Leelah Lou Dahlin

This seventh volume in the Classics Mary Lou Williams chronology opens with a pair of gorgeous modern-sounding rhythm quartet tracks recorded in London on June 26, 1953. The next leg of her journey took her onto the northern European mainland. After a period spent gigging in France and Holland the pianist settled in Paris at the Hotel Cristal in St.-Germain-des-Prés, not far from the Deux Magots and the Café de Flore. On December 2, 1953 Mary Lou Williams recorded eight selections for the Vogue label with her good friend the perpetual expatriate tenor saxophonist Don Byas, bassist Buddy Banks, and drummer Gérard Pochonet. This exceptionally satisfying material has popped up here and there over the years but like much of Mary Lou Williams' oeuvre (and most jazz in general) it seems to have eluded the public…

After brief sojourns at Argo and Cadet, Lou Donaldson marked his 1967 return by recording Lush Life, the grandest project he ever attempted. With its plush arrangements and unabashedly pretty melodies, Lush Life stands in stark contrast to everything else he cut in the '60s. There are no blues, no stabs at soul-jazz grooves, no hard bop - only sweet, sensitive renditions of romantic standards. Donaldson shone on ballads before, but it's nevertheless surprising how successful he is on this set of slow love songs. His tone is full and elegant - it's easy to get lost in his rich readings of these familiar melodies, as well as his slyly seductive improvisations. Of course, it helps that his instrumental backdrops are as lovely as those his nine-piece backing band provide…

Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm's 1987 solo album Ready or Not is a winner. It came at a precarious time for Foreigner, despite coming off the success of 1985's Agent Provocateur and the band's first number one single, "I Want to Know What Love Is." Ready or Not is rich with melody and snap, but its sound does vary just enough from Foreigner that Gramm can't really be accused of stealing from himself. The production by Gramm and Pat Moran definitely has that bright 1980s style. Gramm's main sidemen include guitarist Nils Lofgren, keyboardist Philip Ashley, bassist/guitarist/keyboardist Bruce Turgon, and drummer Ben Gramm. Side one absolutely sizzles. "Ready or Not" is a strong, hard-rocking leadoff track and it was a minor hit single. The melodic, lyrical, and vocal hooks on "Heartache" are massive and Lofgren's guitar solo adds an edgy bite. The Top Five hit "Midnight Blue" is a terrific pop/rock song; despite its hit status, it's one of the decade's truly underappreciated singles. Lofgren's rolling, effective guitar riffing and a captivating chorus make "Time" one of the best cuts.

Most of the musicians heard on this fourth installment in the Classics Mary Lou Williams chronology are women. During the second half of the 1940s, this was considered unusual and innovative. Female musicians, with the exception of carefully coiffed vocalists and the occasional pianist, were generally regarded by the public, by the entertainment industry, and by most male musicians as curious anomalies and were not taken very seriously. Mary Lou Williams always preferred to surround herself with musical minds possessing artistic acumen commensurate with her own highly developed musical intellect. The first four tracks were recorded for the Continental label in 1945 with guitarist Mary Osborne, bassist Bea Taylor, and percussionists Margie Hyams and Bridget O'Flynn, a fascinating duo who took turns either handling the vibraphone or the drums…

This CD features the great pianist Mary Lou Williams during her earliest period. She is heard in 1927 on six selections with The Synco Jazzers (a small group that included her then-husband John Williams on alto) and then on the first 19 selections ever recorded under her own name. Performed during the long period when she was the regular pianist with Andy Kirk's 12 Clouds of Joy, Williams is featured on two hot stride solos in 1930, leading trios in 1936 and 1938, playing "Little Joe from Chicago" unaccompanied in 1939 and heading septets in 1940; among her sidemen were trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker and the legendary tenor Dick Wilson. Many of the compositions were written by Williams including "Night Life," "New Froggy Bottom," "Mary's special," and "Scratchin' the Gravel;" her version of Jelly Roll Morton's "The Pearls" is a highpoint.

New York City figured so prominently in Lou Reed's music for so long that it's surprising it took him until 1989 to make an album simply called New York, a set of 14 scenes and sketches that represents the strongest, best-realized set of songs of Reed's solo career. While Reed's 1982 comeback, The Blue Mask, sometimes found him reaching for effects, New York's accumulated details and deft caricatures hit bull's-eye after bull's-eye for 57 minutes, and do so with an easy stride and striking lyrical facility.

Live stage performance of Lou Reed's 1973 album, recorded at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York over five nights in 2007. When it was first released, 'Berlin', Reed's third solo outing, received a critical mauling, especially since it followed his earlier triumph, 'Transformer', with its hit single 'Walk On The Wild Side'…