Posts Tagged ‘Billie Holiday’

Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa Team Up For Second Album Of Soul Covers, Seesaw, Out May 21

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa Team Up For Second Album of Soul Covers, SEESAW, out May 21. (PRNewsFoto/J&R Adventures)

FEMALE BLUES SINGER HART ON FIRE COLLABORATING WITH WORLD’S BEST GUITAR PLAYERS

ALBUM FEATURES A COLLECTION OF SONGS MADE FAMOUS BY ARTISTS INCLUDING ARETHA FRANKLIN, ETTA JAMES, BILLIE HOLIDAY, DONNIE HATHAWAY, LUCINDA WILLIAMS, BUDDY MILES, TINA TURNER, SLACKWAX, MELODY GARDOT, AND NINA SIMONE

LOS ANGELES, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Much buzzed about singer-songwriter Beth Hart , known for her raw and powerful blues-rock sound, and guitarist Joe Bonamassa, one of the best guitarists of his generation, will release their sophomore album of classic soul covers Seesaw on May 21, 2013 via J&R Adventures (and May 20 in Europe via Mascot Records).Produced by Kevin Shirley (Joe Bonamassa, Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes), the album features Hart’s scorching interpretations of eleven songs, with Bonamassa on guitar and an all-star band filling out the tracks. It was recorded in January 2013 at Revolver Studios in Thousand Oaks, CA and The Cave in Malibu, CA . The duo will play a select run of live shows in Europe in June, with two Amsterdam dates at Carre Theatre being filmed for a future DVD release.

Download the free single of “Seesaw” here.

Watch the EPK here.  

Pre-order starts Friday, April 19th at www.hartandbonamassa.com.

A force of nature with powerhouse vocals, Hart has been in the spotlight since her show-stopping set with Jeff Beck on the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors to pay tribute to blues legend Buddy Guy.  The duo received a rare, non-honoree standing ovation when they played “I’d Rather Go Blind” – a song she and Bonamassa originally covered together on Don’t Explain – which the Baltimore Sun called a “soul-searing performance.”  Hart reunited with Beck onstage at last week’s Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival,  which featured blues and guitar greats like Albert Lee, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Sonny Landreth, Keith Urban, Keb’ Mo’, and John Mayer. Together they performed Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” and the Beck/Stevie Ray Vaughan-penned “Goin’ Down.”

Seesaw is the follow up to 2011′s Don’t Explain, on which Slant called Hart “a simply peerless frontwoman;” AllMusic.com said “Bonamassa and band accent her every phrase with requisite rowdiness, sting and grit.” About.com called the duo “a match made in heaven” and MOJO praised their “potent musical chemistry.” The album was nominated for a 2012 Blues Music Award.

Seesaw opens with a joyous horn reveille to kick off “Them There Eyes,” made famous in 1939 by Billie Holiday —one of Hart’s biggest inspirations. “My mother turned me on to this song when I was a kid,” says Beth.  “I love the bubbliness.  It’s sexy, it’s fun, and it has a great swing to it.” On the track “Nutbush City Limits,” Hart wails with an intensity that would make Tina Turner proud, and her slow and soulful burn on “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” pairs dramatically with Bonamassa’s smoking guitar. The tempo kicks up several notches with Hart’s tight, rocking vocals on “Can’t Let Go,” from Lucinda Williams’ Grammy-winning 1998 album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.  It’s followed by her fierce cover of “ Miss Lady,” the Buddy Miles song that was originally produced by Jimi Hendrix. Hart revisits Melody Gardot’s songbook to deliver a sultry, jazzy rendition of “If I Tell You I Love You.” “See Saw,” is a Don Covay/Steve Cropper composition from Aretha Franklin’s 1968 album Aretha Now.  The album closes with Hart’s haunting and atmospheric version of “Strange Fruit,” a song that began as a poem about American racism—and lynching—by Abel Meeropol.

To back Hart up, Bonamassa assembled the band that was heard on his #1 Blues album The Ballad of John Henry (2009) and on Don’t Explain: Anton Fig (drums, percussion), Blondie Chaplin (guitar), and Carmine Rojas (bass), as well as Arlan Schierbaum (keyboards).  Lenny Castro plays percussion and Michael Rhodes plays bass on the track “I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.” Collectively, they have performed with hundreds of artists including The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kiss, and the CBS Orchestra on Late Night with David Letterman.

On April 2, Hart released her first U.S. album in a decade, Bang Bang Boom Boom, to stellar reviews. Bonamassa released his first live acoustic CD/DVD/Blu-ray, An Acoustic Evening At The Vienna Opera House, on March 26 to enthusiastic reviews. With Vienna , Bonamassa became the first artist to tally 10 No. 1s on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart, passing B.B. King (nine) for the most No. 1s. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble have seven, followed by Eric Clapton with six.

Seesaw Track Listing:

1. Them There Eyes 2:31
2. Close To My Fire 5:12
3. Nutbush City Limits 3:34
4. I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know 7:03
5. Can’t Let Go 4:00
6. Miss Lady 4:54
7. If I Tell You I Love You 3:36
8. Rhymes 5:03
9. Sunday Kind Of Love 3:55
10. See Saw 3:25
11. Strange Fruit 5:45

For more information:  http://www.hartandbonamassa.com/

SOURCE J&R Adventures

Web Site: http://www.hartandbonamassa.com

Legacy Recordings Releasing 30th Anniversary Edition Of Texas Flood, The Album Debut Of Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, Featuring Previously Unreleased Philadelphia Live Set From 1983

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announces the release of an expanded two-disc 30th anniversary edition of Texas Flood , the electrifying debut album by the American blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, available everywhere Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Texas Flood

(2-CD 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition)

Available Tuesday, January 29, 2013

NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announces the release of an expanded two-disc 30th anniversary edition of Texas Flood , the electrifying debut album by the American blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, available everywhere Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

A live sensation on the Austin, Texas club circuit since the late 1970s, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble–Stevie Ray (guitar, vocals), Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris “Whipper” Layton (drums)–turned in a particularly memorable show at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1982, catching the ears of David Bowie (who enlisted Stevie Ray for his Let’s Dance album) and Jackson Browne (who offered the band free use of his Los Angeles recording studio).  Accepting the offer, Stevie Ray and Double Trouble recorded several tracks over a whirlwind three days (with day one mainly devoted to setting up equipment) with the resultant tracks grabbing the attention of legendary record producer John Hammond, who’d discovered and signed Bob Dylan, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin and many others.  Hammond brought Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble to Epic Records, which released the remastered tracks as Texas Flood in 1983.

Executive produced by John Hammond, the original Texas Flood album was produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton and engineer Richard Mullen.  The Legacy Edition of Texas Flood is produced by Gregg Geller (who, as head of Epic’s A&R 1983, signed Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble to the label).

Legacy Recordings logo. Division of SONY Music Entertainment. (PRNewsFoto/Legacy Recordings)

An immediate and surprising success, Texas Flood peaked at #38 on the Billboard 200 while “Pride and Joy” shot up to #20 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.  The album’s title track was nominated for a Best Traditional Blues Performance Grammy while “Rude Mood” grabbed a Grammy nom for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.  The album has sold more than 2 million copies since its original release.

Originally released on Epic Records on June 13, 1983, Texas Flood , an unapologetic apotheosis of electric blues supercharged for a post-disco post-punk pop world, introduced audiences to a soul-filled sound that existed outside both the mainstream and underground tastes of its era. The album opened the gates of a fiery blues resurgence with Stevie Ray Vaughan signature compositions like “Pride and Joy” and “Love Struck Baby” flowing naturally alongside covers of deep blues and R&B standards by Howlin’ Wolf, the Isley Brothers, Buddy Guy and Larry Davis.

Disc One of the 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition of  Texas Flood includes the original album in its entirety with the bonus track “Tin Pan Alley” (aka “Roughest Place in Town”).

Disc Two of the newly expanded Texas Flood will premiere a previously unavailable hour’s long set of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble live at Ripley’s Music Hall in Philadelphia.  Recorded on October 20, 1983 for a WMMR broadcast, the extraordinary Ripley’s performance finds Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble coming straight out of the gun already at an undeniable peak of their formidible powers.

Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble – Texas Flood
(2 CD 30^th Anniversary Legacy Edition)

Disc One – Texas Flood
Love Struck Baby
Pride and Joy
Texas Flood
Tell Me
Testify
Rude Mood
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Dirty Pool
I’m Cryin’
Lenny

Bonus track:
Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)

Executive Producer: John Hammond
Produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Richard Mullen and Double Trouble

Disc Two – Live at Ripley’s Music Hall, Philadelphia, October 20, 1983
Testify
So Excited
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Pride and Joy
Texas Flood
Love Struck Baby
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Tin Pan Alley (aka Roughest Place In Town)
Little Wing/Third Stone From The Sun

Previously unreleased

The 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition of Texas Flood includes extensive liner notes by noted music historian Ashley Kahn (A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album; Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece). In his notes, Kahn writes, “The story of Texas Flood —more than any other recording by the guitarist—is the story of Stevie Ray. The album stands closest to his personal roots, roots that grew from a loamy mix of deep Southern blues, Texas R&B, and white-boy  rock ‘n’ roll. It echoes his earliest triumphs as a guitarist, and serves as the triumphant finish-line to a ten-year run of hustling and scuffling that began in 1973, when the Dallas-born, 18-year old left home for the Austin music scene.”

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Web Site: http://www.legacyrecordings.com

See larger image Couldn't Stand the Weather (Legacy Edition) (Audio CD) List Price: $15.99 USD New From: $8.66 In Stock Used from: $4.98 In Stock Release date July 27, 2010.

Legacy Presents Four New Complete Album Collection Box Sets By Our Greatest Jazz And Blues Artists: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, Duke Ellington, And Bessie Smith

Legacy Recordings logo. Division of SONY Music Entertainment. (PRNewsFoto/Legacy Recordings)

Available everywhere October 30, 2012

NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – The ultimate year-round jazz festival of Legacy Recordings continues to set a new industry standard with four more Complete Album Collections from the Sony Music archives family of labels, by the greatest names in jazz and blues:

• LOUIS ARMSTRONG – THE COMPLETE OKeh COLUMBIA & RCA VICTOR RECORDINGS 1925-1933 (OKeh/Columbia/RCA/Legacy) 10 titles, 10 CDs;
• CHARLIE CHRISTIAN – THE GENIUS OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR (Columbia/ Legacy) 4 titles, 4 CDs;
• DUKE ELLINGTON – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA STUDIO ALBUMS COLLECTION 1951-1958 (Columbia/ Legacy) 9 titles, 9 CDs;
• BESSIE SMITH – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS (Columbia/ Legacy) 5 titles, 10 CDs.

Newly assembled and mastered, and affordably priced, this latest wave of jazz and blues titles in the Complete Album Collections  box set series will be available at the PopMarket.com website – http://complete.popmarket.com – as well as at all general retail on October 30 ^th through Legacy Recordings, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

Of particular interest is the fact that 2012 marks the 90^th anniversary of Bessie Smith’s signing to Columbia Records in 1922 (and the start of her recording career in 1923).  Both Smith (in 1989) and Charlie Christian (1990) are Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

These four new entries follow up the first 22 box sets in the series, released through PopMarket.com in 2011 and 2012.  Those titles covered the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis (2009), George Duke, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Return To Forever, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Sarah Vaughan, Grover Washington Jr., Weather Report 1971-1975 and Weather Report 1976-1982 (all on Columbia/Legacy); the Brecker Brothers (on Arista/Legacy); Etta James (on Private Music/RCA/Legacy); and Paul Desmond and Nina Simone (on RCA/Legacy).

As the dominant jazz record labels for most of the 20^th century, Columbia and RCA Victor were home to a myriad of leading jazz figures during the LP era, and into the digital age.  Each multi-disc box set contains the artist’s entire album output during their original label tenure (Columbia, Epic, RCA, and so on), or focuses on some aspect of their output.  Each album is packaged in a replica mini-LP sleeve reproducing that LP’s original front and back cover artwork.  Where applicable, the albums in each box include the bonus tracks that have been released on the various Legacy expanded CD editions over the years.  Booklets are included with each box set, containing new liner notes essays and complete discographical information, including any bonus material.

The box sets in the Complete Album Collections series have been produced by longtime Grammy Award®-winning and Grammy Award®-nominated Legacy producers Richard Seidel, Michael Cuscuna, Michael Brooks, Larry Cohn, Didier Deutsch and Bob Belden.  All packaging has been supervised by Grammy Award®-winning former Legacy Vice President of Jazz Marketing Seth Rothstein, and art directed by award-winning designer Edward O’Dowd, who has worked on more than 150 CD packages in various genres.

Virtually all of the CDs in these box sets have been newly mastered by Sony Senior Mastering Engineer Mark Wilder.   He has received seven Grammy Award® nominations and 3 Grammy Awards® in his nearly 25 years at Sony.  All of the jazz CDs in the Complete Album Collections are produced from the most-up-to-date and best-sounding masters available.

The next four titles in the Complete Album Collections series feature the music of the greatest first generation blues singer, Bessie Smith , as well as jazz legends and forefathers Louis Armstrong , Charlie Christian , and Duke Ellington :

LOUIS ARMSTRONG – THE COMPLETE OKeh COLUMBIA & RCA VICTOR RECORDINGS 1925-1933 (OKeh/Columbia/RCA/Legacy 8869794565 2)  Liner notes by Ricky Riccardi, archivist at the Louis Armstrong House & Museum, author of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years (Pantheon, 2011).

Nearly nine decades after his first OKeh recordings in Chicago as a leader, the Hot Five and Hot Seven sides of 1925 through 1928 by Louis Armstrong (1900-1971) retain their place as western pop music’s Holy Grail, Rosetta Stone, and Big Bang all rolled into one.  His vocalizing and solo improvising on cornet showed the world how to swing on the seminal Hot Five recordings of “Heebie Jeebies,” “Cornet Chop Suey,” and “Muskrat Ramble,” and his Hot Seven takes of “Potato Head Blues,” “Twelfth Street Rag,” “S.O.L. Blues,” “That’s When I’ll Come Back To You,” “Struttin With Some Barbecue,” “Savoy Blues” and so many others.  CD Four is devoted to his work alongside pianist Earl Hines in Louis Armstrong & His Stompers (“Chicago Break­down”), Carroll Dickerson’s Stompers (the lost Argentine sides “Symphonic Raps” and “Savoyagers Stomp”), the Hot Five (“West End Blues,” “Basin Street Blues,” more) and of course the Savoy Ballroom Five with Don Redman (“No One Else But You,” “Beau Koo Jack,” “Weather Bird,” “Muggles,” “St. James Infirmary,” “Tight Like This” and more).

In 1929, the newly formed Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra began recording in New York, his new home (CD Five and Six’s “Knockin’ A Jug,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue,” “Some Of These Days,” “When You’re Smiling,” “After You’ve Gone,” “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” “St. Louis Blues,” “Rockin’ Chair,” “Tiger Rag,” “I’m A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas,” “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You),” “Body And Soul,” and more).  Lionel Hampton (on drums!) enters the picture on Louis’ first Los Angeles recordings in 1930 (“You’re Drivin’ Me Crazy,” “Just a Gigolo,” “Shine,” and more), and the Orchestra keeps turning out the hits back in Chicago for OKeh in 1931 and ’32 (CD Seven and Eight): “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home,” “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” “Them There Eyes,” “Stardust,” “Georgia On My Mind,” “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea,” “Kickin’ the Gong Around,” and more.

Finally, for the first time in any Legacy package, Louis’ OKeh years share the spotlight with his move to Victor in late-1932, as heard on CD Nine and Ten’s three dozen tracks.  This litany of Nipper sides includes “”That’s My Home,” “I’ve Got the World On a String,” “High Society,” “Swing, You Cats,” “Laughin’ Louie,” “Sweet Sue, Just You,” “St. Louis Blues,” “You’ll Wish You’d Never Been Born,” and much more.  The ten-CD package ends with Louis (and wife Lil on piano) backing Victor giant Jimmie Rodgers on his “Blue Yodel #9,” recorded in Los Angeles, July 1930.

For jazz purists, it is important to note that this box set does not include the various sides that Armstrong recorded as a sideman, i.e. not under his own name, with such blues/pop singers as Maggie Jones on Columbia in 1924 (“Good Times Flat Blues,” “Poor House Blues,” and so on); and Lillie Delk Christian on OKeh in 1928 ( “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and so on).

(Note: CDs One through Seven reprise the first out-of-print seven volumes on Louis Armstrong from the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces series, released 1988 to 1993.)

1. Louis Armstrong & The Hot Fives – Volume 1 (1925-1926)
2. Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives & Sevens – Volume 2 (1926-1927)
3. Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives & Sevens – Volume 3 (1927-1928)
4. Louis Armstrong & Earl Hines (1927-1928)
5. Louis in New York (1929)
6. St Louis Blues (1929-1930)
7. You’re Driving Me Crazy (1930-1931)
8. Stardust (1931-1932)
9. Swing, You Cats (1932-1933)
10. Laughin’ Louie (1933, 1932, 1930)

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN – THE GENIUS OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR (Columbia/ Legacy 88697 93035 2)  Liner notes by Peter Broadbent, owner/administrator of The Charlie Christian Archive, the largest reference collection of material specific to Charlie Christian in existence; and author of two biographies on Charlie Christian.

Charlie Christian (1916-1942), wielding his big Gibson ES150 was not the first electric guitarist, but by dint of his role in the Benny Goodman Sextet starting in 1939, the first integrated group organized by a major American orchestra leader, Christian attained the exposure and influence that turned him into the most iconic figure in the pre-war development of the electric guitar.  Columbia staff producer John Hammond (Goodman’s brother-in-law) first auditioned 22-year old Christian in his hometown of Oklahoma City in July 1939, at pianist Mary Lou Williams’ suggestion.  Hammond brought the guitarist to Los Angeles to audition for a new combo that Goodman was forming, in conjunction with his move to Columbia after four years at Victor.  The new integrated sextet would also include Fletcher Henderson on piano and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone.  Within two months, Christian (who was now making $200 a week) was a national star on the Goodman bandstand.  The combo began recording for Columbia in New York in October.  The session yielded the classic 78 single, “Flying Home” (a Hamp and Christian signature) b/w “Rose Room” (Christian’s audition tune for Benny back in July, which legend says turned into a 47 minute jam that night).

The sextet with Christian only recorded through March 1941 (their final classic 78 single, “A Smo-o-o-oth One” b/w “Air Mail Special”), some 38 extant master takes (and 37 alternate takes) heard on the first three CDs in this box set.  CD Four compiles tracks that Christian recorded in New York with: 1) the Metronome All Star Nine (the dream team of Goodman, Harry James, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Eddie Miller, Jess Stacy, Bob Haggart, and Gene Krupa; and 2) Benny Goodman’s full orchestra.  Topping the Downbeat magazine poll in 1939 and 1940 as Best Guitarist, no sideman had greater impact on jazz over the course of an 18-month period than Charlie Christian.  His tragic death in March 1942, at age 25 at a sanatorium on Staten Island, from a recurring tuberculosis and pneumonia, extinguished a flame that lives on through his Columbia recordings, which continue to inspire and teach generations of guitarists.

(Note: This package reprises the contents of the out-of-print box set of 2002, Charlie Christian – The Genius Of The Electric Guitar , which included Peter Broad­bent’s biographical essay.)

1. The Master Takes: Benny Goodman Sextet – 1939 / with The Alternate Takes
2. The Master Takes: Benny Goodman Sextet – 1940 / with The Alternate Takes
3. The Master Takes: Benny Goodman Sextet – 1940-41 / with The Alternate Takes
4. The Master Takes: the Metronome All Star Nine – 1940, Benny Goodman And His Orchestra – 1939-1941, The Sextet Breakdowns & False Starts, The Sextet Rehearsal Sequences, March 13, 1941 Jam Session

DUKE ELLINGTON – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA STUDIO ALBUMS COLLECTION 1951-1958 (Columbia/ Legacy 88697 93888 2)  Liner notes by two-time Grammy Award®-winning writer Loren Schoenberg, Artistic Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

In the aftermath of World War II and the demise of the vast majority of swing bands and orchestras (owing to gasoline rationing, the Petrillo Ban, a focus on young new vocalists, and the rise of small combo bebop and the new rhythm & blues, among other factors), Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974) fared better than most.  Owing to his skills as a composer, sometimes arranger, and skillful bandleader, he weathered the storm.  At the other end of that storm, the LP era exploded, with opportunity for the kind of extended-length compositions and concepts that Duke and his collaborator Billy Strayhorn were moving toward, away from the three-minute confines of the 78 rpm era.

Complicating matters was the departure of three key players (Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, and drummer Sonny Greer), and a new sound that Duke was envisioning for his band, “the most significant juncture in the band’s 47 year history,” Schoenberg writes.  Ellington’s relationship with Columbia in the LP era began with 1951′s Masterpieces , a program of newly- recorded versions of his familiar themes, including “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “Solitude” (plus three bonus tracks from the same general 1951 time period).  The same idea of bringing his classics up to date in the contemporary era (“Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Perdido,” and so on) was carried through on Uptown , whose various LP editions included the two-part, 10-minute “Controversial Suite,” and the six-part, 24-minute “Liberian Suite.”  Jumping ahead to 1956, Blue Rose was a straight-ahead session of all Ellington works interpreted by Rosemary Clooney.  Following his band’s triumph at the Newport Jazz Festival that summer, Duke entered Columbia’s 30^th Street Studios in September for A Drum Is A Woman , a tribute to the Afro-Caribbean jungle roots of jazz, entirely composed by Ellington and Strayhorn.

The ‘high concept’ ideas continued into 1957, with Such Sweet Thunder , inspired by the dramatic works of William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet in particular.  That same year, Ellington Indigos juxtaposed his standard songbook (“Solitude,” “Mood Indigo,” “Prelude To A Kiss,” and so on) with evergreens by such composers as Rodgers & Hart (“Where Or When”), Johnny Mercer (“Autumn Leaves”), Cole Porter (“Night And Day”) and others.  1958 was a busy year, starting with Black, Brown And Beige , Duke’s timeless collaboration with gospel legend Mahalia Jackson.  Bal Masque was a tribute to the songs of the big band swing era.  And 1958′s Cosmic Scene was a future-looking nod to the Cold War space race, “the perfect merging of improvisation and composition,” Schoenberg concludes, “spontaneity and forethought, and above all, the sound of surprise that makes every note Duke Ellington ever recorded worthy of study, and a cause for sheer joy.”

1. Masterpieces By Ellington (1951)
2. Ellington Uptown (1952)
3. Blue Rose – Rosemary Clooney and Duke Ellington And His Orchestra (1956)
4. A Drum Is A Woman (1956)
5. Such Sweet Thunder (1957)
6. Ellington Indigos (1957)
7. Black, Brown And Beige Featuring Mahalia Jackson (1958)
8. Duke Ellington At The Bal Masque (1958)
9. Duke Ellington’s Spacemen: The Cosmic Scene (1958)

BESSIE SMITH – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS (Columbia/ Legacy 88725 40310 2)  Liner notes by Ken Romanowski, musician, archivist, and writer who has annotated  over 100 reissue projects (including more than ninety for Document Records), and a major contributor to the book that accompanied the acclaimed box set of American vernacular religious music, Goodbye, Babylon . 

In 1991, in the aftermath of the RIAA platinum, Grammy Award®-winning success of the double-CD box set, Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings , the first Columbia/Legacy historic project, an explosion of renewed interest in the blues was kindled across the country and around the world.  Attention immediately turned to the original Empress of the blues, Bessie Smith (1894-1937), whose career-defining catalog on Columbia from 1923 to 1933, some 160-plus master takes, deserved a new audience in the digital era.  Five critically-acclaimed double-CD deluxe box sets were issued over the next five years, and Bessie’s artistry was hailed as the new millennium approached.  Her influence on singers ranging from Mahalia Jackson and Billie Holiday to Dinah Washington and Nina Simone, from Janis Joplin and Tracy Nelson to Lucinda Williams and Cassandra Wilson, was reaffirmed for all to hear.

As Romanowski’s notes point out, it was the unprecedented left-field success of Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues” on OKeh in 1920 that sent other companies scurrying to find blues artists who would appeal to African-American record buyers.  Bessie Smith had attracted notoriety on the medicine and minstrel show circuit with her mentor Ma Rainey’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels.  Signed to Columbia at age 28, Bessie Smith was assigned to A&R staff producer Frank Walker, whose second session with her (and Clarence Williams on piano) in February 1923 turned out the landmark 78 rpm single, “Down Hearted Blues” b/w “Gulf Coast Blues,” a million-selling record over the next year or so.  This new African-American market was a boon for struggling Columbia, who (along with other record companies) would have no idea how many whites were also buying blues records until the birth of rock and roll three decades later.

There is no overstating how many blues were introduced into the American songbook by Bessie Smith over the next decade: “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do,” “St. Louis Blues,” “A Good Man Is Hard To Find,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out,” “I Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl,” “Back Water Blues,” “After You’ve Gone,” “Careless Love Blues,” “I Ain’t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle,” “After You’ve Gone,” and her three Grammy® Hall Of Fame inductees at the top of the list: “Down Hearted Blues,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “Empty Bed Blues.”  Astute young jazz followers also noted the presence of Clarence Williams, Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Buster Bailey, James P. Johnson, Eddie Lang, Buck Washington, Chu Berry, Jack Teagarden, and others at Bessie’s various Columbia sessions over the years, even Benny Goodman on 1933′s “Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer.”

Volume five of this box set closes with the music from St. Louis Blues , the short film of 1929 whose images of Bessie are emblazoned in our psyche.  CD Two of Volume five comprises 79 minutes of documentary interviews conducted by Chris Albertson, the first serious chronicler of Bessie Smith’s career.  “Every one of the recordings in this collection,” Romanowski writes, “is remarkable in some way thanks to Bessie’s extraordinary communicative abilities and abundance of charisma.”

(Note: This package reprises the contents of the five double-CD volumes of Complete Recordings that were released by Columbia/Legacy from 1991 to 1996.)

1. The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 (1923-1924) 2 CDs
2. The Complete Recordings Vol. 2 (1924-1925) 2 CDs
3. The Complete Recordings Vol. 3 (1925-1928) 2 CDs
4. The Complete Recordings Vol. 4 (1928-1931) 2 CDs
5. The Complete Recordings Vol. 5 (1931, 1933, unissued takes, St. Louis Blues soundtrack , Ruby Smith Dialogue/An Interview with Chris Albertson) 2 CDs

Visit:

http://complete.popmarket.com
legacyrecordings.com

SOURCE Legacy Recordings

Web Site: http://www.legacyrecordings.com

See larger image The Genius Of The Electric Guitar (Audio CD) List Price: $44.98 USD New From: $24.11 In Stock Used from: $24.10 In Stock Release date November 27, 2012.

Columbia Records Celebrates 125 Years Of Great American Music With 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story

“360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story” Celebrates 125 Years of Great Music. (PRNewsFoto/Columbia Records)

Written by Pulitzer Prize-and GRAMMY-nominated author and historian Sean Wilentz, 360 Sound illustrates sweeping cultural and business changes in music over more than a century

Special deluxe version includes book by celebrated journalist Dave Marsh highlighting his selection of the 263 most important songs in Columbia’s history along with a drive including all tracks

ISBN: 978-1-4521-0736-3

NEW YORK, July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Columbia Records will celebrate its 125^th anniversary with the release of a book titled 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story on the great American record label and its role in initiating recorded music, cultivating great artists, and igniting cultural change. Written by Pulitzer Prize-and GRAMMY nominated author and historian Sean Wilentz, the book provides a journey through Columbia Records’ storied past and its contributions to entertainment from the invention of commercial recording through the present day.

360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story, published by Chronicle Books, will be released on October 30 ^th. It begins in the late 1880′s, when Columbia, under the leadership of Edward Easton, seized upon the phonographic inventions of Thomas Edison and others to offer the public the first commercial musical recordings. The book goes on the explore the rich stories of how Columbia’s artists and producers have redefined American music and performance over the past 125 years, at once reflecting and shaping changes in the wider culture.

Simultaneously, Columbia Records will release a deluxe package, which will include, in addition to a hard cover copy of the Wilentz book, a separate book, written by Dave Marsh, entitled 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story: Legends and Legacy. Marsh has culled from Columbia’s vaults a collection of 263 songs and tracks of the greatest historical, as well as musical, significance, and his book offers his thoughts on each selection. The package also includes a beautifully crafted drive with all 263 recordings.

360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story will also be available as an e-book through multiple platforms.

Bob Dylan (in 1966) featured in new book “360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story” by Sean Wilentz, celebrating 125 years of music. (photo: Jerry Schatzberg). (PRNewsFoto/Columbia Records)

Columbia’s list of major performers, past and present, is unsurpassed and includes much of the most important, and beloved music in all genres, including pop, rock, country, show tunes, classical, jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and blues. Artists recorded by Columbia and its subsidiaries have included Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Johnny Cash, Beyonce, Adele, Billy Joel, Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Robert Johnson, Bing Crosby, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Aerosmith, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, LL Cool J, James Taylor, Philip Glass, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, Dixie Chicks, John Mayer, Jack White, and more.

360 Sound includes 300 rare and intimate photographs from the Columbia archives and sidebar discussions of crucial developments and performers written by eminent music historians Dave Marsh and Colin Escott. The book offers a virtual history of the music industry from its infancy, tracing Columbia’s pivotal technological as well as business innovations, not least its invention of the LP. It also reflects on the connection between Columbia’s artists and music and sweeping cultural and political changes, from the emergence of mass commercial culture to the rise of the civil rights movement and beyond.

The release of 360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story will be celebrated with a launch event in New York on Oct. 30 ^th. Additionally there will be a retrospective exhibit at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. An event is set for November 7 ^th at the Museum on opening day.

360 Sound author Sean Wilentz is one of the nation’s most prominent historians. His books and commentary on music, politics, and the arts have received numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and his writing on music has been nominated for a Grammy Award. He is currently the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University.

Dave Marsh has written more than 20 books on rock and popular music. He has written extensively for publications including Rolling Stone and Playboy. Since 2004, he has hosted a two hour weekly show on XM/Sirius Radio.

SOURCE Columbia Records

This company’s web site http://www.columbiarecords.com/

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