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Bailey's Bundles

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Ten Men

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My unscientific estimate contends that there are three female vocalists for every male vocalist. This does not mean that there are no male vocalists out there as evidenced by these ten examples. They just take a little longer to accumulate. Jay Leonhart and Tomoko Ohno Don't You Wish Chancellor Music 2017 Jay Leonhart is a known entity. He is a well-known bassist and singer, and as he proves on Don't You Wish ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Seven Women (Plus Three) 2018 – Part VII

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Well, that didn't take long. What started as “Five Women" quickly grew into the present “Seven Women" and will continue to the end of this year as “Seven Women (Plus Three) as a continuing reflection of the state of female vocalists and instrumentalists. We are blessed with an abundance of musical riches. Adi Meyerson Where We Stand AM Records 2018 There is something to be said, 60 years on, about the durability ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Skip Heller, Birdie Jones, and Carnival of Soul

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“I have a bluegrass gig tomorrow am. Playing a Link Wray Tribute tomorrow night...seeing the Dead Milkmen tonight." --My most recent text message from Fred “Skip" Heller. For all of the recently revealed foibles of Social Media, perhaps the best thing about it is how it makes a really big world smaller. I do not remember how I originally met Skip Heller (well, I do, it was reviewing his album Homegoing (Innova Records, 2002), but that ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Seven Women 2018 – Part VI

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Jazz vocals remains a vibrant and productive subgenre as evidenced by this spate of recent releases. Diane Marino Soul Serenade: The Gloria Lynne Project M&M Records 2018 Singer Gloria Lynne had a long and productive career, one that remained unjustly in the shade, deserving of the attention that it is getting now from singer Diane Marino on Soul Serenade: The Gloria Lynne Project. Marino began on piano, studies with Murray Perahia at ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Joyful Noise: Gregorian Chant by The Monastic Choir of St. Peter's Abbey of Solesmes

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Every generation since the beginning of recorded music discovers Gregorian Chant. The most recent (re)discovery was in the mid-1990s with the phenomenally successful Chant CDs from The Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos released on Angel Records. The actual performances were recorded some 20 years earlier and released to less than optimistic reviews and sales at the time. Taking advantage of the New Age Movement of approximately the same period, these performances were rereleased, selling six million copies worldwide. ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Judy Carmichael: All Taken in Stride

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Swinger! A Jazz Girl's Adventures from Hollywood to Harlem Judy Carmichael 276 Pages ISBN: # 978-1979764414 CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2017 Pianist and vocalist Judy Carmichael is a jazz girl who has been performing professionally for nearly 40 years. In her memoir Swinger! A Jazz Girl's Adventures from Hollywood to Harlem she relates being told of her cervical cancer diagnosis this way: Doctor: “I must say you are taking this remarkable ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Seven Women 2018 – Part V

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An embarrassment of riches... Shirley Crabbe Bridges MaiSong Music 2018 Vocalist Shirley Crabbe's 2011 debut recording, Home (Self Produced), was very well received, with critic Edward Blanco noting that the singer has, ..."a warm approach to the music, her smooth vocals seem a perfect fit for voicing soft ballads." While true, Crabbe is equally capable of belting out up-tempo numbers in her near perfectly-balanced voice that once was thought lost. In ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Seven Women 2018 – Part IV

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Proceeding unabated is women's conquering of jazz... As Is: Alan & Stacey Schulman Here's to Life Self Produced 2017 This husband-and-wife, full-ensemble recording, Here's to Life, is the sophomore effort following Alan and Stacey Schulman's duet debut, A Love Like Ours (Night, Night The Elephant Productions, 2015). The Schulman full band is recording under the moniker “As Is," which is pretty clever. The instrumental harmonic center of the recording remains the soft, ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Six on Cellar Live

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Cory Weeds' record label Cellar Live has become a welcome home to straight-ahead mainstream jazz in the same way that Arbors Records has been the beacon for traditional jazz and swing. Think Norman Granz's Pablo label tele-transported deep into the 21st Century. Six recent releases illuminate Cellar Live's importance to jazz as a whole and to the mainstream, specifically. Emmet Cohen Masters Legacy Series Volume 2: Emmet Cohen featuring Ron Carter and Evan Sherman Cellar Live ...

BAILEY'S BUNDLES

Seven woMEN 2018 – Part III

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Look what creeped into my monthly column... and herein exist end-of-the-year-recordings...(you decide which ones). Ben Paterson That Old Feeling Cellar Live Records 2018 Everything about pianist/vocalist Ben Paterson's Cellar Live release, That Old Feeling is delightful. This recording is a beautiful throwback, with just a touch of sepia: not enough to induce pedestrian nostalgia, but plenty to remind us of the considerable charms of straight-ahead jazz well performed. Paterson claims the ...