Franklin Mercer

Memphis Blues is the tenth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. Regarded as a continuation of her 2008 comeback the album was a nominee for the Grammy Awards 2010 and was released on her 57th birthday, June 22, 2010. Memphis Blues was voted the 7th best album of 2010 by the New York Post, and it went on to become Billboard's biggest selling blues album of 2010. To support the album, Lauper made her biggest tour ever, the Memphis Blues Tour, which had more than 140 shows and covered every inhabited continent of the world.

First, there is that name…Thisbe Vos. It is not merely exotic; it is something much more than that, something mythic. Dutch-born, living the dream in America's land of Milk and Honey—LA—Vos, by her looks, voice, repertoire, composing…demands attention, and gets it without ever raising her voice. Her debut, two years percolating, Under Your Spell is a fully realized throwback that doesn't sound a day over the rainbow. Made up of five standards and six smacking, swinging originals, Under Your Spell goes a long way towards blowing on the coals of mainstream jazz vocals.

One thing Concord Jazz cannot be accused of is failing to document Ernestine Anderson's live performances. When the veteran jazz singer was recording for Concord in the late '70s, '80s, and early '90s, the label put out several live albums that featured her extensively. Here's the thing: Not all of those albums were released under Anderson's own name – she was employed as a featured vocalist for pianist George Shearing, the Frank Capp/Nat Pierce Juggernaut, and a band that was billed as the Concord All Stars.

Lionel Barrymore in a decades-spanning saga of a self-made man and his weakling children. “Fine acting, inventive direction and camerawork make this something special.” - Leonard Maltin

The year is 1971 and the great Maestro Duke Ellington led his world famous orchestra on its final European tour. To collectors and expert listeners alike this performance is a rare document of his final band which includes a few remaining veterans and a healthy sprinkling of young blood who would keep the Ellington flame lit for some time after Duke's passing, as members of the Ellington Orchestra led by his son Mercer, who is playing trumpet in the band on this recording as well. Johnny Hodges was now deceased. Norris Turney had aptly taken over his lead alto sax chair and added a powerful new twist.

One of today’s premier biographers has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America’s greatest presidents.