Paris, My Sweet

An obscure later overseas session from this legendary pianist!
Bandleader and pianist Sonny Thompson was among the most prolific R&B instrumentalists of the late '40s and early '50s. Thompson began recording for Sultan in 1946, then did several sessions for Miracle, King, Federal, and Deluxe, while also backing vocalist Lula Reed from 1951 to 1961. Thompson scored two number one R&B hits for Miracle in 1948: "Long Gone," Pts. 1 & 2, and "Late Freight." He landed another Top Ten and two more Top 20 singles for Miracle in 1949, and then had three Top Ten hits for King in 1952. The biggest was "I'll Drown In My Tears," which reached number five.

While his tenure as the frontman for the legendary Roxy Music remained his towering achievement, singer Bryan Ferry also carved out a successful solo career that continued in the lush, sophisticated manner perfected on the group's final records.

A sample of friendly jazzy affinity between real Swing players with the virtues that should have to jam. These rare transatlantic dates issued by HRS & Vogue performs Basie-ite trumpeter Clayton (for whom Stanley Dance coined the term "Mainstream") with solid feelings of Tiny Grimes, Dicky Wells-Trummy Young, Don Byas, George Johnson and young pianist Billy Taylor, or French cats like Alix Combelle & André Persiany in four sessions that can be considered among the final small-group swing events of the classic era.

Like jazz, soul has undergone an evolution from an American-based music rooted in the blues into a form of expression that now finds itself at home anywhere in the world. This global reach of the music is visible in ACT’s artist roster where we find, among others, Nils Landgren, Knut Reiersrud, Solveig Slettahjell, Magnus Lindgren, Torsten Goods, and - above all - the Swedish singer/pianist Ida Sand. Her four previous albums have channelled jazz, pop and folk influences, but "My Soul Kitchen" is different. It is Ida Sand's clearest declaration yet of her love of "sweet soul music", and is also a demonstration of her deep affinity for it. There are songs by soul greats such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and The Meters, which are completely at one with both Ida Sand's own tunes and with her soulful interpretations of the music of artists like John Fogerty and Mike Shapiro. As Ida Sand herself says: "Soul music is such a broad genre. There’s funky soul, blue-eyed soul, neo-soul, RnB, New Orleans soul, Motown-soul and many others. This album is a blend of many of these.”