Perfect Timing Julie Kenner

The trio of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart first came together as a writing experiment coming out of the pandemic lockdown. With touring off the calendar, multi-Award winning US singer-songwriter Carpenter was looking for something new and reached out to Fowlis and Polwart, two highly acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriters whose work she had long admired.

Recorded 1967-1969. Only covers fill up this album (but this was a usual thing back then), a good deal coming from Motown (after all Brian emerged from the British Rhythm'n Blues crowd), others from folkies (Dylan, Nyro and Donovan) and other rockier groups (the Doors), but the whole state of the art is accommodating and arranging the tracks to fit the Trinity mould. This is done mostly with good studio musicians guesting in on the three-man unit's (and their diva) solid base. Auger, drummer Thacker and bassist Ambrose do provide a good background for Jools, but don't shine much like in their excellent Befour album, but there is some good brass arrangements on some of these tracks.

Rhoda Scott's album "Ladies & Gentlemen" is a captivating jazz release from Sunset Records. This album showcases Scott's incredible talent as a Hammond B3 organist, bringing together a mix of soulful melodies and energetic rhythms that will delight any jazz enthusiast.

Lonely Girl (1956). Liberty Records was pleasantly surprised when Julie London's debut album was such a big hit. Julie Is Her Name did contain the hit single "Cry Me a River," but each featured mellow jazz guitar and bass backing - which was considered commercial suicide in 1955. So, instead of changing direction and recording the follow-up Lonely Girl with a full orchestra, Liberty wisely allowed London to strip the accompaniment down even more on the album by dropping the backing down to one instrument. Lone guitarist Al Viola plays gentle Spanish-tinged acoustic behind the hushed vocalist, and it suits London perfectly. While the singer was often chided for her beauty and lack of range, she deftly navigates these ballads without any rhythmic underpinnings to fall back on. London's intense focus on phrasing and lyrics recalls Chet Baker's equally telescopic approach…