UK collection. Louis Armstrong had one of the longest recording careers of any artist of the 20th Century. Whilst parts of his career are well represented digitally, his singles from the mid-1950s to the early '60s are often overlooked, mainly because they were issued by many different labels. The collection attempts to remedy this. It features sides from Capitol, Columbia, Dot, MGM, Pye, RCA, Roulette, Verve and more. Some on CD for the first time in their single edits with some previously unissued on CD stereo versions including the complete unedited single versions of 'Calypso' and 'Now You Has Jazz' from High Society and The Five Pennies' 'Saints'. Almost all recordings are extremely rare on CD and of course mastered to Jasmine's usual high standards. A set to fill holes in many an Armstrong collection.
Arguably one of the greatest musicians and composers in the history of Jazz, Charlie Mingus was a bassist, pianist, composer, arranger and band leader. Before finding fame in his own right, he played with many of the world's greatest musicians as a sideman. This set features him playing on sides from Russell Jacquet, Howard McGhee, Ernie Andrews, Dinah Washington, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Parker, Quincy Jones & Duke Ellington as well as early studio bands of his own. The original 78's of many of these sides are extremely rare and many have not been re-issued until now. This set is a must for jazz fans and a tribute to Mingus's artistry and versatility.
This collection compiles, for the first time on a single disc issue, all the master takes of the instrumental recordings in which Duke Ellington participated for Mercer Records between 1950 and 1951. Made under the names of other band members - for contractual reasons, these sides feature the likes of Johnny Hodges, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Billy Strayhorn, Louie Bellson, Juan Tizol and Willie Smith. These sides remain among the most unusual and fascinating in Duke's extensive catalogue. Unfortunately, the masters for these recordings were destroyed in a fire in the 1950's. For this issue they have been transferred and restored from the best possible surviving sources and remastered to the best quality possible.
One of the highest profile names in black American music, the iconic Nina Simone is worthy of all the praise that has been showered on her across the past six-and-a-bit decades. An earlier 2CD set from Jasmine showcasing Nina's first LPs has been a consistent seller for Jasmine for a few years, and we are now complementing with a single CD that brings together the a sides of her first dozen singles for Bethlehem and Colpix records, plus a handful of selected B sides, for what we believe is the first multi-label overview of her earliest 45s. Several of our featured selections would go on to be associated with her for her entire career, including her first hit 'I Loves You Porgy', 'Work Song', 'Trouble In Mind' and her greatly belated 80s hit 'My Baby Just Cares For Me'. All tracks are featured in their singles versions, and are presented in the order in which they were originally released. Even with an abundance of Nina on the market, we feel there's always going to be room for one that showcases only her early 45s, and that's the raison d'etre behind our release of "Singular Simone" Handsomely presented, with a cover that pays homage to her early albums, this is the perfect introduction to the genuine musical legend that is Nina Simone
The silky smooth vocal style of Earl Grant was, along with his keyboard skills, highly regarded among young and old record buyers from the mid-50s until his untimely death in a road accident in 1970. When he passed away prematurely, he left behind a vast catalogue of albums and singles that have mostly remained un-reissued in the digital era. Some years ago, Jasmine put together a 2CD set containing his first four albums. We are now finally following that release up with a compilation of almost all of Earl's vocal 45s from the first six years of his career - the first time, to our knowledge, that such an undertaking has been attempted and accomplished. Earl did not have many significant hits outside of his international 1958 chart smash 'The End' and the ever popular 1960 club favourite 'House Of Bamboo', but he always delivered a quality product and many of these singles sold extremely well over an extended period of time. He was with the same record label for his entire career barring his first two obscure 45s - and let's face it, that would not have happened if he hadn't been selling records! The selections here range from cool R&B covers to sublime, mature balladry, all delivered in a style not unlike that of Earl's idol Nat King Cole. The music featured has aged well, stood the test of time and offers a fine testament to his abundant talent.
A mainstay of the Memphis blues, R&B and soul scenes from the mid-1940s until his death in 2001, the sometime DJ who billed himself on radio as 'the world's oldest teenager' was the only man to record for the Bluff City's three major independent record labels (Sun, Stax and Hi) and a lot more besides. With daughter Carla, Rufus Thomas more or less started the Stax label on it's road to success, being one of the first and indeed also the last people to have a 45 issued by the label. Prior to that he'd built a career that began as a tap dancer in the 1930 to a point where he made his first records in the late 1940s. In this collection you can hear just about everything Rufus cut between our title track - his first release - up to his first Stax solo hit 'The Dog' in 1962. Rufus' musical journey up to that point and beyond mirrors the evolution of the black American music scene in the south across the same time frame. Only a few of these records were anything more than local hits, but they all contribute significantly to a much bigger catalogue that is one of the most consistent of any artist whose career stretched across eight decades! If you want to find out where The Memphis Sound (of soul, anyway) began, this is a very good place to start looking.
