JazzWax

August 1969: Rock, Jazz and Women

August 1969 marked a dramatic turning point in the evolution of two forms of popular music—rock and jazz. In both cases, women came up short.

The first transition took place In Bethel, N.Y., between August 15 and 18. There, four co-promoters of a four-day music festival known as Woodstock proved that rock and the rock concert were a much bigger deal than previously thought. With an estimated 400,000 people stretched out on hilly pastures running to the horizon, the audience's size demonstrated that rock at the dawn of the album era had enormous commercial appeal. Billed as a festival of peace and music, the Woodstock crowd was largely cooperative, reasonable and friendly, despite bouts of drenching rain and whipping wind and a dangerous lack of facilities.

Today, Woodstock is seen mostly as a male-driven event. Women at the festival are most often portrayed in photos as topless bohemians, face-painted stoners or hippie mothers of naked infants. Of the more than 100 artists on stage over the festival's four days, only seven were women. What's more, most people now would be hard-pressed to name a single woman who aided in the promotion, production, publicity and photography of Woodstock. There were many who played significant roles. [Photo of Woodstock above by Amalie R. Rothschild, courtesy of the artist]

Tomorrow (Saturday), women who worked at Woodstock—Rona Elliot (publicity), Joyce Mitchell (office manager), Ticia Bernuth Agri (marketing), Amalie R. Rothschild (photographer), Lisa Law (photographer) and Jeanne Field (camera assistant) will be joined by Bill Hanley (sound system), Chris Langhart (technical/infrastructure) and John Chester (sound manager) at a Zoom round-table event sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Section of the Audio Engineering Society.

The event can be viewed for free via Zoom at noon (PT) (or 3 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. UK). A small donation is requested but not necessary. To attend via your computer, phone or iPad, go here for more information; to attend tomorrow, go here and click on the "tickets" button.

In August 1969, the other seismic event that changed music history was Miles Davis's recording of Bitches Brew, which began a day after Woodstock ended. Recorded between August 19 and 21, the double album when released the following year marked the commercial start of the jazz-rock fusion movement. The potent electronic jazz genre appealed to a younger generation of listeners and would remain popular throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s.

While the album plumbed the depths of abstraction and electronica, it also exploited grooves and was breathtakingly freewheeling. Davis simply kicked off tempos, threw out a few chords with the shadow of a melody, and suggested a feel. The musicians were so proficient and intuitive, they didn't need much more to weave a vast tapestry of improvised jazz influenced by psychedelic rock.

For reasons that still remain unclear and unverified, Davis decided to call the album Bitches Brew. Derogatory and alienating, the title has never really been questioned or criticized. According to a 2010 article in Britain's The Guardian on the 40th anniversary of the album's release, Betty Mabry claimed credit for the LP's name. A 22-year-old model at the time who met Davis in late 1967, Mabry married the trumpeter in 1968 but the marriage ran aground in 1969.

According to Mabry: "Miles wanted to call it Witches Brew, but I suggested Bitches Brew and he said, 'I like that.' Contrary to what some people said, there was nothing derogatory about it."

I would respectfully disagree. It was and remains a derogatory title. Many women (and men) I know have always found it offensive—a brutish and insensitive sideswipe by an artist who should have known better. I'm not advocating here for a ban on the album or a name change. I'm just pointing out that this album's title has long belittled women and escaped evaluation by the male jazz world, which largely views it as cool or in keeping with the era's jargon.

My criticism takes nothing away from the music's importance. I'm simply highlighting the insensitivity of a great artist and the strong disconnect between his work and his macho issues. We know that at the time, Davis's was enormously envious of Sly Stone and John Lennon and angry at the record industry for lavishly rewarding many white rock artists long in hair but short on talent.

But rather than address the true source of his anger and the inequity directly, Davis chose to take it out on women with a title that has always been disrespectful. Of course, naming a work of art falls squarely with the artist, and the title chosen is often designed to provoke an emotional reaction. Totally get it. That's part of the creative process and I'm not here to tamper with that. My disappointment in the album's original title and the one Mabry claims credit for is that both lacked imagination and fell way short of the mind that created the music.

Deep Dive: 'Somewhere in the Night'

The theme song most people know for Naked City, a popular TV police-drama series that aired from 1958 to 1963, is called Somewhere in the Night. It was referred to most often as the Naked City Theme, largely because there already was an older and completely different pop song called Somewhere in the Night that Frank Sinatra and others recorded. That wasn't the only bit of confusion. The original song for the TV series from 1958-'59 was This Is the Naked City, composed by George Duning. Then arranger Billy May and composer Milt Raskin collaborated on Somewhere in the Night for the 1960-'62 season. Arranger Nelson Riddle was next with The New Naked City Theme for the 1962-'63 season.

Somewhere in the Night quickly became a hit song covered by jazz and pop musicians and singers over the years. Riddle's swinging updating also was a hit. First let's listen to all three Naked City themes and then I'll play you my favorites:

Here's the George Duning theme...

Here's the dramatic Billy May and Milt Raskin theme...

And here are Nelson Riddle's swinging updated themes...

Now that you know the song, here are nine favorites of Somewhere in the Night, plus a bonus track:

Here's Grant Green...

Here's Maynard Ferguson...

Here's Ahmad Jamal...

Here's Sam "The Man" Taylor...

Here's Teri Thornton, whose version was a hit in 1963...

Here's the Rob McConnell Tentet...

Here's Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart...

Here's Laurindo Almeida's Bossa Nova All Stars...

And here's Cal Tjader...

Bonus: Here's Bobby Scott singing "Eight Million Stories (in the Naked City)," by Eddie Snyder (lyricist for Strangers in the Night), who used the pseudonym of C. Colatral and J. Tansey on this song, with Scott as the arranger and Torrie Zito conducting...

Joe Bataan: 'Gypsy Woman,' 1967

Following my post yesterday on salsa and Joe Bataan's Ghetto Records, many readers emailed me about Joe Bataan and boogaloo. As I posted yesterday, boogaloo was a funky Latin-soul hybrid geared to a younger generation of freestyle dancers. The boogaloo emerged in New York, primarily in the Latin dance clubs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Among the first boogaloo hits was Mongo Santamaria's recording of Watermelon Man in 1962.

Over time, the music evolved from infectious rhythm-fueled riffs built on catchy pop phrases like Bang Bang and I Like It Like That to deeply personal statements and observations about romance and inner-city life. In this regard, the music developed much like rock and soul, beginning as singles-driven and winding up as album concepts.

A member of an East Harlem street gang, Joe Bataan was incarcerated for a brief time for auto theft. In prison, music became a passion. Upon his release in 1965, Bataan began exploring music and singing as a career. His first album, Gypsy Woman, was recorded in 1966 and released in 1967. Bataan advanced the boogaloo by adding the feel of R&B vocal harmony groups and givng songs a personal spin with lyrics that were more autobiographical. Though the album's title track was a cover of Curtis Mayfield's ballad hit for the Impressions in 1961, Bataan added a dramatically new flavor and punch that was less romantic and more urgent. [Photo above of Joe Bataan]

Bataan's Gypsy Woman album was originally released on Fania Records as a house-party LP but recently was re-issued by Concord's Craft Records on 180-gram vinyl. It's terrific that the label is taking this music seriously and treating Gypsy Woman as the classic it has become. The vinyl's sound is fantastic and way more dimensional than the original record, allowing Bataan's crooning style to soar and the instrumentation and percussion to spread out.

Following the title track, the album proceeds with So Fine, a love song that continues the groove of Gypsy Woman beneath Bataan's powerful vocal. In keeping with the boogaloo's crossover formula, several songs are sung in English, including Too Much Lovin', Figaro and the album's closer and other big hit, the romantic ballad Ordinary Guy.

Joe Bataan would go on to record more than 20 albums, many of them outrageously great. If you want to begin collecting or listening, try Singin' Some Soul (1970), Salsoul (1973) and Call My Name (2005).

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Joe Bataan's Gypsy Woman (Craft) in vinyl and other formats here. 

JazzWax tracks: Here's the title track...

Here's So Fine...

Here's Crystal Blue Persuasion from Singin' Some Soul...

Here's Mi Nube from Salsoul...

And here's Call My Name...

Bonus: Here's a segment from NBC News on the boogaloo documentary We Like It Like That (you'll find the documentary at Amazon Prime)...

Early Salsa: The Story of Ghetto Records

If you plan on discussing the origins of salsa, you'd better make a large pot of Café Rico coffee. You're going to be arguing late into the night. There are multiple definitions of the music as well as a raging debate over its roots, starting point and how it evolved. To me, as a former resident of Washington Heights, the definition is rather simple: salsa began at the dawn of the 1970s and followed the boogaloo as a popular style in New York's Latin communities.

The boogaloo was a funky Latin-soul form that originated in the early 1960s by young black and Puerto Rican musicians seeking a form in sync with the youth culture. At clubs, the music encouraged a freestyle dance form, much in the way discotheque go-go dancing surfaced around the same time in response to big-beat pop music. Dance partners did their own thing across from each other and never touched. Salsa, by contrast, restored touch dancing as couples sought a more intimate form on the dance floor.

Most notable about salsa is the distinct lead vocal approach known as son montuno, a conversational shout style, and the unison horn arrangements, which have a certain bravado and are crafted to mirror the vocals of background singers. It should be noted that salsa had a profound influence on the rise of disco's touch-dancing in the early 1970s, as soul dance beats merged with the sleek heat of Latin dance music. This fusion gave rise to several disco dances, including the hustle, an early incarnation of Salsoul Records and a range of cross-over artists ranging from Yambu to Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. The Fania All-Stars helped pioneer salsa early on, Izzy Sanabria promoted the music and the Miami Sound Machine helped mainstream it mid-decade. That's the short story.

Now, Vinyl Me Please and Now-Again Records have released The Story of Ghetto Records, a blockbuster box of seven early salsa albums on Ghetto Records, a label formed by Joe Bataan and George Febo in 1970. The seven albums are Joe Acosta's ‎The Power Of Love, La Fantastica's ‎From Ear To Ear, Paul Ortiz Y La Orquesta Son's Los Que Son, Candido Y Su Movimiento's ‎Palos De Fuego, Eddie Lebron's Ghetto Records Presents...Eddie Lebron, Papo Felix and Ray Rodriguez's Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez and Joe Bataan's previously unreleased Drug Story.

If you want to hear the real deal, these seven albums provide a smashing early salsa survey. It's the sound you would have heard live at Latin clubs in New York in the very early 1970s. The flavor on these albums is so rich and pure, you can't sit still. One track after the next engages and captivates with a brash, brassy and bossy sound. I've been listening to the box for days in a state of joy. Hopefully this is the start of an early salsa revival as dozens of other albums are re-issued and a firmer history of this glorious music is codified by gifted writers and documentarians. Caliente!

JazzWax: You'll find the limited edition The Story of Ghetto Records (VMP/NAR) on vinyl here for $319.

Lacquers for all titles (except Drug Story) were cut by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. All seven titles are pressed on exclusive 180g black vinyl.

Hopefully these individual albums will be digitized soon.

JazzWax tracks: The following tracks aren't from the new vinyl releases. They are from the original albums. But they are from the seven albums in the box and will give you a taste of what you're getting:

Here's Joe Acosta's I Need Her...

Here's La Fantastica's Borinquen...

Here's Paul Ortiz Y La Orquesta Son's Son Los Que Son...

Here's Candido Y Su Movimiento's El Lobo...

Here's Eddie LeBron's Fui Sincero...

Here's Joe Bataan's Drug Story...

Drug Story

And here's Papo Felix Meets Ray Rodriguez's Work Out (Part 1)...

John Stein: 'Lifeline'

It's rare when a two-album set is released celebrating the career of a living jazz artist. It's even rarer that the double album should now be No. 4 on JazzWeek's jazz album chart. That's exactly what has happened with John Stein's Lifeline (Whaling City Sound). Both accomplishments are a testament to John's straight-up swing and eclecticism over the years and his passion for for tasty jazz chords and Brazilian rhythms. [Photo above of John Stein by Frank Herzberg]

Released in June, Lifeline features 26 tracks spanning 23 years and 15 albums, 13 of which have been issued by Whaling City Sound. John began playing the guitar at age 7 and jazz at age 13. Born in Kansas City, Mo., John started out in the late 1960s as a rocker. But at age 30, he attended the Berklee College of Music and taught at the esteemed Boston music school after he graduated. While in Boston, John hopped over to Cambridge and completed a masters degree in education from Harvard and somehow found time to learn to play the upright bass.

John has worked with artists such as Bill Pierce, John LaPorta, David "Fathead" Newman, Larry Goldings, Frank Herzberg and Bob Freedman and he has gigged with Fathead, Lou Donaldson, Lonnie Smith, Idris Muhammad and many others. Deeply influenced at a young age by the album Getz/Gilberto, John also has a passion for Brazilian rhythms, which pepper Lifeline. And Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall are musical heroes and inspirations.

What's special about John's playing is his soulful attack on standards ranging from Moonlight in Vermont and Nica's Dream to On Green Dolphin Street and The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. The same is true for the set's originals, including Up and At 'Em, Brazilian Hug and Four Corners. 

John's new double album is a true lifeline—to give him time to recuperate. Like Pat Martino, Mike Stern and other guitar greats who suffered major health setbacks and had to rebuild their chops, John was up against the wall recently. As he writes in Lifeline's album notes:

Nearly a year ago, I began having strange symptoms with my eyesight. Unfortunately, those were initially misdiagnosed. By the time additional physical issues developed and increased suddenly, I found myself in a full medical crisis. I had somehow contracted a rare autoimmune disease, Myasthenia Gravis, which affects the nervous system and doesn’t allow various muscles to work properly; it corrupts the connection between the nerves and the muscles.

My own body’s immune system, purposed to protect me from outside dangers, was attacking itself. My illness made it impossible to breathe on my own. I couldn’t walk and my eyesight was much-diminished by double vision. My throat muscles were deeply affected by the disease. I was not able to swallow, so I could not eat or drink normally and my speech was severely limited.

In an earlier era, I would have perished. Due to modern medical knowledge, technical advancements, treatments and excellent care, I am still here and grateful to be alive. It has been a long haul: two months living in a hospital, two of those weeks on a ventilator in the ICU, and much rehab ahead. I lost forty pounds while lying on a hospital bed though I was not overweight prior.

Now I have to regain my strength and I have to learn to breathe, swallow, and speak again, after being ventilated. I am finally home from the hospital and doing a variety of therapies. Playing guitar again is one of them. I was thrilled to see and touch my precious guitars, but instantly discovered I needed to build my strength and coordination back. I have found playing to be a surprising and fascinating experience.

All JazzWax readers wish John a steady and speedy recovery, and we're grateful that Whaling City Sound released this double album to give John time to bounce back and allow us to re-listen to John's past output. For those unfamiliar with John's playing, you now have a chance to discover a gorgeous guitarist. [Photo above of John Stein by Ken Rabiroff]

A special thanks to bassist Frank Herzberg.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find John Stein's Lifeline (Whaling City Sound) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Brazilian Hug...

And here's On Green Dolphin Street...

Bonus: Here's John on guitar with Teco Cardoso on sax and flute, Daniel Grajew on piano, Frank Herzberg on bass and Zé Eduardo Nazário on drums playing Joe Henderson's The Kicker from John's Watershed album...

And here's John playing Henry Mancini's Dreamsville last year, on his way to a miraculous recovery...

Heidi, Sonny and Johnny

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed supermodel, actress and Making the Cut co-host Heidi Klum for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). She talked about growing up in Germany, her parents' influence and how she wound up entering a modeling contest and beating out 24,999 other contestants. Heidi was an upbeat blast to interview, like a shaken-up, uncorked bottle of champagne. A ton of fun. [Above, Heidi Klum and daughter Leni on the cover of German Vogue in 2021]

Here's hilarious Heidi back in 2009 on a CBS TV show they should bring back—I Get That a Lot...

And here's Heidi on Ellen...

Bill Evans and Gary Burton. On July 6, 1973, the Bill Evans Trio, featuring Evans, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell with vibraphonist Gary Burton performed at Radio City Music Hall. The concert was broadcast on Voice of America and captured on tape. Here's the gig...

Gilles D'Elia, my photographer friend in Paris, has been busy with his camera. I last posted about Gilles here. As you can see above, Gilles is an extraordinary artist with an exceptional eye. If you love the image above as much as I do, you can visit Gilles's site, where he keeps a daily photo journal here.

Johnny Hodges. Here's Johnny Hodges soloing in concert with Duke Ellington in the early 1960s on All of Me...

David Allyn. After my post last weekend on David Allyn performing in New York in 1992, I heard from saxophonist and clarinetist Frank Griffith in the U.K.:

Marc, thanks so much for sharing the David Allyn 1992 clip, and Paul Cammarata, of course for providing it. The saxes in the clip are, from left, Loren Schoenberg, Jon Gordon, Jerry Dodgion, me and Mark Lopeman. David was 73 then and still in good form. I did three arrangements for the band: "These Foolish Things," "Up the Lazy River" and "Memphis In June." Keep up the good work!

Sonny and Bud. Here's take No. 2 of Fine and Dandy featuring tenor saxophonist Sonny Stitt and pianist Bud Powell, with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums in Januray 1950 [photo above of Sonny Stitt courtesy of Henri Selmer/Paris]

And here's All God's Chillun' Got Rhythm in December 1949...

Your old LPs. Not a week goes by without readers asking me what they can do to sell vinyl collections. Sometimes these emails are from people like me who are de-cluttering their spaces. Or they are executors of estates tasked with cleaning out a house. Or they are simply people trying to raise some cash.

Here's the answer. Reach out to Jim Eigo. Jim runs Original Vinyl Records in Warwick, N.Y. He's constantly in the market for vinyl albums in VG and better condition. He's looking for baby-boomer rock, punk, garage and small indie as well as reggae, blues and jazz.

To reach Jim, email him at [email protected]. Or call him at (917) 755-8960. You may need to provide a list of what you're selling or a list of titles and conditions.

Waltel Branco. Following my Backgrounder post on arranger and guitarist Waltel Branco and his Henry Mancini tribute album, I heard from Carl Woideck:

Marc, until recently, I primarily associated Waltel Branco with an album that you know: "Mancini Tambiém é Samba." I realized that he was both a guitarist and an arranger, but I wasn’t aware of his work for TV. Check out this compilation, "Tema De Abertura" here (scroll down). The whole album is also on YouTube here...

Henry Mancini wrote some really great music for some really great films. But he also wrote music for some lousy films. One of the latter variety rarely comes up in conversation about Mancini because the movie is so awful: Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962),. Not so the main theme. Here it is...

Joe Alterman, the superb soul-jazz pianist and a favorite of JazzWax readers, and Stephanie Friedman are engaged. Joe popped the question on August 7 in Georgia (above). From all of us at JazzWax, congratulations! Unfamiliar with the chemistry between these two? Here ya go...

And finally, dig bassist Harvie S and pianist Kenny Barron at the Wilton Public Library in Wilton, Ct., on January 4, 2012. A special thanks to Nick Carter for videotaping here...

Like what you hear? Harvie and Kenny recorded two duo CDs together—Now Was the Time here and Witchcraft here, both on Savant.

Video: Eric Ineke Recalls Frans Elsen

During the summer of 1970, Dutch pianist Frans Elsen (1934-2011) decided to vacation in Norway. Inspired by the desolate environment and the small towns that surrounded him, Elsen wrote and arranged a Norwegian cycle. Upon returning to the Netherlands, he played the music backed by a group more contemporary than his usual ensembles. In the early 1970s, the pianist fell in love with the Fender Rhodes electric piano and sought musicians who could rise to the distinct sound of the keyboard. [Photo above of Frans Elsen]

I recently posted about two studio sessions by Fran Elsen and his septet in 1972 and 1973 on an album called Norway. Only drummer Eric Ineke survives. Ineke now leads a septet called the Frank Elsen Factor comprised of well-known Dutch musicians who have been inspired by Elsen's pieces. Under the title Norway Revisited, the original arrangements were given fresh life in January at a concert in Beauforthuis Austerlitz, the Netherlands.

Here's the concert, featuring Tineke Postma (also saxohone), Rik Mol (flhn), Juraj Stanik (Fender Rhodes electric piano), Martijn van Iterson (guitar), Marius Beets (bass), Eric Ineke (drums) and Bart Fermie (percussion)...

Backgrounder: Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Wave'

The ever beautiful Getz/Gilberto may have been the album that popularized the bossa nova when released in 1964, but Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave (1967) was, for me, its instrumental peer. Both albums were produced by Creed Taylor, the former on Verve and the latter on Creed's new CTI imprint at A&M Records.

This Jobim masterpiece was arranged by Claus Ogerman and recorded in 1967 on May 22, 23 and 24 and on June 15. Jobim played guitar, piano and harpsichord. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., the musicians featured on the sessions included Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Ray Beckenstein, Romeo Penque, Jerome Richardson (fl,pic) Joseph Singer (fhr) Antonio Carlos Jobim (p,harpsichord,g) Ron Carter (b) Dom Um Romao, Bobby Rosengarden, Claudio Slon (d,perc) + strings, Claus Ogerman (cond) Bernard Eichen, Lewis Eley, Paul Gershman, Emanuel "Manny" Green, Louis Haber, Julius Held, Leo Kruczek, Harry Lookofsky, Joseph Malignaggi, Gene Orloff, Raoul Poliakin, Irving Spice, Louis Stone (vln) Abe Kessler, Charles McCracken, George Ricci, Harvey Shapiro (cello).

For my conversation with Creed about this album, go here. For the story behind the cover, see my interview with Pete Turner, the photographer, here.

Here's Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave in full, without ads...

Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:

• Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
• Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
• Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
• Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
• Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
• Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
• Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
• Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
• Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
• Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
• Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.
• Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Lightly, go here.
• Charles Earland: Charles Earland, go here.
• Kenny Burrell: Crash! w/ Jack McDuff, go here.
• Jack McDuff: The Heatin' System, go here.
• Horace Sliver: Horace-Scope, go here.

Video: Joan Chamorro and the WDR Big Band

Earlier this week, Kurt Kolstad sent along an email that included a link to the following clip. In May, Germany's WDR Big Band performed Darn That Dream, arranged and conducted by Joan Chamorro (above), the musical director of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band in Barcelona, Spain. Alba Esteban (below) of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, performed the baritone saxophone solo with grace and beauty. Frankly, it's one of the most endearing ballad solos on the instrument that I've heard in some time.

Joan knows how much JazzWax loves him. I last posted about Joan here. I first met Joan and posted about the band he leads while in Barcelona on behalf of the U.S. State Department in 2013 (go here).

Here's the amazing clip...

Update: Tammy Burdett, 'Fancy Free'

Back in February, filmmaker Kristian St. Clair wrote to tell me about a new project he was working on. His last one was a spectacular documentary called This Is Gary McFarland. In his email, Kristian also let me know that there were a bunch of clips up on YouTube from a Seattle TV show in the early 1960s that likely featured the earliest known videos and first gigs of guitarists Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner appearing with the Individuals, a local jazz combo.

I took a look. Coryell and Towner were amazing (go here), but my eye went to the young woman in the group on the upright bass. She played with confidence and sang a few songs, including originals. Who was this woman, listed as Tammy Burdett? Curious, I tracked down Tammy on the West Coast and sent her an email asking if I could interview her. Tammy was game and sent along two self-produced CDs of her singing original songs in 2003, 2007 and 2011. She also sent along a package of photos I had asked for to illustrate my planned interview post. The CDs were recorded as demos to showcase her songs for interested singers. All of the words and music and arrangements were by Tammy.

I gave her two CDs a listen and was blown away. The songs were well crafted, superbly arranged and Tammy's voice was terrific. There was a swinging optimism and freshness about her jazz sound, and her original songs were wonderful and could easily have been written for a 1960s or '70s Greenwich Village musical about two young 20-somethings falling in love. Tammy began receiving JazzWax, and we quickly became daily pen-pals.

Meanwhile, I posted my interview with Tammy in March (go here). Sadly, readers couldn't access her music. The CDs she had sent were out of print. So I brought Tammy's music to the attention of Jordi Pujol of Fresh Sound in Spain. Jordi wrote back and said he, too, was as blown away. Her swinging jazz style was unique and overwhelmingly appealing, and her songs were vivid and catchy. Jordi said he wanted to put out Tammy's two self-produced CDs as a single Fresh Sound release. I told Tammy, who was thunderstruck and over the moon. I put Jordi in touch with Tammy.

Now, Fresh Sound has released Fancy Free, Tammy Burdett's two CDs as one. The CD sounds absolutely terrific. There isn't a bad song on here, which should be exciting news for jazz vocalists looking for fresh material that no one else has recorded. Naturally, Tammy is flabbergasted by all that has happened in the past six months. Which just goes to prove that good things still happen to good people.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Tammy Burdett's Fancy Free (Fresh Sound) here.

JazzWax tracks: Here's You Bring Out the Lover in Me...

You Bring Out the Lover in Me

And here's Bright Lights...

Bright Lights

Bonus: Here's Tammy in 1966 with Ralph Tower on piano and guitar and Chuck Mahaffay on reeds and drums on Seattle's Buddy Webber Show...