Sings Annie Ross

This album was originally recorded in 1971. You might guess that date roughly from the songs that Annie Ross sings, with hippie anthems like Stoned Soul Picnic and touches of love and peace in the last two items. The date is also given away by the boogaloo rhythms and the jazz-rock in many items. Yet somehow Annie Ross transcends any particular time, as her vocals have long-lasting appeal.
Of course, she is best known as an exponent of vocalese in the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, but she left them in 1962 and has since continued her career as a solo singer and seems inexhaustible: still wowing audiences at the age of 89…

Although most of her best performances came in tandem with Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert, Annie Ross recorded a lot of quality material on her own, and most of it is right here. A collection of her (mostly) solo material from the '50s, Four Classic Albums finds Ross close to the height of her vocal powers, with excellent interpretive skills and a quickly shifting tone (sometimes caressing, other times catty). The two highlights of these classic albums are Gypsy, her run-through of the classic musical, and Sings a Song with Mulligan!, her duet album with Gerry Mulligan that ranks as one of the finest jazz vocalist/instrumentalist pairings ever (and thereby, one of the best vocal albums of all time). “I Feel Pretty” is impossibly spry and bouncy, with both Ross and Mulligan showing off their musical dexterity, playing off each other's notes with kittenish glee…

Considering Annie Ross's justified reputation as one of the great jazz vocalists, it is disheartening to discover how few solo albums she actually released in her long career...

Gerry Mulligan - Mosaic Select 21: 1957-1958 (2006) {3CD Set Mosaic Records MS-021}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.27 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 523 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 104 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-58, 2006 Mosaic Records / EMI | MS-021 | 24-bit remaster by Ron McMaster
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

Gerry Mulligan was certainly busy in December 1957. During a two-week period, the baritonist recorded a reunion album with trumpeter Chet Baker, documented a set of his songs with an octet that featured five top saxophonists, recorded a very obscure set with a sextet that included four strings, and cut most of an album in which his quartet teamed up with singer Annie Ross. This limited-edition three-CD set contains all of the music plus alternate takes and the last part of the Ross album, which was recorded nine months later with trumpeter Art Farmer in Baker's spot. The reunion with Baker, one of only two times when Mulligan and the trumpeter got back together (the other was a 1970s concert), has some of the old magic of the famous 1951-1952 pianoless quartet.