6:34

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE - Smooth Operator (1999) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Real Name: Dorothy Jean Dandridge.
Profile: American actress and popular singer.
Born : November 09, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Died : September 08, 1965 in West Hollywood, California. (Embolism or Overdose)
Was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress

Actress/singer Dorothy Dandridge was Hollywood's first African-American superstar, becoming the first black performer ever nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Born November 9, 1923 in Cleveland, she was the daughter of actress Ruby Dandridge, and with sister Vivian teamed in the song-and-dance duo the Wonder Children. The family relocated to Los Angeles during the mid-'30s, and in 1937 Dandridge briefly made her film debut in the Marx Brothers classic A Day at the Races.

Carmen Jones [Original Soundtrack] Concurrently she continued her singing career, and with Vivian performed as the Dandridge Sisters, sharing stages with the likes of Jimmie Lunceford and Cab Calloway as well as recording with Louis Armstrong. During the early '40s Dorothy appeared in a series of musical film shorts, and as the decade progressed she became a sensation on the nightclub circuit. Dandridge's mainstream breakthrough was her title role in Otto Preminger's 1954 screen musical Carmen Jones, a performance which earned her an Academy Award nomination and made her a star; nevertheless, she did not reappear onscreen until 1957's Island in the Sun, and despite winning a Golden Globe for her work in 1959's Porgy and Bess she was offered virtually no future film roles, returning to nightclubs by the early '60s.
Smooth Operator Plagued by years of personal hardships as well as professional hurdles, Dandridge was found dead of an overdose of anti-depressants on September 8, 1965. Three decades later her career enjoyed a kind of renaissance with an acclaimed 1997 biography by film historian Donald Bogle in addition to Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, a 1999 HBO telefilm starring Halle Berry. Smooth Operator, a long-unreleased recording date from 1958 featuring the Oscar Peterson trio, was finally issued in 1999 as well. web

Smooth Operator explores a little-known aspect of the beautiful, troubled African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge: her vocal abilities. Most of this album comes from a 1958 recording session featuring Dandridge's lovely interpretations of "When Your Lover Has Gone," "Body & Soul" and the title track. That her backing band is an augmented version of the Oscar Peterson Trio makes her album even more special, and a must for jazz fans and film buffs. by Heather Phares
Tracklist
1 It's Easy To Remember 2:24
Written-By – Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart
2 What Is There To Say? 3:11
Written-By – E.Y. Harburg, Vernon Duke
3 That Old Feeling 3:05
Written-By – Lew Brown, Sammy Fain
4 The Touch Of Your Lips 2:58
Written-By – Ray Noble
5 When Your Lover Has Gone 2:59
Written-By – E. A. Swan
6 The Nearness Of You 3:17
Written-By – Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington
7 (In This World) I'm Glad There Is You 4:02
Written-By – Jimmy Dorsey, Paul Madeira
8 I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face 1:48
Written-By – Alan J. Lerner-Frederick Loewe
9 Body And Soul 3:38
Written-By – Edward Heyman, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Robert Sour
10 How Long Has This Been Going On? 3:30
Written-By – George and Ira Gershwin
11 I've Got A Crush On You 2:28
Written-By – George and Ira Gershwin
12 I Didn't Know What Time It Was 2:37
Written-By – Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart
13 Somebody 2:48
Written-By – Harry Warren , Jack Brooks 
14 Stay With It 2:35
Written-By – Dotty Wayne, Ray Rasch
15 It's A Beautiful Evening 2:38
Written-By – Dotty Wayne, Ray Rasch
16 Smooth Operator 3:06
Written-By – Clyde Otis, Murray Stein
Credits
Bass – Ray Brown (tracks: 1-12)
Bongos – Alvin Stoller (tracks: 4, 12)
Celesta – Oscar Peterson (tracks: 4, 8, 11)
Drums – Alvin Stoller (tracks: 1-3, 5-7, 9-11)
Guitar – Herb Ellis (tracks: 1-12)
Orchestra – Unknown Artist (tracks: 13-16)
Piano – Oscar Peterson (tracks: 1-3, 5-7, 9-10)
Vocals – Dorothy Dandridge

BILLIE HOLIDAY - 1952 {CC, 1285} (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Billie Holiday's recording career can be viewed in three distinct phases. The singer's evolution begins with the Vocalion/OKeh/Columbia years, steadily maturing throughout the Commodore, Decca, and latter-day Columbia sessions, then ripening into music of incredible poignancy as she recorded almost exclusively with Norman Granz for his Clef and Verve labels during the 1950s. The material reissued on this disc, recorded during the spring and summer of 1952, presents Lady Day in full bloom. There is within each of these songs a powerful elegance that is both meditative and intoxicating. Here are the slow love songs, more relaxed than ever before, with magical turns of phrasing that rise above the band like smoke in the air. When the tempo picks up, as in the old Busby Berkeley number "I Only Have Eyes for You," Billie's trustworthy trumpeting pal Charlie Shavers injects a bit of mustard into the mix. But most of the material here is languid and the overall effect is that of a jazz lieder recital where songs are savored rather than being spooled out in haste. While most of the recordings conform to the three or three-and-a-half-minute range that had been dictated for years by the 10" 78-rpm record, "Everything I Have Is Yours" and "Autumn in New York" approach the four-minute mark, anticipating the emergence of the LP, a development that would allow jazz musicians to stretch out like never before. And "stretching out" is exactly what these people are doing as they carefully render these 21 songs of love and heartbreak. by arwulf arwulf
Tracklist:
1 East of the Sun (And West of the Moon) 2:57
Brooks Bowman
2 Blue Moon 3:32
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
3 You Go to My Head 2:58
J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie
4 You Turned the Tables On Me 3:29
Louis Alter / Sidney Mitchell
5 Easy to Love 3:02
Cole Porter
6 These Foolish Things 3:35
Harry Link / Holt Marvell / Jack Strachey
7 I Only Have Eyes for You 2:54
Al Dubin / Harry Warren 
8 Solitude 3:32
Eddie DeLange / Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
9 Everything I Have Is Yours 3:46
Harold Adamson / Burton Lane
10 Love for Sale 2:58
Cole Porter
11 Moonglow 3:01
Eddie DeLange / Will Hudson / Irving Mills
12 Tenderly 3:25
Walter Gross / Jack Lawrence
13 If the Moon Turns Green 2:47
Paul Coates / Bernie Hanighen
14 Remember 2:37
Irving Berlin
15 Autumn in New York 3:53
Vernon Duke
16 My Man 2:39
Jacques Charles / Channing Pollack / Albert Willemetz / Maurice Yvain
17 Lover, Come Back to Me 3:37
Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg
18 Stormy Weather 3:43
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler
19 Yesterdays 2:50
Otto Harbach / Jerome Kern
20 He's Funny That Way 3:13 
Neil Moret (Chas. N. Daniels) / Richard A. Whiting
21 I Can't Face the Music 3:13
Rube Bloom / Ted Koehler

BILLIE HOLIDAY - Stay with Me (1958-1991) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Featuring recordings from February 1955 and released in 1958, Stay with Me is a late entry in Billie Holiday's career. She was fading, but hadn't lost the dramatic quality in her delivery, nor her ability to project and tell a shattering story. She's backed by trumpeter Charlie Shavers, pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy. [Some reissues add three bonus cuts.] by Ron Wynn
Tracklist:
1 I Wished on the Moon (Stay With Me) 6:50
Dorothy Parker / Ralph Rainger
2 Ain't Misbehavin' (I'm Savin' My Love for You) 4:40
Harry Brooks / Andy Razaf / Fats Waller
3 Everything Happens to Me 6:22
Tom Adair / Matt Dennis
4 Say It Isn't So (Stay With Me) 3:04
Irving Berlin
5 I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm 3:59
Irving Berlin
6 Always 3:59
Irving Berlin
7 Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me (Stay With Me) 4:59
Duke Ellington / Bob Russell
- Bonus Tracks -
8 How Deep Is The Ocean * 2:56
9 What A Little Moonlight Can Do * 3:09
10 I Cried For You * 2:26
Créditos
Bass – Leonard Gaskin (tracks: 1-7), Ray Brown (tracks: 8-10)

Clarinet – Tony Scott (tracks: 1-7)
Drums – Cozy Cole (tracks: 1-7), Ed Shaughnessy (tracks: 8-10)
Guitar – Billy Bauer (tracks: 1-7), Herb Ellis (tracks: 8-10)
Piano – Billy Taylor (tracks: 1-7), Oscar Peterson (tracks: 8-10)
Tenor Saxophone – Budd Johnson (tracks: 1-7)
Trumpet – Charlie Shavers (tracks: all)
Vocals – Billie Holiday
Notas
Tracks 1-7 recorded Feb.14, 1955 in New York.
Tracks 8-10 recorded Apr.14, 1954 in New York.
*Additional tracks not on original LP.