Obscure & Neglected Female Singers Of Jazz & Standards (1930s to 1960s)

Even a closed thread can be consulted (as long as you can remember enough of the content to be able to use keywords to Search for it).

As for me I keep a directory of Favorites in IE that I may want to go back to, including threads from this Forum.

The present policy of the Forum seems to be that threads that haven't seen any action for 2 years get archived, but can usually be re-opened upon request to a Moderator.

 

Well there's no chance of this thread being inactive for 2 years

 

All good to hear. And thanks again for starting this most essential of threads ( at least for me..

 

Has anyone mentioned Irene Reid, and does she qualify? I have this record, It's Only the Beginning for Irene Reid and the followup on Verve, Room for One More

 

SEARCH tells me she has not been mentioned before in this thread. I love that song, first heard it by Dinah Washington in the early days of cd.

 

She was nicknamed the Vamp of Savannah (not because she was any kind of temptress, but rather because that's where she was from, and maybe also because she sang the tune "Hard-hearted Hannah").

I would say that she qualifies for inclusion in this thread. Her earliest albums, starting with the one pictured in your message, are from the 1960s, and filled with standards from the Great American Songbook. And that's not all. As illustrated by the YouTube clip that you posted, Irene sang with jazz legend Count Basie and his orchestra in 1961 and 1962. She was actually his regular solo vocalist (post-Joe Williams), thus traveling with the band domestically and abroad. A couple of Basie's LPs on Roulette include vocals by her ... Those are qualifications aplenty!

Personally, though, I think of her as more of a blues or r&b than a jazz singer. (The YouTube clip with Basie displays her ease with the blues. She does a pretty good, solid job on that one.) During her lifetime, Irene was sometimes compared to Dinah Washington, and it is not hard to hear a vocal/stylistic resemblance. However, I would say that Dinah could sing in a jazz vein as authentically as she could do a blues; to me, Irene's interpretations of jazz standards never fully sound as if they were being delivered in the "jazz idiom." Generally, my feeling is that her style and sound are more reminiscent of r&b singers like Esther Phillips, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, etc., despite the fact that she sang standards and showtunes all too often.


Irene Reid, Meditation, Single »
Irene Reid - My Way »

That version of "My Way" (last clip) successfully recasts the Sinatra staple into a soul number.

I can't say that her vocal timbre appeals to me greatly. Still, I have picked up a fair amount of her work -- about half of it. I have both the debut album on MGM and two of her three Verve albums (Room for One More, It's Too Late). The one that I don't have was released by that label last (1967). Its track listing suggests that she had begun to move away from a blues-jazz grab bag into a more contemporary soul/rhythm & blues milieu. Curiously, the front cover skips Irene's image altogether, choosing to concentrate instead on a depiction of the titular song's message:



Also curious are the covers of her next two LPs (which I don't have, either):






For a while in the late 1960s or a little later, Irene made it to Broadway, playing the wicked witch in The Whiz. But she was never really in the limelight. The little of a national profile afforded by the 1960s albums had faded by the 1970s. Fortunately, the late 1990s and early 2000s gave her a comeback through the release of about six CDs on a well-distributed label. I have three of those; here is one of them:



Sadly, the title of that CD did not reflect her reality in upcoming years. She did begin to do a bit bad, health-wise, in the 2000s. Here is an excerpt from a soulful account that was written (after Irene's passing) by someone called Wendy, and which was posted at the website AllAboutJazz:

First time I went to see Irene Reid, was when her health first was failing (over 5 years ago) and she was only able to sing 3 tunes in a set. I was young in my job at the Jazz Foundation and some folks told me that Irene had not been feeling well so I went to hear her at “Smoke" on Broadway and 106 St. and I introduced myself.

I watched her perform 2 sets. You could see she was struggling with her breathing and the club owner Paul had asked her if she needs to go to the hospital but she didn't want to disappoint the crowd that had packed the place waiting in line to see what was becoming rare moments when she was feeling well enough to make the gig. At one point, she was so dizzy she nearly fainted but no one in the audience saw this going on as she had been experiencing this in a small corner that had been set aside for her to rest between tunes. Irene insisted she would not leave till she finished the second set.

She saved herself for the last tune of the set, a grand finale blues. That was when I first heard Irene Reid do what so few left on Earth can do anymore- I had to literally sit on my hands to keep from pulling out a harmonica and jumping on the stage- I had not heard blues like that in ages. For the length of that one tune, not one person in the crowd remembered that they were dealing with a divorce, or an illness or the sickness of a parent, or the heartbreak of having a teenage kid at home - no one in that room remembered they had to go to work on Monday to a job they didn't want, or their life was not what quite what they had expected- for one moment, we were all free- we were complete, we were all happy and shouting from the irreplaceable irresistible reach-your-soul abilities of Irene Reid -

After she finished, and everyone was on their feet standing up for her, she made her way through the crowd and asked me to help her into the car service that was waiting and we went straight to the hospital. That was the first night I had met her.

We went to a hospital in the Bronx and when we got there, all they saw was an elderly person they assumed was poor, they said there were no beds and made us wait by the door, cold winds passing through us, surrounded by homeless people who were coughing and the staff had that attitude that many of us have experienced in situations like this one.

So I went up to the head nurse and said, “Do you know who this is? She's a very famous singer." Then I went outside for a minute and made a call to the emergency room as if I was the assistant of a very famous person who I wont name, (but who gave me permission to do this) and asked if Miss Irene Reid was in the emergency room and said that “Mr. So and so was worried about her and wanted to know if she was all right." We got a bed within 2 minutes and the head doctor came out and she was treated like the royalty she was.

 

Such dignity and beauty in contrast to the shamefull side . Wendy's account is quite staggering.

 

Ah, cool. I agree with you that she is more blues/R&B, but does have jazz credibility; that's why I asked! I'm not crazy about her but I like the first album, and the cover art on Room for One More is beautiful.

I'm glad I found someone to add to the thread, I came very late to it and all the obscure singers I know of have long since been covered. Except...

Lizzy Miles! What about her? I searched the thread and didn't find her. She's described as a "Creole blues singer" on wikipedia but also sang Dixieland and appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958.



I have this record (just not where I am now, which is why I'm posting a tiny found image): Hot Songs My Mother Taught Me

 

RIP Fran Jeffries

 

Ah, another interesting addition. Like Irene, Lizzy might be said to be a "twilight case." On the plus side, all her LPs were recorded in the 1950s, and they are filled with jazz and pop standards. Those are her qualifications to be included in this 1930s-1960s jazz-pop thread.

However ...

To my mind, and despite her 1950s work on vinyl, Lizzy Miles belongs to the 1910s and 1920s. This lady was already doing a whole lot of live performing all over the US back in the early 1910s, when she was still a teenager. Throughout the 1920s, she recorded a large number of 78-rpm cuts, which were more recently made available in a chronological CD series from Document Records, the Austrian label. Incidentally, she worked with famous names from that early 1900s period, like Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Fats Waller.

Lizzy was first and foremost a blues singer -- with a strain of vaudeville also running through her veins. Just about every tune that she tackled was sung in the typical manner of either one or the other genre. Moreover, she had the kind of potent, big and rough voice that is associated with some of the biggest names from the blues world (e.g., Besse Smith).

But Lizzy herself didn't like to be categorized as a blues singer, rightfully feeling that the description pigeonholed her, ignoring the fact that she sang many different types of songs. Here is rare live footage of the woman when she was over 60, guesting on a 1950s TV special hosted by the pair of Louis Armstrong and Rex Harrison:

La Rose Noire de Paris: that's how she was billed during parts of her long career. In the mid-1920s, she went to Paris and remained there, as a nightclub performer, for two years.

An even more prevalent name for her was The Creole Queen. That particular billing pointed to a key trait of her work: she liked to start out by singing in English, and to shift to Creole French halfway through. If you are listening to her and you are familiar with the given number that she is singing in its standard English version, the sudden outpour of French verbiage can be quite startling and interesting to hear. A good example is the clip posted by Rubberhead ("A Good Man Is Hard to Find"). Around the 1:00 mark, we suddenly have her moaning about how tough it is to "trouver" a "bon homme."

Nowadays, this New Orleans singer is actually best remembered (if at all) for this one song. We have old-time jazz fan Woody Allen to thank for that. He included her version in his film Blue Jasmine, released three years ago.

I like to search for interesting and off-beat tidbits about these singers' lives. In Lizzy Miles's case, there doesn't seem to be much of special interest out there. Although two marriages are reported, Lizzy's life (1895-1963) seems to have been primarily dedicated to "secular" singing until 1959, when she retired, devoting the remainder of her lifetime to help a congregation of African-American nuns (New Orleans' Sisters of the Holy Family) do their humanitarian work. The Creole Songbird was visiting a Catholic retirement community when she suffered the heart attack that led to her passing away.

It is one of her two "your mamma" albums. (Lizzy's mother was also a singer, back in the 19th century.)




She made at least five albums for Cook, a label founded in 1952 and specializing in folk, world and traditional music. Lizzy also has one 12" LP on Capitol and another on Verve, both partially credited to her and partially credited to the musical accompaniment. (Then there are her aforementioned 78s from the 1920s, recorded for Victor and Columbia, among other labels ... She went around!)

 

RIP Fran Jeffries.

 

Frances Langford

 

Alice Lon – It's Alice (Coral, 1955)

 

A slight deviation but I'm hoping I will be forgiven since it is dec 24, and the question is holiday related rare jazz singer records. I love the Jo Stafford Happy Holliday lp and the great June Christy lp This time of Year ( of astounding mostly original songs). I have good copies of both vintage Lps and aside from the Ella Fitzgerald Christmas lp I don't know of any other holiday lps by 50s singers. If any of you can pass on any others it would be appreciated.

 

Nice, timely topic ...

June Christy - [already mentioned]
Rosemary Clooney - Songs from Irving Berlin's White Christmas
Doris Day - The Doris Day Christmas Album
Ella Fitzgerald - two; one on Verve and another on Capitol. Her Verve album is the great one; the Capitol LP ain't too hot.
Lena Horne - Merry from Lena
Joni James - Merry Christmas from Joni
Peggy Lee - Christmas Carousel
Gisele MacKenzie - Christmas with Gisele
Patti Page - Christmas with Patti Page
Dinah Shore - Season's Best
Keely Smith - A Keely Christmas
Jo Stafford - three; one on Capitol, two on Columbia
Barbra Streisand - A Christmas Album

Those are the ones that come to mind, if

a) we are still talking about female interpreters of jazz & pop standards

b)the cut date is 1970.

Of course, there are also some post-1970 Christmas albums (e.g., Anita O'Day's, Helen Merrill's, Nancy Wilson's). Should anyone reading have interest in those, perhaps the topic could be brought up in this thread's companion, Singers of Jazz & Standards (1970-2020) » .

 

thanks Ridin'
most appreciated and your assumptions are all correct! If you had to pick your own personal favourite from your list what would it be and why?

s

 

Oh, good. You are very welcome!

Well ... I tend to prefer swinging holiday tunes over the warm and inspirational numbers (though I like those, too). Of course, the degree to which one likes favor the singer herself factors into whether one care for their Christmas music or not ....

So, with all that said, the most swinging, joyful and consistently exciting of them all is, for me:




To make it a top four, here are my other favorites from the list:

 

Champagne me,
Caviar me,
Ritz-hotel me,
Sell me!

Scold me
When you are cross, baby,
Spank me
Show me you are the boss,
Tame me!

Those lines are from two of the songs in India Adams' LP. What a shrew!

Lest you (prude and pious posters of this august forum) faint before you can reach for your smelling salts, I must promptly clarify that this is all sung in a sweet manner, with no pornographic suggestiveness. Oh sure: it IS sexy singing -- but good singing, too. All or almost all of the songs were written especially for the album itself, and have not been covered otherwise. Many of them are actually pretty clever and catchy. My favorite lines may be:

If your life is a fiasco,
Try a little tabasco

I might have to bear that in mind at some point in the future. Here is the album's titular song:



Despite having listened to the number so many times, I still am not sure what is it that she is doing with/to those fruits ...

Here is a photo of the singer in her heyday.



India never became famous, but she has done a fair amount of work in Hollywood. Her most notable credits are as a movie dubber. The last installment of the movie musical series That's Entertainment! included a very interesting side-by-side montage of Joan Crawford (in a scene from Torch Song) and Cyd Charisse (in a deleted scene from The Band Wagon), both of them dancing and singing the same song, called "Two-faced Woman." The whole affair is two-faced indeed, and in more ways than one. They are both pretending to sing. The same vocal by India Adam was used on both scenes.



Turning 87 years this year (and looking pretty good for her age), India is alive and was still performing a year ago. In addition to the 1959 RCA LP, she has (self?)released a couple of CDs in recent years. She does have her own webpage, too, at India Adams ».

 

Thank you very much for pointing out.
I knew nothing about her, but now I'm looking for this CD.

I'm very impressed with her voice, which remind me another my favorite singer Keely Smith. Not the similarity of the voice parse, but phenomenal capability to go from sexy and husky to clear and powerful with the press of the button.

Sell Me


It's a shame that nobody bothered to record for us a few more albums with such a wonderful vocal.

I would pay a lot for a double CD 'India Adams Sings Standards' (of her choice), including '(Common in Closer...) Make Love to Me' It would not be worse than another American treasure:
Jo Stafford - Make Love To Me 1954 »

(thanks God, at least she was not overlooked):
Jo Stafford - Blue Moon »

P.S. By the way, who cares about lyric, when voice is so good...

 

Has Virginia Verrell been mentioned yet? Just heard her sing "Slappin' the Bass" - slapping the what? - on Spotify. Because I like Edythe Wright (and Connee Boswell), it isn't surprising that I like the song (backed by Woody Herman's band). Like Wright, she called it quits at a fairly young age: Virginia Verrill, Unseen Voice Of Hollywood's Singing Stars, 82 »

Here she is with the Isham Jones Orchestra (introduced at the 2:45 mark):



She's a bit stiff on camera, which likely explains her radio and behind-the-scenes vocal success.

 

NPR posted an hour long program called Marilyn Maye: The Queen of Cabaret in their Jazz Night in America series late last month. It's hard to explain what it is, but Marilyn Maye definitely still has it at age 88. She's in good voice, funny, and has many stories to tell of how she got started in her career, singing on the Johnny Carson show, and her career in general. I saw another of her late 1960's RCA albums this weekend and will have to pick it up. A duet album with Tony Bennett would indeed be something.

Here's the link to the show:

Marilyn Maye: The Queen Of Cabaret

 

Avid Records and Obscure and Neglected thread.

AVID 4 Classic Albums plus (2CD) series
(including original LP liner notes and new Remaster)

It is a real remaster with names of the mastering engineers in the credit notes not a LP transfer like Real Gone Jazz 8 albums series.

Annie Ross
albums: 'Annie by Candlelight', 'Gypsy', 'A Gasser' and 'Sings a Song with Mulligan' plus selections from 'Singin N Swingin and 'Nocturne for Vocalist'.



"AVID Jazz here presents four classic Annie Ross albums plus, including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. 'Annie by Candlelight', 'Gypsy', 'A Gasser' and 'Sings a Song with Mulligan' plus selections from 'Singin N Swingin and 'Nocturne for Vocalist'. (From the liner notes from 'Gypsy')...........'Annie Ross has the unusual distinction of having all her work to date highly rated by critics and laymen alike. A brilliant future seems assured'. Born in Surrey in 1930 Annie led a wild early life due to her Scottish parents' life as travelling vaudevillians. Becoming a member of the family act at age two she was off to America a year later and by five had been signed to a contract with MGM! Having completed only two films in the decade she was there, (one with Judy Garland), Annie returned to the UK and then on to Paris where she appeared in cabaret singing in both English and French. Tours of Spain and North Africa followed with Coleman Hawkins and also a spell acting for Orson Welles back in Paris. That would seem to be enough activity for one life, but Annie had not even seriously begun her solo career or hooked up with her famous partners in the legendary trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross! Our four featured albums present Annie solo with such legendary musicians as Zoot Sims, Russ Freeman, Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker from the West Coast cool jazz school and from the UK, The Tony Crombie 4-tet as heard on 'Annie By Candlelight' and with the likes of Pete and Conte Candoli, Stan Getz and Jim Hall on their jazz take on the Broadway show 'Gypsy'. All four albums plus have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest sound quality ever!"

Ernestine Anderson
albums: 'Hot Cargo'; 'A Toast To The Nation's Critics'; 'My Kinda Swing' and 'Moanin' Moanin' Moanin''.



"AVID Jazz presents four classic Ernestine Anderson albums, including original liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. 'Hot Cargo'; 'A Toast To The Nation's Critics'; 'My Kinda Swing' and 'Moanin' Moanin' Moanin''. Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1956 'Hot Cargo' finds Miss Anderson with a host of top notch Swedish jazz men. She had been regularly touring in Sweden, steadily building a reputation for herself when she was asked to record her own album. The result is before you and to quote from the original liner notes 'In these sides Ernestine Anderson certainly shows definite promise in becoming one of the greats in the girl singer field. Everyone interested in the vocal side of jazz should watch her future with keen interest'. Ernestine Anderson is one of those unique talents in music whom you hear for a long time before you actually encounter them in person'. Well our next encounter with Miss Anderson is 'A Toast of the Nation's Critics', a fine album featuring the composing talents of such great writers as Mel Torme, Pete Rogolo, Kurt Weill & George Gershwin, Wild Bill Davis, Gigi Gryce & Jon Hendricks and Truman Capote & Harold Arlen. Not bad company to encounter! 'This, as the title indicates, is 'My Kinda Swing', Ernestine Anderson's kinda swing. It's the point of view of a mature singer, approaching a string of meaningful songs with the aide of a respected group of seasoned musicians and one of the best composer-arrangers... as a showcase it is Ernestine's show. She emerges as a vividly communicative vocalist, aware of the meaning of lyrics and the rhythms that propel them. Like love, she's here to stay'. We all like a good moan now and again, but for our final Ernestine Anderson album, we have chosen the classic 'Moanin' Moanin' Moanin'' That's a lot of moanin' for one lady but hey, she makes moanin' sound so good! All four albums have been digitally re-mastered."

Lee Wiley
albums: Night in Manhattan / Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans & Irving Berlin / West of the Moon / A Touch of the Blues



Review:
"5* Lee Wiley was one of the greatest of jazz singers and this compilation of four of her albums is an excellent one. 'Night in Manhattan' and 'Sings Yeomans and Berlin' were originally issued as three 10" albums in the early days of LP. The twenty-four numbers were subsequently reissued by American Columbia on two 12" discs. The tracks with Bobby Hackett and Joe Bushkin are among the finest she ever recorded and those where Lee Wiley is accompanied by two pianists nearly as good. The first disc of this compilation is completed by two tracks she contributed to a Victor anthology. These are enjoyable performances but not essential ones.

The second disc includes the two albums recorded for Victor in the mid-fifties. 'West of the Moon' contains some superb arrangements by Ralph Burns and Lee is in fine voice throughout. Three backing bands are used. There is a group with strings,, reeds and rhythm. For the second, the strings are omitted and a fine brass section - including Nick Travis and Ubie Green - added. The final group is a small jazz combo with Billy Butterfield, Lou McGarity, and Peanuts Hucko contributing some fine playing. A thoroughly enjoyable album.

'A Touch of the Blues' completes this fine set. Arrangements here are by Bill Finegan and Al Cohn and the band is led by Billy Butterfield. Lee is again in top form and the twelve tracks make a delightful programme. I especially enjoyed 'Land of Sky Blue Water', 'Ace in the Hole' and 'Blues in my Heart' but the rest are excellent as well.

The whole anthology makes a valuable addition to the catalogue. Highly recommended to all lovers of fine singing."


Morgana King (is a thing!)



Reviews:

(albums)
"A. "Sings the Blues" from January 1956, with piano and rhythm accompaniment.
B. "For You, For Me, For Evermore" from March 1956 with small orchestra.
C. "Let Me Love You" from July 1958 with 7-piece group
D. "The Greatest Songs Ever Swung" from 1959 with four trombones, vibes, and rhythm, augmented on 5 tracks by 3 trumpets, and 4 saxes."

"5* Morgana King is the "wife" of the Godfather movie's main character. She sings at the wedding of her daughter and does a perfect job of looking just matronly enough, just Italian and beautiful enough, just self-trained (which she is definitely not!) to fit the part. I became interested in her because of this role.

When I started playing excerpts of her on Youtube, I was blown away with the beauty and the vocal lines, the interpretations...the velvet voice of this person.

I started reading about her. She is extremely highly formally trained. When you hear her sing on these albums you become aware of how she then had to refine or alter these training disciplines to come across to the listeners interested in popular classic tunes that she is capable of singing.
Morgana King had a career I never knew about. When you hear Morgana King sing, you become aware not only of her individual interpretations, but the seemingly effortless skill she evolved to produce lullaby-like sweetness as well as setlines in her singing. Timing - perfecting it - is essential and a true gift, carefully developed over time.

I mention all of these things, because, as a classically-trained musician myself - pianist, choral director and professional harpist, I have been in places where I can appreciate these things and have come to realize that what is needed are: 1. A God-given exquisite voice; 2. A remarkable intelligence; 3. The desire to achieve excellence and perfection if possible; 4. Tremendous self-discipline and... 5. An appreciation of these talents so as to not ruin them by over working them nor by misuse.

This album is just about as sweet as it can get. I highly recommend this.

Morgana King is a real treasure! Thanks, Amazon for making this available. There is another one which I have ordered from Europe. Apparently its copyright in the US prevents its sale. She performed on a TV show and sang a tune that was just.....just incredible in technique as well as beauty. Go to Youtube and look for it. I think it was on Dean Martin's show and he introduced her as unbelievable. Was he ever right!!!"




Morgana king...Insensatez


Why did I put info about 4 different singers in one post?
Because they are 4 titles of 10 - part of my order (Avid Records sale) I placed at on-line store tommysjazz. These titles were selected from Avid catalog, Tom emailed me.

Tom allowed me (upon my inquiry) to post Jazz Vocal titles more or less related to our thread for all forum members. Here they are:

AVID RECORD CD SALE
One and only offer. I need to reach an order of at least 100 cds to place my order. So if you are interested please order ASAP.

shipping is:
$4.00 per CD - USA/ .50 each additional
$10.00 per CD - non USA/ 1.00 each additional

AMSC720 ADELAIDE HALL A CENTENARY CELEBRATION 6.00
AMSC1136 ANITA O'DAY FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (ANITA O'DAY AND BILLY MAY SWING RODGERS AND HART / ANITA O'DAY & THE THREE SOUNDS / ANITA O'DAY SINGS THE WINNERS / TIME FOR TWO) 8.00
AMSC1129 ANITA O'DAY FIVE CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (ANITA O'DAY SWINGS COLE PORTER WITH MAY / AT MISTER KELLY'S / SINGIN' AND SWINGIN' / TRAV'LIN' LIGHT 8.00
AMSC1126 ANITA O'DAY FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (PICK YOURSELF UP / COOL HEAT / INCOMPARABLE / WAITER, MAKE MINE BLUES) 8.00
AMSC963 ANITA O'DAY FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (ANITA SINGS THE MOST / THE LADY IS A TRAMP /AN EVENING WITH ANITA O'DAY / ANITA) 8.00
AMSC1015 ANNIE ROSS FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (ANNIE BY CANDLELIGHT / GYPSY / A GASSER / SINGS A SONG WITH MULLIGAN) 8.00
AMSC1132 BETTY CARTER FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (MEET BETTY CARTER AND RAY BRYANT / OUT THERE / THE MODERN SOUND OF BETTY CARTER / RAY CHARLES AND BETTY CARTER) 8.00
AVC911 BILLIE HOLIDAY THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION 6.00
AMSC989 BILLIE HOLIDAY FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (BODY AND SOUL / BILLIE HOLIDAY AT JAZZ AT THE PHILHARMONIC / MUSIC FOR TEACHING
/ VELVET MOOD) 8.00
AMSC967 BLOSSOM DEARIE FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (BLOSSOM DEARIE / BLOSSOM DEARIE
PLAYS FOR DANCING / GIVE HIM THE OOH-LA-LA / ONCE UPON A SUMMERTIME) 8.00
AMSC1125 CARMEN MCRAE FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (TORCHY! / AFTER GLOW / MAD ABOUT THE MAN / BIRDS OF A FEATHER) 8.00
AMSC1089 CHRIS CONNOR FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (SINGS LULLABYS OF BIRDLAND / CHRIS / THIS IS CHRIS / CHRIS CONNOR) 8.00
AMSC649 DINAH SHORE WRITTEN IN THE STARS 6.00
AVC858 DORIS DAY THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION 6.00
AMSC970 EARTHA KITT FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (THAT BAD EARTHA / DOWN TO EARTHA / THURSDAYS CHILD / ST. LOUIS BLUES) 8.00
AVC939 EDITH PIAF THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION 6.00
AMSC1122 ELLA FITZGERALD THREE CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE /
HELLO LOVE / ELLA SWINGS BRIGHTLY WITH NELSON) 8.00
AMSC1118 ELLA FITZGERALD THREE CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (MACK THE KNIFE /
LET NO MAN WRITE MY EPITAPH / ELLA IN HOLLYWOOD) 8.00
AMSC1170 ERNESTINE ANDERSON FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (HOT CARGO / THE TOAST OF THE NATION'S / MY KINDA SWING / MOANIN' MOANIN' MOANIN') 8.00
AMSC926 FRANCES DAY GOLDEN GIRL OF THE 30'S 8.00
AMSC1177 FRANCES FAYE FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (NO RESERVATIONS / SINGS FOLK SONGS / RELAXIN' WITH FRANCES FAYE / SWINGING ALL THE WAY) 8.00
AVC536 JUDY GARLAND OVER THE RAINBOW - THE EARLY YEARS 6.00
AMSC1007 JULIE ANDREWS FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (MY FAIR LADY / JULIE ANDREWS SINGS / THE LASS WITH THE DELICATE AIR / TELL IT AGAIN) 8.00
AMSC1113 LEE WILEY FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (NIGHT IN MANHATTAN / LEE WILEY SINGS VINCENT YOUMANS & IRVING BERLIN / WEST OF THE MOON / A TOUCH OF THE BLUES) 8.00
AMSC1009 LENA HORNE FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (STORMY WEATHER / GIVE THE LAD / LENA HORNE AT THE WALDORF ASTORIA / A FRIEND OF YOURS) 8.00
AMSC1171 LURLEAN HUNTER FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (NIGHT LIFE /
BLUE & SENTIMENTAL / LONESOME GAL / STEPPING OUT) 8.00
AMSC1021 MORGANA KING FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS (FOR YOU, FOR ME, FOR EVERMORE / SINGS THE / THE GREATEST SONGS EVER SWUNG / LET ME LOVE YOU) 8.00
AMSC1059 TEDDI KING FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS (BIDIN’ MY TIME / TO YOU FROM TEDDI KING / A GIRL AND HER SONGS / ALL THE KING’S SONG) 8.00
AMSC1003 VERA LYNN SINCERELY YOURS 8.00

I know Tom for many years and can highly recommend his service. I think this offer is a good deal: $2 per album. Shipping for 10 items is $8.50 (.85 per double CD). So, if someone is interested in the order or for entire Avid catalog, please contact directly to Tom: [email protected]
Please tell that one guy from music forum recommended him for Avid CD order. (I always use PayPal for the payment, but he may will take the other kinds of the payment).


P.S.
If I would hardly pressed to choose only one title, it should be Morgana King 4 Classic Albums.

All Avid titles I have sound from good to very good.
Guys, please comment on the Avid titles you have.

 

The Christmas record by Dorothy Collins is phenomenal!

 

Has Carolyn Grey been mentioned yet? She essentially replaced Anita O'Day in Gene Krupa's mid-1940s band. I can hear more than a hint of O'Day in her voice on some of her songs. I'm not sure if that was influence or intentional imitation.

She may not have been "obscure" (she sang with Krupa's and Herman's bands), but perhaps she's "neglected" today.

 

Just bought this at a garage sale.

The first songbook album by a singer