Bill Hayes

Born on June 5th, 1925 in Harvey, Illinois, USA. An American actor and singer. Mr. Hayes was a singer on the Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca variety show Your Show of Shows in the early 1950s.

"Blue Hodge" is the earliest of several matchups between altoist Johnny Hodges and organist Wild Bill Davis. With the assistance of Les Spann on guitar and flute, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Louis Hayes, Hodges and Davis mostly stick to fresh material, including three then-recent originals by Gary McFarland. Highlights include "Azure Te", "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream", and "There Is No Greater Love", in addition to some swinging blues.

AVID Jazz continues its "Four Classic Albums Plus" series with a second remastered 2CD release from Tubby Hayes, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel information. "Tubby Hayes & His Orchestra: Modern Jazz Scene" (1956); "Tubby Hayes Quintet: After Lights Out' (1956); 'The Jazz Couriers featuring Tubby Hayes & Ronnie Scott: The Last Word' (1957); 'Tubby Hayes: Tubby In N. Y.' (1961) plus two bonus tracks. For our long-awaited second set by arguably the best and most famous British jazz musician of all time, we present Mr. Tubby Hayes in various musical configurations. First, we experience the audience at Festival Hall in London on the evening of February 18, 1956, where we get to witness Tubby and his orchestra's set. Next we see Tubby with his quintet on "After Lights Out", where he is accompanied by Dickie Hawdon on trumpet, Harry South on piano, Pete Elderfield on bass and Bill Eyden on drums. Described as "England's greatest jazz combo", Ronnie Scott and Tubby Hayes formed the Couriers to show the world that British jazz is alive and well!

Isaac Hayes both starred in and composed the double album soundtrack for the 1974 film Truck Turner, directed by Jonathan Kaplan. Quentin Tarantino made this music famous again, 30 years later, when he reused parts of the score in his Kill Bill movies.

Bill Withers created mellow, downhome-style soul for barely more than a decade before retreating from the industry to pursue craftsman interests. Yet over the course of the handful of albums he made for Sussex and CBS, the Appalachian native struck lasting emotional chords in legends ranging from Booker T. Jones to Stephen Stills – not to mention the millions of listeners that fell under the spell of now-standard tracks such as "Lean on Me," "Use Me," and "Ain't No Sunshine." The antithesis of the sweaty R&B shouter that prowled the edge of stages, Withers dealt in calm and vulnerability, qualities that come to fore on the seminal Bill Withers' Greatest Hits. Characteristics ranging from the tension of the guitars, funky bends of the bass, whisper-soft coo of the formal strings, airiness of the backing harmonies, and sharpness of the snare drum emerge with utmost clarity and lifelike presence. Always prized for its naked honesty and pure conviction, Withers' music positively caresses the senses on this SACD, the unadulterated production and beautiful soundscapes revealed anew with each listen.

"Whatever happened to Orlando Roberson? He recorded with Fats Waller & His Buddies in December of 1929 and with Claude Hopkins in 1933 and 1934, then resurfaced in March 1937 crooning away in practically the same voice in front of a band led by Edgar Hayes – but billed this one time as Orlando Roberson & His Orchestra. Many jazz fans would cringe at these two sentimental pop songs, but aside from serving as a fascinating circumstantial footnote to the Fats Waller story they form the first steps in the chronological recordings of Waller's exact contemporary, Edgar Hayes (1904-1979)…