“please Don’t Talk About Me When I'm Gone: The Search For Leon Redbone”,

Peggy Lee & June Christy - The Complete Capitol Transcription Sessions 1945-1949 (1998) {5CD Set Mosaic MD5-184}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 761 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 649 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1945-49, 1998 Mosaic Records / Capitol / EMI | MD5-184
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Swing / Straight-ahead Jazz / Mainstream Jazz

Mosaic, the Rolls-Royce of record companies, has produced another of its limited-edition gems (5,000 copies and no more). This five-CD boxed set highlights the early work of two of the more famous vocal graduates of the swing era – Peggy Lee and June Christy. Recently signed by Capitol, they were the company's attempt to break into the transcription business. Transcriptions were records provided to radio stations to fill a constant need for music that regular commercial releases were unable to meet. Most of the songs on this album, cuts from 1945 through 1949, were never before or since recorded by Lee and Christy, so they are a nice addition to their respective discographies.

Enjoying great success in music, film, television, and the stage, Dean Martin was less an entertainer than an icon, the eternal essence of cool. A member of the legendary Rat Pack, he lived and died the high life of booze, broads and bright lights, always projecting a sense of utter detachment and serenity; along with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the other chosen few who breathed the same rarefied air, Martin – highball and cigarette always firmly in hand – embodied the glorious excess of a world long gone, a world without rules or consequences.

The overall feeling on this 1955 recording, which was originally titled Velvet Mood, is strictly after-hours: the party is long over but a few close friends remain for nightcaps and, is that the sun peeking through the windowà? With slow tempo songs outnumbering not-so-slow songs fourteen to four, producer Norman Granz may or may not have had concept album on his mind. Whatever the case, he brought together a brilliant cross-section of cats who evidently put Billie entirely at ease and in the mood - no small feat when one considers her spotty later recordings.
Lady Day's renderings here of "It Had to Be You" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" are timeless gems…

Once upon a time it was virtually unheard of for musical performers to write their own songs. That was the province of a separate breed, the professional songwriters who worked for music publishers in New York's Brill Building, or else touted their wares down the Tin Pan Alleys of the world. Essential to the whole process were the vocalists, because someone had to sing the songs.These were often under contract with a specific dance band. In the parlance of the day, these singers were often referred to as 'crooners'. The hundred tracks on this 4-CD set are mostly drawn from the 1950s and early 1960s - largely a mixture of standards from the pens of classic songwriters like Cole Porter and George Gershwin, as well as showtunes taken from musicals like My Fair Lady and Showboat.

Mose Allison - High Jinks! The Mose Allison Trilogy (1994) {Super Rare OOP 3 CD Legacy Box Set J3K 64275 rec 1959-1961}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 796 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 321 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959-61, 1994 Columbia / Epic / Legacy / Sony Music | J3K 64275
Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Blues / Piano

Three formerly rare Mose Allison albums originally cut for Columbia and Epic (Transfiguration of Hiram Brown, I Love The Life I Live and V-8 Ford Blues) are reissued in full on this attractive three-CD set plus six previously unreleased numbers. During this period (which dates between his associations with the Prestige and Atlantic labels), Mose Allison was making the transition from being a pianist-vocalist to a vocalist-pianist. He sings on roughly half the selections including "Baby, Please Don't Go," "'Deed I Do," "Fool's Paradise" and "I Love The Life I Live." The instrumentals (which also feature Addison Farmer, Henry Grimes, Bill Crow or Aaron Bell on bass and Jerry Segal, Paul Motian, Gus Johnson or Osie Johnson on drums) are highlighted by the interesting eight-song "Hiram Brown Suite." Mose Allison fans will want to go out of their way to get this set.

The Charlie Shavers & Ray Bryant Quartet - Complete Recordings Vol.1-3 (1958-64) {3CD 2005 Lone Hill Jazz Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.13 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 526 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 150 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2005 Lone Hill Jazz | LHJ 10182~84
Jazz / Bop / Trumpet / Piano

Pure and simple genius from trumpeter Charlie Shavers – a player with a sweet tone and a fluid groove – stepping out here with great accompaniment from pianist Ray Bryant! The CD brings together work from the albums Charlie Digs Paree and Charlie Digs Dixie – both originally recorded for MGM Records in the late 50s, and done in a clean, uncluttered style that really brought a strong focus to Shaver's solos, but also gave some excellent rhythmic support from Bryant – working here at the height of his early powers, in a mode that's clearly relaxed enough to get with the spirit of each different session.