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ARTIST: Abbey Lincoln  TITLE: Early Years: The Albums Collection 1957-61 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ACTRCD9179  FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

Abbey Lincoln, born in Chicago in 1930, was a jazz vocalist and songwriter, who also became an actress and civil rights activist during the 1960s, and was married to renowned jazz drummer Max Roach. Greatly influenced by Billie Holiday, her stock-in-trade was the delivery of heartfelt versions of classic standards, as well as seamlessly interpolating her vocals into extended jazz improvisations. Scott Yanow at allmusic.com calls her “A dramatic performer whose interpretations were full of truth and insight – she always meant the lyrics she sang”. This 53-track collection features all the titles from albums at the start of her career, “A Story of A Girl In Love” on Liberty, “That’s Him”, “It’s Magic” and “Abbey Is Blue” on Riverside, “Straight Ahead” on Candid, and selected titles from the Max Roach albums “Moon-faced And Starry-eyed” on Mercury, and “Percussion Bitter Sweet” on Impulse. It features recordings with some of the noted jazz musicians of the era, including The Benny Carter Orchestra, and in the small groups, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Max Roach, Benny Golson, Philly Joe Jones, Stanley Turrentine, Ray Bryant, Booker Little, Eric Dolphy and others. She was a highly distinctive song stylist and this is an enlightening and enjoyable showcase for an artist who is sometimes referred to as the last of the great jazz singers.

ARTIST: Ernie Freeman TITLE: Jivin' Around: The Singles & Albums Collection 1956-62 GENRE: R&B CAT NO: ADDCD3584 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Ernie Freeman was an R&B pianist, organist, bandleader, composer and arranger, born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1922, and who started playing swing music during the ‘30s before leading the first all-black US Navy Band in WWII. In the late ‘40s he started playing R&B with Ernie Fields and Earl Bostic, and in the early ‘50s formed his own band, making his first records in 1955, and was in the vanguard of the vogue for grooving organ and sax-based instrumentals in the rock ‘n’ roll era. This 59-track 2-CD collection comprises most of his A and B sides on the Middle-Tone, Cash Imperial and Liberty labels from this era, plus selected titles from his Imperial and Liberty albums “Jivin’ Around”, “The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs” “Teistin’ Time” and “Soulful Sounds Of Country Classics”. It features his R&B No. 1 “Raunchy” and No. 5 “Jivin’ Around”, plus his other pop and R&B hits “Dumplin’s”, “Indian Love Call”, “Rockin’ Red Wing”, “Theme From Dark At The Top Of The Stairs” and “The Twist”. He was at the heart of a particular strand of instrumental pop during a key era of the market’s evolution, and this is a substantial and entertaining showcase for his distinctive style of R&B.

ARTIST: Georgie Shaw  TITLE: Somebody Else's Love Song: The Singles & Albums Collection 1953-59 GENRE: Easy Listening CAT NO: ADDCD3586 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Georgie Shaw was one of the old-school big-voiced pop singes of the early 1950s, somewhat in the mould of Eddie Fisher, who had to try to adapt to the cataclysmic changes in the pop market heralded by the arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the charts. The fact that his last hit came in 1956 maybe tells its own story, but his versatility kept him competitive through to the end of the decade.  This 45-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of his singles on Decca and MGM/Metro from these years, plus all the tracks from his Decca album “One For My Baby”. It features his US pop hits “Till We Two Are One”, “Somebody Else’s Love Song” and “A Faded Summer Love”, and his duet hit with Kitty Kallen “Go On With The Wedding”.He was a stylish and extrovert performer, able to turn his hand to different strands of pop, and this collection is a an enjoyable showcase for a talented vocalist who, had he arrived on the scene a few years earlier, could have been a much bigger star.

ARTIST: The Light Crust Doughboys TITLE: Swinging Down In Texas: The Singles Collection 1932-41  GENRE: Country CAT NO: ADDCD3587 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

The Light Crust Doughboys occupied a very unusual niche in popular music. They were a western swing band from Texas, created and organised in the early 1930s by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas, in order to promote the company’s brand of Light Crust Flour on radio and link that to advertising. The company’s president Lee O’Daniel, a natural showman, was at the heart of the strategy and often travelled to perform and record with the group. They became major stars and their recording career in their original incarnation lasted for around a decade. They recorded prolifically, and this 54-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides from their releases on Vocalion and Okeh from this era. It features western swing versions of classic country, folk, blues, jazz and pop songs like “Waiting For The Robert E. Lee”, “Washington And Lee Swing, “El Rancho Grande”, “Sittin’ On Top Of The World”, “Chinatown My Chinatown”, “Birth Of The Blues”, “It Makes No Difference Now”, “My Blue Heaven” and many more. It features ace western swing musicians Jim Boyd, John Parker, Cecil Brower, Kenneth Pitts, Dick Reinhart, Marvin Montgomery and others. They were pioneers of the western swing genre, and this is a hugely entertaining set.

ARTIST: The Mississippi Sheiks TITLE: Sittin' On Top Of The World: The Collection 1930-35 GENRE: Blues CAT NO: ACTRCD9178 FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

The Mississippi Sheiks were a country blues guitar and fiddle group of the early 1930s, variously comprising a trio or quartet, whose music ranged across various styles, incorporating popular material of the day as well as original compositions. The core of the group was the Chatmon family (sometimes spelt Chatman) from the Mississippi Delta, of whom the best known was Armenter Chatmon, who was also known as Bo Carter. The line-up also included Lonnie and Sam Chatmon, plus Walter Vinson, also known as Walter Jacobs. Making a living touring the southern states, they recorded for the Okeh, Columbia, Paramount and Bluebird labels through the first half of the decade, and became extremely influential and well-known, not least through their landmark hit “Sitting On Top Of The World”, which became a timeless standard, performed and recorded by dozens of artists over the years. This 69-track 3-CD collection comprises most of their career recordings, and includes other classics like “Stop And Listen Blues” and “Things About Comin’ My Way”. It’s atmospheric and evocative music, designed to entertain, and the collection is a substantial showcase for their distinctive brand of blues.

ARTIST: Ray Bryant TITLE: The Essential Ray Bryant: Trio & Solo Albums 1956-59 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3585 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Born in Philadelphia in 1931, Ray Bryant  learnt piano from an early age, playing in church, but soon switched from classical to jazz, and turned professional when he was 14. In the late ‘40s he toured with Tiny Grimes’ band, and then was a solo pianist in Syracuse,N.Y. before returning to Philadelphia to play  in clubs there, accompanying visiting musicians like Lester Young and Charlie Parker, and for a while was Carmen McRae’s accompanist until he began recording as soloist and leader. Although he was a fluent player in the bebop idiom, he combined blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, and stride in a distinctive, soulful, and swinging style; as Scott Yanow at Allmusic.com says, “no one played ‘After Hours’ quite like him”. This 37-track 2-CD comprise most of the titles from the albums with his trio “Ray Bryant Trio” on Epic, “Ray Bryant Trio” on Prestige, and “Ray Bryant Plays” on Signature, and from the solo album “Alone With The Blues” on New Jazz.  It also includes 1959 No. 12 R&B hit single “Little Susie” on Signature.It features recordings with bass players Wyatt Ruther, Ike Isaacs and Tommy Bryant and drummers Kenny Clarke, Jo Jones, Osie Johnson, Specs Wright and Oliver Jackson. His music was always accessible and entertaining, with fluent improvisations, and this collection of recordings from his early years is an enlightening showcase for his particular brand of jazz piano.

ARTIST: Various Artists  TITLE: The Greatest Country Hits Of 1951 GENRE: Country CAT NO: ACTRCD9177  FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

This release continues the series of multi-CD sets which comprises selected collections of the biggest US country hits of each year during the 1950s and early ‘60s, and this one looks at the earlier era of the decade in 1951. It was an unusual year, in that many fewer records than normal made it into the charts, with some records spending multiple weeks (even months) in the chart and at No. 1, so despite the fact that this 78-track collection features most of the records that appeared in Billboard’s Best Selling Retail Folk (Country & Western) Records, Most Played Juke Box Folk (Country & Western) Records and Country & Western Records Most Played by Folk Disc Jockeys charts, the records all fit onto a 3-CD set. (The collection omits several records which are unavailable for copyright reasons). There were plenty of established names from the 1940s still enjoying success, like Red Foley, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold and Gene Autry, but new artists from the honky-tonk scene were making their impact around this time, with Hank Snow, Lefty Frizzell, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Carl Smith all having several hits. Patti Page is the only solo female artist featured, although Mary Ford, Margaret Whiting and Anita Carter are there in duets, and as is often the case with these collections there are also one or two collectable obscurities. It’s a fascinating and entertaining musical snapshot of the country scene as the music industry was embarking on a new decade, and with an in-depth 12,000+ word booklet with background notes on every record as well as full discographical and chart information, it gives a solid overview of the most popular country music of the year.


ARTIST: Various Artists  TITLE: The Christmas 1956 Billboard Top 100 GENRE: Pop CAT NO: ACQCD7194 FORMAT: 4CD BUY HERE: £19.00

As adjuncts to our popular “America’s Greatest Hits” series of collections for each calendar year in the 50s and early ‘60s, we have already produced collections based on landmark moments in the Billboard charts – “The First Top 100 Nov. 1955” (ACQCD7062), “The First Hot 100 Aug. 1958” (ACQCD7083), “The First Hot 100 of the '60s” (ACQCD7097), “The 'Heartbreak Hotel' Top 100” (ACQCD7122)and “The Day The Music Died - Feb 3rd 1959 Hot 100” (ACQCD7134), “The 'Telstar' Hot 100 December 22nd 1962” (ACQCD7144), “The Twist” Hot 100 Jan. 25th 1962”, “The 1000th Billboard Chart 7th September 1959”(ACQCD7164),  “The American Bandstand Us Top 100 5th Aug. 1957”,  “The JFK Inauguration Hot 100 20th January 1961” (ACQCD781) and “The 20th Anniversary Billboard Chart July 1960“. Rather than try to find another landmark anniversary this year, we have chosen to home in on the Christmas charts, which were often important in people’s lives, and start with 1956, a hugely important “turning point” year in pop, as rock ‘n’ roll got fully established. This collection features just about every record from the Hot 100 of 22nd December 1956, apart from two titles which are unfortunately unavailable for copyright reasons.  It provides a fascinating and evocative snapshot of the music scene at what was a dynamic and exciting time as new names and new music made their impact. We reckon the Top 5 was about as brilliant a line-up as any you could wish to see. As always with these chart collections, it includes a number of unfamiliar names and recordings towards the bottom of the chart, of which even seasoned pop enthusiasts may not be too aware, and which will be welcome additions to their collections. It contains a 12,000+ word booklet featuring background notes on every record as well as full discographical and chart information.


ARTIST: Various Artists  TITLE: The 1953 R&B Hits Collection GENRE: R&B, BLUES CAT NO: ACQCD7195 FORMAT: 4CD BUY HERE: £19.00

This release fills in another of the gaps in our strand of R&B and country collections associated with Acrobat’s popular “America’s Greatest Hits” series, this one focusing on the top R&B records in the US Billboard charts during 1953. This great value 91-track 4-CD anthology includes, with the exception of certain records which are unavailable for inclusion due to copyright restrictions, just about every record which appeared during the year in the published Top 10 “Best Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records” and “Most Played Juke Box Rhythm & Blues” charts. It was a fascinating time in R&B, with different elements of the genre creating the musical landscape from which rock ‘n’ roll was would soon emerge – Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown and Big Joe Turner had hits during the year, not to mention Big Mama Thornton’s original version of “Hound Dog”  – and the collection sees doowop groups like The Clovers and The Orioles jostling for elbow room with electric blues artists like B.B. King, Little Walter and Muddy Waters, and old school jump blues bands like Buddy Johnson, alongside solo singers like Big Maybelle, Chuck Willis and Varetta Dillard. As with all these collections, it provides a window onto a dynamic and exciting musical environment, and includes a number of unfamiliar names and recordings of which even enthusiasts of the genre may not be too aware, and which will be welcome additions to their collections. It contains a 12,000+ word booklet featuring background notes on every record as well as full discographical and chart information.


ARTIST: Various Artists TITLE: America's Greatest Your Hit Parade Hits 1938 GENRE: Pop CAT NO: ACQCD7196 FORMAT: 4CD BUY HERE: £19.00

One of Acrobat’s most popular and successful series are the America’s Greatest Hits collections – 4-CD sets featuring the biggest hits from the Billboard charts from 1940, when the Billboard record sales chart was launched, through to 1962. However, before the Billboard chart was first published, the popular US weekly radio show Your Hit Parade, sponsored by Lucky Strike, began producing a chart in 1935, which was sometimes a Top 10, sometimes a Top 15, so we decided to take the America’s Greatest Hits format back into the Your Hit Parade era of the 1930s. This 95-track 4-CD collection comprises every record that featured in the Your Hit Parade chart during 1938. It was a varied musical landscape, with the big swing orchestras like those of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman making their mark, though often with middle-of-the-road vocal performances rather than jazzy pieces, although there’s plenty of hot stuff here too, from Duke Ellington, Chick Webb with Ella Fitzgerald and Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey. Along with them are the big dance bands who were popular on radio, including Guy Lombardo, Shep Fields, Larry Clinton, Horace Heidt, all with their featured vocalists, who included fine singers like Martha Tilton, Helen Forrest and Bea Wain, plus some of the top solo singers of the era, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Rudy Vallee and Fred Astaire among them, competing with each other as they recorded the future classics of the Great American Songbook that were coming out of Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley. It’s an enjoyable and fascinating musical snapshot of the era, complete with a 12,000 word booklet with notes on each track, and full discographical and chart information.

ARTIST: Leslie Hutchinson  TITLE: The Legendary 'Hutch' -  The Singles Collection 1929-47 GENRE: Easy Listening, Nostalgia CAT NO: ACTRCD9175  FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

Leslie Hutchinson, widely known as “Hutch”, was a singer and pianist, born in Grenada in the West Indies, who went to New York to study medicine but became a cabaret artist and was encouraged by British aristocrat Lady Edwina Mountbatten to move to London. He became the most popular and highly-paid entertainer of the day, performing in the ritziest venues, and becoming the darling of high society, resulting in a number of well-publicised affairs with high-profile personalities, and public scandals, which eventually damaged his career. He recorded in the UK for EMI’s Parlophone and HMV labels, and this 70-track 3-CD collection comprises selected A and B sides from his releases from his heyday during these years. It includes his recordings of many of the best-known songs of the day, such as his big UK hit  “These Foolish Things” and others which went on to become Great American Songbook standards  - he was particularly associated with Cole Porter and recorded songs like “(Let's Do It) Let's Fall In Love” and “Begin The Beguine”. 
He was a stylish, urbane and distinctive performer, accompanying himself on piano, while also recording with orchestras, and this collection, very evocative of its era, is a fine showcase for his talents.

ARTIST: Mickey Katz  TITLE: The Mickey Katz Komedy Kollection 1949-58 GENRE: Comedy, Pop, Nostalgia CAT NO: ACTRCD9176 FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

Mickey Katz, born in Cleveland in 1909, was a clarinettist and saxophonist with dance bands during the 1930s before forming his own band, and, having failed his army medical, worked to entertain troops during WWII. He met Spike Jones after the war and toured with him, and being influenced some of Jones’ comedy techniques. He decided to make his own English-Yiddish comedy record, which proved extremely popular, and he made a subsequent career out of recording and performing similarly-styled comedy records, primarily for a Jewish audience, but also aimed at the popular market. He specialised in recording Yiddish parodies of current popular chart hits. This 77-track 3-CD collection comprises selected early releases for RCA-Victor and then most of the A and B sides of his singles for Capitol from this era, along with selected titles from his albums “The Most Mishige”, “The Family Danced”, “Katz Puts On The Dog” and “Comin’ Round The Katzkills”. It features his chart hits “Music! Music! Music!”, “Come On-A My House” and “Herring Boats”, which underline that while his music and style of humour were geared to a particular audience, his records had wide popular appeal. He was a highly distinctive and unusual artist and this collection offers a substantial and entertaining window onto his very individual style of entertainment.

ARTIST: Gene Ammons  TITLE: Meet The Boss - The Singles & Albums Collection 1950-53 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3580 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Gene Ammons, often known as “The Boss” was a jazz tenor saxophonist who was the son of the highly successful and influential boogie-woogie pianist of the 1930s and ‘40s, Albert Ammons. Gene’s music was characterised by being a highly accessible and straightforward style of jazz, redolent with influences from blues, R&B and soul, bringing him hits in the US R&B chart, although he embraced the innovations of bebop and integrated its techniques into his distinctive approach. He was very much a part of the soul jazz movement of the ‘60s which introduced the electric organ into the instrumentation. This 49-track 2-CD collection comprises recordings from sessions in the early 1950s at the dawn of the vinyl LP era. It includes tracks released on singles by the Prestige, Chess, Decca and United labels, plus titles from his early 10” albums on Prestige, “Battle Of The Saxes” and “Favourites Vols. 1, 2 & 3”. It includes his Top 10 R&B hits “My Foolish Heart” and “Jug” and a new version of his 1947 hit “Red Top”. It features recordings with Sonny Stitt, Bill Massey, Jo Jones, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, Art Blakey, Matthew Gee, Charles Bateman, Eugene Wright, Wesley Landers, Junior Mance, Clarence Anderson, Teddy Stewart, J.J. Johnson and others. It’s a great showcase for the trademark tone and texture of his playing, and an entertaining musical snapshot of his music during a key era of his career.

ARTIST: Ferrante & Teicher TITLE: The Golden Pianos of Ferrante & Teicher - The Singles Collection 1952-62 GENRE: Pop, Easy Listening CAT NO: ADDCD3581 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were classically-trained pianists who met at New York’s famous Juilliard School of Music in the 1930s, and went on to start working together as concert pianists, performing arrangements of popular classical pieces with an orchestra. They built a reputation which led to a recording contract with Columbia. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises a significant proportion of their A & B sides on the Columbia, ABC-Paramount and United Artists labels during these years, including many which came from their growing catalogue of albums as the decade progressed. It features their Billboard Top 10  hits “Theme from The Apartment”, “Theme From Exodus” (both also UK hits) and “Tonight”, and their other hits “Love The From One-Eyed Jacks”, “Theme From Goodbye Again”, “Smile”, “Lisa”,  “Theme From Taras Bulba (The Wishing Star)”  and “Theme From Lawrence Of Arabia”. Their music represents a particular and highly accessible strand of popular instrumental and orchestral music of the era, and this collection offers an entertaining cross-section of their recordings from what was very much their chart heyday.

ARTIST: Jimmy Wilson TITLE: Jumpin' In The Alley - Complete Singles As & Bs 1948-61 GENRE: Blues, R&B CAT NO: ADDCD3582 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Jimmy Wilson was a blues and R&B singer, and occasional bass player and saxophonist, born in Louisiana, who was a gospel singer with the Pilgrim Travelers in California when he started recording secular blues for San Francisco entrepreneur Bob Geddins in 1948. He recorded in snatches over the next decade, often under Geddins’ auspices, mostly being associated with the West Coast blues scene, and had a No. 10 R&B hit with “Tin Pan Alley” in 1953, although he was never able to follow through in that success. He did not record again after these sessions featured here, and declined into alcoholism, dying in 1966 in his mid-‘40s. He did not record prolifically, and this 49-track 2-CD collection comprises just about all his recordings from these years on the Cava-Tone, Aladdin, Big Town, Rhythm, Irma, Goldband and Duke labels. It naturally includes his big Top 10 R&B chart success “Tin Pan Alley”. The collection features recordings produced by Bob Geddins and other, featuring musicians like guitarists Lafayette Thomas and Clarence Garlow, pianists King Solomon and Sherman Louis, saxophonist and songwriter Que Martin, and ace pianist Jimmy McCracklin. It’s about as thorough a career retrospective as we could achieve for a fine singer who promised much but who maybe did not have the opportunities to achieve his full potential. 

ARTIST: Anita Carter TITLE: Out On Her Own - The Singles & Albums Collection 1950-62 GENRE: Country CAT NO: ADDCD3583 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Anita Carter was one of the legendary Carter Family country and folk music dynasty, one of the three daughters, along with Helen and June, of Maybelle Carter, one of the original celebrated Carter Family group of the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. Born in 1933, she sang with her mother and sisters from an early age, and was always destined for a career in music with the family having unique connections within the industry. She did her first sessions in 1949 with Maybelle, Helen and June in 1949 as part of the New Carter Family, and a year later recorded her first solo session for RCA as a solo artist, with future Elvis Presley producer Steve Sholes in charge of the session. This 58-track 2-CD collection comprises the A and B sides of her singles on the RCA-Victor, Columbia, Cadence, Jamie & Mercury labels from these years, including duet releases with Hank Snow, plus the tracks from the RCA album “Together Again With Hank Snow” and most of the tracks from the Mercury album “Sings Folk Songs Old And New”. It includes her Top 5 hits with Hank Snow “Down The Trail of Achin’ Hearts” and “Bluebird Island”. It also features her original version of “Love’s Ring Of Fire”, which became a hit for Johnny Cash. She was a stylish and distinctive country and folk singer, steeped in the idiom, and this is a thorough overview of her first decade as a solo performer.

ARTIST: Leroy Carr  TITLE: A Career Anthology - Vocalion & Bluebird Recordings 1928-35 GENRE: Blues CAT NO: ACSCD6012  FORMAT: 6CD BUY HERE: £22.00

Leroy Carr was one of the most important of all the early blues singers and songwriters. Music historian Elijah Wald called him "the most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century”. He was a pianist and singer, developing a distinctive and sophisticated laid-back style with a hip urban feel that was different from most of his country blues contemporaries. Working for much of his career with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell, he produced a substantial body of work in a few short years – his impact and influence is made all the more extraordinary by the fact that he succumbed to the effects of alcohol addiction in 1935 at the age of 31. This 130-track 6-CD collection comprises just about all his releases on the Vocalion and Bluebird labels, plus some titles that were not released at the time, and featuring many performances with Scrapper Blackwell, plus some with Josh White. It includes famous compositions like “How Long, How Long Blues”, “Blues Before Sunrise”, “Papa’s On The House Top”, “When The Sun Goes Down”, “Midnight Hour Blues”, “Shady Lane Blues”, “Hurry Down Sunshine” and more. It’s a substantial and comprehensive showcase for the work and talents of one of the genre’s true greats.

ARTIST: Josephine Baker  TITLE: J'ai Deux Amours - The Collection 1926-60 GENRE: Pop, Jazz, World, Nostalgia CAT NO: ACTRCD9174 FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

Although a lot of the musical focus in the years after the cataclysmic mid-‘50s arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the charts was on the personality singers, there were several strands of instrumental music which featured highly in the charts, and although the music comes from the rock ‘n’ roll era, by no means all of the records were rock ‘n’ roll-based. On the rock ‘n’ roll and R&B front, there were the guitar groups like the Ventures in the USA and The Shadows in the UK, plus the organ-based sounds of Johnny & The Hurricanes, Bill Black and Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez. There were plenty of orchestral hits, often with movie themes, plus some piano pieces and hangovers from an earlier era, along with Latin tunes, dance craze tunes, country records and novelty items. This 87-track 3-CD collection comprises most of the instrumental hits that made the US Top 10 and UK Top 5 from these years, plus some selected collectable obscurities and wild cards. It makes for fascinating listening, looking at the charts from a particular angle, and many of the records will spark special memories for baby-boomers who grew up through those years

ARTIST: Elmer Bernstein  TITLE: Movie Themes, Mood Music & More 1952-62 GENRE: Film Music, Pop, Easy Listening CAT NO: ADDCD3577 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Elmer Bernstein was a composer and conductor who became renowned for his work in films and TV, writing, scoring and recording some of the most renowned and recognisable themes in in Hollywood history. He is not related to the renowned composer of stage musicals Leonard Bernstein. Born in 1922, he served in the USAF in WWII, working in Armed Forces Radio, and came to the fore in the early 1950s when he started writing for movies. This 44-track 2-CD collection primarily features soundtrack and commercial recordings of themes and other music written for films and albums during the first decade of his career. In addition, it includes selected titles from his albums “Blues And Brass” for Decca and “Movie & TV Themes” on the Choreo label. It includes “The Man With the Golden Arm”, “Staccato’s Theme”, “The Magnificent Seven”, and “Walk On The Wild Side”, plus themes from “The Ten Commandments”, “The Comancheros”, “To Kill A Mockingbird” and more. Although he composed for many different genres of film, his style was very distinctive, characterised by dramatic and atmospheric melodies and arrangements that invariably conjured up the mood and imagery of the subject. Comprising a selection of works from his early career, this collection offers an entertaining and evocative showcase for that style. 

ARTIST: Joni James TITLE: The Mood Albums 1960-61 GENRE: R&B, Pop, Easy Listening CAT NO: ADDCD3578 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Joni James was a hugely successful American recording artist of the 1950s and ‘60s, having 25 hits by 1960, and was one of the few singers who were able to maintain the momentum of her career through from the middle-of-the-road pop era of the early ‘50s through into the post-rock ‘n’ roll era of the later decade and beyond. She was one of the first artists to concentrate on the album market, successfully releasing at least four a year through the formative years of the stereo LP boom. So prolific was she that it is hard to put together a representative collection of her albums, so we have chosen to bring together four albums from a period at the start of the 1960s which have a common thread, using the “Mood” concept in their titles. This 48-track 2-CD collection therefore comprises all the tracks from her themed albums for MGM, “I’m In The Mood For Love”, The Mood is Swinging”, “The Mood Is Romance” and “The Mood Is Blue”. Across the albums she works with the orchestras of Tony Acquaviva, Jack Marshall and Jimmie Haskell – on the “I’m In The Mood For Love” album she works within the “Hundred Strings And Joni” framework which she had previously established. She was a stylish performer of sophisticated pop, heard in this collection with interpretations of Great American Songbook standards, and it’s an enjoyably showcase for her distinctive approach.

ARTIST: Bob Brookmeyer TITLE: The Brookmeyer Bands - Early Years 1954-56 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3579 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Bob Brookmeyer, born in 1929, was a jazz trombonist, a renowned exponent of the valve trombone, who came to the fore during the 1950s with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra and in the Stan Getz group, before starting his career leading his own bands, as well as playing with the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Clark Terry and others. His compositional style drew on contemporary classical writing, incorporating atonality, chromatic harmony and other techniques to develop distinctive themes and structures. This 32-track 2-CD set comprises the titles from several of his early albums, on which he is leader, co-leader or featured perfomer. They comprise “Teddy Charles New Direction Quartet feat. Bob Brookmeyer” on Prestige (later released on the Prestige LP “The Dual Role Of Bob Brookmeyer”), “Bob Brookmeyer Featuring Al Cohn” on Storyville, “The Bob Brookmeyer Quartet” on Pacific Jazz, “Bob Brookmeyer Plays Bob Brookmeyer” on Clef and “The Bob Brookmeyer Quintet” on Prestige (also part of “The Dual Role Of Bob Brookmeyer”). It features performances with Teddy Charles, Teddy Kotick, Ed Shaughnessy, Al Cohn, John Williams, Bill Anthony, Frank Isola, Henri Renaud, Jimmy Gourley, Red Mitchell, Jimmy Rowles, Buddy Clark, Mel Lewis and Jimmy Raney. Capturing him in the early years of his career, it’s an enlightening introduction his music and an enjoyable showcase for distinctive style of playing and composing.


ARTIST: Jimmie Rodgers TITLE: A Career Anthology - RCA & Bluebird Releases 1927-33 GENRE: Country, Folk CAT NO: ACFCD7524  FORMAT: 5CD BUY HERE: £19.00

Jimmie Rodgers was one of the true pioneers of country music, often called “The Father Of Country Music” as well as “The Singing Brakeman” (he worked on the railroads before becoming a professional musician), who broke new ground with his landmark hillbilly recordings of the late 1920s and early ’30s. His achievements were all the more remarkable, given that he died from tuberculosis in 1933 at the age of 35, having been first diagnosed with the disease in 1924. He has been cited as an inspiration by artists from all walks of popular music across the decades. He was especially famous for his trademark yodelling, with his recordings featuring a series of his renowned “Blue Yodels”. This 110-track 5-CD collection comprises just about all his career releases, which came out on the Victor and Bluebird labels. It naturally features all his best known classics – “In The Jailhouse Now”, “Brakeman’s Blues”, “Waiting For A Train”, “Blue Yodel No. 1”, “Mule Skinner Blues” and more. He was a hugely important and influential personality whose impact in country, blues, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll is still making itself felt. This collection offers a substantial and thorough overview of his music and career, and an entertaining showcase for his unique and innovative music.

ARTIST: Various Artists TITLE: Instrumental Hits of The Rock 'n' Roll Era 1957-62 GENRE: Pop CAT NO: ACTRCD9173 FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

Although a lot of the musical focus in the years after the cataclysmic mid-‘50s arrival of rock ‘n’ roll in the charts was on the personality singers, there were several strands of instrumental music which featured highly in the charts, and although the music comes from the rock ‘n’ roll era, by no means all of the records were rock ‘n’ roll-based. On the rock ‘n’ roll and R&B front, there were the guitar groups like the Ventures in the USA and The Shadows in the UK, plus the organ-based sounds of Johnny & The Hurricanes, Bill Black and Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez. There were plenty of orchestral hits, often with movie themes, plus some piano pieces and hangovers from an earlier era, along with Latin tunes, dance craze tunes, country records and novelty items. This 87-track 3-CD collection comprises most of the instrumental hits that made the US Top 10 and UK Top 5 from these years, plus some selected collectable obscurities and wild cards. It makes for fascinating listening, looking at the charts from a particular angle, and many of the records will spark special memories for baby-boomers who grew up through those years

ARTIST: Sophie Tucker  TITLE: Red Hot Mama - All The Hits And More 1911-37 GENRE: Nostalgia, Easy Listening, Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3573 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Sophie Tucker was one of the innovative female stars of the early recording era, a Russian-born immigrant who became a hugely popular singer, comedian, actress and radio personality, and was a natural on the vaudeville stage.  She became a movie actress, as well as building a parallel career in the UK, and remained active and visible well into the post-war decades. She became famous for her risqué material and performed extrovert songs that brought her the nicknames of “Red Hot Mama” and “Last Of The Red Hot Mamas”. This 49-track 2-CD collection comprises all her twenty career hits, plus selected releases on the Okeh, Columbia, Columbia UK, Vocalion UK ‘Broadcast Twelve’ series, Parlophone  and Decca labels from this era.  It features her classic best-known hit “Some Of These Days”, along with “Red Hot Mama”, “My Yiddishe Momme”, “I’m The Last Of The Red-Hot Mamas”, “After You’ve Gone”, “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, “The Man I Love” and “The Lady Is A Tramp” – those hits obviously include early versions of songs that became enduring standards, and there are plenty more of those in the set as well. She was a highly distinctive larger-than-life personality and this collection is an entertaining showcase for the qualities that made her such a popular artist across several decades.

ARTIST: Mel Walker TITLE: Rockin' Blues - The Singles Collection 1950-53 GENRE: R&B, Blues CAT NO: ADDCD3574 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Walker was an R&B singer, born in Texas in 1928, and a schoolmate of pianist Floyd Dixon, who came to the fore after being discovered by singer, bandleader, composer and producer Johnnie Otis in 1949 – Otis was a legendarily influential mover and shaker in the R&B world during that era. Most of Walker’s success came as a result of his association with Otis, sometimes recording with another of Otis’ protegés Little Esther Phillips. His style was smooth and heavily blues-influenced. He did not record prolifically, and this 43-track 2-CD collection comprises singles with the band of Johnny Otis, plus duets with Little Esther and solo releases on the Savoy, Regent and Mercury labels during this era, along with titles recorded for Savoy and Mercury which were not released at the time. It  features the R&B No. 1s “Mistrustin’ Blues” and “Cupid Boogie”,  the R&B No. 2s “Rockin’ Blues” and “Gee Baby”, and the R&B Top 10 hits “Wedding Boogie”, “Far Away Blues”, “Cry Baby” and “Call Operator”. His career was curtailed by his arrest on narcotics charges, and he never made it back into the big time, dying prematurely at the age of 36 from an apparent drug overdose. He was a stylish and underestimated performer, and this collection offers an enlightening insight into his all-too brief career.

ARTIST: Georgie Auld TITLE: Let's Jump - Selected Recordings 1944-51 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3575 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Georgie Auld was a tenor saxophonist of French-Canadian extraction, born in 1919, whose family moved from Toronto to New York in 1929, by which time he had already started learning to play the saxophone - first an alto and then a tenor. He started working in swing bands in the late ‘30s, notably those of Bunny Berigan and Artie Shaw, and then in the early ‘40s with Benny Goodman, proving a stylish and versatile soloist. The bands he led during the mid-1940s are seen as excellent transitional units between swing and bop. This 50-track 2-CD collection comprises recordings leading his own bands on the Apollo, Guild, Musicraft, Discovery and Roost labels during these years, before he joined Count Basie’s Octet and then started making albums for Coral in the ‘50s. It includes selected titles featuring vocalists Sarah Vaughan and Lynne Stevens. There are  performances with Charlie Shavers, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Butterfield, Al Cohn, Manny Albam, Erroll Garner, Shadow Wilson, Neal Hefti, and Gerry Mulligan as band members. Comprising a mixture of standards and original compositions, it’s a style of jazz that does not challenge musical boundaries, but is designed to be entertaining and accessible, and those are objectives he readily achieves.

ARTIST: Angelic Gospel Singers TITLE: Touch Me Lord Jesus -The Singles Collection 1949-62 GENRE: Gospel CAT NO:  ADDCD3576 FORMAT: 5CD BUY HERE: £12.00

The Angelic Gospel Singers were formed in 1944 in Philadelphia by Margaret Allison, and were one of the groups that helped move gospel music from its established base in jubilee quartets towards the freer and less structured approach of the 1950s groups who provided a training ground and springboard for soul singers of the 1960s. A quartet comprising Allison with her sister Josephine McDowell, Ella Mae Norris and Lucille Shird, they made a huge impact with their first release in 1949, a million-selling hit with “Touch Me, Lord Jesus”, which propelled them into public consciousness, and they remained in the vanguard of contemporary gospel through into the ‘60s. This 51-track 2-CD collection comprises most of the A & B sides of their releases on the Gotham and Nashboro labels during this era, including recordings which they made for Gotham with the Dixie Hummingbirds. Along with their big debut hit “Touch Me Lord Jesus”, it features many classic gospel songs like “Angels Watching Over Me”, “There Must be a Heaven Somewhere”, “Just Jesus”, “Tell the Angels”, “Milky White Way” and “Since Jesus Came into My Heart”, plus many of Margaret Allison’s own fine compositions. It’s a substantial, inspiring and uplifting showcase for their bold and distinctive approach to gospel music during what was a golden era for the genre.

ARTIST: The Golden Gate Quartet     TITLE: Early Years - Bluebird, Victor & Okeh Recordings 1937-43 GENRE: Gospel CAT NO: ACTRCD9172  FORMAT: 3CD BUY HERE: £15.00

The Golden Gate Quartet is one of the longest-established gospel quartets of all time, with the group still performing 90 years after its inception, maintaining continuous visibility through regular line-up changes as existing members retire. Formed in 1934 as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singers in Norfolk, Virginia, they were pioneers in the commercial dimension of the genre in the, and got a regular radio show in South Carolina in 1936, which led to a recording contract with Bluebird, with whom they stayed until joining Okeh/ Columbia.  This 83-track 3-CD collection comprises a significant proportion of their A & B sides on the Bluebird, Victor, Okeh and Columbia labels during this first crucial early era of their career, with most of the releases coming out as under the name The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – they dropped the ‘Jubilee’ when they joined Okeh. This collection features their classic early line-up of William Langford and Henry Owens (tenor), Willie Johnson (baritone) and Orlandus Wilson (bass). The collection features some of their most noted recordings, including “John The Revelator”, “Samson And Delilah”, “Rock My Soul” and “Jonah In The Whale”. It’s a substantial overview of this period of their career when they established their reputation, when they enjoyed massive acceptance outside the church, and is a great showcase for their distinctive approach to gospel.

ARTIST: Kenny Dorham  TITLE: Early Years  - The Original Albums 1953-56 GENRE: Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3568 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Kenny Dorham was a jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader, born in Texas in 1924, who was always highly regarded and widely respected, without breaking into the upper echelons of the genre alongside high profile giants like Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. Jazz writer Garry Giddins said that “Dorham's name has become ‘virtually synonymous with 'underrated’’”. Beginning his recording career in 1945 as the bebop revolution took hold, he recorded as a sideman with a host of major names, most notably Charlie Parker, until recording his first session leading his own band in 1953, for the Debut label. This 2-CD collection comprises the complete original contents of four of his early albums as leader – “The Kenny Dorham Quintet” on Debut, “Afro-Cuban” and “'Round About Midnight – ‘Live’ At The Cafe Bohemia” on Blue Note and “Kenny Dorham & The Jazz Prophets” on ABC-Paramount. He records with various quintet and sextet line-ups (expanded with percussion on “Afro-Cuba”), which feature significant jazz names of the day, including Jimmy Heath, Walter Bishop, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke, J.J. Johnson, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Oscar Pettiford, Bobby Timmons, Arthur Edgehill and more. Featuring a mixture of original compositions and standards, it showcases his qualities as both trumpeter and leader.

ARTIST: Fabian   TITLE: Hound Dog Man - The Singles & Albums Collection 1959-62 GENRE: Pop, Rock 'n' Roll CAT NO: ADDCD3569 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Fabian was an archetypal example of the coterie of teen idols who came to the fore in the wake of rock ‘n’ roll, as the artist managers and producers sought out good-looking teenagers who they thought could be moulded into potential pop stars marketed to the huge receptive teen market, regardless of whether they were particularly talented or not. Born Fabian Forte in Philadelphia in 1943, he was from that city’s Italian-American community, as were some of the entrepreneurs who owned the successful record companies based there. He was spotted by Robert Marcucci, co-owner of Chancellor Records, who already had Frankie Avalaon under contract, who persuaded the 15-year-old and his family that he could be a star. This 67-track 2-CD collection comprising the A & B sides of his singles on the Chancellor and Dot labels from these years, along with selected tracks from his albums “Hold That Tiger”, “Fabulous Fabian”, “Good Old Summertime” and “Rockin’ Hot”. It features all his career chart entries including the Top 10 hits “Hound Dog Man”, “Turn Me Loose” and “Tiger”, plus “I’m A Man”, “Come On And Get Me”, “This Friendly World” and more. Disillusioned, he left the record business in 1963 and went into movies. This collection is a substantial and reasonably comprehensive musical narrative of the major part of the career of a reluctant teen idol.

ARTIST: Morgana King TITLE: The Early Years - Classic Albums 1956-59 GENRE: Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening CAT NO: ADDCD3570 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Morgana King was a jazz and sophisticated pop singer, who also became a successful movie actor, and juggled the two careers across three or four decades. The daughter of Sicilian parents, she was born Maria Morgana Messina in Pleasantville, NY, in 1930, she started singing professionally when she was 16, and in her early ‘20s was spotted performing in a Greenwich Village club, which eventually led to a recording contract with Mercury. This 49-track 2-CD collection comprises all the titles from her albums “For You, For Me, Forever More” on Emarcy, “Sings The Blues” on Mercury  “Let Me Love You” on United Artists and “Greatest Songs Ever Swung” on RCA, plus titles from singles on Mercury. It features performances with top class small jazz groups, which variously include noted names like Harvey Leonard, Terry Gibbs, Barry Galbraith, Ernie Furtado, Chauncey Welsch, Hank Jones, Al Caiola, Mundell Lowe, Jimmy Jones, Chuck Wayne, and others.  She later made her screen debut as Mama Corleone in the 1972 movie “The Godfather” and became a major star. This collection provides a great introduction to her music via her early albums and offers substantial and entertaining showcase for her stylish and elegantly distinctive way with a song.

ARTIST: Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys TITLE: The Godfather Of Country - Selected Singles 1936-61 GENRE: Country CAT NO: ADDCD3571 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Roy Acuff was a hugely important personality in the development of modern country, a singer and fiddle-player who became an influential music publisher with songwriter Fred Rose as owners of the the Acuff-Rose company in Nashville, helping to move the industry from its hillbilly origins towards the singer-based styles of the post-war era. He was so popular in his day that hank Williams said: “He's the biggest singer this music ever knew. … For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God.” Born in Tennessee in 1903, he started performing in the 1930s on the medicine show circuit before forming his first bands, which eventually became The Smoky Mountain Boys. He recorded prolifically through the years and this 54-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of his releases on the Vocalion/Conqueror, Okeh, Columbia, Capitol, Decca and Hickory labels from the quarter-century period it covers. It features all his US pop and country hits from these years, including the Top 10 hits, “The Prodigal Son”, “I’ll Forgive You But I Can’t Forget”, “Write Me Sweetheart”, “(Our Own) Jole Blon”, “Waltz Of The Wind”, “Once More”, and other classics like “The Great Speckled Bird”, “Wabash Cannonball” and “Tennessee Waltz”. He was a highly distinctive talent, and addressing as it does a dynamic and varied era in the genre, this collection showcases Roy’s music across the years.

ARTIST: Marion Harris TITLE: All The Hits And More 1916 -1930 GENRE: Nostalgia, Easy Listening, Jazz CAT NO: ADDCD3572 FORMAT: 2CD BUY HERE: £12.00

Marion Harris was one of the most popular and successful female singers in the early era of the recording industry, and she had a concentrated string of hits during those years, often recording the original hit versions of songs which went on to become ubiquitous standards of the Great American Songbook. Born Mary Harrison in Indiana in 1896, she started performing in vaudeville in Chicago around 1914, and made her debut in an Irving Berlin revue on Broadway the following year, which led to a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company. This 45-track 2-CD collection comprises all her 43 US hits on the Victor, Columbia and Brunswick labels, plus selected bonus tracks. It features the No.1s “After You’ve Gone”, “St. Louis Blues”, “Look For The Silver Lining” and “Tea For Two”, plus early hit versions of future classics like “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, “I’m Nobody’s Baby”, “Beale Street Blues”, “Who’s Sorry Now”, “I’ll See You In My Dreams”, “The Man I Love” and more. She was a song stylist who was very much of her era, performing not so much in the Roaring Twenties style, but more in the mainstream pop mode which was equally characteristic of the times. It’s a fine showcase for her distinctive way with a song, and an evocative window onto the popular music of the day.