Roy C.

As far as Roy Eldridge's big bands go, this was the peak. With arrangements by Buster Harding and a stable of powerful young players, the Roy Eldridge Orchestra must have been formidable in live performance. Most of the recordings they made for the Decca label represent the ultimate in extroverted big-band swing. The explosive "Little Jazz Boogie" is one of the hottest records Roy Eldridge ever made. The flip side, "Embraceable You," bears witness to his profound abilities as an interpreter of ballads. Three sides by the Roy Eldridge Little Jazz Band recorded for V-Disc on November 14, 1945, allow for more intimate interplay…

The Krupa band of 1941 to 1943 had two great forces in it with the addition of trumpeter Roy Eldridge and vocalist Anita O'Day replacing Irene Day. Eldridge almost singlehandedly transformed the orchestra from a pop-based dance band to a more jazz-inspired one, and O'Day was simply the most swinging singer Krupa ever had in the fold. Highlights include a wild "After You've Gone," "Stop! The Red Light's On," "Let Me Off Uptown," "Thanks for the Boogie Ride," "Knock Me a Kiss," "Bop Boogie," and the previously unissued "Barrelhouse Bessie From Basin Street." Those interested in Krupa's career as a bandleader should start with this one.

This is a truly, bizarre two-fer package that combines Roy Orbison's early hit album Crying with the soundtrack to the TV Special Black & White Night. The only conceivable reason is, perhaps, that on the latter recording, Orbison re-recorded the title track and "Candy Man." They were included on the special as a career-spanning look at his collection of smashes played by an all-star cast of musicians including Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and k.d. lang. Weird.

Dan Morganstern makes an excellent point in his liner notes when he laments the tendency to refer to Roy Eldridge as a “link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie.” For one thing, Diz eschewed the kind of brilliant trumpet tone that characterized the work of Eldridge and Armstrong. Considered in this light, if one starts with Armstrong’s early achievements and then looks for anything like that kind of distilled joy in all the subsequent history of the music, one gets no further than the spectacular sides the man they called “Little Jazz” made for Columbia in January 1937. There’s just no one after that to “link” to, ever…

This CD contains the best recordings from the early years of the fiery trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Eldridge, one of the great swing trumpeters and a powerful player into the 1970s, is heard with Teddy Hill's orchestra, backing singer Putney Dandridge, on four titles with Fletcher Henderson (including the hit "Christopher Columbus"), starring on a four-song session with Teddy Wilson, joining Billie Holiday on "Falling in Love Again," soloing on two numbers with Mildred Bailey (his "I'm Nobody's Baby" solo is years ahead of its time), and, best of all, leading a small group through six songs (plus an alternate) from his own explosive sessions of January 1937. This brilliant music is essential for all serious jazz collections.

In their very first recording together, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin and the Violons du Roy present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos No. 22 and No. 24 that are replete with passionate outbursts, startling contrasts, rich orchestration and overt emotional fervor. Charles Richard-Hamelin, Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman award at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, impresses with his extremely refined playing and the Violons du Roy, under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, offer grandiose performances imbued with dignity and grace.