The monthly mix I was expecting to make for August isn’t coming together like I thought it would — there’s weeks more worth of research and listening to do first —so as a stopgap, here’s a four-disc set I compiled a couple of years ago featuring beautiful orchestrations, sensitive performances, and dazzling songcraft: pre-rock music from the period when rock & roll was taking its first flight, roughly 1955-1964. These were (some of) the mature, intelligent album artists of the era, and if there’s an overarching sense of melancholy and loss when all these songs are gathered together like this, that’s probably more to do with my own predilections when I compiled the mix than with anything really intrinsic to the music or the era.
I posted this mix on my website when I made it (click through for more thought-through comments), but I’ve never made it available for download before now. So knock yrselves out; and hopefully I’ll have another mix ready before September ends.
Disc One: Spring
1. Mel Tormé “It’s A Blue World”
2. Peggy Lee “Black Coffee”
3. Helen Merrill “Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year”
4. Little Jimmy Scott “They Say It’s Wonderful”
5. Ella Fitzgerald “Day Dream”
6. Anita O’Day “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”
7. Dinah Shore “My Funny Valentine”
8. Barbara Lea “Am I In Love?”
9. Billy Eckstine “I Love You”
10. Carmen McRae “All The Things You Are”
11. June Christy “Spring Is Here”
12. Billie Holiday “I Get Along Without You Very Well”
13. Blossom Dearie “They Say It’s Spring”
14. Sarah Vaughan “April In Paris”
15. Rosemary Clooney “Blue Rose”
16. Sue Raney “I Get The Blues When It Rains”
17. Chris Connor “My April Heart”
18. Jeri Southern “Isn’t This A Lovely Day”
19. Nat King Cole “Lost April”
20. Julie London “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most”
21. Johnny Hartman “Long Ago And Far Away”
22. Frank Sinatra “I’ll Remember April”
23. Nina Simone “Lilac Wine”
Disc Two: Summer
1. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Summertime”
2. Nat King Cole “Day In, Day Out”
3. Peggy Lee “Lover”
4. Teri Thornton “Blue Skies”
5. Frank Sinatra “Summer Wind”
6. Julie London “Memphis In June”
7. Ella Fitzgerald “Too Darn Hot”
8. Joe Williams “Too Close For Comfort”
9. Dick Haymes “The Long, Hot Summer”
10. June Christy “Something Cool”
11. Chet Baker “I’m Old Fashioned”
12. Helen Merrill “It’s A Lazy Afternoon”
13. Etta Jones “Don’t Go To Strangers”
14. Lorez Alexandria “Lush Life”
15. Dinah Washington “Ill Wind”
16. Anita O’Day “Tenderly”
17. Barbara Lea “The Very Thought Of You”
18. Keely Smith “When Day Is Done”
19. Rosemary Clooney “In The Cool, Cool, Cool of The Evening”
20. Mark Murphy “Firefly”
21. Blossom Dearie “Teach Me Tonight”
22. Nina Simone “Don’t Smoke In Bed”
23. Tony Bennett “Darn That Dream”
24. Carmen McRae “The Night We Called It A Day”
Disc Three: Autumn
1. Anita O’Day “Indian Summer”
2. Hoagy Carmichael “Baltimore Oriole”
3. Jackie Paris “A Cottage For Sale”
4. Beverly Kenney “Born To Be Blue”
5. Julie London “Blues In The Night”
6. Nat King Cole “Stardust”
7. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Autumn In New York”
8. Chris Connor “A Foggy Day”
9. Johnny Hartman “Autumn Serenade”
10. Sue Raney “September In The Rain”
11. Lorez Alexandria “But Beautiful”
12. Chet Baker “Let’s Get Lost”
13. Dinah Washington “Invitation”
14. Nancy Wilson “Guess Who I Saw Today”
15. June Christy “Shadow Woman”
16. Billy Eckstine “I Cover The Waterfront”
17. Louis Armstrong “There’s No You”
18. Frank Sinatra “Lonely Town”
19. Ella Fitzgerald “Lost In A Fog”
20. Jeri Southern “Coffee, Cigarettes & Memories”
21. Mel Tormé “Dancing In The Dark”
22. Dick Haymes “The Nearness Of You”
Disc Four: Winter
1. Helen Merrill “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home”
2. Mel Tormé “Moonlight In Vermont”
3. Carmen McRae “Misery”
4. Abbey Lincoln “Lonely House”
5. Blossom Dearie “I Walk a Little Faster”
6. Ella Fitzgerald “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”
7. Mark Murphy “The Meaning Of The Blues”
8. Chet Baker “Grey December”
9. Dean Martin “Sleep Warm”
10. Ray Charles & Betty Carter “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
11. Johnny Hartman “Stella By Starlight”
12. Dakota Staton “The Party’s Over”
13. Billie Holiday “The End Of A Love Affair”
14. Frank Sinatra “When Your Lover Has Gone”
15. Julie London “Cry Me A River”
16. Etta Jones “Out In The Cold Again”
17. Sarah Vaughan “Vanity”
18. Tony Bennett “Lost In The Stars”
19. Nat King Cole “For All We Know”
20. Peggy Lee “As Time Goes By”
21. June Christy “This Year’s Kisses”
22. Dick Haymes “The Way You Look Tonight”
