The Boswell Sisters: Collection, Vol.1 (1931-32)

Definitely the most talented and arguably the all-around best jazz vocal group of all time, the Boswell Sisters parlayed their New Orleans upbringing into a swinging delivery that featured not only impossibly close harmonies, but countless maneuvers of vocal gymnastics rarely equalled on record. Connee, Vet and Martha Boswell grew up singing together, soaking up Southern gospel and blues through close contact with the black community. They first performed at vaudeville houses around the New Orleans area, and began appearing on local radio by 1925. At first, they played strictly instrumentals, with Connee on cello, saxophone and guitar; Martha on piano and Vet on violin, banjo, and guitar. The station began featuring them in a vocal setting as well, with Connee taking the lead on many songs (despite a childhood accident that had crippled her and left her in a wheelchair). Word of their incredible vocal talents led to appearances in Chicago and New York, and the Boswell Sisters began recording in 1930 for Victor. By the following year, they'd moved to Brunswick and reached the Hit Parade with ‘When I Take My Sugar to Tea,’ taken from the Marx Brothers' film Monkey Business and featuring the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra in support. The trio continued to work with many of the best jazzmen in the field, and appeared in the 1932 film extravaganza The Big Broadcast with Bing Crosby and Cab Calloway. The Boswell Sisters hit the top of the Hit Parade only once, in 1935, with ‘The Object of My Affection’ from the film Times Square Lady. One year later however, both Martha and Vet retired from the group in favor of married life. Connee had already made a few solo sides for Brunswick as early as 1932, and continued recording into the '60s. This fantastic collection reissues, complete and in chronological order, 24 of the Boswells finest performances. With a supporting cast frequently including trumpeters Bunny Berigan and Manny Klein, trombonist Tommy Dorsey, and clarinetist Jimmy Dorsey, the sisters are heard at their best throughout this consistently exciting set. Highlights include ‘Roll on Mississippi, Roll On,’ ‘Shine on, Harvest Moon,’ ‘River Stay 'Way from My Door,’ 'Everybody Loves My Baby', 'I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five And Ten Cent Store)', 'Shout, Sister Shout', 'An Evening In Caroline', 'What Does the Human Being to Do?', 'It's the Girl', 'Makin' Faces at the Man in the Moon', 'River, Stay Way From My Door', 'I Can't Write the Words', and ‘Put That Sun Back in the Sky’ . http://www.allmusic.com/
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Connie, Martha and Vet in a movie version (filmed for "The Big Broadcast") of one of their earliest commercial recordings, 'Heebie Jeebies':

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The Boswells singing 'Crazy People':

Shirley Gunter: Oop Shoop - The Flair and Modern Recordings (1953-1957):

Shirley Gunter was one of the first women in Rock & Roll and helped to pave the way for other women to lead their own groups. Like Wanda Jackson, Etta James, LaVerne Baker, Esther Phillips, and Brenda Lee, she was a pioneer. Gunter and her vocal group, the Queens, came together in Los Angeles in the spring of 1954. They were initially spotted by Joe Bihari one night at Savoy Ballroom, sharing the stage with B.B. King, Johnny Otis, the Platters, the Lamplighters, and Marvin & Johnny. Bihari brought Shirley and group to the studios, producing ‘Oop Shoop,’ which made a huge impact on the West Coast, entering the R&B charts and rising to #8. Between 1954 and 1955, the Queens toured the U.S., but subsequent singles failed to do as well as their initial release and, before the end of 1955, they officially split. Shirley carried on as a solo performer, signing to Buck Ram's Personality Productions. In 1956, at the urging of Ram, Gunter joined Modern's Flairs, partnering up with brother Cornell Gunter. Shirley's first Modern single with her brother's group, 'Headin' Home,' sold in a few markets, and they toured the East Coast, but overall nothing clicked. By 1958 Shirley Gunter, a veteran of four years in the R&B limelight, left the music business, returning only periodically. This collection features every single recording that Shirley made for Modern and Flair, and 2 later singles notwithstanding, pretty much represents her recording career in total. Most of these 26 tracks have never been reissued on digital, and four have never been issued at all. ‘Oop Shoop’ itself - along with its B-side, 'It's You' - is a bona fide Rock & Roll Hall of Fame classic, and the rest of the tracks here, the emphasis for which is very definitely on the upbeat, are not even slightly shabby by comparison. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.electricearl.com/

France Gall: Long Box (Intégrale Philips - 1963-1968)

This is it. The best possible starting place for anyone who wants to explore the French ye-ye scene of the '60s in any depth. Although Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg are better known to non-Francophone audiences, both are simply too idiosyncratic to really give any sense of the style by themselves. Pretty, pert and spunky, the teenage France Gall is the definitive ye-ye singer, and this impressive box set containing virtually everything she recorded during those years (72 songs in all) is the perfect encapsulation of her charms. Like many pop singers of her era, no matter what their nationality, Gall does not have a particularly great voice in a technical sense; it's high, a little breathy and a little weedy. But she maximized her strengths (a cheerful exuberance, and a most effective poutily flirty lower register heard to best effect on jazz-tinged numbers like ‘Pense a Moi’ and ‘Bebe Requin’) and hid her weaknesses enough that even when she was slightly out of her depth, she got by on sheer attitude. The songs are primarily a strong lot, unsurprising considering that Gall's father, Roger Gall (a talented performer/producer who had previously worked with Charles Aznavour), and family friend Gainsbourg wrote most of her hits, including the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest winner ‘Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son,’ ‘Ne Sois pas Si Bete,’ the brassy ‘Baby Pop,’ the ‘Peter Gunn’-inspired ‘Laisse Tomber des Filles’, and the controversial hits ‘Les Sucettes’ and ‘Teenie Weenie Boppie.’ Those last two Gainsbourg-penned songs, a thinly-disguised ode to the joys of oral sex and a bizarre story about a deadly LSD trip, are proof that there's more going on here than bubblegum. Not that there's not bubblegum here too, especially on the cheesy ‘L'Amerique’ and the kiddie tune ‘Sacre Charlemagne,’ a duet between a then 16-year-old Gall and a pair of puppets from a French children's TV show. However, France Gall's music is far better than her reputation in some circles might suggest and, as far as I am concerned, she truly is a national treasure of France. http://www.allmusic.com/

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France Gall performing 'Poupée de cire, poupée de song', the song with which she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg in 1965:

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A typical mid-'60s clip of Gall's big hit 'Baby Pop':

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Poor France was too young to understand what she was singing about on 'Les Sucettes' at the time. Serge Gainsbourg was a genius to make an innocent childrens song about fellatio ...

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Jula de Palma: Jula in Jazz 1 &2 (1958-59) / Whisky e Dixie (1967) / Jula al Sistina (1970) / Jula Presenta (1974)

Jula de Palma, one of the best jazz singers coming from Italy, started to work in the early ‘50s as a singer in radio next to pianist, composer and showman Lelio Luttazzi. In the early of her career she preferred to sing french songs, but her powerful and sophisticated voice started to become famous thanks to her interpretations of many jazz classics like ‘I've Got You Under My Skin’, ‘One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)’ and ‘Blues in the Night’. In 1959 she sang in Festival di Sanremo and shocked the press and the audience because of her passionate performance of the song ‘Tua’, considered "too sexy". Due to this fact she didn't appear on the national television (RAI) for a few years, but the attention of the public on her grew incredibly. In 1970 she wonderfully performed in a concert at the famous Sistina Theatre in Rome, accompanied by a big band conducted by the great musician Gianni Ferrio, in which she faced with her refined vocal abilities many jazz standards (‘That Old Black Magic’, ‘I Won't Dance’ and ‘St. Louis Blues’), a bossa nova tune (‘Desafinado’) and a lot of great Italian songs, two of them made famous by Mina (‘Bugiardo e incosciente’ and ‘Non credere’). The recording of this successful performance was available on the long playing Jula al Sistina. This hit record would follow with a second one called Jula Presenta, in 1974. Both albums, together with Jula in Jazz (1958) and Jula in Jazz 2 (1959) on the Columbia label, and the delightful Whisky and Dixie - that Jula recorded in 1967 with The New Orleans Jazz Band conducted by Carlo Loffredo for the Cetra label - are now among the most precious and sought after collector's items. I have compiled here all five records in one single file for your listening pleasure. If you also want her fantastic 1959 EP containing her classic ‘Tua’, go HERE. In 1974, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her career and after many years of success, she retired from music and moved with her family to Canada. Jula de Palma was the only Italian singer who was on the same level with the great American and French entertainers of her time, singing the same songs in the same languages, but always being an original. Her modernization of the Italian song paved the way for a new generation of Italian singers after her to be accepted internationally, and she is recognized by many for this achievement. I need to thank Sasha for letting me know this wonderful singer I had never heard about before. Of course, this post is dedicated to him! http://en.wikipedia.org/

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Jula de Palma performing her polemic big hit 'Tua', in 1968:

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Barbara Lewis: Hello Stranger - The Best of (1994)

Some soul singers run hot, some run cool. Barbara Lewis ran cool, and thrillingly so. She was classy and sophisticated, even in the early to mid-'60s, a time where smooth pop-soul was the standard. Her voice was as soft as silk, and Atlantic gave her productions to match, resulting in an alluring body of work that still sounds seductive, yet comforting, years after their relief. The Michigan native had been writing songs since the age of nine, and began recording as a teenager with producer Ollie McLaughlin, who'd also had a hand in the careers of Del Shannon, the Capitols, and Deon Jackson. Lewis wrote all of the songs on her debut LP (including ‘Hello Stranger’), and confidently handled harmony soul numbers (some with backing by the Dells) and more pop-savvy tunes, some of which were driven by an organ and a bossa nova-like beat. In the mid-'60s, she began doing some recordings in New York City, with assistance from producers like Bert Berns and Jerry Wexler, that employed more orchestral arrangements and pop-conscious material. The approach clicked, both commercially and artistically: ‘Baby I'm Yours’ and ‘Make Me Your Baby’ were both big hits, and both among the best mid-'60s girl group style productions. Those three songs along with the bulk of her R&B hits, are all on this Rhino's excellent compilation, released in 1994. Since her work was so consistently good, there are inevitably some fan favorites missing, but everything here is excellent, representing her at her very best, and that means it's among the very best pop-soul of its time. To make it more complete, I added 9 more songs to the set, which make a total of 29.
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Barbara Lewis sings 'Make Me Your Baby' (1965):

Jackie Trent: The Beat Singles Vol. 1 (1996) ... plus

A British singer/songwriter of the '60s whose voice was far better suited for reaching the back row of Broadway auditoriums than soul or rock, Jackie Trent nonetheless operated on the fringe of the UK pop scene in the manner of other femme belters like Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw, Lulu and Cilla Black. Trent's first stage appearance was as a ten-year-old ingenue in the pantomime Babes in the Wood, but her primary interest was a career in pop music. Her first single, ‘Pick Up the Pieces,’ was released in 1962, but it was not until two record labels and three years later that she scored her first hit, ‘Where Are You Now’ written by Tony Hatch. The single had the honor of bumping the Beatles' ‘Ticket to Ride’ from the top position in mid-1965. But that would be her only Top 20 entry. If she can often sound like Petula Clark crossed with Shirley Bassey, there's a good reason for that; she shared Clark's producer, Tony Hatch, who would become her songwriting partner and husband. Trent and Hatch, in fact, penned several of Clark's hits - as well as for other artists, like Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Des O'Connor, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin. However, they weren't nearly as successful when applying their songwriting/production talents to Jackie's discs. Trent recorded quite prolifically for Pye in the 1960s (including some duets with husband Tony), but it's as a songwriter that she'll be primarily remembered. This compilation - which was meant to be the first of two volumes, although the second was never released - is a celebration of the early years in Jackie's recording career. It contains every A-side and B-side from 1963 to 1967 recorded for the Picadilly and Pye labels, a dynamic and stylistically varied selection of recordings which include 'Where Are You Now', 'There Goes My Love, There Goes My Life', 'You Baby', 'If You Ever Leave Me', 'Send Her Away', and five duets with Tony Hatch from 1968 to 1969. As a bonus I included 4 extra tracks at the end of the set: 'For Peace and Love', 'Time Is', 'We Need You' and 'Corner of the Sky'. A total of 33 tracks in all. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/

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Letta Mbulu: Naturally (1973) ... plus:

Resident in the USA since 1964, Letta Mbulu first came to prominence in South Africa in 1960, as a member of the cast of the musical King Kong. On arrival in the USA, she was still under a exclusive world contract with leading South African label Gallo which, afraid of reprisals from the Pretoria authorities, declined to offer her any new recording opportunities. For three years she continued her fruitless negotiations with Gallo's New York representatives, before unilaterally severing the agreement and signing to Capitol Records. For her new label she released two albums before Gallo re-emerged waving her contract and threatening legal action. The continuing ramifications of this situation meant that Mbulu was unable to record for a further two years, instead spending much of her time on tour with, first, Masekela and, later, Cannonball Adderley. In 1973, the singer issued the album Naturally for Adderley's label Fantasy Records. Indeed, he and Mbulu were paired for several of the album's songs. It's here that the L.A. stamp on Mbulu's still-true take on African township pop starts to reveal itself. Songs like ‘Kube’, ‘Noma Themba,’ ‘Hareje’ and ‘Zimkile’ reflect how comfortable Mbulu could be at the crossroads of African and American music. With brilliant production courtesy of Caiphus Semenya, the album also includes the killer soul flute & break ‘Afro Texas’ plus some creamy strings, afro-bass and nice drums. I added three bonus tracks to the original LP: her catchy soul jazz classic ‘What Is Wrong with Groovin’?’, which starts with a throbbing bassline and then leaps into a beautiful soulful vocal that's among one of her best ever, and two songs from her 1968 album Free Soul, ‘Kukuchi’ and ‘West Wind’. After enjoying considerable USA and UK dance-floor success with the single ‘Kilimanjaro’ in 1981, she guested on Michael Jackson's ‘Liberian Girl’. Her singing can also be heard in Roots and The Color Purple. Mbulu continued to be active throughout the 80s and 90s, based in the USA but frequently touring Africa, the Far East and Europe. http://www.nme.com/

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Letta Mbulu astonishing rendition of 'Carry On', from 1983: