Anita Kerr Orchestra & Singers

Having made an enormous contribution to the establishment of the Nashville Sound and the modernisation of country music, Anita Kerr felt the need to expand her artistic horizons and in 1965, made the move from Nashville to Hollywood. She wanted to work with different people, to get her own songs recorded, to play jazz, to conduct an orchestra, to take on more ambitious and more varied projects musically, and to form a vocal group which, rather than be confined to studio sessions, might also appear in club and concert settings. Her arrival on the West Coast was well timed. She had just fought off The Beatles to win a Grammy for the album We Dig Mancini and she was quickly able to assemble a stellar Anita Kerr Singers (B.J Baker: alto, Gene Merlino: tenor; Bob Tebow: bass, with Anita herself as soprano and soloist) and secure a contract more tailored to her needs with Warner Brothers. The result over the next two years, were these five superbly fashioned albums.

RCA's wildly successful Living Stereo series spawned a number of ensembles with Living in their titles; the two that folks remember these days are The Living Strings and The Living Voices. Here's two holiday albums featured on this twofer that she released with The Living Voices remain treasured among Christmas music aficionados for their ornate orchestration, innovative arrangements, and, most of all, sweeping stereo sound. The first, 1962's "Sing Christmas Music", had actually come out on the Living Stereo imprint in 1959 as "Christmas Surprises" from The Ralph Hunter. The second album, 1965's "The Little Drummer Boy", featured the legendary Anita Kerr Singers and production by Anita Kerr herself.

'The Last Mile Home for Christmas' is one of two 2018 spectacular sets: a balance of sacred and secular songs by leading artists of the 1940s, '50s, and '60s that can be added to Jasmine's collection of great Christmas compilations. Here are large segments of tracks by Pat Boone, Fred Waring, Sammy Kaye, Billy Eckstine, and The Andrews Sisters.

Following on from the success of Jasmine's previous Anita Bryant collection ('Red Feather Girl' - JASCD574) comes 'The One And Only'. This time focusing on two of her early albums 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' and 'In A Velvet Mood'This release shows Anita's versatility. 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' was recorded in Nashville, backed by the Jordanaires and Anita Kerr Singers as well as the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and she excels on 'My Heart Cries For You', 'Vaya Con Dios' and 'Twelfth Of Never'.'In A Velvet Mood' shows how well Anita could handle ballads and swingers. Her versions of 'Moon River', 'Tonight' and 'Volare' certainly confirm this. Also included is one of her most successful singles from that period, 'Wishing It Was You'.

Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert, (16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980), better known as Bert Kaempfert, was a German orchestra leader, music producer, and songwriter. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including "Strangers in the Night" and "Moon Over Naples". Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he received his lifelong nickname, Fips, and studied at the local school of music. A multi-instrumentalist, he was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra before serving as a bandsman in the German Navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band, toured with them, then worked as an arranger and producer, making hit records with Freddy Quinn and Ivo Robić. In 1961, he hired The Beatles to back Tony Sheridan for an album called My Bonnie. The album and its singles, released by Polydor Records, were the Beatles' first commercially released recordings.

Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his major-label recording debut in 1944. His first charting single was 1948's "Blue Tail Fly" with the Andrews Sisters, and he soon took traditional folk tunes like "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and "On Top of Old Smoky" to the U.S. Top 20.

Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his major-label recording debut in 1944. His first charting single was 1948's "Blue Tail Fly" with the Andrews Sisters, and he soon took traditional folk tunes like "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and "On Top of Old Smoky" to the U.S. Top 20.

Lady’s Bridge by lauded singer-songwriter Richard Hawley is an ode to his native Sheffield. Made up of 11 charming songs that switch between the romantic strains of opener "Valentine" and "Roll River Roll" to more uppity numbers such as the rhythm & blues infused "Serious" and the countrified twang of tracks like "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" and "Dark Road".