KING PLEASURE | ANNIE ROSS — King Pleasure Sings | Annie Ross Sings (1958-1987) APE (image+.cue), lossless

The brief life span of classic jazz vocalese singing found its first inspiration in these King Pleasure sides. Pleasure vocalized many bebop solos by the likes of James Moody, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young, often adding his own hip and witty lyrics to the mix. Initially issued on his debut, Moody's Mood for Love, the first eight sides here include solid senders like "Parker's Mood," "Red Top" (based on a Gene Ammons solo and featuring singer Betty Carter), and "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid" (Lester Young). Balancing out the boppish fare, Pleasure also delivers ballads like "This Is Always" (featuring the Dave Lambert Singers) and his own composition, "Don't Be Scared" (up-and-coming vocalese star Jon Hendriks guests). Future Hendriks cohort Annie Ross co-headlines this LP, matching Pleasure's best with hits like "Twisted" (Wardell Gray) and "Farmer's Market" (Art Farmer). Her wordless scat feature, "Annie's Lament," is a highlight as well. A must for bop and vocal jazz fans. Stephen Cook 
Tracklist :
King Pleasure Sings
King Pleasure - Red Top 3:12
Bass – Peck Morrison
Drums – Herbie Lovelle
Piano – Ed Swanston
Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Ferguson
Trumpet – Eddie Lewis
Vocals – Betty Carter
King Pleasure - Jumpin' With Symphony Sid 2:34
Bass – Peck Morrison
Drums – Herbie Lovelle
Piano – Ed Swanston
Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Ferguson
Trumpet – Eddie Lewis
King Pleasure - Sometimes I'm Happy 2:55
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Piano – John Lewis 
Vocals – Dave Lambert Singers
King Pleasure - This Is Always 3:12
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Piano – John Lewis 
Vocals – Dave Lambert Singers
King Pleasure - What Can I Say Dear 3:09
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Piano – John Lewis 
King Pleasure - Don't Get Scared 3:18
Baritone Saxophone – Danny Bank
Bass – Paul Chambers 
Drums – Joe Harris 
Piano – Jimmy Jones 
Tenor Saxophone – Lucky Thompson
Trombone – J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding
Vocals – Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks
King Pleasure - Parker's Mood 2:55
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Piano – John Lewis 
King Pleasure - I'm Gone 3:27
Baritone Saxophone – Danny Bank
Bass – Paul Chambers 
Drums – Kenny Clarke
Piano – Jimmy Jones 
Tenor Saxophone – Lucky Thompson
Trombone – J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding
Vocals – Eddie Jefferson, The Three Riffs
Annie Ross Sings
Annie Ross - Twisted 2:37
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Art Blakey
Organ – Ram Ramirez
Piano – Teacho Wiltshire
Annie Ross - Farmer's Market 2:43
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Art Blakey
Organ – Ram Ramirez
Piano – Teacho Wiltshire
Annie Ross - The Time Was Right 3:16
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Art Blakey
Organ – Ram Ramirez
Piano – George Wallington
Annie Ross - Annie's Lament 2:58
Bass – Percy Heath
Drums – Art Blakey
Organ – Ram Ramirez
Piano – George Wallington

JAMES MOODY – 1949-1950 | The Chronogical Classics – 1169 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Whether you think you're already hip to James Moody, or if you aren't hip to him at all, be sure and check this stuff out! It's rare, it's beautiful and the solos are extraordinary. What you have here is essentially Moody's European tour journal. This phonographic diary takes us through Stockholm towards the end of 1949 and then to Paris in February and April of 1950. Moody is hanging with the French and the Swedes. They have been carefully studying the twists and turns of American bop. The arrangements are intricate and very contemporary. Don't worry about the goofy titles. "Three Bop Mice" and "Flight of the Bopple Bee" are actually fine pieces of work, hot and busy, composed and executed by this formidable sax and flute man from Georgia who got his start working with Dizzy Gillespie. Much of what we know about Moody comes from a stream of American records issued and reissued over a span of more than 50 years. His early European recordings are of inestimable value in their own light and as context for the rest of his work. "Three Bop Mice" seems to refer to the front line of three wicked tenor saxophones. Good thing this jam runs for nearly six minutes! It gives the guys kicking room. When Moody approaches a ballad, the results are often stunning. "Laura" is exquisite and "Body and Soul" pulsates with Moody's personal blend of languid urgency. "I'm in the Mood for Love" is the divine original take of a set of variations that would help to spawn the entire vocalese tradition, bearing forever the altered title "Moody's Mood for Love." Some will involuntarily detect echo-premonitions of Eddie Jefferson as the improvisations effortlessly unwind. Who would have guessed that the lovely upper register chorus, which Eddie would always sing in a disarming falsetto, was originally devised by the Swedish pianist Thore Swanerud? "Lester Leaps In" turns out to be the blueprint for Jefferson's wonderful vocalese outing "I Got The Blues." He obviously owned each of these Swedish records and learned them by heart. A pity he didn't get a chance to devise note-for-note lyrics to Moody's improvisations on "Indiana" "Dexterious" and "Good Bait," as these too are brilliant. The next jaw-dropper is "Blue and Moody," which proves to be the record that Eddie Jefferson turned into "Birdland Story," that exciting number heard on the 1956 Flute 'N the Blues album. This one CD holds the key to so many of James Moody's greatest records. Two 1950 Parisian sessions led by pianist Jack Dieval explore unusual harmonic realms, presenting ideas and tonalities that would take root over the next ten years. This is progressive music, unusually advanced for its day. Annie Ross sings in her most bizarre, pleasantly disorienting manner during "Le Vent Vert." Next, the Ernie Royal All-Stars punch out a five-minute "Period Suite." Russell Procope blossoms during a six-and-a-half-minute excursion through "Perdido," neatly bisected during Pierre Michelot's bass solo. Everybody ought to own a copy of this glorious disc. It is a glowing emerald deeply set in the precious lapidary of James Moody's music, surely some of the greatest music the world will ever hear. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist + Credits :

ANNIE ROSS — Four Classic Albums Plus (Annie by Candlelight | Gypsy | A Gasser | Sings a Song with Mulligan) 2CD (2011) FLAC

Although most of her best performances came in tandem with Jon Hendricks and Dave Lambert, Annie Ross recorded a lot of quality material on her own, and most of it is right here. A collection of her (mostly) solo material from the '50s, Four Classic Albums finds Ross close to the height of her vocal powers, with excellent interpretive skills and a quickly shifting tone (sometimes caressing, other times catty). The two highlights of these classic albums are Gypsy, her run-through of the classic musical, and Sings a Song with Mulligan!, her duet album with Gerry Mulligan that ranks as one of the finest jazz vocalist/instrumentalist pairings ever (and thereby, one of the best vocal albums of all time). “I Feel Pretty” is impossibly spry and bouncy, with both Ross and Mulligan showing off their musical dexterity, playing off each other's notes with kittenish glee. Most of the rest of the material is of the torch song variety, which Ross does quite well, although the sound is a little compressed (usually the fault of the original source material, no knock on the Avid label). Rounding up a few stray EPs and bonus tracks, this is a great way to accumulate most of Ross' best solo work. John Bush  

Track Listing - Disc 1
1 The Way You Look Tonight  3:02
2 I'm Beginning to Think You Care   2:39
Frisch / Tennyson
3 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea  2:16
Harold Arlen
4 Everytime  3:11
5 Gypsy in My Soul  2:40
Boland
6 I Love Paris   2:18
Cole Porter
7 I Didn't Know About You  3:21
Duke Ellington
8 The Lady's in Love with You  2:14

9 'Taint What You Do  2:45

10 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying  4:50
11 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea  2:25
Harold Arlen
12 Don't Worry 'Bout Me  2:20
13 I've Told Every Little Star  2:26
14 Manhattan  2:09
15 Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone  2:28
16 Skylark  3:00
17 Overture  3:46
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
18 Everything's Coming Up Roses  3:47
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
19 You'll Never Get Away   3:32
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
20 Some People  4:13
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
21 All I Need Is a Boy  2:58
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
22 Small World  2:38
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
23 Together  4:39
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
24 Let Me Entertain You  3:36
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
25 Reprise  2:18
Stephen Sondheim / Jule Styne
26 Annie's Lament  2:59
Annie Ross

Track Listing - Disc 2
1 Everything I've Got  2:58
2 Invitation to the Blues  4:13
3 I Didn't Know About You  5:33
Duke Ellington
4 I Don't Want to Cry Any More  6:02
5 Lucky Day  2:15
6 I Was Doin' All Right  2:37
7 You Took Advantage of Me  3:54
8 You're Nearer  5:06
9 Lucky So and So  4:50
Duke Ellington
10 Nobody's Baby  2:55
Santly
11 I Feel Pretty  3:34
Bernstein
 12 How About You  2:51
13 I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face  3:02
Lerner
14 This Time the Dream's on Me  3:25
Harold Arlen

15 Let There Be Love   3:45

16 All of You  2:20
Cole Porter
 17 Give Me the Simple Life  3:36
18 This Is Always  4:21
19 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea  3:42
Harold Arlen
20 It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)  1:41
Duke Ellington
21 Twisted  2:41
22 Farmer's Market  2:44
Farmer

Credits
-CD1: #1-4 ("Singin' 'n Swingin"):
Annie Ross - vocals
Milt Jackson - vibraphone
Blossom Dearie - piano
Kenny Clarke - drums
Percy Heath - bass
Rec.: New York, 1 April 1952.

-CD1: #5-12 ("Annie by Candlelight") & #13-16 ("Nocturne for Vocalist"):
Annie Ross - vocals
Bob Burns - clarinet
Tony Crombie - piano
Roy Plummer - guitar
Lennie Bush - bass
Rec.: London, 28 August 1956.

-CD1: #17-25 ("Gypsy"):
Annie Ross - vocals
Buddy Bregman - arranger
Jim Hall - guitar
Herb Geller - alto saxophone
Richie Kamuca, Stan Getz - tenor saxophone
Bill Perkins - baritone saxophone
Conte Candoli, Pete Candoli - trumpet
Frank Rosolino - trombone
Russ Freeman - piano
Mel Lewis - drums
Rec.: Los Angeles, 1959.

-CD2: #1-10 ("A Gasser"):
Annie Ross - vocals
Zoot Sims - tenor saxophone
Bill Perkins - tenor saxophone
Russ Freeman - piano
Billy Bean, Jim Hall - guitar,
Monty Budwig - bass
Mel Lewis, Frankie Capp - drums
Rec.: Los Angeles, February 1959.

-CD2: #11-20 ("Sings a Song with Mulligan"):
Annie Ross – vocals
Gerry Mulligan – baritone sax
Art Farmer - trumpet
Chet Baker - trumpet
Tony Crombie – piano
Bill Crow - bass
Henry Grimes - bass
Dave Bailey – drums
Rec.: New York, December 1957.