THE VINYL DETECTIVE  -  VARIOUS ARTISTS

YEAR:  2019

LABEL:  Vinyl Passion

TRACK LISTING:  Theme From the Vinyl Detective - Joe Kraemer, I Could Write A Book - The Miles Davis Quintet, Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus, Time After Time - Lucy Ann Polk, Warm Canto - Mal Waldron, Heart and Soul - Joanie Sommers, Love Theme From Spartacus - Yusef Lateef, The Way You Look Tonight - Betty Carter & Ray Bryant, Thou Swell - Blossom Dearie, Waltz For Debby - Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans, Don'cha Go 'Way Mad - Lucy Ann Polk, Theme From The Vinyl Detective (Full Version) - Joe Kraemer

IMPRESSIONS:  I discovered and started reading the Vinyl Detective novels by Andrew Cartmel in 2019 and loved them.  I already knew Cartmel from his Doctor Who writings and here we had more fiction that was right up my alley:  a detective of vinyl who finds rare records that just happen to be mixed up in some sort of murder mystery.  And what could be a better companion to the books (3 of which I've read already and I've started the 4th one) than a vinyl LP (this is not available on CD) of jazz tunes which are the favourites of the Vinyl Detective himself?!?!?!!!  Perfect!  This LP contains some songs which were already favourites of mine as well as a newly written and recorded "theme song" for the Vinyl Detective himself!  Besides that, this is also the record the first introduced me to the delights of Lucy Ann Polk's singing; which I'd never heard before this album.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus, Time After Time - Lucy Ann Polk, The Way You Look Tonight - Betty Carter & Ray Bryant, Thou Swell - Blossom Dearie, Waltz For Debby - Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans, Don'cha Go 'Way Mad - Lucy Ann Polk, Theme From The Vinyl Detective (Full Version) - Joe Kraemer

FACT SHEET:  THE VINYL DETECTIVE album was released only on vinyl on September 6, 2019.  Classic jazz tracks were curated by Andrew Cartmel specifically to tie-in to his VINYL DETECTIVE mystery novels as if they were chosen by his title character.  A new VINYL DETECTIVE theme song was commissioned to be written and recorded by Joe Kraemer.  

THE TONY BENNETT / BILL EVANS ALBUM  -  TONY BENNETT & BILL EVANS

YEAR:  1975
LABEL:  Fantasy
TRACK LISTING:  Young and Foolish,  The Touch of Your Lips,  Some Other Time,  When In Rome,  We'll Be Together Again,  My Foolish Heart,  Waltz For Debby,  But Beautiful,  Days of Wine and Roses
IMPRESSIONS:  Here we have an album that was suggested to me by my friend Rama.  Being something of a modern-day beatnik, Rama was somebody I'd sometimes ask to recommend music or films or books when we worked together at the late, lamented Borders.  This was his recommendation one day as one of his favourites.  I can see why.  If there's only one Tony Bennett album to own, this is it.  The album is spare but not in a bad way; there is only Anthony Benedetto on vocals and Bill Evans on piano.  But there is a rapport between the two musicians, both at something of a low ebb in their careers in the mid-70s.  Bennett's singing is emotionally connected and immediate while Evans' accompaniment is sympathetic but still interesting in its own right.  Neither one overshadows the other and the result is something like a perfect set.  The songs, for the most part, are lesser-known selections and there's a real, personal connection that happens between the listener and this record which makes it a very "human" experience.  No adornment, no fluff or fireworks - just an enthusiastic voice singing songs he wants to sing for non-commercial reasons probably for the first time in decades and an accomplished pianist whose virtuosity elevates the singer's performance with a generosity of spirit while still providing equally worthy piano playing in between the vocals.  Really a perfect, equal team-up.
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Hell, the album's only 35 minutes long.  All of 'em.
FACT SHEET:  THE TONY BENNETT / BILL EVANS ALBUM is the first album pairing Tony Bennett and Bill Evans.  The album was recorded between June 10-13, 1975 at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California.  The two would make another album together in 1977 on Bennett's Improv record label entitled "TOGETHER AGAIN".