Esther Phillips - Georgia Rose 1973 tv

After a 5 month wait I am happy to say the Post Office found this waiting for me! A package containing Esther's Kudu Anthology and A beautiful Friendship and also the Black Eyed Blues and Capricorn Princess! 48 tracks in total. The liner notes are 13 pages of beautifully written details of how the songs came to be and many personal memories of Esther by David Nathan. He says she has a voice like honey and vinegar which is an acquired taste. Didn't need any acquiring for me! The moment I first heard her I was an absolute fan! Here's a song, done live here, from her years at Kudu Records, which was a period of great growth as an artist for her.

Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights Live

Kate Bush's closing number at her Hammersmith Odeon concert. Brilliant!

Marlena Shaw - You're Gonna Hear From Me (1977) | MDA Telethon

Always nice to see a live performance from a Jazz vocalist. It adds a whole new dimension to the performance. This is the great Marlena Shaw. A very gracious lady who lives with her daughter Marla in Vegas.

Ruth Brown - Tears In Heaven

This is an absolutely beautiful rendition of Eric Clapton's song. Ruth was born way back in 1928 and sadly died in 2006, but she sang this in her later years.

Too Little Too Late

The late and very great Ruth Brown with a Blues standard. Powerful voice and presence! Rest in Peace Ruth.

I Can't Hear a Word You Say

Ruth Alston Brown ( nee Weston) Was born in 1928 in Portsmith Virginia where her father was a dock hand who led choir in the Baptist Church. Ruth was more interested in the great jazz singers like Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington and ran away from home at 17 to marry trumpeter Jimmy Brown! She began singing for Atlantic records, my favourite company, and had many hits for them causing some to say Atlantic was the House that Ruth built ( refers to Yankee Stadium being called the House that ( Babe) Ruth built!) She produced some 23 albums and won many awards, 1989 RnB Pioneer Award, 1992 Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame,1993 Rock and roll Hall of Fame, 1996 Gleason Award for Music Journalism, and posthumously 2013 Virginia Music Hall of Fame, 2016 Lifetime Grammy award and 2017 National RnB Hall of Fame. Her awards speak for themselves. She was still performing at 78 in 2006 when sadly she died of a heart attack following some surgery.A memorial service was held in the Abyssinian Baptist Church Harlem. Rest in Peace Ruth. here she performs a Lieber and Stoller song produced by Ahmed Ertegun the founder of Atlantic.

Love Letters

This song is strongly associated with Ketty Lester who performed it last year at a concert at the age of 88 to great acclaim. But here is Ruth Brown performing it at the age of 83 I believe. Another take on it but showing she had not lost the power which put her at number 147 on Billboards best 200 voices.

ERNESTINE ANDERSON "Never Make Your Move Too Soon"

The great Ernestine Anderson has been compared to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald but she says she just wants to be herself! And what a great self it was! Over 30 albums and a career spanning over 6 decades. Great live piece here. Can't sit still with that playing! Dancing to that is a good way to get warm on a cold day like today.

Jessica Mauboy - We Got Love (Glammstar Mix) Australia Eurovision 2018

This is Jessica again with a dance floor uptempo number. I usually don't like modern day music videos but this one is definitely very watchable. Very photogenic young lady too.

Jessica Mauboy - Who's Loving You

Jessica again with a down tempo Soul number. Very nice.

Jessica Mauboy - I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)

Jessica Mauboy was born in 1989 in Darwin, Australia the daughter of a father Ferdi from West Timor and a mother Theresa an Indigenous Australian of the Kuku Yalenji people from Far North Queensland. She is one of Australia's top female singers with 6 albums in top ten and 2 at number one and also a double platinum single. Also an accomplished film actress with a best supporting role from AACTA.I look forward to hearing a lot more from her. Here she does a Four Tops standard.

Friends Fallin' in Love

This is Jean Plum, or Bettye Jean Plummer as she sometimes records as ( full name). I was recently alerted to her work by a UK contact. I have not been able to find much biographical info on her except that she joined Hi Records in Memphis in 1975. That is also the home base of Ann Peebles and so the backing music is very familiar.I like jean very much and I also like the words of the song she does here because that is what my wife and I did 50 years ago.

I'm Gonna Stay

Jean Plum again. Nice pace,very Hi Records style.

Look at the Boy

Jean again . Definitely Soul category. Very nice voice and backing to match from Hi.