In Part 1 of this article Sony Music announced that it is releasing three complete collections of the best names in modern jazz. The previous article described The Breckers Brothers Collection while this article focuses on the Etta James and Sarah Vaughan Collections.

Etta James – The Complete Private Music Blues, Rock N’ Roll Soul Albums Collection (7 titles, 7 CDs; Private Music/RCA/Legacy)

Born to teenage single mother Dorothy in Los Angeles, Jamesetta Hawkins (1938-2012) was in her late fifties when she began recording for Private Music, one of the most prolific and rewarding associations of her lifetime in music. The liner notes essay written by two-time Grammy Award-winning producer and disc jockey Bob Porter painstakingly and authoritatively rolls out the arc of the singer’s life. Music was her calling, from her childhood on bustling Central Avenue to becoming principal soloist with the St. Paul Baptist Church’s choir, Echoes of Eden, to hearing Billie Holiday and many others at legendary local joints like Club Alabam.

A move to San Francisco led to the start of her first girl group, the Creolettes, and writing one of her first songs in 1954, the suggestive “Roll With Me, Henry,” her answer song to [Hank Ballard and] the Midnighters’ #1 R&B hit “Work With Me Annie.” That song brought her to the attention of R&B bandleader Johnny Otis, who changed her name to Etta James, and Modern Records, who changed her song title to “The Wallflower,” her first #1 R&B hit.

Touring coast to coast with ‘the Otis Caravan,’ Etta was at the center of a blues and R&B vortex that was exploding in the 1950s, and led to Chicago’s Chess Records, where she spent 16 years (1960-76) recording at a steady, prolific pace. “All I Could Do Was Cry” (1960), Grammy Hall Of Famer “At Last” (1961), and “Tell Mama” (1967) were among her more than two dozen chart singles at Chess, even as she battled a crushing heroin addiction.

Into the late ’70s and ’80s, there were records for Atlantic, Elektra, Fantasy, and Island, until she finally landed at Private Music, the last longterm major label affiliation of her life, where Etta thrived as an award-winning jazz and blues vocalist par excellence.

The six albums in this box set focus on the blues-rockin’ side of Etta’s Private Music years, including the Grammy Award-winning Let’s Roll (Best Contemporary Blues Album of 2003) and Blues To The Bone (Best Traditional Blues Album of 2004).

There is a wealth of music here, from her reunion with producer Barry Beckett on 1997′s Love’s Been Rough On Me to the best-selling Life, Love And The Blues , with its bounty of songs by Willie Dixon, Albert King, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Joe Tex and others. Matriarch Of The Blues explores material by Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Leiber-Stoller’s “Hound Dog.”

Burnin’ Down The House showcased the Roots Band of Mike Finnigan and David K. Matthews on another eclectic program (Dixon, Ellington, Randy Newman, B.B. King and so on). For good measure, the bonus disc rediscovers a live date in San Francisco, recorded in 1981, and released on Private Music in 1994. “And to think,” Porter’s notes conclude, “it all started when she was that chubby little girl with light skin and long curly hair singing with the Echoes Of Eden at St. Paul Baptist Church.”

1. Love’s Been Rough On Me (Private Music, 1997)

2. Life, Love And The Blues (Private Music, 1998)

3. Matriarch Of The Blues (Private Music, 2000)

4. Burnin’ Down The House (Private Music, 2002)

5. Let’s Roll, Grammy Award-winner (Private Music, 2003)

6. Blues To The Bone, Grammy Award-winner (RCA Victor, 2004)

7. Bonus Disc: Live From San Francisco (On The Spot/Private Music, recorded 1981, released 1994)

Sarah Vaughan – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (4 titles, 4 CDs; Columbia/Legacy)

The very top tier of America’s greatest (and most studied and copied) female jazz and blues vocalists of the 20th century is where Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and ‘Sassy’ Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) are found. Born in Newark and raised in the church, Vaughan’s voice could have earned her a career on the classical stage. But popular music lured her to different stages, where big bands held sway under the leadership of Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and (later) Billy Eckstine, Vaughan’s lifelong mentor.

Early 78 rpm records on the old Musicraft label brought her to the attention of Columbia in January 1949, when the earliest session on After Hours With Sarah Vaughan took place, an orchestral date that Vaughan deftly transcended, her jazz chops taking over. The 1955 LP, “at the dawn of the long-playing era,” as popular vocal aficionado Will Friedwald’s notes remind, compiled material from Columbia dates in 1949, ’50, ’51, and ’52, conforming to a template of sorts, “consisting of well-known standards rendered in what jazz fans would have regarded as commercial settings.”

Thankfully, Vaughan also recorded with small jazz combos, most famously the two May 1950 dates which featured Miles Davis and trombonist Benny Green. Those dates (and two others with different orchestral lineups) were culled for Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi , her other 1955 Columbia LP, whose first four songs became a litany for every singer: “East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon),” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “Come Rain Or Come Shine,” and “Mean To Me.” (The original 12-song LP turned into a 21-track CD in 1996, with the addition of “Ooh, What’cha Doin’ To Me” and eight alternate takes.)

Some three decades later in 1982, after her career had taken Vaughan to the moon and beyond, she was coaxed into a concert recording at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a tribute to her favorite composers, George and Ira Gershwin. Abundance of riches would righteously describe Gershwin Live! , including the Porgy And Bess medley, two other medleys that cover nine songs, and other selections ranging from “Sweet And Low-Down” and “Fascinating Rhythm,” to ‘The Man I Love.”

Sarah Vaughan’s final LP under her own name, Brazilian Romance , marked her return to Columbia in 1987, for a concept album produced by Sergio Mendes and devoted (mostly) to the songs of Milton Nascimento (who joined her on vocals) and guitarist-arranger Dori Caymmi. A who’s who of jazz players were onboard, including soloists Hubert Laws, Tom Scott, and Ernie Watts.

Friedwald notes, “there was still time to create some Sarah Vaughan classics, such as ‘Nothing Will Be As It Was’ and ‘Photograph.’ Most moving of all is album producer Sergio Mendes’ ‘So Many Stars,’ truly one of the all-time great Vaughan love songs, thanks partly to an expert lyric by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.”

1. After Hours With Sarah Vaughan (Columbia, 1955)

2. Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi (Columbia, 1955)

3. Michael Tilson Thomas / Sarah Vaughan: Gershwin Live! (Sony Classical, 1982)

4. Brazilian Romance (Columbia, 1987)

Image Courtesy of   sfcamerawork

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New York, U.S.A. — The ultimate year-round jazz festival from Legacy Recordings continues to set a new industry standard with three new Complete Album Collections from the Sony Music archives family of labels, by the greatest names in modern jazz:

• The Brecker Brothers – The Complete Arista Albums Collection (Arista/Legacy) – 8 titles, 8 CDs;
• Etta James – The Complete Private Music Blues, Rock N’ Roll Soul Albums Collection (Private Music/RCA/Legacy) – 7 titles, 7 CDs;
• Sarah Vaughan – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy) – 4 titles, 4 CDs.

Newly assembled and affordably priced, this latest wave of titles will be available at the PopMarket.com website as well as at all general retail starting August 28th through Legacy Recordings, a division of  Sony Music Entertainment.

These three new entries follow up the first 19 box sets in the series, released through PopMarket.com in 2011 – 2012. The previous titles focused on the careers of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis (2009), George Duke, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Return To Forever, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Grover Washington Jr., Weather Report 197-1975 and Weather Report 1971-1975 (all on Columbia/Legacy); and Paul Desmond and Nina Simone (on RCA/Legacy).

As the dominant jazz record label for most of the 20th century, Columbia was home to a myriad of leading 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, Arista, 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.

For example, The Complete Private Music Blues, Rock N’ Roll Soul Albums Collection from Etta James digs into the archive for its bonus disc, a live session recorded in San Francisco in 1981, and issued on Private Music in 1994. Previous box sets on Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, Woody Shaw, and Weather Report have all included bonus discs of non-album music, most of which was previously unreleased.

The box sets in the Complete Album Collections series have been produced by Grammy Award-nominated Legacy producers Richard Seidel, Michael Cuscuna, Michael Brooks, 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 ODowd, who has worked on more than 150 CD packages in various genres.

Virtually all of the CDs in these box sets have been remastered 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 new titles in the series are as follows:

The Brecker Brothers – The Complete Arista Albums Collection (Arista/Legacy)

Arista Records established itself as a quintessential New York label in January 1975, just a few months after going into business, when Clive Davis added one of the city’s most important homegrown jazz partnerships to the roster, starring Randy Brecker on trumpet (b. 1945) and Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone (1949-2007). The brothers were raised outside Philadelphia and attended Indiana University before settling in New York to make their way as journeymen on the jazz circuit.

Individually, Randy came to prominence on the first Blood Sweat & Tears LP on Columbia, Child Is Father To the Man (1967), then left the next year to pursue session work. Randy’s next major band was Dreams (on Columbia in 1970-71, featuring Billy Cobham and Will Lee), where he and Michael comprised the horn section with trombon­ist Barry Rogers. After a stint in Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House, Randy was finally rejoined by Michael for the Brecker Brothers, which became a New York dynasty over the course of five solid studio LPs and one live album (Heavy Metal Be-Bop) at Arista between 1975 and 1981.

Brecker Brothers LPs strode the line between hard jazz and more commercial nods to rock, funk, Latin, and (occasionally) disco beats. Lineups were flexible over the years, including (at various times) guitarists Bob Mann, Steve Khan, Barry Finnerty, David Spinozza, and Hiram Bullock; bassmen Will Lee, Neil Jason, Marcus Miller, and Tony Levin; keyboardist Don Grolnick; and drummers Harvey Mason, Chris Parker, Steve Gadd, and Steve Jordan.

In person, the Brecker Brothers Band simply could not be beat, as heard on the Blue Montreux and Blue Montreux II festival recordings (of 1978, released ’79), “featuring a group of friends that was an offshoot of both the Brecker Bros. Band and Mike Mainieri’s White Elephant,” as Randy notes in his brief introduction to the package. “Those were productive years,” he continues.

“We were playing on hundreds of sessions, plus doing our own thing… I think it influenced many who came after us, and much of this music is still relevant today. We lost Michael in January of 2007 but I know he would have been thrilled by this release. During this period he developed his style, which became emulated by thousands of other saxophonists.”

1. The Brecker Brothers (Arista AL 4037, 1975)

2. Back to Back (Arista AL 4061, 1976)

3. Don’t Stop the Music (Arista AL 4122, 1977)

4. Heavy Metal Be-Bop (Arista AB 4185, 1978)

5. Detente (Arista AB 4272, 1980)

6. Straphangin’ (Arista AL 9550, 1981)

7. Blue Montreux (Arista AB 4224, 1979)

8. Blue Montreux II (Arista AB 4245, 1979)

Descriptions of Etta James – The Complete Private Music Blues, Rock N’ Roll Soul Albums Collection and Sarah Vaughan – The Complete Columbia Albums Collection can be found in Part 2.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.randybrecker.com/

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Amor Towles’ debut novel is an amazing glimpse into the late ‘30’s lifestyle in New York City. This novel encompasses all of life’s obstacles and triumphs including love, death, despair, independence, success, and failures. Towles knows what he is writing about, especially jazz and literature, and is able to connect people around the two components.

The majority of the book is a story of where one year takes the three main characters, and whom they turn into after the one year. All of the characters hold a residual impact on the world they live in; yet, New York City is the most influential part of the novel. Everything that happens is done by the city in a way that shows the true impact of the melting pot during this era.

Towles’ writing technique allows the reader to truly feel the emotions the characters endure, and finds various ways to still catch the reader off guard. Although there are chapters throughout the book, there are broader sections by season, which really puts into perspective how time passes and the environment the characters are placed in.

A great addition to the text is all the references of greatly talented and iconic people in a way that helps the characters describe or internally overcome their circumstances. Just to name a few, Towles includes Billie Holiday, Henry D. Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christies, Mark Twain, Picasso, and Charles Dickens. The literature impact to the novel creates a deeper interpretation and emphasis to the culture of both the era and New York City both then and now. To tie with the literature component, jazz is also another central element to the novel. Jazz is almost always a way for the characters to connect throughout. Again, Towles strong points are definitely jazz and literature.

The title of the novel plays a very unique role throughout the story line. The Rules of Civility is actually a novel by George Washington who wrote the piece when he was around 16 years old. The 110 rules teach one how to live the proper life, and ultimately gain status in society. The list is very influential throughout the characters of the novel, yet Towles keeps it as underlining component. Rules of Civility is a perfect title and critical theme for the novel.

The novel is a very addictive and enticing story that takes you to a different world, yet allows you to appreciate the impacts of the late ‘30’s in today’s time. So put on your favorite jazz album, and enjoy an evening of great literature that will take you on an adventure that is sure to get you wishing you saw the golden age of New York City first hand.

Image Courtesy of  Amor Towles

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Detroit, U.S.A. — The Detroit Downtown Development Authority has announced that the inaugural Detroit Paradise Valley Music Festival will take place in the Paradise Valley Cultural and Entertainment District from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Friday, July 13, Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15. The weekend will feature jazz extraordinaires Ronnie Laws, Phil Perry, Howard Hewett, and Ralphe Armstrong as headliners, along with more than 70 other national and local performances over the three-day period. All events are free to the public.

The Paradise Valley District honors the rich tradition of African American entertainment and commerce in Detroit. The original Paradise Valley comprised 66 blocks where African-Americans lived, worked and played. There were more than 350 African American serving the community by day, while night clubs provided world-class entertainment after dark. The clubs hosted all the greats: Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Sammy Davis Jr., Josephine Baker, and many others.

The Downtown Development Authority, the City of Detroit, The Kresge Foundation and others have invested in the Paradise Valley District as a way of creating economic opportunity based on Downtown’s creative and historical assets.

The Festival is a wonderful place for the whole family to enjoy good food, listen to tremendous music and hear the story of a time gone by. The Festival opens at 11:00 AM July 13, 2012 and admission is free. Live performances begin at noon and run until 11:00 PM each night of the event.

Johnnie Washington, event producer, said, “The festival provides an excellent platform to support the arts, music, and local business, and it also lets us pause to recognize, reflect and celebrate our culture. The celebration is taking place in Downtown Detroit, but this is a festival for everyone.”

Image Courtesy of  John Rudoff M. D.

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Washington, U.S.A. – The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) closes its 25th Anniversary year by saluting women’s contributions to rock and roll in “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power.” Organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the exhibition highlights the flashpoints, the firsts, the celebrated, and the lesser-known women who have influenced the genre from its inception through today. The only east coast venue, “Women Who Rockopens” Friday, September 7, 2012, and closes January 6, 2013.

Moving through the rock and roll eras beginning in the 1920s, the exhibition highlights 70 artists and more than 250 artifacts ranging from photos, performance videos, and album covers, to more personal memorabilia such as costumes, instruments, and set lists.

From rock-and-roll foremothers such as Ma Rainey and Billie Holiday, to pioneers such as Wanda Jackson and LaVern Baker through 60s girl groups, 70s disco, 80s punk, and contemporary stars including Lady Gaga and Janelle Monae, “Women Who Rock” illustrates the essential roles women have played in moving rock and roll and American culture forward.

Visitors of all ages have a chance to see iconic items—handwritten lyrics by Janis Joplin, Patti Smith,Janet Jackson and Madonna, alongside clothes worn by Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Cher, Melissa Etheridge, and Rihanna among many others—demonstrating women’s musical creativity and power to inspire through rock and roll.

In addition to being the writer and/or voice of some of our favorite songs, many women rockers were also playing instruments in their bands. “Women Who Rock” features guitars played by Wanda Jackson,Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Raitt and Taylor Swift, a drum played by Meg White and Lady Gaga’s childhood piano.

Founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, NMWA is the only museum solely dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing and literary arts. The museum’s collection features 4,000 works from the 16th century to the present created by more than 1,000 artists.

Image Courtesy of  Lady Gaga

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