This is a whodathunkit moment that nearly went un-thunk. Sarah Vaughan, a singer of dizzying range; and clarinetist Woody Herman (then leader of “The Swingin’est Big Band Ever,” as another 1963 recording trumpeted) were jazz legends, both. But they never released a studio recording together, until these broadcast programs —Read More

NICK DERISO: Frank Sinatra, 10 years gone, would have been 93 this month. His mystery still lingers with me, as does the memory of a concert — one of Sinatra’s last — when he recaptured all of that complexity. Sinatra was both a pawn to his past and the kingRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Vocalist Lucia Pulido is perhaps not well known in America, but she when it comes to the traditional music of her native Columbia, she’s a real keeper of the flame. Her new CD, the third of hers as a leader, uses both originals and traditional songsRead More

NICK DERISO: Funny thing about that modern-day romantic Harry Connick Jr.: Before this decade-old release, he hadn’t ever explored a song cycle about, and only about, love. Oh, Connick would take his shots, now and then. But always with a dash of popcraft crooning, light New Orleans funk or swash-bucklingRead More

NICK DERISO: Pianist Les McCann is something like a lesser Horace Silver — somebody with a soulful, bluesy delivery who often strayed a step too far into pop. This release showed why: Despite its many joys, a fat electric bass gave the CD an unwanted fusion-y feel — in particular,Read More

For this episode of Quickies, we stick mainly with the jazz genre with a couple of diversions to other styles found here and there. These new releases all start with traditional jazz, but our protagonists each put their own little twist on it. Our first entrant is a well-known quantityRead More

Editor’s note: This column ran as part of an obituary package on the national Gannett News Service wire upon Cab Calloway’s passing in 1994. by Nick DeRiso Between the tombstones of the two World Wars, there emerged the knock-down joys of swing music. Perhaps no single figure from the periodRead More

NICK DERISO: Starting her career with a winning performance at a Paradise Theater amateur contest in her native Detroit, Betty Carter first came to a large number of ears as a vocalist with Lionel Hampton’s group in the late 1940s. (Hamp, in fact, is the one who gave her theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Nutini, from North Of England Way, got notice from performing his songs in London showcase clubs and ended up signed by Atlantic Records when he was barely 18. Soon afterwards in ’06, he recorded this gem of a debut album. These Streets doesn’t seek to stealRead More

Koko Taylor marked her 20th year on Alligator Records with an album reminds you she’s still got it. A lot of it.