Vocals, Female

Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie – Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan

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  • A KILLER copy of this superb collaboration with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound on side two mated with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on side one
  • On a copy this good, Vaughan will appear as a living, breathing person right in your very own listening room – we call that “the breath of life,” and this record has it in spades
  • Here is what’s best about vintage analog – sound that is exceptionally spacious and three-dimensional, relaxed, full-bodied and natural
  • 4 stars: ” Basie’s Orchestra and pianist Kirk Stuart are purely in a supporting role behind the magnificent voice of Sarah Vaughan… her wide range and impeccable musicianship carry the day.”

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Sarah Vaughan – Dreamy

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More Pop and Jazz Vocal Albums

  • You’ll find outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides of this Emus pressing of Sarah Vaughan’s Dreamy album
  • Forget the honky originals – our killer Hot Stamper reissues of this 1960 All Tube Recording are rich and relaxed, just the way they should be
  • And please don’t confuse the good reissues we offer from decades past with the mediocre crap being pressed today – there is no simply no comparison, not when it comes to sound quality anyway
  • “Trumpeter Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison contributes some soft, melodic trumpet but the focus is very much on the singer during such numbers as ‘The More I See You,’ ‘Star Eyes,’ ‘My Ideal,’ and ‘Crazy He Calls Me.'”

The original release for Dreamy is on Roulette, a label we have often found to have problems in the sound department (not to mention notoriously bad vinyl). The originals we’ve played over the years have much too much honk and hardness in the midrange to be taken seriously, at least by us anyway, and certainly not at these prices. When we stumbled upon these good Emus reissues, the skies opened up and the sun shone down upon Sarah’s wonderful 1960 album of ballads as it had never done before. (more…)

June Christy – This Is June Christy

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  • You’ll find superb nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) Tubey Magical sound from 1958 on both sides of this Turquoise Capitol pressing – just shy of our Shootout Winner
  • Balanced, musical, present and full-bodied throughout – this pressing puts a living, breathing, big-as-life June Christy performing at the peak of her vocal powers right in your listening room
  • June Christy is one of our favorite Cool School vocalists – we just wish we could find more clean copies of her classic ’50s albums
  • The vinyl is relatively quiet and no marks play – how rare is that? In our experience very rare
  • All the top West Coast jazz guys are here: Shorty Rogers, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, and swinging arrangements by Pete Rugolo

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Peggy Lee – Big Spender

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  • Big Spender makes its Hot Stamper Debut here with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish
  • In-the-room presence, preternaturally breathy vocals, and boatloads of wonderful Tubey Magic
  • Everything sounds immediate and unprocessed, the hallmarks of analog – no other copy in our shootout put a living, breathing Peggy Lee right between our speakers the way this one did
  • There are a lot of bad sounding albums in Miss Lee’s catalog, but this one from Capitol in 1966 on the early stereo label showed us that there are some real winners too

John Krauss engineered brilliantly. You know him from many of Julie London‘s best recordings, albums such as Julie Is Her Name, Calendar Girl, Julie… At Home and Around Midnight. 

This is some awful good company if you ask me! (more…)

Ella Fitzgerald – Sings The Rodgers And Hart Song Book

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  • Fitzgerald’s second Songbook release finally arrives on the site with stunning Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or close to it on all four of these wonderful mono sides
  • There’s real Tubey Magic on this album, along with breathy vocals, in-your-listening-room midrange presence and no shortage of swingin’ energy
  • We would love to find you a quiet, amazing sounding copy, but that just does not seem to be in the cards
  • 5 stars: “The second of Ella Fitzgerald’s famed Songbook series features her singing 34 of the best songs co-written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The arrangements by Buddy Bregman for the string orchestra and big band only border on jazz but she manages to swing the medium-tempo numbers and give sensitivity to the ballads. “

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The Norman Luboff Choir – Reverie with Demo Disc Quality Sound

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More Top Shelf Pressings

  • Reverie arrives on the site with STUNNING Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound from start to finish – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • This pressing brings the big-as-life Norman Luboff Choir right into your listening room – Demo Disc Quality Sound barely begins to do it justice
  • If you have never heard one of these phenomenally Tubey Magical Columbia choir recordings, you may just have your mind blown by how much more natural and real the voices sound compared to anything released on vinyl in the last fifty years
  • Sure, some might call it corny White Bread music, but the sound is so enchanting you may actually find yourself back in 1959, lost in the glorious sound and music of another world

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Ella Fitzgerald – The Rodgers & Hart Song Book, Volume 1

  • A superb copy with outstanding Double Plus (A++) sound from first note to last – exceptionally quiet vinyl for a pressing of this vintage
  • The 1956 recording quality is excellent, with orchestral space and midrange richness that puts this pressing well above most of what we played
  • 5 stars: “The arrangements by Buddy Bregman for the string orchestra and big band only border on jazz but she manages to swing the medium-tempo numbers and give sensitivity to the ballads. With such songs as “You Took Advantage of Me,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “Where or When,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “Blue Moon,” it is not too surprising that these recordings were so popular.”

This ’50s LP has the kind of Tubey Magical Midrange that modern pressings barely BEGIN to reproduce. Folks, that sound is gone and it sure isn’t showing any sign of coming back. (more…)

Della Reese – Della by Starlight

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  • An outstanding copy of Della by Starlight with solid Double Plus (A++) sound on both sides
  • Balanced, musical, present and full-bodied throughout – this pressing puts a living, breathing, big-as-life Della Reese performing at the peak of her vocal powers right in your listening room
  • The key to the best copies is Tubey Magical richness and sweetness, and this vintage analog copy has plenty of both

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Peggy Lee – In Love Again!

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  • This outstanding pressing boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl for a vintage Capitol pressing as well
  • This copy is rich, full-bodied and Tubey Magical – we’re dealing with an All Tube Analog recording chain from 1963 after all – with present, sweet, breathy vocals, the kind that practically no modern Heavy Vinyl record can offer
  • Stick with stereo on this album. The Mono pressings — at least the ones we’ve played — aren’t worth anybody’s time (scratch that: any audiophile’s time)
  • “… 12 quality performances from a highly identifiable singer who is not shy about taking other people’s material and re-imagining it or about coming up with her own vehicles.”

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Ella Fitzgerald – Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book #2

 

  • This STUNNING stereo pressing of the Harold Arlen Song Book earned Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades, or close to them, on both sides
  • One of the best copies to hit the site in a long time, Ella is incredibly rich, Tubey Magical and breathy throughout
  • Check out all the great songs here: Come Rain Or Come Shine, It’s Only A Paper Moon, One For My Baby, Get Happy, I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues, Over The Rainbow, and more
  • 5 stars: “Of all of her Songbooks, the Harold Arlen and Duke Ellington sets are the most jazz-oriented.”

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