Despite the fact that his career was curtailed in 1963 by a fatal heart attack when he was only 45, Elmore James was an extremely influential figure in the development of blues guitar, both but virtue of his highly distinctive sound, which he consciously developed by building his own combination of a modified hollow-bodied guitar and custom pick-ups, but also his hit with a version of Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom", which has become one of the most ubiquitously performed and recorded tunes in blues. This 52-track 2-CD collection comprises the A and B sides of every single he released from his debut on the small Trumpet label with the aforementioned classic in 1951 through to a few months before his death, during which time he recorded for the Meteor, Flair, Modern, Chief, Fire and Chess labels. A host of high profile guitarists have readily cited Elmore James as an influence and performed his material over the years, despite his relatively modest body of work, including Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and George Thorogood. This collection is an ideal introduction to his work.

Clarinettist and bandleader Woody Herman was one of the leading figures of the swing era and beyond, with his various bands, generally known as "Herman's Herd", being known for the force and originality of their music, which was often cutting edge and experimental for it's time. However, his records were always very popular, and regularly featured in the Billboard charts from the 1930s through to the 1950s. This collection, unusually perhaps for jazz music, focuses on those chart hits, and primarily comprises the 34 chart hits he had, which included the No. 1 hit "Blues In The Night" and the Top 5 hits "Laura" and "Caldonia". Herman himself was a noted vocalist, and he features as a singer on some of these titles, while others provide a showcase for two of his female singers during the '40s, Frances Wayne and Muriel Lane. Alongside those hits, and interspersed within the chronological presentation of the 44 recordings in the 2-CD collection, are other titles which were not hits, but which are recognised by commentators and critics and being among his most interesting and notable recordings, such as his suite, with Igor Stravinsky conducting, called "The Ebony Concerto". The range of material in this anthology provides a fascinating overview of the Herman's innovative, but always fresh and entertaining music during this dynamic era in jazz and popular music.

Jimmy Smith was one of the first musicians to use the Hammond organ in jazz and popular music, taking it up in 1951 and establishing a formidable reputation in Philadelphia, before coming to prominence with his 1956 appearances at New York's Café Bohemia., followed by dates and Birdland and the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, cementing his place as the pioneer of the Hammond in jazz and R&B. After occasional recordings early in the '50s, he recorded regularly with his own trio from 1956, and this collection chronicles that first decade of his career as he effectively established a sub-genre within popular music, recording prolifically for Blue Note while touring regularly, becoming a favourite with club audiences, who enjoyed the crossover feel of his music, incorporating contemporary rhythm and blues styles with sophisticated bop influences, as he used the organ to create a group sound in what became a familiar trio line-up with guitar and drums. This great value 4-CD set, includes tracks from most of his significant sessions and albums along with some 'live' recordings, and it provides an excellent overview of both the best-known and perhaps less familiar work from the formative decade of a career that lasted half a century, and is a great introduction to one of the influential and innovative figures in jazz and R&B in the post-war era.

MODERN CHESS & VEEJAY SINGLES COLLECTION 1949-62 - John Lee Hooker is one of the true giants of blues, ranking alongside the likes of other post-war greats such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf as one of the artists who contributed massively to the development of the genre. His driving boogie style has become an essential element of the way blues is played in the modern era. He took the simple structures of Delta blues, sometimes using one and two-chord compositions, but added a fierce, relentless and hypnotically rhythmic approach, underling the rawness of the messages in his songs. He was one of the blues artists who exerted a substantial influence on emerging stars in the rock 'n' roll era, from Bob Dylan through to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and his legacy resonates through the rock music of the last half-century. He recorded prolifically under a number of names, but this great value 101-track 4-CD collection focuses on the singles he released under his own name (or in the case of some Chess singles, as John Lee Booker) on the Modern, Chess and VeeJay labels from 1949 through to 1962. It naturally includes his big R&B hits during that period - "Boogie Chillen", "Crawlin' King Snake", "Hobo Blues", "Hoogie Boogie", "I'm In The Mood", "Boom Boom" and "Dimples", some of which have become blues and R&B standards. Includes comprehensive booklet with full discographical and session information. It's a thorough overview of his output during what was perhaps the key era of his career, and a fine showcase for his unique talent.

Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, was one of the most important and influential figures in Chicago Blues through the 1950s, and along with Muddy Waters helped to establish the electric blues style that laid the foundations for rock music in subsequent decades. With his imposing physical presence and loud, almost fearsome voice, he was a powerful and impressive performer, who wrote and popularised songs which have become classic standards of the genre, like "Spoonful", "Smokestack Lightning", "Killing Floor" and "Red Rooster", which became fixtures in the repertoire of bands like The Rolling Stones, who very much championed his cause and widened his reputation in the latter years of his career. This collection brings together both sides of all the singles he released through the RPM and Chess labels during the first hugely important decade of his career, along with bonus tracks comprising recordings made at sessions during this period which were not released as singles at the time. It's a great-value 80-track 3-CD set, which showcases one of the major personalities of the blues.

Ivie Anderson was a jazz singer who was so versatile and highly regarded that she was the longest-serving female vocalist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, occupying that exacting role from 1932 through to 1942, a vital and exciting formative era for Ellington's music. Born in 1905, she began performing in her native Los Angeles in 1921, and by 1925 was singing at New York's famous Cotton Club and toured with stage musicals, before joining Earl Hines in 1930. She was soon hired by the Duke, and enjoyed a lengthy stay with him, as he made the most of her fine jazz feel, and her ability to work across a range of styles and material, from highly original renditions of up-tempo material like her much-lauded recording of "It Don't Mean A Thing" to sensitive treatments of ballads like "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" which place her alongside the likes of much better known peers as Billie Holiday. This great value 50-track 2-CD set primarily comprises recordings with the Ellington orchestra for the Brunswick, Columbia, RCA-Victor, Variety & Master labels across the era, including the 1942 pop and R&B hits "I Got It Bad" and "Hayfoot, Strawfoot", plus later solo recordings for the Excello and Black & White labels, including her 1944 hit "Mexico Joe". It also includes a version with Duke of "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" which she performed in the 1942 Marx Brothers movie "A Day At The Races". It's a thoroughly enjoyable and, we hope, nicely representative overview of the most important period of her career and a fine showcase for a distinctive performer who has not received the recognition her talent merits.

Nancy Wilson is one of the finest vocalists to emerge in the post-war era to take over the mantle of great jazz, cabaret and pop singers such as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee, and compete with them on their own terms. Achieving her early recognition in the era when the long-playing stereo album was becoming a universal format, she was always primarily an album artist, especially with her focus being as much on jazz and easy listening as the pure pop market, although she had chart success in the pop, R&B and adult contemporary markets from the '60s through to the '90s. This collection takes a thorough look at the formative years of her career, comprising as it does her complete performances on five LPs - "Like In Love", recorded in 1956 when she was just 19, "Something Wonderful", "The Swinging's Mutual" with jazz pianist George Shearing, the equally jazz-oriented "Nancy Wilson With Cannonball Adderley", and "Hello Young Lovers". In addition, it includes an early single with R&B artist Rusty Bryant, two of her singles from 1960 and a couple of very jazzy 'live' performances from 1961. It showcases the breadth and distinctiveness of her talent, and her sophisticated artistry even in these early days, as she delivers material across the jazz, blues and pop spectrum

June Christy was one of an elite coterie of singers during the post-war decade who readily spanned the big band, cool jazz, and sophisticated pop genres. This great-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises a significant proportion of the studio and 'live' recordings she made with Kenton's orchestra.

Maxine Sullivan was a stylish and versatile jazz and big band singer who was active in music for over half a century into the 1980s but whose most important recordings were during the first decade or so of her career from the late '30s through the 1940s. She came to the fore as vocalist with Claude Thornhill's innovative orchestra, and had a surprise hit with a version of the traditional song "Loch Lomond" which established a professional style and profile which enabled her to work as a solo artist, accompanied not only by Thornhill but by some of the other important names of that era, including John Kirby, Frankie Newton, Charlie Shavers, Bobby Hackett, Teddy Wilson, Benny Carter and Ellis Larkins. This excellent-value 75-track 3-CD set comprises a significant proportion of her recordings from these years as she recorded for the Vocalion, Brunswick, Victor, Bluebird, Decca, Davis, Musicraft, DeLuxe, International and Apollo labels, encompassing performances across the jazz spectrum from big band to sessions in an intimate trio environment, as well as sophisticated renditions of pop songs that place her alongside some of the finest song interpreters of that era. It naturally includes her chart hits "Loch Lomond", "Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "My Ideal". The collection offers a substantial and fairly comprehensive overview of her work during her key formative years, and is also a thoroughly enjoyable showcase for a distinctive and sometimes underestimated talent.

Anita O'Day has long been admired as one of the very best jazz singers of the post-war era, with a rhythmic and dynamic style that she could readily deploy in big band, small group and sophisticated orchestral environments. Acrobat has already showcased her work during the early 1940s with the orchestras of Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton ("Anita O'Day - The Early Years 1941-45" ADDCD3098), and in this collection we focus on a similar period of years during the 1950s when she firmly carved for herself a significant place in the jazz pantheon. During the decade from 1952-62, she recorded for the labels established by jazz impresario Norman Granz - Clef, Norgran and, most famously, Verve - and her recordings during that time are recognised as the most significant of her career. This excellent-value 46-track 2-CD set comprises the complete content of her albums during the first five years of that era - "Anita O'Day Collates", "Songs By Anita O'Day", "An Evening With Anita O'Day", "Anita" and "Pick Yourself Up", (some titles appear on more than one LP) plus tracks from singles. On those albums she is accompanied variously by the orchestras of Ralph Burns, Roy Kral, Larry Russell and Buddy Bregman, with musicians on the sessions including Barney Kessel, Roy Eldridge, Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, Budd Johnson, Andy Secrest, Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Smith and many more. It's a snapshot of a key era in her career, and a fine showcase for her unique talent working across a range of musical environments.

There has never been any other partnership in jazz quite like that of tenor saxophonists Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. After their initial meeting in the late 1940s Woody Herman band, the pairing became firm musical friends, forming a union that would last until Sims's death in 1985

This comprises two 'live' club performances by the Cal Tjader Quintet, recorded at the Club Macumba in either September or October 1956. It comprises a fascinating line-up of the quintet, including the great Luis Kant on congas, along with an unnamed bongo player.

This is another re-issue of a title previously released by Acrobat and now deleted, but much in demand, so it has been re-packaged, with eight tracks added, presented in chronological order. It comprises 48 tracks tracing the recordings of the King Of Swing in all configurations of his outfits from his Trio through to his big band, focusing mainly on the era from 1935 to the early '40s, but also including some tracks from the late '40s and early '50s. As a budget-priced 2CD set, it represents fantastic value, and is a fine showcase not only for his renowned clarinet styling but also the fine arrangements and the sound of which he was one of the creators and pioneers.

Buddy DeFranco was one of the few jazz clarinettists to come to prominence in the post-war era when the instrument generally saw a decline, and he was one of the only clarinettists to successfully find a role in the changing musical environment brought about by the emergence of bebop.

The Chantels were an all-girl vocal group from New York, who followed in the footsteps of The Bobbettes as one of the first African-American girl groups to enjoy major chart success in the USA. They took their name from their school, St. Frances of Chantal, and unlike many of their peers were more influenced by classical and Latin music than by gospel. They were still at high school when they were discovered by Richard Barrett of The Valentines, and signed to the End label in 1957, having their first pop and R&B hits the same year, featuring the lead vocals of Arlene Smith. This 2-CD collection comprises their A & B sides on the End, Gone and Carlton labels from this era, plus the tracks from their albums "We Are The Chantels", "There's Our Song Again" and "The Chantels On Tour" not otherwise released on singles. It features their No. 2 R&B hit "Maybe", and No. 6 hit "Look In My Eyes" plus their other pop and R&B chart entries from these years "He's Gone", "Every Night (I Pray)", "I Love You So", "Summer's Love" and "Well I Told You So". Although they had a couple of minor Hot 100 entries later in the '60s, this collection provides a reasonably comprehensive overview of the primary era of their career, and is a fine showcase for their distinctive style and sound as they paved the way for other girl groups in the charts

Freddie Slack was a boogie-woogie pianist and swing bandleader who started out with Jimmy Dorsey's band in the 1930s and subsequently racked up a string of hits in the 1940s, first with the Will Bradley Orchestra and then leading his own band, some of them with the fine singers Ella Mae Morse and Margaret Whiting on vocals. This 49-track 2-CD collection begins with his hits with the Will Bradley Orchestra on Columbia, and then comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on Decca and Capitol through to the time he left the label, and did not release any records for another five years. It features all his chart entries with Will Bradley, including the Top 10 hits "Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar", "Down The Road Apiece", "Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat" and "There I Go", plus all his career pop and R&B hits with his own band, including the Top 10 successes "Cow-Cow Boogie", "Mister Five By Five", "That Old Black Magic", "Riffette" and "The House Of Blue Lights". Along with hits that feature Ella Mae Morse, Margaret Whiting and Liza Morrow, it features his hit with Johnny Mercer, "I Lost My Sugar In Salt Lake City". Other featured vocalists are David Street and Charlotte Blackburn, and there are also notable recordings accompanying blues singers Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker. It's a highly entertaining showcase for the range of his music, especially his renowned boogie-woogie piano

The doowop and pop vocal group which eventually became The Vibrations began life as The Jayhawks, having a 1956 hit with "Stranded In The Jungle", and recording under different names before becoming The Vibrations to have another hit with "The Watusi", and then "Peanut Butter" as they recorded as The Marathons

Phil Harris was a singer, drummer, bandleader, songwriter, comedian, actor and broadcaster, who combined those disciplines in a long and successful career which encompassed making hit records with a novelty twist and becoming a voice artist in movies, most famously as Baloo in the 1967 film "The Jungle Book". He started his recording career as drummer and co-leader of a hotel orchestra in San Francisco and over the years developed a signature style of comedy on record using the narrative "talking blues" style, positioning himself as an archetypal southerner, with his signature composition being "That's What I Like About The South". He reached a career peak as a recording artist with the humorous novelty US No. 1 with "The Thing" in 1950. This excellent value 52-track 2-CD set comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on the Victor, Columbia, Decca, Vocalion, Varsity, ARA, Hit & RCA-Victor labels from this era, including early titles by the Lofner Harris St. Francis Orchestra and Phil Harris Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. It features all his career chart entries, including the 1950 No. 1 "The Thing", the No. 2 "One-Zy Two-Zy", and the Top 10 hits "What Have We Got To Lose?", "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette)", "The Old Master Painter" and "Chattanoogie Shoe-Shine Boy", plus his Top 20 hit with The Bell Sisters "Hambone". He was a multi-faceted artist, and this collection provides a highly entertaining selection of his work on record that showcases his unique style of music and comedy.

Gisele MacKenzie was a Canadian singer and musician partly of French-Canadian heritage, who was a classically-trained violinist, pianist and dancer who became a singer with her own show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Moving to California in 1951 to take over from The Andrews Sisters on CBS, she started recording for Capitol the same year, performing in a style that was typical of what was often called "the golden age of popular music" during the early '50s, and was popular on TV, hosting her own NBC variety show, as well as being a regular with Jack Benny and Mario Lanza on their radio shows. She had the benefit of being accompanied on record by some of the finest arranger/conductors of the era, including Billy May, Nelson Riddle, Buddy Cole, Dave Cavanaugh, Sid Bass and Shorty Rogers. She had her biggest hit in 1955, making No. 4 with "Hard To Get". This great-value 58-track 2-CD set comprises most of her A & B sides from these years on the Capitol, "X", Vik and RCA-Victor labels during these years, and features all her career chart entries including the US No. 4 "Hard To Get" and No. 11 "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes", and the UK No. 6 "Seven Lonely Days". She was a songstress who was very much of her era, and this collection offers a substantial and reasonably comprehensive overview of the key period of her career and is an enjoyable showcase for her talents as a vocal stylist.

Tex Beneke was a big band saxophonist and singer who joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1941, and remained with him until Miller broke up his band the following year to join the Army Air Forces, with Beneke also enlisting in the Navy. Having performed on all Miller's big hits of that era, and with Miller having died over the English Channel in 1944, Beneke got permission from Miller's estate to form a "ghost band" in 1946, initially called "Tex Beneke With The Glenn Miller Orchestra, which eventually became Tex Beneke & His Orchestra a year or two later. This great-value 48-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A and B sides of his releases leading the Glenn Miller Orchestra and his own orchestra during these years on the RCA-Victor, MGM and Coral labels through to the mid-1950s. It features all his twelve hits under his own name from these years, including the Top 10 hits "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop", "I Know", "Give Me Five Minutes More", "Passe", "A Gal In Calico", "Anniversary Song" and "St. Louis Blues March". As well as his own featured spots as vocalist, it also has performances by Garry Stevens, Artie Mann, Lillian Lane, Glenn Douglas, Gwen Bari and Ray Eberle, along with the vocal groups The Crew Chiefs and Moonlight Serenaders. It 's an entertaining set that sees Beneke recapturing the spirit of the Miller band, but also establishing a style of his own as the market changed in the post-war era.

Ralph Flanagan was a pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader, who worked with the orchestras of Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Alvino Rey and Blue Barron before launching his own band in the late 1940s, based very much on the sound of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, being signed to RCA by Glenn Miller's former A&R man. Performing a range of straight orchestral and swinging jazz pieces, along with the hot songs of the day sung by his featured vocalist Harry Prime and his vocal group The Singing Winds, he had a string of over twenty hits between 1949 and 1953, including his signature Top 10 composition "Hot Toddy". This great-value 51-track 2-CD set comprises selected A & B sides on the Rainbow, Bluebird and RCA-Victor labels during this era. It features all his 21 career chart entries, including the Top 10 hits "Don't Cry Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go)", Rag Mop", "Nevertheless", "Harbour Lights", "Slow Poke", "I Should Care" and "Hot Toddy". His music was very much of it's era, typifying a particular strand of the pop scene of the post-war decade, and this collection offers an enjoyable selection of his work.

Annie Laurie was an R&B, blues and sophisticated jazz and pop singer born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1924, who came to prominence in 1947 with her debut hit "Since I Fell For You", and over the next 15 years recorded and released material which brought her several more successes in both pop and R&B charts, recording for much of the early era of her career with a trio and band led by pianist and songwriter Paul Gayten. At the start of her career she recorded at Cosimo Matassa's legendary J&M Studios in New Orleans, which gave her work from those years a distinctive Crescent City sound. This excellent- value 51-track 2-CD set comprises comprising most of the A & B sides of her releases on the Cosmo, de Luxe, Regal, Okeh, Savoy and Ritz labels from this era, including performances with the bands of Paul Gayten and Danny Kessler, as she rode the waves of the upheavals in the market occasioned by the advent of rock 'n' roll to take her hit-making career into the 1960s. It features all her career pop and R&B chart entries, including the R&B No. 3 hits "Since I Fell For You" and "It Hurts To Be In Love", and her other Top 10 hits "Cuttin' Out" and "I'll Never Be Free". She was a highly versatile vocal stylist, equally at home with upbeat jump blues material, grooving R&B songs, and smoothly polished jazz-flavoured pop, and this collection provides a varied and entertaining showcase for her distinctive talent

Ray Charles was one of the most iconic and influential artists in the annals of pop as a singer, songwriter and pianist, and while he is considered one of the godfathers and great innovators of soul music, his work transcended the worlds of jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, rock 'n' roll and country and western as well. Afflicted by blindness, he turned to music in his early life, and began recording for the Swing Time label in 1949 as a member of The Maxim Trio. In a career spanning half a century, he racked up over 100 chart entries, with well over 40 coming in this seminal first quarter-century or so of his career. This excellent-value 125-track 5-CD collection comprises just about all his A & B sides released on the Swing Time, Atlantic, ABC-Paramount and Impulse labels during these years. It features all his 46 Pop, R&B and UK chart entries from this era, including the pop No. 1s "Georgia On My Mind", "Hit The Road Jack" & "I Can't Stop Loving You" and the R&B No. 1s "I've Got A Woman", "A Fool For You", "What'd I Say", "Unchain My Heart", "One Mint Julep" & "You Are My Sunshine", encompassing his time as the pillar of the Atlantic roster and the hits from his landmark albums for ABC-Paramount "Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music". It's a substantial and comprehensive overview of his chart-focused output during these years as part of a dynamic and exciting pop and R&B landscape, and a thoroughly entertaining showcase for his unique talents as singer, composer, pianist and arranger.

The Crests were a ground-breaking multiracial pop/doowop group formed in the mid-1950s when singer Johnny Mastrangelo joined forces with a doowop quartet comprising three African-Americans and one Puerto Rican - as time went on Johnny Mastrangelo became Johnny Masters, Johnny Mastro and then Johnny Maestro as he turned to solo recording as well. Having had a minor hit on the Joyce label, they signed to Coed Records, and in 1958 had a major success when "Sixteen Candles" was a US No. 2, kicking off a career which brought several more chart successes through into the '60s as Tony Middleton and James Ancrum took over lead vocal duties from Johnny Maestro. This great-value 51-track 2-CD set comprises the A & B sides of their singles on the Coed, Trans Atlas, Selma and Times Square labels from these years as The Crests, Johnny Masters, Johnny Maestro and Johnny Maestro & The Original Crests, plus the tracks from their album "The Crests Sing All Biggies" not otherwise released on singles. It features all their ten pop and R&B chart entries from this era, including the pop No. 2 and R&B No. 4 "Sixteen Candles". It's about as comprehensive a selection of their work from this era that could be assembled and captures a highly distinctive style of music that ranges through doowop, R&B, rock 'n' roll and pure teen pop.

Dee Clark, real name Delecta Clark, was born in Arkansas in 1938 and started out in gospel before recording at the age of 14 with a group called The Hambone Kids.