This three-disc compilation features many of the Mills Brothers' best tracks. Although Golden Greats does not cover the vocal group's whole career, it still competes well with the definitive Mills Brothers: The Anthology (1931-1968) and perhaps represents them better.

While 2002's Down the Road was the best Van Morrison release in ages – with its autobiographical allusions, cultural critiques, and new band – it could not have prepared listeners for the jolt of this, his Blue Note Records debut What's Wrong With This Picture? While the album is hardly a straight jazz record, it does take the territory he explored on Down the Road another step further into the classic pop music of the 20th century filtered through his own Celtic swing, R&B, vocal jazz, and blue-eyed soul. The title track that opens the album is as close to an anthem as Morrison's ever written; he states with an easy, swinging, jazzy soul groove that he is not the same person he once was and wonders why that was so difficult for others to accept. There is no bitterness or bite in his assertions. If anything, the question is asked with warm humor and amusement as if it is indeed the listener's hangup if he/she can't accept Morrison "living in the present time." He asks, "Why don't we take it down and forget about it/'Cause that ain't me at all," as the song whispers to a close.

Trombonist Al Grey is joined by emerging young tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell on this pair of 1962 sessions, which were originally issued as an Argo LP and finally reissued on a limited-edition CD by Verve in 2003. The first five tracks also feature trumpeter Dave Burns and obscure pianist Floyd Morris. "Nothing But the Truth" is smoldering up-tempo blues with a bit of a gospel flavor, while Morris gets into the groove of the mid-tempo "Three-Fourth Blues." Mitchell especially shines on Melba Liston's soulful ballad "Just Waiting." The three tracks from the earlier session feature Donald Byrd on trumpet and Herbie Hancock on piano. Also here is the slashing hard bop composition "Minor on Top." Another Liston piece, "African Lady," is complex and showcases Grey's sensitive solo.

Continuing their globalising musical quest into 2017, Nomade Orquestra return with their second album EntreMundos set for heavyweight vinyl, CD and digital release on 23rd June 2017. Recorded at Red Bull Studios, Sao Paulo, EntreMundos is like a cosmic musical playground where Ethio-jazz, Indian classical and Oriental sounds dance around Afro-Brazilian roots rhythms and Northern hemisphere jazz, funk, soul, library music and hip-hop influences. The sheer vastness of the album is astounding, Nomade Orquestra have quite literally conquered the world in sound.

Altoist/arranger Benny Carter's classic Further Definitions is a revisiting, instrumentation-wise, to the famous 1937 session that Carter and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins made in France with two top European saxophonists (Andre Ekyan and Alix Combelle) and guitarist Django Reinhardt. The all-star group (which also includes Hawkins, altoist Phil Woods, Charlie Rouse on second tenor, pianist Dick Katz, guitarist John Collins, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Jo Jones) performs a particularly inspired repertoire. Carter's charts, which allow Hawkins to stretch out on "Body and Soul," give everyone a chance to shine. "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Crazy Rhythm" hold their own with the 1937 versions, and "Blue Star" and "Doozy" prove to be two of Carter's finest originals. Although Benny Carter was not actively playing much at the time (this was his only small-group recording during 1963-1975), he is heard in typically prime form. Very highly recommended.

When one of Broadway's (and London's West End's) best known divas teams up with internationally known jazz musician Harry Allen (and his hot-as-a pistol saxophone), the result is pure musical magic. Add to that mix a trio of some of the country's most talented sidemen and what we have is this fantastic CD of traditional jazz and blues recordings. From the sultry "Blues in the Night" to the favorite instrumental "Smoke Get's in Your Eyes", You will love every minute of this live session.

A distinctive trombonist with a sly wit and the ability to sound as if he were playing underwater, Vic Dickenson was an asset to any session on which he appeared. He stated out in the 1920s and '30s playing in the Midwest. Associations with Blanche Calloway (1933-1936), Claude Hopkins (1936-1939), Benny Carter (1939), Count Basie (1940), Carter again (1941), and Frankie Newton (1941-1943) preceded a high-profile gig with Eddie Heywood's popular sextet (1943-1946); Dickenson also played and recorded with Sidney Bechet. From then on he was a freelancing soloist who spent time on the West Coast, Boston, and New York, appearing on many recordings (including some notable dates for Vanguard) and on the legendary Sound of Jazz telecast (1957)…

Jerome Kern's stage tunes – going back to the late '20s with the acclaimed presentation Show Boat – right up to the '40s, will forever be at the core of quintessential American popular songs that hold a dear place in the heart of all straight-ahead jazz performers. Oscar Peterson's immortal trio with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen play Kern's themes expertly, with no small degree of interpretation, and a clever angle on these well-worn songs that only Peterson can self-identify with his genius mindset. The title should be more accurately "The Jerome Kern & Friends Songbook," as he always co-wrote with such notables as Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Ira Gershwin, and Dorothy Fields, but these are all instrumental versions of his priceless musical scores and are immediately familiar without lyrics.

This is the soundtrack from the movie. The music is conducted by the Hollywood regular Joseph Gershenson. Gershenson wisely uses members of the original band for these stereo recreations. The sound comes close, but is lacking the punch and precision that Miller himself provided with his band. What's odd is that Decca chose to include two cuts by Louis Armstrong and his all stars. They make an appearance in the movie, so they included two cuts by Satchmo. Up until recently, these cuts by Armstrong had been very difficult to find, until Verve's reissue of Armstrong's I Love Jazz.

Nancy Wilson's not the first name in bluesy jazz (check out Dinah Washington and Joe Williams for that), but she usually can enliven the form with her sophisticated and sultry style. That's made clear on her rendition of "Stormy Monday Blues," where she eschews blues clichés in favor of a husky airiness, at once referencing a lowdown mood and infusing it with a sense of buoyancy. This split is nicely essayed on Capitol's Blues and Jazz Sessions, as half the tracks ooze with Wilson's cocktail blues tone and the other find the jazz-pop chanteuse in a summery and swinging mood. Ranging from the big band blues of "I've Got Your Number" to the lilting bossa nova "Wave," Wilson handles all the varying dynamics and musical settings with aplomb. Featuring cuts from her '60s prime with the likes of Cannonball Adderley, Oliver Nelson, George Shearing, Gerald Wilson, and a host of top sidemen, this best-of disc offers a fine, off-the-beaten-path overview of Wilson's Capitol heyday.

Simply a grand and eloquent performance put together by Verve records highlighting the best years of Ella Fitzgerald – that sassy, charming legendary singer in jazz. The Best of the Songbooks features a captivating lineup of some of jazz's greatest composers and arrangers. It is here that Fitzgerald records and sings songs of Cole Porter, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George & Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer.

Show tunes provide a multitude of reference material for the traditional vintage jazz or pop vocalist. Then there are movie themes, more familiar to the general public, especially when they were seen later on a modern invention called television. This collection of 26 tracks features a modicum of jazz, but mainly pop tunes from the Golden Era of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Big bands are prevalent as the backup groups, sometimes including strings, with little instrumental improvisation and stock charts. Among the most famous of these sentimental journey songs are "Moon River" from Billy May, "Call Me Irresponsible" by Bobby Darin, Dean Martin's slightly sloshed "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa" and his actually hip "The Continental" (two of three Cole selections heard here). There are also two from Johnny Mandel with the Pied Pipers, "Swinging on a Star" by Freddie Slack, a young Nancy Wilson with "Secret Love," and soupier group vocal pieces from the King Sisters, Bob Hope with the Clark Sisters, the Lettermen, the Four Freshmen, and Ray Anthony with the Belvederes on the apropos "Thanks for the Memory." Overall, this is nothing more than a trip down that lane of reminiscence for those familiar with the old dirt road path to grandma's, now a superhighway.

5 complete LPs presented on 2 companion volumes! Featuring Carl Perkins, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel and Don Fagerquist! Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw were among the most famous and beloved figures in swing music both as clarinet soloists and orchestra conductors. Th ey were still very active musically in 1957, when Buddy De Franco decided to record a series of sessions paying homage to them. Thirty-five performances were recorded (including four medleys containing three songs each) in four extended sessions made on four consecutive days and with two different groups (guitarist Barney Kessel, however, is present on most of the tracks). The first two sessions included trumpeter Don Fagerquist, tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and pianist Carl Perkins. The second group includes trumpeter Ray Linn and another modern jazz pianist: Jimmy Rowles…

Collectables presents 24 more of the greatest holiday hits of all time. All songs are the original hits by the original artists that made them great. Elvis Presley, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Bing Cosby, Brian Wilson, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow, Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton, Gloria Estefan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kenny Loggins, Buster Poindexter, Englebert Humperdinck, Donny Osmond, John Denver, The Manhattan Transfer, Gladys Knight, Kenny Vance, Bobby Vinton and Aretha Franklin.

The Ultimate Christmas Album, Vol. 6: WCBS FM 101.1 is another eclectic collection of pop holiday tunes from the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s, including Wham!'s "Last Christmas," the Beach Boys' "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," and Andy Williams' "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!." Aretha Franklin's "Winter Wonderland," America's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and Connie Francis' "White Christmas" are some of the other highlights from this scattered compilation, which somehow mixes different sounds and eras into a festive celebration.