17 articles
Sally Evans-Darby
Sally Evans-Darby is a freelance writer and editor. Her main interest is in vocal jazz, with a particular passion for the music of Ella Fitzgerald. She occasionally dabbles in a little jazz singing and appeared at Cheltenham Jazz Festival’s fringe in 2012. She lives near Lancaster, UK.
Cathi Hayes: It’s All Right With Me / Lu Ann Sims: At Separate Tables
Continuing Fresh Sounds’ The Best Voices Time Forgot series, this double set unearths another two singers whose names are likely to be little known,...
Ella Fitzgerald: Ella In Berlin
For those acquainted with Ella’s 1960 Berlin performance of Mack The Knife, which has assumed legendary status, this album needs no introduction. It’s almost...
Blossom Dearie: The Adorable Blossom Dearie
Has a musician’s given name ever been as apt in describing its bearer as Blossom Dearie’s? Fresh, light and sweet in both her vocal...
Sidney Bechet: Plays Sidney Bechet
If ever a disc could transport the listener direct to Paris, circa 1955, in the heat of a jumping jazz club, this is it....
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Billie Holiday: Lady In Satin
Largely panned on its initial release, Lady In Satin would turn out to be Billie Holiday’s penultimate studio album, which perhaps accounts for some...
Sarah Vaughan: Lover Man
This Dreyfus release opens a narrow aperture on Sarah Vaughan’s career with a selection of recordings by the singer from 1944 to 1950. That...
May Okita: Art Of Life
After a stint in Los Angeles and before returning to her native Tokyo, May Okita recorded this refreshingly lightweight album with musical collaborators Larry...
Beverley Church Hogan: Can’t Get Out Of This Mood
Age is just a number, and this album is testament to that. Eighty-three at the time of recording, Beverley Church Hogan returns here to...
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Simone Kopmajer: Spotlight On Jazz
This latest release from Austrian singer Simone Kopmajer has an intriguing set list of standards mixed in with some original material – and perhaps...
Etta Jones: A Soulful Sunday – Live At The Left Bank
This gem of a recording from 1972 finds Etta Jones in excellent voice supported sympathetically by the Cedar Walton Trio, which is also on...
Moppa Elliott: Jazz Band/Rock Band/Dance Band
If you can’t choose one genre for an album, why not do three instead? This is the approach bassist Moppa Elliott (perhaps best known...
Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
“And then there is Ella, about whom critics have surprisingly little to say, other than to state that she is the ultimate jazz singer...
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