June Christy & Stan Kenton on Capitol, 1955

Illinois-born singer June Christy was arguably one of the most unique female vocalists to come out of the big band era and first rose to prominence in the mid-1940s as the replacement for Anita O'Day in the popular band led by Stan Kenton at a time when arranger Pete Rugolo (later a close associate of Christy's at Capitol) was writing most of the charts for the orchestra. During her rather brief tenure with the Kenton organization, Christy had an important part in the creation of such hits as "Tampico" and "How High the Moon" and quickly became known for her cool, relaxed approach to the vocal art. Christy went on to have a successful solo career starting in the early '50s, recording great concept albums such as Something Cool and The Misty Miss Christy, among many others that have become pop classics of the era. About ten years after she first joined his band, Christy reunited with former boss Kenton for an LP that stands as one of the most challenging in the careers of both participants. The project, simply entitled Duet and recorded for Capitol over the course of four sessions in May 1955, presents Miss Christy's divinely husky voice, with its astounding ability to convincingly narrate stories in song, sharing the spotlight with Kenton's forceful piano accompaniment, which is afforded plenty of space to shine in its own right throughout the album.

June Christy on stage at the Hollywood Palladium with the Stan Kenton band.

The result of this collaboration is a classic, though often neglected, record that combines standards (Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye," George and Ira Gershwin's "How Long Has This Been Going On," Matt Dennis's "Angel Eyes") with under-recorded gems (Joe Greene's "Come to the Party," Bobby Troup's "Just the Way I Am") that really sound special in the hands—and pipes—of the duo of Kenton and Christy. Benny Carter's "Lonely Woman," with its powerfully dramatic undertones, and "Baby, Baby All the Time," a song that came to Miss Christy's attention via her much-admired Nat King Cole, are among the many high spots of the album, the latter even prompting the singer to do a little scatting. In his Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, critic Will Friedwald notes that the album could well have been inspired by similar collaborations between Ella Fitzgerald and Ellis Larkins, and suggests that "the starkness of the accompaniment and the exposed, vulnerable nature of Christy's singing effectively foreshadow Tony Bennett and Bill Evans twenty years later." Though the 1993 Capitol CD reissue has been out of print for a while, this highly recommendable album has been included recently in a four-CD collection of Christy LPs from the '50s released by the European label Real Gone. The way to go, however, is still the Capitol reissue, since it boasts not only fine liner notes by Mr. Friedwald himself, but also two tracks ("Prelude to a Kiss" and the lovely "Thanks for You") that were left out of the original LP release.

Richie Kamuca Quartet & Octet, 1957

Although those who still remember him today tend to identify him with the West Coast sound, tenor saxophonist Richie Kamuca was actually born in Philadelphia in 1930. Initially influenced by the stylings of the great Lester Young, Kamuca was able to develop a cool-toned sound that was all his own and highly recognizable. He began his professional career in the Roy Eldridge orchestra, and Eldridge would always remain one of his favorite musicians, with whom he'd stay in touch through the years. In the 1950s he worked with Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, and with the latter he made recordings as part of the famous Four Brothers, though he never achieved the recognition of fellow saxophonists Stan Getz and Zoot Sims. After settling in the West Coast, he cut a few fine albums that are still quite obscure today, perhaps because they were made for small labels like Mode and Hi-Fi. He was even paired with another notable tenorman, Bill Perkins, for a 1956 session that yielded the Pacific Jazz album Tenors Head-On, but in part his relative obscurity could be attributed to the fact that he appeared as a sideman on countless sessions led by the likes of Chet Baker, Marty Paich, and Mel Lewis, among others, but made very few records as a leader.

Most of Kamuca's most valuable work as a leader, though, was recorded in 1957, when he cut two albums that have been reissued by Fresh Sound Records on a 2010 CD entitled Tenor Ahead: Richie Kamuca Quartet and Octet. This includes Jazz Erotica (originally released with a rather kitschy cover featuring a picture of a nude model) and The Richie Kamuca Quartet, both recorded in Los Angeles. The former includes a few tracks ("Blue Jazz," "Stella by Starlight," "Linger Awhile," "It's You or No One") that find Kamuca in a quartet setting alongside Vince Guaraldi on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. On some of the tracks ("Angel Eyes," "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," "The Things We Did Last Summer," for instance), this quartet becomes an octet with the addition of Bill Holman on baritone sax, Frank Rosolino on trombone, and Conte Candoli and Ed Leddy on trumpets, with Holman himself handling the arrangements and achieving a fuller sound. On the latter album, we find Kamuca in a quartet setting all the way, featuring Levey on drums again, but this time Carl Perkins is on piano and Leroy Vinnegar is on bass. Though there's only one Kamuca original ("Rain Drain"), this album is the most musically satisfying of the two and boasts a lovely uptempo version of "Just Friends" and wistful readings of the ballad standards "What's New" and "My One and Only Love." Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Kamuca did a great deal of studio work and became a member of the band on the Merv Griffin TV show, a job that he kept until his death from cancer in 1977. He also worked with drummer Shelly Manne and appears on the famous series of albums that the Manne band recorded live at the Blackhawk in San Francisco. Kamuca still had time to collaborate again with Roy Eldridge, and right before the end of his life, he made three fantastic albums for Concord that have yet to be reissued on CD. As already pointed out, Kamuca is one of many talented jazz musicians for whom recognition has been elusive partly because of their primary role as sidemen. But in his case, there's no doubt that the quality of his meager work as a leader is still begging for rediscovery, and hopefully this Fresh Sound reissue will help.

June Christy's Radio Transcription Sessions with Johnny Guarnieri, 1949

Born Shirley Luster in Springfield, IL, in 1925, June Christy was one of the best female vocalists to come out of the Big Band Era, thanks in particular to her classic work with Stan Kenton in the mid-1940s. Subsequently, she would go on to carve out a successful career as a solo recording artist throughout the 1950s, producing such memorable albums as Something Cool, Ballads for the Night People, and The Misty Miss Christy, all of them recorded for Capitol. Before hitting the big time with Kenton, via smashes like "Tampico" and "How High the Moon," Christy honed her vocal skills working with the orchestras led by Boyd Raeburn and Benny Strong. But it was during her rather brief tenure with Kenton that her career would be changed forever: not only did she make some enduring records with the band, but it was the bandleader himself that persuaded her to adopt the stage name of June Christy. Kenton disbanded in 1948, and one year later Christy began making a series of radio transcriptions accompanied by a quintet led by pianist Johnny Guarnieri.

Guarnieri, who had been born in New York and was about eight years Christy's senior, had made a name for himself working alongside Benny Goodman and playing harpsichord, of all instruments, on recordings by Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five. As these sessions show, he was a sensitive accompanist who understood Christy's cool, boppish approach to singing perfectly. Though when these transcription sessions took place Christy's classic Something Cool album still lay five years ahead, we can already hear more than hints of the style that would make her such an instantly recognizable singer during her tenure with Capitol. Christy sounds extremely relaxed on these sides, both coolly sensual on ballads and gently swinging on uptempo numbers. The small-group setting is ideal for her, and although not much information is available regarding the identity of all the musicians involved, it seems that besides Guarnieri on piano, we can hear Leo Guarnieri on bass, Frank Garisti and Morey Feld on drums, Charles DiMaggio on saxophone, and George Walters on trumpet. Since these discs were produced to be licensed to radio stations, the repertoire is mostly comprised of familiar standards, the kind of material with which both the band and Christy herself felt entirely at home. Fortunately, the British label Jasmine Records has released all of these transcription recordings on a three-volume series entitled A Friendly Session, and the informal atmosphere of these dates makes these CDs an absolute joy to hear.