Syl Johnson ‎ Uptown Shakedown (1979) [2012 Japan]

Sally Night is on the Brink of Fame in the Jazz world. A superior singer & a songwriter who was born and raised in England but has performed often in New York during the past few years. She is well worth discovering.

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter" for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to the one and only Madonna, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of The Queen of Pop's best-loved songs, including "La Isla Bonita", "Frozen", "Take A Bow", "Like A Virgin", "Borderline" and a di Martino original titled "Madonna's Prayer".

Acclaimed bassist & vocalist Nicki Parrott is joined by sax player Houston Person, pianist John di Martino along with a host of competent musicians for this album dedicated to songs of the Winter season including several Christmas tunes. You'll find such songs as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Blue Christmas", "June In January", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", and of course, "Winter Wonderland".

Vocalist Tessa Souter dazzled listeners with her excellent debut album, Night Of Key Largo, which was awarded the Swing Journal Gold Disc. With her next album, Beyond the Blue, Souter embarked on an ambitious task: writing lyrics to well-known classical compositions and performing them in a jazz setting. Being a gifted writer, Souter herself wrote the lyrics for all but three of the songs. For this release, Souter is supported by outstanding New York-based jazz musicians. She sings gracefully and intelligently, using her beautiful voice to the fullest.

For this Japanese Venus Records' release, Sayaka Tsuruta joins Dan Nimmer, David Wong and Pete Van Nostrand, to compile a 12-track SACD full of jazz's favorite staples from Bart Howard, Cole Porter and many more.

British singer, songwriter, and composer Sally Night followed her stunning Venus debut album, "Love For Sale", with the second album, "Ballads For You". As the title suggests, it is a collection of beautiful ballads, 13 standards and two originals. Night is backed by supremely talented, first-rate New York-based musicians: Jon Davis on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass, Willie Jones III on drums and Romero Lubambo on guitar. The selections showcase her sophisticated singing technique and her personal style.

Philadelphia-native composer, arranger and pianist John di Martino is a versatile musician who is equally comfortable in the straight ahead jazz, Latin jazz and world music scenes. Di Martino has released more than seven well-received leader albums from the Japanese Venus Records, with different rhythm sections, under the moniker "Romantic Jazz Trio". This latest release is a second in a series of fascinating projects: The Beatles In Jazz. While many jazz musicians have recorded Lennon/McCartney songs in various styles of jazz, it is still rare to see an entire album of this concept, especially by a piano trio.

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter", for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to Lady Gaga, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of Gaga's biggest hits, including "Americano", "Paparazzi", "Born This Way", "Poker Face", "Telephone" and "Alejandro".

Coming after the Spring-themed Sakura Sakura, Summertime is the second in bassist-vocalist's Nicki Parrott's seasonal series of albums. An all-star group of New York-based musicians supports the immensely gifted Parrott on this release. Her sister Lisa is noticeably featured on alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet. The addition of the marvelous young trumpeter Dominick Farinacci is a great delight.

"Let's Get Serious" is the 6th studio album by Jermaine Jackson, released in 1980. It reached #6 on the Billboard album chart and logged five weeks at #1 on the Top R&B chart. It achieved sales of 900,000 copies in the United States. The title track was 1980's biggest Soul hit of the year and a Top 10 Pop hit as well. This is the most successful album of Jermaine's career.