With combined U.K. album sales of nearly three million copies, Georgian-born Katie Melua has quietly become one of the biggest-selling female artists of the decade. Without the media profile of Britney Spears, the powerhouse vocals of Anastacia, or the critical acclaim of Dido, her success has been based purely on old-fashioned songs that have managed to have appeal beyond the usual folk-pop market. Indeed, just like her biggest influence, Eva Cassidy, who appears here on a posthumous cover of "What a Wonderful World," Melua's soothing and jazz-tinged tones found an audience through repeated plays on Terry Wogan's BBC Radio 2 show. So the fact that the majority of The Katie Melua Collection never really moves past first gear shouldn't come as any surprise.
Highly accomplished English pianist, composer and arranger who shined from the 1930s through to the '80s.
Although the third finger of his right hand was amputated following a playtime accident as a child, McGuffie persevered with his music studies, and at the age of 11 was awarded the Victoria Medal for his piano proficiency by the Victoria College, Glasgow. A year later he made his first broadcast on Childrens’ Hour, and at the age of 14 was playing regularly with the BBC Scottish Variety Orchestra. For a while he studied to be a naval architect, before moving to Ayr to join the Miff Hobson Orchestra. Early in 1944, he moved to London and played with Teddy Foster at the Lyceum, and then spent four years with Joe Loss, before joining Maurice Winnick and Sidney Lipton…
The composer, arranger and trumpeter William E. May (Pittsburgh, 1916-2004), aka 'Billy' May, has been a prolific arranger of compositions for a large number of singers and such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney among others, as well as composer for film and TV and conductor of his own band. This studio album is a splendid example of creativity and performance quality of Billy. Fabulous and surprising their sound, swing and big band.