Valda Bailey

Fretless guru Steve Bailey has returned with a new solo album, or more appropriately, duet album. Carolina is an amazing 17-song collection that showcases the six-string wonder with a wide array of artists. Bailey is joined by vocalist Becca Stevens, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, Lukas Nelson, and more. A particularly special moment is his duet with Willie Nelson on the legend’s own “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground.”

This CD reissue by Columbia in their Legacy series is a bit of a hodgepodge, covering a 2 1/2 year period in the bandleading career of xylophonist Red Norvo. Unfortunately the music is not programmed in chronological order but since most of these largely enjoyable 18 titles (including two never previously released) have rarely been reissued, this sampler will have to do until a more "complete" session comes along. Norvo's band during this period not only featured the occasional vocals of his wife, Mildred Bailey, but fine solo work from the tenor of Herbie Haymer, clarinetist Hank D'Amico and trumpeter Stew Pletcher in addition to the leader. The biggest key in Norvo's orchestra achieving a sound of its own, however, were the distinctive and inventive arrangements of Eddie Sauter. This CD contains great music that deserves to be reissued more coherently.

The second of two CDs from the TOM ("The Old Masters") label finishes the documentation of singer Mildred Bailey's earliest recordings. Bailey is featured with Paul Whiteman, the Dorsey Brothers Big Band, the Casa Loma Orchestra ("Heat Wave"), an all-star group with Benny Goodman (and tenor-great Coleman Hawkins) and on a her few of her own sessions. Although the emphasis is on ballads, the program generally holds on to one's interest (despite a few songs with racist lyrics, notably "Snowball") and the Goodman session (which is rounded off with an instrumental version of "Georgia Jubilee") is a near-classic. Other highlights include "I'll Never Be the Same," "Love Me Tonight," a touching "There's a Cabin in the Pines" and Bailey's earliest version of her future theme song "Rockin' Chair."

Definitely NOW by Liam Bailey is a great blues album that has a twinge of just about everything. In the first track “ On My Mind” he seems to be channeling a very bluesy almost 12 bar feel. However he covers quite more than a few styles as his album progresses…

There was a strong jazz vibe running through some of Philip Bailey's sides with Earth, Wind & Fire. On Soul on Jazz, his second release for Heads Up International, co-producer Bailey remakes several jazz standards, some with new lyrics by his son, Sir Bailey. The foray is most successful on Thelonious Monk's "Ruby My Dear," a percussive take on Gene McDaniels' "Compared to What," and Joe Zawinul's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." R&B and jazz stylishly intersect on the smooth airy ballad "Unrestrained." Bailey redoes the EWF classic "Keep Your Head to the Sky," giving it a mellow sheen that's close to one of his past cuts, "Children of the Ghetto." On that and his dusky cover of Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" and the loopy "Bop-Skip-Doodle," Bailey flexes his legendary falsetto. More jazz-oriented than Dreams, Soul on Jazz benefits from the sharing of production chores with Myron McKinley, Bob Belden, and Scott Kinsey. The album is definitely on track.