Jo Mccready

Possessing a tone as clear as a bell, perfect diction and phrasing, and no shortage of personality, Jo Stafford was one of the greatest and best- selling female singers of the pre-rock and roll era and beyond; whether it’s her early sides with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and The Pied Pipers or her classic solo recordings for the Capitol and Columbia labels with arranger/conductor husband Paul Weston, there is no mistaking the sound of that magnificent voice. Now, we at Real Gone Music have a very special treat for fans of this superb, yet to some degree overlooked, vocalist: a treasure trove of 24 radio performances taken from The Carnation Contented Hour, which Jo co- hosted on the Columbia Broadcasting System. These previously unreleased 1950-1951 recordings come to us from the Tony Martin estate courtesy of Michael Feinstein and with the blessing of Jo’s son Tim Weston, and are taken from original master tapes, not transcription discs; remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, these are studio quality sessions and thus a major, major find in the Jo Stafford discography. It is such a treat to hear Jo interpret songs like “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “I’ve Got the World on a String” that became big hits for other artists.

Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait (The Toreador, or The Perfect Agreement) is an opéra comique in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on May 18, 1849. It was a huge success and the work regularly appeared in the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique until 1869.

Australian vocalist Jo Lawry has forged an impressive solo career with a global fan base, while earning deep respect as a ‘musician’s singer’ within and beyond jazz circles. She’s also spent nearly a decade performing and recording with Sting and has worked with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. The two albums she released as a singer/songwriter/producer, Taking Picture (2015) and The Bathtub and the Sea (2017) garnered critical acclaim. Now, more than 10 years since her last solo jazz album, Lawry presents Acrobats, unequivocally returning to the genre alongside globally in-demand bassist Linda May Han Oh and versatile drummer Allison Miller.

Norway meets Iceland in wildly inventive ambient-gothic improvisations recorded in an abandoned Reykjavik warehouse Jo Berger Myhre and Ólafur Björn Ólafsson have created a strikingly original sound-world that, while it may have its antecedents, doesn’t really remind you of anyone else.

The rock era saw a few white female singers, like Janis Joplin, show they could sing the blues. But one who could outshine them all - Jo Ann Kelly - seemed to slip through the cracks, mostly because she favored the acoustic, Delta style rather than rocking out with a heavy band behind her. But with a huge voice, and a strong guitar style influenced by Memphis Minnie and Charley Patton, she was the queen. Her debut studio album was released in 1969.

The Jo Ann Kelly archive has been very poorly treated over the years, with only Indigo's occasional forays during the late 1990s truly spotlighting one of Britain's most underrated, but highly-treasured, blues vocalists. Into this sorry state of affairs weighs Blues Matters!, the label wing of the magazine of the same name, with a collection that totally lives up to its title. Sixteen tracks, recorded between 1967-1984, are bundled up within, and capture Kelly ranging across the stylistic spectrum. The set kicks off with four numbers taken from a rare Harlequin blues EP compilation, recorded with Tony McPhee in 1965. This was not Kelly's first session, she'd done an earlier one for Mike Vernon's Purdah label, but that remains unreleased, and thus this was the music with which Kelly was introduced to the world…