M•a Recordings

George Jones - Birth Of A Legend: The Truly Complete Starday & Mercury Recordings 1954-1961 (2017) {6CD Bear Family BCD 16100}
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© 1954-61, 2017 Bear Family Records | BCD 16100
Country / Honky Tonk / Nashville Country / Country Gospel / Country Pop

In May 1956, the Texan label Starday issued a wild rockabilly single by Thumper Jones. Its top side, the kinetic “Rock It”, was primal, uncontrolled and wild. The flip, “How Come It”, was less frenzied but still driving and infectious. Original pressings of the two-sided pounder in either its 45 or 78 form now fetch at least Ј200. This is not your usual rockabilly rarity though. The record’s label credited the songs to a Geo. Jones. Thumper Jones was a pseudonymous George Jones (1931–2013), who was cashing in a hip style: the only time he did so with rockabilly.

Essentially a vehicle for Hammond organ maestro Mick Weaver, late 60s British band Wynder K. Frog specialised in funky club Soul/Jazz. Hailing from Bolton, Lancashire, but based in London for much of their career, Mick and the band made three albums for Island Records between 1966 and 1970. These have long been coveted by Mod collectors and fans of the prestigious Island label. For the first time ever, all three LPs - Sunshine Super Frog (mono, 1966), Out Of The Frying Pan (stereo, 1968) and the US-only Into The Fire (stereo, 1970) - appear on one package, accompanied by a host of rare non-album tracks, previously unissued material, a track from a BBC radio session and two stereo mixes from the soundtrack to the 1968 film The Touchables.
Shook Shimmy And Shake is housed in a handsome clamshell box. Inside are miniatures of all three albums…

George Jones - Walk Through This World With Me: The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971, Part 1 (2009) {Bear Family BCD16928}
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© 1965-67, 2009 Bear Family Records | BCD 16928 EI
Country / Honky Tonk / Nashville Country / Country Gospel / Country Pop

George Jones' classic Musicor recordings have been out of circulation for years while a lawsuit was resolved. George Jones' Musicor recordings were never issued systematically or in full until now! George Jones' Musicor recordings were never issued in premium sound quality until now! This CD boxed set includes all-time classic George Jones hits, such as Love Bug (revived by George Strait), Take Me, Four-O-Thirty Three, and Walk Through This World With Me. Includes two complete George Jones sessions with false starts and alternate takes. Be there with George Jones in the studio! The first of two boxes that will eventually include every Musicor recording, except the duets with Gene Pitney (available elsewhere on Bear Family)!

Iconic pianist Radu Lupu has been an exclusive DECCA artist for 40 years. This all-new collection brings together for the first time all of his published solo recordings for DECCA as an integral set. It features those composers with which Lupu's name has been so closely linked throughout his career and for which he has achieved worldwide acclaim: Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann.

He may not be a household name, but die-hard blues fans know Little Milton as a superb all-around electric bluesman – a soulful singer, an evocative guitarist, an accomplished songwriter, and a skillful bandleader. He's often compared to the legendary B.B. King – as well as Bobby "Blue" Bland – for the way his signature style combines soul, blues, and R&B, a mixture that helped make him one of the biggest-selling bluesmen of the '60s (even if he's not as well-remembered as King). As time progressed, his music grew more and more orchestrated, with strings and horns galore. He maintained a steadily active recording career all the way from his 1953 debut on Sam Phillips' legendary Sun label, with his stunning longevity including notable stints at Chess (where he found his greatest commercial success), Stax, and Malaco.

Benny Goodman - The Complete RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (1997) {3CD Set BMG 09026-68764-2 rec 1935-1939}
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© 1935-39, 1997 RCA Victor / BMG Music | 09026-68764-2
Jazz / Swing / Jazz Quartet / Clarinet

Benny Goodman's formidable work in front of the big band made him one of the world's most popular musicians, but his work with these "chamber jazz" groups made him one of the world's most respected musicians. Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Jimmie Noone's Apex Club band, to name two, had prospered in the 1920s as small groups playing traditional New Orleans-style fare, but until Goodman's forays beginning in 1935, the small band had been limited to blues, Dixieland, and the group improvisations of the New Orleans style. Goodman applied the small-group concept to the steady 4/4 rhythm and the repertoire (mostly standards) of swing. Instead of being dance music, this small-group swing showcased the individual and collective talent of the musicians involved–and the talent and telekinetic interplay of these men were considerable to say the least.