Chris Connor Four Classic Albums Plus (2013){amsc1089}

Avid Jazz continues with its Four Classic album plus series with a re-mastered 2CD Second Set release from The Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, complete with original artwork and liner notes. “New Directions In Music”; “The Sons of Sauter-Finegan”; “Adventures In Time”, “Memories Of Goodman And Miller” plus “Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra”.
Eddie Sauter met Bill Finegan in 1939 when both men were making a living as arrangers for the likes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Red Norvo and Woody Herman who were in fact most of the classic Swing Era leaders of the day! They had both started their musical careers as musicians, Finegan, a pianist and Sauter, a trumpeter…

Avid Jazz here presents four classic Humphrey Lyttelton 10" albums plus, including original liner notes on a finely re-mastered double CD. “Jazz Concert”, “Jazz Session with Humph”, “Humph In Perspective”, “Here’s Humph!” and the plus, tracks from “Humph Swings Out”.
Our selections feature the great man across a diverse grouping of albums ranging from the transitional phase of “Here’s Humph!”, where we are treated to tracks from his old band, his revolutionary band featuring tenor sax and his current band of the moment! We then look back with Humph on “Humph In Perspective” where he reviews his musical achievements from his position as the pre eminent UK jazz man of the era and best known band leader in Europe…

Although most of her best performances came in tandem with Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert, Annie Ross recorded a lot of quality material on her own, and most of it is right here. A collection of her (mostly) solo material from the '50s, Four Classic Albums finds Ross close to the height of her vocal powers, with excellent interpretive skills and a quickly shifting tone (sometimes caressing, other times catty). The two highlights of these classic albums are Gypsy, her run-through of the classic musical, and Sings a Song with Mulligan!, her duet album with Gerry Mulligan that ranks as one of the finest jazz vocalist/instrumentalist pairings ever (and thereby, one of the best vocal albums of all time). “I Feel Pretty” is impossibly spry and bouncy, with both Ross and Mulligan showing off their musical dexterity, playing off each other's notes with kittenish glee…