Jim R

Incredible indeed. The whole game was pretty incredible to me. I knew the Saints weren't going away after we got up early, and there was a lot of drama surrounding the primary question of who would survive the battle of the Niners D vs Saints O. It turned out to be a classic nailbiter, and that ending (especially Alex Smith making multiple big plays) was not something that anybody was expecting.

Don Sleet Frosty Albert Collins

Lynn Blessing

All I get is "This video contains content from UMG and EMI, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. Sorry about that." I thought the song was simply about a Liverpudlian (sp?) longing for (and returning) home after being away.

Seriously? The way we get strafed around here with RIP threads about people you never heard of, you think nobody's going to mention Brookmeyer's passing?

99 cents!?! In 2012? You bastard. If I had found that LP, it would have been by Helen Forrest. Seriously, it's not even listed in my old LP price guides.

Me too. Along with "Earth Tones", the Goldings titles "Light Blue" and "Caminhos Cruzados" come to mind as standouts.

Albert Camus AND Wentus

Rocket J. Squirrel Rocky Raccoon

Murray The K Buddy L Auntie Em

After all those years (decades, actuallly) of being a record and CD hound, I don't recall ever coming across this Bill Henderson album. Perhaps I just glossed over it. Anyway, I have plenty of his other recordings- the Vee Jays, the album with Oscar P and another on Verve, and the bonus tracks on Jimmy Smith's "Softly As A Summer Breeze". I guess his unusual voice makes him a bit of an acquired taste for some, but I've always enjoyed his work. In general, Mike, I think my taste in vocalists tends to be more "old school". I'm familiar with a number of the names you selected... Freelon, Mahogany, Winstone... but don't own any of their stuff, and for some reason I have not been so tempted to buy recordings of vocalists from the more modern era. Many of them I'm able to hear on our local jazz radio station, which is why I do know them to some degree. I did have something by Ethel Ennis at some point, but I think I let go of it during one of my purges (I knew I'd heard that Joni Mitchell song somewhere before, by the way).

I see that the thread title has now been edited to better reflect the significance of this important news. Good move!

or, think... Mr. Chekov Mr. Spock Mr. Potato Head

I think Paul was referring to Armstrong when he mentioned Louis FOUR POSTS ABOVE YOURS... unless he was talking about Louis Prima, of course. I kind of get the premise here, but it's really all too subjective, and I became slightly disoriented when I saw Julie London and Jo Stafford mentioned before Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. But I know you weren't really doing a serious ranking, so... Props to Joe Williams, btw.

Fabulous news, not unlike the announcements of Bird/Dizzy on Uptown, the Monk/Coltrane discoveries, etc. I really wonder if the thread title is too understated. I suspect that some won't fully understand what is meant by "new" here. When I was watching the video posted above, seeing some of the still photos reminded me that I had seen some of these and more on Buddy Montgomery's website. You can also see more with Buddy's narration on YouTube, here (see "Buddy Montgomery Tribute", parts 1, 2 and 3): Montgomery Brothers on YouTube

Disc 2, track 2... I do not in fact own it, but now I know who it is. MS with CT. I really am very impressed by her voice here, and I may have to get my wallet out and remedy the fact that I don't own this album. Thanks a lot, Mike.

Are we still playing?... Okay, I should have trusted my instincts regarding Disc 2, track 1. I knew it sounded like KD (the voice and the horn), but for some reason I wanted to go in another direction. I do have this of course... originally on the Debut label. Great playing on this track, and now I'm going to pull that album out again!

IN Wonderland rather than ON Wonderland, but I bought this Riverside 4-LP box for my kids about 20 years ago...

Thanks Al. Hey, remember Roger (aka "song scout") and Allen Holland from JCS (?) and the early years of Jazz Corner? Now those guys knew singers and singing, and would have been an interesting read on a test like this. The main reason I'm interesting is because I mistake female singers for male singers.

impossible Indestructible! Superman

Interesting. Time to go back and compare! Interesting, I went back and listened again, and I still think it could have gone either way. It was her first recording, but she was 38 at the time. Well, I was definitely off there.

You've got good ears - it is the same singer! Aha, I thought so. Still no idea who it is, though... or what country she's from. Will be fun to find out! Okay, onward... ----- Disc 2: 1. Hmm… pretty sure I've heard this, and I may own it. Going to have to come back to this one... 2. I know I've heard this before. I can't place the singer, but she's very impressive, both in terms of her natural voice and her clearly developed skill. I'm going to kick myself if I don't come up with her name. 3. So, we get one "gimme", and it has to be one of THE most distinctive vocalists of all time. The trumpet player seems to be channeling Clifford Brown. 4. Not my cup of tea… no better for me than the other version of this song on disc 1 (track 2). As with that track, I get the feeling that the singer is forcing it emotionally. Not sure if that's the best way to put it, but I just know I don't care for it. Reminds me of the clips I've seen of people trying to impress the judges on "American Idol" (just clips… I've never watched the program). Guitarist has chops, but I don't care for his/her tone. 5. Nice voice… but the song doesn't do much for me, which makes it difficult to get into. 6. Once again we have a tune with no words, which leaves us with just a lot of scatting, which is okay, but the scatting is not so impressive that it makes up for a lack of anything to really latch onto (for me, anyway). For me this track is forgettable even before it's over. 7. Although she has a decent voice, this singer sounds like she's struggling to stay awake. The pronunciation of the very simple word "and" ("schand"?) is kind of distracting, especially since she doesn't seem to have any trouble pronouncing any other words. Unfortunately, this one bored me. Maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow. 8. She takes a LOT of liberties with the melody, right out of the gate, really sloppy sounding, which is something I don't care for. For me, these liberties need to be taken much more sparingly. All in all, the mood of this is too loose, especially considering this is one of THE most recorded songs of all time. If you're going to sing this song, might as well sound like you care enough to make it interesting (to me, it doesn't). I like the rhythm section just fine, though. 9. "Sermonette". Now this guy sounds like he means it, cares, respects the song. Distinctive vocal sound, too. I like this much better. There's more taste to this scatting as well… a lot more, to my ears. Kudos to the bassist too. 10. Wow, right off the bat I like this one too. I don't speak her language, but this singer displays a lot more skill in terms of phrasing and intonation (and dynamics) than many of the singers I've heard on these discs. I don't know who this is, but I'd be very surprised if she isn't a successful veteran performer. Very swinging accompaniment, too. Nice bone solo. 11. I like the song a bit more than the voice, but the voice is not bad at all. Very tasty backing on this one. This is classy stuff. Wow, the trumpeter was really allowed to blow… and that's a very good thing! Sweet solo. 12. Ah, "frohe Feiertage", Mike. (I hope that's correct… used an online translator ). Fun, clever track. 13. Very well done. Really- this is really well done, in my opinion, which isn't that easy on a tune like this. Again, there was an effort here to be "on" with the note choices and the phrasing, as opposed to just going all loose and casual and lazy. 14. Okay, NOW you've gone off the rails! Oh wait, it is moving into a jazzier vibe… yeah, I can dig this. It's the thought that counts, and the thought is clearly there. Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this! (hmm… I wonder if anybody besides Mike will read this crap ) Now to go back and see if I can figure out those first two… Thanks Mike!

Initial reactions... Disc 1 1. Don't know the singer, but she has a rather classic sound going on… very crisp and soulful. She sounds like she's relatively young, not that this means anything. Very nice arrangement. 2. "You Don't Know What Love Is". Very modern take… which doesn't particularly work for me, but I was never to crazy about this tune to begin with. Can't say this vocalist would ever become a favorite for me either. To me she sounds like she's forcing it (feeling/soul/energy) at times. 3. I like the way the tenor harmonizes with the vocalist on portions of the melody. Singer has a nice texture to his voice. 4. Nice treatment of "The Peacocks". Don't recognize this singer either. 5. Right off the top, I like the sound of this singer's voice, but I don't much care for the song. The other musicians sound good too… maybe I would enjoy a different track from this album more than this one. 6. The execution is fine, and it's fun and loose, but there's something about 100% wordless scatting like this that leaves me wanting. I guess I would prefer at least some lyrics to latch onto before getting into all the oop-bloop-ee-doo-bees. Singer's voice is good, but I was happier when the piano, tenor and bass took over. 7. I remember this tune from somewhere… but I don't know where. Was this a pop tune from the 70's? Not particularly impressed by or fond of this singer's voice/phrasing. 8. "Caravan"… can't quite identify the singer's accent. I liked this more after it went up-tempo. The harmonic structure in the opening and closing sections weren't very appealing to me. 9. This sounds like Bill Henderson doing "Blues In The Night". I have quite a bit of BH, but I don't think I've heard this one. 10. Couldn't really get into this one. 11. Very appealing rhythmic backdrop… nice harmonic structure… but the melody doesn't really grab me. I think I'm more drawn to the pianist than the vocalist, but that has more to do with the vocalist's tone than his execution, which is quite good. 12. Same singer as on "Caravan"? This is "I'll Close My Eyes", which I'm not sure I've heard at this tempo before (people generally seem to like to play it up). Nice. Wow, I didn't necessarily think this would be easy, but I really didn't expect to recognize so few singers on this test. Now to listen to disc 2...