The Real Bahamas 2 (2003)

János Kőrössy (1926-2013) was a Romanian jazz musician of Hungarian descent. He was a piano player, composer and arranger.
Kőrössy's first name is spelled in many different ways: Hansel, Jancy, Jancsy, Iancsi, Yancy and Yancey. He became a well known jazz musician in the European Eastern bloc in the 1960s, appearing at the International Jazz Festivals in Prague (1960), Warsaw (1961) and Budapest (1962). In 1969 he moved to West Germany and subsequently relocated to the United States, settling in Atlanta, Georgia. He played in Atlanta and in 1981 performed with Zoot Sims. After the Romanian Revolution, he returned to Romania, appearing in 1993 at the Costineşti and Galaţi jazz festivals and 2001 at the International Jazz Festival in Bucharest.

While Ace's previous Hadda Brooks disc, Romance in the Dark, concentrated on her excellent mellow vocal sides, it left the instrumental boogie-woogie aspect of her musical talents unexplored. Swingin' the Boogie corrects that with this amazing release. Brooks recorded many of these tunes for the Modern label, initially released on 78s. Often after the "official session" concluded, there was still studio time available. In these instances, Brooks would pound out amazing boogie-woogie tracks for kicks. Swingin' the Boogie is the first disc to focus entirely on that output. Among the 18 tracks, six were previously unissued, and it includes the rare original flip side of "Swingin' the Boogie," "Just a Little Blusie."

This is the most comprehensive collection ever released by The Real Thing. Featuring songs that they recorded for EMI, Pye Records, RCA, Jive Records as well as a few tracks released on a couple of independent labels compiled together on one compilation for the first time.

This is a fine 3CD set containing 45 of Roy Orbison's most famous tracks. The music is great, and if you don't already have a decent Roy Orbison compilation, this would be a decent, good value choice. Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.

A masterful stride pianist, a playful vocalist, and an influential jazz figure who was enormously popular in the '30s and '40s.
Not only was Fats Waller one of the greatest pianists jazz has ever known, he was also one of its most exuberantly funny entertainers - and as so often happens, one facet tends to obscure the other. His extraordinarily light and flexible touch belied his ample physical girth; he could swing as hard as any pianist alive or dead in his classic James P. Johnson-derived stride manner, with a powerful left hand delivering the octaves and tenths in a tireless, rapid, seamless stream…

Trombonist who led the most popular band in the world during 1939-1942, playing a wide variety of melodic pop and jazz. Glenn Miller's reign as the most popular bandleader in the U.S. came relatively late in his career and was relatively brief, lasting only about three and a half years, from the spring of 1939 to the fall of 1942. But during that period he utterly dominated popular music, and over time he has proven the most enduring figure of the swing era, with reissues of his recordings achieving gold record status 40 years after his death. Miller developed a distinctive sound in which a high-pitched clarinet carried the melody, doubled by a saxophone section playing an octave lower, and he used that sound to produce a series of hits that remain definitive examples of swing music…

Irish family band that debuted with traditional instruments and Gaelic singing, then enjoyed transatlantic success by bridging folk and rock.
Clannad bridged the gap between traditional Celtic music and pop. Their results were usually an entrancing, enchanting form of pop that managed to fuse the disparate elements together rather seamlessly. Such fusions have earned the band an international cult of fans.

Easy-going singer with a warm baritone voice that made him a superstar on record and television, from the 1950s through the '70s.
One of the most popular vocalists between the end of World War II and the rise of rock & roll in the mid-'50s, Perry Como perfected the post-big-band approach to pop music by lending his own irresistible, laid-back singing – influenced by Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo - to the popular hits of the day on radio, TV, and LP. Both his early traditional crooning style plus his later relaxed manner and focus on novelty material were heavily indebted to Bing Crosby, though Como's appeal during the early '50s was virtually unrivaled.