Jazz for Lovers [Micro Werks] [PA]

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Infinity Entertainment Gr

Notes: The jazz companion piece to the Micro Werks other "lovers" compilations like SOUL FOR LOVERS and DOO-WOP FOR LOVERS, 2009's JAZZ FOR LOVERS has the distinct advantage of being able to draw liberally from the Universal vaults for classic Impulse, Verve, Decca, and Phillips sides. With only 12 tracks to choose from, the romantic mood is easily set with two key cuts from John Coltrane's masterpieces BALLADS ("It's Easy To Remember") and JOHN COLTRANE & JOHNNY HARTMAN ("My One And Only Love"), which open and close the set respectively. In between we hear singers as varied as Anita O'Day ("Travellin' Light") and Nina Simone ("Don't Explain")--both interpreting numbers associated with Billie Holiday interestingly enough--as well as Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. An extra special treat is the inclusion of the beautiful 'Tis Autumn," in a definitive treatment by the perennially underrated Jackie Paris, as well as two tracks ("My Little Brown Book," "A Tree In The Meadow") by the equally negelected Al Hibbler, a burnished-voiced crooner who once sang with Duke Ellington. While it's true that collections like this -- where some small imprint licenses titles from a larger one, in this case from Universal -- are a dime a dozen, that doesn't means this collection is. The title pretty much sums it up: the tunes are all ballads, slow, smooth, and silky, but in the classic jazz sense. After all, how many compilations can you find that contain the work of Al Hibbler, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Jackie Paris, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Hartman, Arthur Prysock (whose version of "Fly Me to the Moon" here is utterly unique and lovely), Peggy Lee, and McCoy Tyner, to name a number of performers included here? This is a great babymaker set, provided at a very attractive price, and should be considered by anyone who digs the soulful, more elegant, and deliberately slowly paced jazz of the past. ~ Thom Jurek

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