Slot Swing

Merle Haggard - Hag: The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976 - Concepts, Live & The Strangers (2008) {6CD Set Bear Family Records}
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© 1968-76, 2008 Capitol / EMI / Bear Family Records | BCD 16782 FK
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk / Folk Rock / Progressive Country / Traditional Country / Western Swing Revival

Twelve years after they released their first Merle Haggard box, The Untamed Hawk, Bear Family delivered the sequel, Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969-1976. This picks up where The Untamed Hawk left off, which is more of a musical dividing point than it initially seems. If The Untamed Hawk caught Haggard as he was reaching full flight, Hag captures him in his prime, as every single he released reached the Country Top Ten – often capturing the number one slot – and as he sometimes crossed over into the pop Top 40. Hag was without a doubt the biggest star in country music but the remarkable thing about his reign at the top was that he never played it safe.

Zez Confrey - Keyboard Wizards Of The Gershwin Era - Volume IV (1921-1943) {Pearl GEMM CD 9204 rel 1998}
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© 1921-43, 1998 Pearl | GEMM CD 9204
Jazz / Vocal / Traditional Jazz / Pop / Piano

This fourth volume in Pearl's series Keyboard Wizards of the Gershwin Era includes 26 tracks of piano-roll recordings by Zez Confrey, a gifted pianist with nimble fingers and a light touch. Barring the four versions of "Kitten on the Keys," the selections here – "Coaxin' the Piano," "Poor Buttermilk," "You Tell 'Em Ivories," "Mississippi Shivers," and "Charleston Chuckles" – will be unfamiliar to most. It's an enjoyable collection nevertheless, and a fascinating document from nearly a century ago.

This 13-song, mid-priced compilation covers material dating from "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me," cut on March 8, 1935 to "Mood Indigo" from March 31, 1964. The contents include concert versions of "Take the 'A' Train" and "Satin Doll" from the All-Star Road Band releases; the 1940-vintage "Stormy Weather" (previously in print on the double-album Duke Ellington Presents Ivie Anderson); "Autumn Leaves" with Ozzie Bailey on vocals; a pair of cuts ("St. Louis Blues," "Body and Soul") off the otherwise unavailable Cosmic Scene LP, and "I Can't Get Started" from the until-recently unavailable Piano in the Foreground album…

Merle Haggard - Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969 - 1976 (2007) {6CD Bear Family Records BCD 16749}
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© 2007 Bear Family Records | BCD 16749
Country / Bakersfield Sound / Honky Tonk / Folk Rock / Progressive Country / Traditional Country / Western Swing Revival

Merle Haggard, RIP. In Memoriam. Merle Haggard, an icon of American music, died at his home in California on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. It was the singer, songwriter, and musician’s 79th birthday. In 2008 he battled lung cancer, and was hospitalized in December 2015 with double pneumonia. Haggard returned to the stage soon after, but was sidelined again in February due to continuing health concerns. “A week ago Dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday,” Merle’s son and lead guitarist, Ben, revealed the day his father died, “and he wasn’t wrong.”

Teddy Wilson - The Complete Verve Recordings Of The Teddy Wilson Trio (1997) {5CD Box Set, Mosaic MD5-173 rec 1952-1957}
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© 1952-57, 1997 Verve / Mosaic Records / PolyGram | MD5-173
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Swing / Piano

Limited Edition of 7500. Includes a 20-page booklet. By 1952, Teddy Wilson's flawless swing style had already been fully formed for at least 17 years, and it would not change at all during the remaining three decades of his life. Wilson's performances were predictably excellent, but predictable nonetheless. This limited-edition five-CD set has all of the pianist's Verve trio recordings, which includes six-and-a-half former LPs (the half was an appearance at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival), a set only released previously in Japan, and a live date that had never come out before.

The Columbia Years 1943–1952: The Complete Recordings is a 1993 box set album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. This twelve-disc set contains 285 songs Sinatra recorded during his nine-year career with Columbia Records.