Ronnie Milsap Just For a Thrill

This eight-CD set should be a part of any collection that presumes to take American music - not just rock & roll or rhythm & blues - seriously. Atlantic Records was one of dozens of independent labels started up after the war by neophyte executives and producers, but it was different from most of the others in that the guys who ran it were honest and genuinely loved music. Coupled with a lot of luck and some good judgment, the results trace a good chunk of the history of American music and popular culture. Disc one opens with cuts which slot in somewhere midway between jazz, bop, and "race" music (as the term was used then). Disc two is pure, distilled R&B, the stuff filling the airwaves of black radio and the jukeboxes in the "wrong" parts of town in 1952-54….

For this change of pace, singer/pianist Shirley Horn performs 15 songs associated with Ray Charles. Of course, Horn sounds nothing like Charles, but she sometimes captures his spirit on such songs as "Hit the Road, Jack," "You Don't Know Me" (which finds her switching to organ), "Makin' Whoopee" and "How Long Has This Been Going On." Joined by her regular trio (with bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Willliams), some of the songs have Ables switching effectively to guitar, while Tyler Mitchell fills in on bass. Altoist Gary Bartz guests on five of the dozen selections. While emphasizing ballads, as one always expects, this is a fun set that includes more medium-tempo tunes than usual for a Shirley Horn set.

For this change of pace, singer/pianist Shirley Horn performs 15 songs associated with Ray Charles. Of course, Horn sounds nothing like Charles, but she sometimes captures his spirit on such songs as "Hit the Road, Jack," "You Don't Know Me" (which finds her switching to organ), "Makin' Whoopee" and "How Long Has This Been Going On." ~ AllMusic

British EMI continues its "two on one" series of combining two vintage LPs on a single CD with a couple of Peggy Lee albums from two different eras. I'm a Woman, which Capitol Records released in February 1963, was a rush job. Lee was enjoying a hit single with the Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller-composed title song, which had been issued as a one-off single, in early 1963, so Capitol had her quickly cut an album's worth of tracks in order to have an LP of the same name out to take advantage commercially…

Excelling at the art of blues balladry demands that a musician possess great feeling but also great control. No surprise then, that one of its greatest practitioners, Nancy Wilson, has both traits in abundance. Save Your Love for Me: Nancy Wilson Sings the Great Blues Ballads is one in a loose series of three Capitol compilations to compile her late-'50s and early-'60s prime, the others focusing on the Great American Songbook and the torch song.