Brazilian music is held in the highest regard by aficionados throughout the world for many reasons. There are many qualities in the music that shine through from this country, with its diverse population and geography. Though there are many genres of music that have originated in Brazil, it is the overwhelming emotional content of the music that has hooked generations of listeners.

The ladies of Venus have combined their efforts to assemble Venus Sings: The Essential best Of Lady Jazz Vocals. Featured musicians include Nicki Parrott, Anna Kolchina, Simone, Laird Jackson & Tessa Souter.

Ray Charles’ recordings spanned every genre of music including Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Gospel and Country & Western. We’re all familiar with such hits like “Georgia On My Mind.” “Hit The Road Jack” and “America The Beautiful.” But Ray’s catalog also includes a huge collection of other “classically Ray” recordings that may not be as well known such as “Come Live With Me,” “A Song For You” and many others.

As one of the most loved jazz vocalists, modern jazz heroines, and prolific vocalists, Rosemary Clooney gives a very beautiful and feminine side to Brazilian jazz on Brazil, a sensitive musical feeling of 16 ripe standards. This wonderful collection is dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, and Nelson Riddle through her amazing ambience of sensitive phrasing, lovely nuance, and splendid rhythmic shadings. Rosemary Clooney is joined by the lovely Diana Krall on "Boy from Ipanema" in a stunning vocal duet accompanied by Oscar Castro-Neves on guitar. John Pizzarelli sings "Wave," with the light, airy brilliance of a light kept burning throughout the night, and duets with Clooney on "Desafinado," "One Note Samba," "Let Go," "Dindi," and the reprise of the title track, "Brazil"…

This volume of Capitol/EMI's Legends Of The 20th Century profiles Nat King Cole, tracing his work as a jazz pianist and a massively popular singer. Both sides of Cole's talent are explored in this 22-track album, which includes "Nature Boy," "Unforgettable," "When I Fall In Love" and other vocal hits as well as jazz works like "Straighten Up And Fly Right," "When I Take My Sugar To Tea," "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and "Body And Soul." A fine sampling of highlights from both of Cole's careers.

Billie Holiday was an American jazz musician & singer-songwriter with a career spanning nearly 30 years. Nicknamed "Lady Day," by her friend & music partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz music & pop singing. The Billie Holiday Verve CD collection contains a selection her best-loved albums. Songs By Billie Holiday, A Recital By Billie Holiday, Velvet Moods - Songs By Billie Holiday, Lady Sings The Blues & All Or Nothing At All are housed in a hard-case boxset.

George Benson's place as one of the greatest and most successful guitarists in the history of jazz is secure, but what's easy to forget sometimes is that he began his career as a vocalist, and if this release, a tribute to Nat King Cole, comes as any kind of surprise, it shouldn't. Benson's and Cole's careers are remarkably similar, both becoming known first as instrumentalists, Cole as a pianist, and Benson, of course, as a guitarist, with both eventually easing into the pop mainstream because of their voices. Cole was a one of a kind vocalist, of course, and even Benson wouldn't claim to equal him as a singer, but Benson has a similarly soothing and lush tenor voice that more than holds its own on these familiar songs.

There are singers who let it fly from deep within and pour out red-faced bellows complete with bulging eyes and pulsating neck cords. They rip it up with big bands and belt it out until the sun comes up, then follow with swashbuckling encores that bring down the house with slaps-on-the-back and flamenco table top dances.
Then there’s Julie. No gala musical fanfare or big-sound glitter. No jokes, no jugglers, no soft-shoe. Just a blues guitar, a well-placed bass, a drummer’s light brush… and Julie. The combo provides a mere musical skeleton, a framework that serves only to complement the singer; it doesn’t try to compete. The combination is distinctively blues… and distinctively Julie. Julie is a mysterious, sultry woman with a moist-eyed singing style and real feeling for loneliness…

Sarah Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by music critic Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century." Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989. Recordings of Sarah Vaughan were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

In this group of a dozen songs spanning more than half a century, Nancy Harrow demonstrates her ability to absorb the essence of the most valuable popular music from any era. She concentrates on pieces that helped the Beatles become one of the best-known bands in the world and leavens the collection with standards by master songwriters who have enriched the lives of generations.

This Live at the Circle Room date has been issued before, but the bonus material of the same band from a later date makes this an extra special set. For starters, the Circle Room, in the Hotel La Salle in Milwaukee, was the town's premier jazz spot in 1946. The first 17 tracks on this CD come from four performances between September 21 and 25 of that year. Cole, with Oscar Moore and Johnny Miller, had begin his singing career in earnest, and playing in front of a lounge crowd seemed like the most natural thing in the world for him. Indeed, as bottles click, and the periodic murmur of voices in the foreground appear in the mix, the listener will be transported into Cole's magical space. From Ellington's "C Jam Blues," to "I'm in the Mood for Love," "I'm Thru With Love," and "Sweet Georgia Brown," the Cole trio kicks it with grace and elegance.

Halie Loren is an international, award-winning jazz vocalist/songwriter based in Eugen, Oregon. She brings a fresh and original perspective to time-honored musical paths, channeling her innate understanding of connectedness across musical boundaries to forge bonds with diverse audiences in North America, Asia, and Europe. She sings in multiple languages including; Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Korean as well as her native English. With Halie Loren's 11th album, she has concocted a blend of songs selected from the American Songbook, favorite compositions from iconic singer-songwriters, and Halie's original song repertoire that explore themes of longing, seeking, and seeing with new eyes. They speak to the falling away of old illusions and outgrown desires and finding new visions for love and life, and what it means to find a renewed sense of self through allowing some dreams to die and make space for new dreams to be born.