Several momentous music careers were blooming in New York's Greenwich Village in 1962.  A young Minnesotan on the folk circuit changed his surname to Dylan and signed on Albert Grossman to manage him. In a tiny W. 8th Street basement speakeasy called the Bon Soir, a new singer of showtunes and standards was generating an equally impressive buzz moving critic Dorothy Kilgallen to burble, "She's never had a singing lesson in her life, doesn't know how to walk, dress or take a bow, but she projects well enough to close her act with a straight rendition of 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf' and bring down the house …" Barbra Streisand had recently signed to Columbia Records (which also had Bob Dylan on its roster), and returned to the club for three nights of recording in November, 1962, to capture what was to be her debut album. Shelved for unknown reasons, its 24 tracks, captured in very respectable sound given the state of live recording at that time, have now been issued with new mixes supervised by Streisand and Grammy Award-winning engineer Jochem van der Saag. Accompanied only by a small band led by British pianist Peter Daniels, this is a Streisand few have seen or can remember. What's most forgotten today is how adept a performer she could be in such an intimate environment: cracking jokes, acting the coquette, even letting out rapid fire giggles in "Value." She's audibly nervous yet also clearly at home as the tough Brooklyn girl with the soft center who could raise the roof if she so chose. The singing, some of which was part of the career-spanning 1991 collection Just For The Record, is a rare delicacy. Stripped of the studio gloss that would mark most of her career after these sessions, Streisand never recorded anything this real again. In a startlingly raw version of Leonard Bernstein's children's song, "I Hate Music," she practically shrieks out the title, getting a few laughs in the process. But she follows that burst of immaturity with a gentle, utterly masterful version of Harold Arlen's "Right As The Rain" and a gutsy, breathless, showstopping version of "Cry Me A River" that hint at the career to come. Forget the gauzy outfits, the lacquered nails, those grand modulations, and perfect enunciation, this is a very young Streisand unchained. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

Verve Records have released a live album, recorded on November 26th 1961 at New York’s famous jazz club, Village Gate. On stage are Stan Getz and his new quartet comprising of pianist Steve Kuhn, double bass player John Neves and drummer Roy Haynes. Although the recordings were set aside after that night and had ended up in the record company’s archives, 58 years later, they have now re-emerged with flawless sound. Getz at the Gate understandably arouses much interest as the saxophonist’s artistic direction throughout the entirety of the 2 hours 20-minute concert is one that he did not pursue thereafter.Getz formed this new group having just returned from Europe and its more modern and aggressive sound was most likely influenced by John Coltrane’s quartet in which Kuhn played. But in 1962, his album with guitarist Charlie Byrd was a hit, sparking the trend for bossa nova-infused jazz and propelling Getz not only down other stylistic paths but also to the top of the charts with numerous albums with Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto. Getz at the Gate is quite clearly light years away from this exoticism but is still far from the Getz bop, cool or West Coast jazz from his early days. Here, in a highly effective post-bop style, he revisits tracks played during the 1950s such as When The Sun Comes Out, Like Someone in Love and even Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most and Roy Haynes’ drumming ties everything together brilliantly, as always. Of course, the four men also show their admiration for Coltrane by taking on his legendary Impressions. In short - a previously unreleased and utterly thrilling concert. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Ella Fitzgerald's idea to sing the songbooks of major writers proved smart, savvy, and artful. By the time she began to record Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book in 1960, she had sung the songbooks of Duke Ellington, Rodgers & Hart, and Irving Berlin. This relaxed and tastefully arranged set showcases Fitzgerald in her prime, confidently engaging 28 of Arlen's best songs. Familiar pieces like "One for My Baby" and "That Old Black Magic" make appearances, along with all-time classics like "Stormy Weather" and "Over the Rainbow." On this latter tune, she adds the front verses, an appealing addition that few will be familiar with. Billy May's orchestra lays down a quiet mix of horns and strings that perfectly supports Fitzgerald on songs like "When the Sun Comes Out" and "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe." Four bonus tracks, including two alternative cuts, spice up the package. A particular oddity, "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead," converts surprisingly well into big-band jazz. Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book is an exquisite album, a classic in vocal jazz, and one of Fitzgerald's best recordings. © Ronnie D. Lankford Jr. /TiVo

Skylarking was an ambitious yet concise record, one that recalled such graceful concept albums as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper, so it wasn't entirely a surprise that XTC embraced psychedelia on its double-album follow-up, Oranges & Lemons, especially if their celebrated Dukes of Stratosphear side project was taken into consideration as well. Oranges & Lemons lacks the singular focus of Skylarking, but at its best, it's just as impressive as its predecessor. Instead of revelling in the form of psychedelic pop, as they did with the Dukes, XTC bring the genre's sensibility to the mature pop of Skylarking, spiking it with a wry, occasionally absurd sense of humor missing from its predecessor. The result is a record exploding with details, not the least of which are backward guitars, sound effects, and head-spinningly eclectic arrangements. It's sonically rich and filled with immaculately crafted songs, but Oranges & Lemons falls just short of being a tour de force, since each song feels like an island -- they work well as individual tracks, but they don't form a cohesive statement. However, that's a minor complaint, because Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge in particular are in peak form, contributing some of their very finest songs in "Garden of Earthly Delights," "The Loving," "One of the Millions," "Merely a Man," "Pink Thing," and the elegiac "Chalkhills and Children." Such songs make the relative weaknesses of the album well worth enduring.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Frampton's self-titled 1994 album was originally released on Relativity, and then reissued in 2000 on Legacy with bonus tracks. Frampton's brand of mainstream rock was irrelevant in the mid-'90s, but more to the point, it wasn't very good. Although he sounded upbeat and energetic on this set, the songwriting was just a rehash of vintage AOR riffs without much inspiration or memorable melody, and the production seemed designed to get radio airplay rather than enhance the material or any personal expression. The four bonus tracks were taken from 1994 live Japanese performances (released in Japan in 1999 as a promo-only CD), including unplugged versions of his perennials "Baby I Love Your Way" and "Show Me the Way."© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

Filter survived the various slings and arrows slung at them during the new millennium, proving that they still had an audience by getting both 2008's Anthems for the Damned and 2010's The Trouble with Angels into the Top 100 of the Billboard 200. It was enough to get a major label interested, and 2013's The Sun Comes Out Tonight popped up on EMI, which explains some of the slickness of the album. Surely, there is still a bit of ballast -- the album opens up with a roar on "Burn It" and it occasionally circles back around to this processed, distorted rush (witness the self-lacerating "Self Inflicted," the closest this album gets to "Hey Man, Nice Shot," or the almost parodic "This Finger's for You") but generally, The Sun Comes Out Tonight skews toward the shimmering, melodic end of adult-alternative rock, a sound that fits Filter's age if not their reputation. That said, the smoothness that permeates The Sun Comes Out Tonight is not entirely out of character for the group: there is a modernity to their production and intent, especially in how the group never pushes, even letting their surges seem soothing ("This Finger's for You" bears a confrontational title, but it feels friendly, even with its jacked-up volume). Where Filter fall short is in how they retain the patina of Hot Topic, how they still seem to chaff against the inevitability of their maturity, but underneath that blustering, the group manage to ease back and act their age, and that detached cool exterior is why The Sun Comes Out Tonight is the most satisfying latter-day album this group has yet made.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Alternately breathy and atmospheric or bright and dynamic, Helen Merrill often reaches a bit too far on The Nearness of You, though her distinct style and strong personality may be refreshing to vocal fans tired of the standard versions of standards. Leading two separate sextets -- the rather more famous one, with Bill Evans, Bobby Jaspar, Oscar Pettiford, and Jo Jones, appears on only four tracks -- Merrill breezes over a raft of mid-tempo standards, with several detours through high-drama territory. Her powerful voice occasionally gets her into trouble, breaking from breathy to brash and often occupying a rather awkward middle ground. Still, her ebullient tone and playful way with "Bye, Bye Blackbird," "Let Me Love You," and "All of You" is a treat to hear, and flutist Mike Simpson cuts it up behind her as well. Merrill really shines on the darker material, with just a plucked bass to accompany her on "Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise," and a similarly spare accompaniment on a long, drawn-out tribute to "Summertime" and "I See Your Face Before Me."© John Bush /TiVo

Ever since Artie Shaw and Charlie Parker, most jazz musicians have had a desire to record at least once in their lives with strings, often considering it a prestigious honor. Altoist Art Pepper finally had his chance on this album and fortunately the string arrangements (by Bill Holman and Jimmy Bond) do not weigh down the proceedings. Pepper sounds quite inspired performing seven strong compositions highlighted by Hoagy Carmichael's "Winter Moon," "When the Sun Comes Out" and a clarinet feature on "Blues in the Night." This material (plus four alternate takes and two other songs from the same sessions) is included in the massive Art Pepper Galaxy box set.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Barbra Streisand's second album might have been subtitled "The Harold Arlen Album," asince Arlen is the composer of five of the 11 selections, including four of five on the first side. Streisand had demonstrated an affinity for Arlen's work on her first album, singing "A Sleepin' Bee." Here, she is most impressive on "Down With Love," a 1937 song with a lyric by E.Y. Harburg that lampoons the love songs of other writers of the period. Never given to singing the Gershwins and other classic pop writers, Streisand relishes the chance to condemn them, and she sings with a vengeance. But in general, Arlen's bluesy music, combined with the second-rate contemporary material on the second side, makes Streisand's second album less accomplished than her first. In fact, where the first album, with its surprising arrangements, surprising song choices, humor, and emotionalism, reconceived pop singing for a new singer, the second album, with it sameness of tone, surrenders to the old mold. On an already unlikely piece of material like Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Lover, Come Back to Me," arranger/conductor Peter Matz uses an updated, up-tempo Billy May-style arrangement (with bongos). Streisand gives it a bravura reading, but she is competing against the arrangement rather than riding over it. The Second Barbra Streisand Album was typically well sung, but instead of continuing the innovations of her debut, Streisand seemed to be trying simply to consolidate her triumph, and it was a bit too early for that.© William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Issued in 1959, Howard Roberts' Good Pickin's was his second album for Verve as a leader. It is as straight-up a blowing date as you're likely to find, though it has wonderful harmonic invention thanks to the two arrangers on the date -- Bill Holman, who also plays tenor, and Marty Paich. The rest of the date is rounded out by pianist Pete Jolly, bassist Red Mitchell, and drummer Stan Levey. The tunes range from standards like "All the Things You Are" and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" to straight-up bebop in Charlie Parker's "Relaxin' at Camarillo" and George Wallington's "Godchild." The lone original on the set, which closes the album, is Roberts' "Terpsichore." It is also the longest on the platter. It's a slow blues that's unimaginative but allows everyone in the band to blow. The tenor/guitar heads on these tunes work well thanks to tight, colorful arrangements that accent the sharpness in the chosen songs. The straight-up soloing works because it is reined in tightly, keeping the melodic invention at the forefront. This is a solid date and should be checked out by anyone interested in jazz guitar.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Ann Hampton Callaway is not your typical jazz songbird. For one thing, she's an accomplished and award-winning songwriter, which is unusual in a field dominated by interpreters. But what's most surprising is her voice -- it's a low alto instrument with a rich, dark, butterscotchy tone, and when she gets way down into her lower range the effect can be downright startling. Her latest album is a pleasing mixture of originals and standards, some performed with a small combo that includes bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash, others with the all-female Diva Jazz Orchestra. The big-band pieces pack the most wallop, which is no surprise given both the quality of the band and the fact that the arrangements were written by the great Tommy Newsom; a powerhouse rendition of her own "Swingin' Away the Blues" opens the program with a serious bang, and her small-scale but equally powerful take on the chestnut "Blue Moon" carries the energy forward nicely. The rest of the album is a mix of tender ballads and vibrant uptempo numbers, most with a theme related to the blues, either in a mood of resigned acceptance ("Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Willow Weep for Me") or defiant opposition (the Callaway original "Hip to Be Happy"). She imbues most of these songs with a smoldering, torchy quality that brings new energy to old material, and her new songs stand up very nicely next to the established standards. Highly recommended.© Rick Anderson /TiVo

The great Kenny Rankin makes a subtle shift in stylistic focus on this label debut, titled A Song for You. The recording shows just how rewarding the marriage of songs from the Great American Songbook with the smooth jazz style can be when played by a talent of Rankin's stature. His singing explores new musical trails on such great compositions as Harold Arlen's "When the Sun Comes Out," the Lorenz Hart favorite "She Was Too Good to Me," and "Love Walked In" by George & Ira Gershwin. Rankin also reprises his vocal version of "'Round Midnight," the Thelonious Monk standard previously released on his 2001 CD Haven't We Met?. This vocal version is performed with harmonically viable guitar strumming, with Rankin making it a much easier task than one who may be trying to de-emphasize the difficult piano stylings associated with Monk. Other songs deserving noteworthy mention are the subtle sensuality of "Spanish Harlem" and "I've Just Seen a Face" by Lennon/McCartney. The results of this great variety of musical planning are distinctly even and make for nearly an hour of great smooth jazz fused with excellent material from the songbooks of some of the world's greatest composers.© Paula Edelstein /TiVo

Rahsaan Roland Kirk's nearly one-dozen long-players on the Mercury Records family of labels -- including the Smash and Limelight subsidiaries -- are gathered on this massive ten-disc compilation. Actually, it is 11 discs if you count the surprise bonus CD. Additionally, Rahsaan: The Complete Mercury Recordings of Roland Kirk lives up to its name by augmenting those albums with more than two-dozen previously unissued sides. Kirk's thoroughly innovative multi-instrumental reed work caught the attention of legendary producer Quincy Jones, then the vice-president of Mercury Records, who signed Kirk and would later arrange and conduct orchestrations for several of his memorable sessions. Perhaps the most recognizable among them is "Soul Bossa Nova" which is heavily featured in the Austin Powers franchise. Kirk's ability to perform several reed instruments -- including the tenor, flute, clarinet, manzello, and stritch -- simultaneously allowed him a musical autonomy few instrumentalists are afforded. His youthful embrace of the R&B, soul, pop, and eventually rock genres produced swinging interpretations of "And I Love Her" and "Walk on By," among others. Regardless of the genre, however, Kirk's ability to Swing -- with a capitol "S" -- is imprinted upon every piece he performed. Although Kirk continued his prolific output on Atlantic records in the late '60s and '70s, arguably his most profound sides are included here. We Free Kings, Domino, Reeds and Deeds, Gifts and Messages, I Talk with the Spirits and Rip, Rig & Panic are offered in their entirety. Undoubtedly the centerpiece of Kirk's work for the label is the live Kirk in Copenhagen, which features some wicked harp blowing from blues legend "Sonny Boy" Williamson, aka Big Skol. It is only fitting that this album benefits so greatly from inclusion on this set. The original six sides have been supplemented with an additional ten to present the entire October '63 performance, now complete at an hour and 45 minutes. Rahsaan: The Complete Mercury Recordings if Roland Kirk is complimented visually with a 56-page information packed booklet that includes: complete discographical and recording session logs, as well individual essays for each disc. Although not for the light of funds, this is truly the best way to become immersed in these early works of Rahsaan Roland Kirk.© Lindsay Planer /TiVo