Nancy Wilson

Nancy Wilson's not the first name in bluesy jazz (check out Dinah Washington and Joe Williams for that), but she usually can enliven the form with her sophisticated and sultry style. That's made clear on her rendition of "Stormy Monday Blues," where she eschews blues clichés in favor of a husky airiness, at once referencing a lowdown mood and infusing it with a sense of buoyancy. This split is nicely essayed on Capitol's Blues and Jazz Sessions, as half the tracks ooze with Wilson's cocktail blues tone and the other find the jazz-pop chanteuse in a summery and swinging mood. Ranging from the big band blues of "I've Got Your Number" to the lilting bossa nova "Wave," Wilson handles all the varying dynamics and musical settings with aplomb. Featuring cuts from her '60s prime with the likes of Cannonball Adderley, Oliver Nelson, George Shearing, Gerald Wilson, and a host of top sidemen, this best-of disc offers a fine, off-the-beaten-path overview of Wilson's Capitol heyday.

The music on The Swingin's Mutual!, a dozen selections featuring the George Shearing Quintet, includes six that have vocals by a young Nancy Wilson. This was one of Wilson's most jazz-oriented dates (even if she was never a jazz singer) and is highlighted by her vocals on "The Nearness of You" and "The Things We Did Last Summer," along with instrumental versions of "Oh! Look at Me Now," "Blue Lou," and "Lullaby of Birdland."

With the decline in Heart's popularity in the 1990s, its guitarist/singer/songwriter Nancy Wilson made a first, tentative stab at a solo career by scoring the 1996 film Jerry Maguire and appearing on the soundtrack album. While working on the score, she began turning up at the hootenannies at the folk club McCabes Guitar Shop in Los Angeles, and the result is this album, which represents a second toe in the water for her…

Being a former teenage rock journalist, Cameron Crowe has made no secret of his love of pop and rock music, or the inspiration he derives from it. He's one of the few film directors who places pop music at the center of his films, littering his pictures with references to rock & roll, even at times where it may not be necessary – witness how Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz inexplicably morph into the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in Vanilla Sky…