Beside Marty Paich, none of Mel Tormé's collaborators exerted such a large influence on the singer's career as George Shearing, the pianist whose understated, expressive accompaniment contributed to Tormé's resurgence during the early '80s. Their six excellent albums together – two of which, An Evening With… and Top Drawer, earned Grammy awards – proved that classic vocal music had outlasted the long night that was the '70s, and emerged to become a timeless American genre. The pair's work for Concord was usually recorded live in a trio or quartet setting; leaving much space for Shearing solos, Tormé occasionally reprised his big standards ("A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," "Lullaby of Birdland," "The Folks Who Live on the Hill"), but often searched for more obscure material he could make his own, and often succeeded. Tormé and Shearing were restless innovators, taking on a full album of World War II standards, medleys devoted to songs about New York and by Duke Ellington, and a stunningly broad range of material: "Oleo," "Lili Marlene," "How Do You Say Auf Wiedersehen?," and "Dat Dere."
Life in 12 Bars is the name of Lili Fini Zanuck's feature-length 2018 documentary about Eric Clapton, so it fits that its accompanying soundtrack also attempts to tell his story, only through song. To that end, the double-disc soundtrack doesn't limit itself strictly to music Clapton recorded himself, either on his own, as a sideman, or with the many bands he's played in over the years. It kicks off with three vintage blues sides – "Backwater Blues" by Big Bill Broonzy, then two cuts from Muddy Waters – and it later finds space for Aretha Franklin's "Good to Me as I Am to You" and George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" (although, oddly, nothing from the Band's Music from Big Pink, which changed the course of Clapton's career as thoroughly as hearing blues for the first time).
Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced a definitive and first ever career-spanning collection. On the Road to Findout: Greatest Hits presents highlights from a nearly 60-year recording career with songs from his debut 1967 LP, Matthew & Son, through to his 2023 King Of A Land album. The collection features timeless tracks like “Where Do The Children Play?,” “Wild World,” “Moonshadow,” “The Hurt,” and “Father And Son.”