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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Sampler!, September 22, 2009
If you're not familiar with these artists, this is a great introduction.
For those that are, you know they are some of the best in their genre's.
The first song "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" makes you feel like you are sitting in a smoky piano bar smack-dab in the middle of a black and white movie. The sexy, suggestive lyrics must have been a little racy in their day!
The second and fourth songs are a breezy, jazzy Latin style. The Brazilian vocalist Astrud Gilberto is best known for singing "The Girl From Impanema".
Charlie Parker's jazz saxophone, is featured in the instrumental "Loverman".
The 6th track has Sarah Vaughn scatting in "Lullaby of Birdland".
"What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" won Dinah Washington a Grammy for "Best R&B Performance" in 1959 (I found this in Wikipedia), and was her first top ten "pop" (instead of R&B') hit, and in 1998 was inducted into "The Grammy Hall of Fame" for "Traditional Pop Single".
I give this sampler 4.5 out of 5 stars because I'm not too crazy about the Sarah Vaughn choice.
All in all, it's very enjoyable to listen to.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Free. And Priceless., October 3, 2009
Whether you're new to jazz or have listened a little, this is a fantastic introduction. Verve has an incredibly rich catalog and could have picked lesser gems -- but this compilation is filled with some of the very best artists doing their best work.
If you ARE new to jazz, I encourage you to stop thinking of jazz as background music or "old" music and listen to it with open ears. Put on some headphones and listen critically to the drummer, or the bass player. Listen to Billie Holiday's approach to singing, and how she pays attention to time and then blithely disregards it to make a point. Listen to Ella stretching "Bewildered" in the lyric to reveal the heartbreak inside. Listen to Charlie Parker set up the melody, paint colors all around it and then come back to continue it.
This is magic, folks. And if you feel anything from what's here go out and see some real jazz, live. Some of it will be bad and that's OK. What you're looking for is that feeling again, and if you listen enough you'll find people who can do that for you in a live setting.
There's something physiological and intellectual that only jazz can deliver. You'll know it when you hear it, but you have to LISTEN first.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New Listeniing Skills, September 30, 2009
Never having been a big fan of jazz, after chatting with friends on the GBF I decided to download this free album, and I am enjoying it more than I can say. Ella Fitzgerald has always been a favorite, probably because I met her once several decades ago, and her rendition of Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered is super. And although I have heard the other artists now and again, I find I am appreciating them now. Thanks, Amazon!
I think I'll go browse Some jazz downloads!
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