Joe Blow M.o.b. 2 The Real Mob (2014)

Irish family band that debuted with traditional instruments and Gaelic singing, then enjoyed transatlantic success by bridging folk and rock.
Clannad bridged the gap between traditional Celtic music and pop. Their results were usually an entrancing, enchanting form of pop that managed to fuse the disparate elements together rather seamlessly. Such fusions have earned the band an international cult of fans.

This edition contains all 1962 collaborations by Joe Pass and pianist Les McCann, who would continue working together the following year. Their 1962 output consists of their participation on Richard “Groove” Holmes LP "Somethin' Special" and on McCann's own album "On Time". Both records appear here in their entirety, as well as two tracks from the second LP that were not included on the original album. As a bonus, the complete LP "Back in Town!". Issued under the name of singer/guitarist Bumble Bee Slim (born Amos Easton), it consisted of two sessions, one featuring Pass, and the other featuring McCann.

Universally known as the King of the Mambo, Pérez Prado was the single most important musician involved in the hugely popular Latin dance craze. Whether he actually created the rhythm is somewhat disputed, but it's abundantly clear that Prado developed it into a bright, swinging style with massive appeal for dancers of all backgrounds and classes. Prado's mambo was filled with piercing high-register trumpets, undulating saxophone counterpoint, atmospheric organ (later on), and harmonic ideas borrowed from jazz. While his tight percussion arrangements allowed for little improvisation, they were dense and sharply focused, keeping the underlying syncopations easy for dancers to follow…

Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Miles Davis and many more.

Covering a lot of 60s material, this CD set overlooks the most often used hits of 1960-62 in favor of the latter part of the decade. Quality of sources is excellent and the mix of songs is superb! Each disc could have had more songs included, but the quality compensates for the lack of quantity. A large number of great album tracks along with a decent number of hit singles and a wonderful listening experience in the order they have been assembled.

This box set is drawn exclusively from the years 1932 to 1939. You get 75 tracks of prime Ellington from the 30s, including the first recordings of a number of undisputed masterpieces, such as 'Sophisticated Lady', 'Solitude', 'Prelude to a Kiss', 'Clarinet Lament', 'Echoes of Harlem' and 'Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue', among many more. There are of course other great Ellington recordings from the 30s not represented here - his elegy for his mother, 'Reminiscing in Tempo', for one - for Ellington recorded for a bewildering variety of labels, and these are just the ones currently owned by Sony. There are no sleeve notes, and no listings of the musicians, which is a bit frustrating. But for a 3 disc survey of the period in question, you really can't do better than this.