BILLY ECKSTINE – Four Classic Albums Plus (SARAH VAUGHAN AND BILLY ECKSTINE SING THE BEST OF IRVING BERLIN / BILLY ECKSTINE & QUINCY JONES AT BASIN STREET EAST / BASIE-ECKSTINE INCORPORATED / ONCE MORE WITH FEELING) (2CD) AVID

AVID Jazz presents four classic Billy Eckstine albums plus, including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD.
“Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine Sing the Best of Irving Berlin”; “Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East”; “Basie/Eckstine Incorporated” and “Once More With Feeling”; plus 7 tracks from “No Cover No Minimum”
Our first selection “Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine Sing the Best of Irving Berlin” finds two great vocal masters taking on one of the great song writing masters. The results, not surprisingly, is “a vocal masterpiece”. “Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones at Basin Street East”, well….”Mr B” meets Mr. Jones with original liner notes from the great Mr Ellington! Recorded live at Basin Street East, New York in 1961 musicians involved include the following…..Joe Newman, Curtis Fuller, Melba Liston, Phil Woods, Jerome Richardson, Art Davis and Stu Martin. “Basie/Eckstine Incorporated”….What is it about this man Eckstine, why is he always walking amongst giants? Surely it’s because he’s a giant himself in the jazz firmament, as the original liner notes confirm…. “a once in a lifetime recording which attests to the talents of two giants of jazz”. Eckstine is here joined by Count Basie and a sparkling array of supporting players including….Thad Jones, Snooky Young, Joe Newman, Frank Wess, Freddie Green and George Duvivier with arrangements by amongst others Quincy Jones and Budd Johnson. “Once More With Feeling” our final selection could just as easily have been called “The Best of Mr B!” In the company of famed arranger and conductor Bill May, Mr B re-visits some of his classic songs now given “a modern dress, a new and fresh approach through the imaginative force of Mr May. You could say this album fits the Bill……….both of them!!
All four albums plus have been digitally re-mastered.

CD1
1-9: ‘Sarah Vaughan And Billy Eckstine Sing The Best Of Irving Berlin’
1. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
2. Isn’t This A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain
3. I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
4. All Of My Life
5. Cheek To Cheek
6. You’re Just In Love
7. Remember
8. Always
9. Easter Parade
10-17: ‘Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones At Basin Street East’
10. All Right Okay, You Win
11. Introduction
12. Medley: I’m Falling For You / Fool That I Am / Everything I Have Is Yours
13. In The Still Of The Night
14. Introduction
15. Ellington Medley: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore / I’m Just A Lucky So And So / Caravan / Sophisticated Lady
16. Work Song
17. Ma (She’s Making Eyes At Me)
18. Have A Song On Me from No Cover, No Minimum
19. I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face from No Cover, No Minimum
20. Lady Luck from No Cover, No Minimum
21. Lush Life from No Cover, No Minimum
22. Without A Song from No Cover, No Minimum
23. Moonlight In Vermont from No Cover, No Minimum

CD2
1-11: ‘Basie/Eckstine Incorporated’
1. Stormy Monday Blues
2. Lonesome Lover Blues
3. Blues, The Mother Of Sin
4. Jelly, Jelly
5. Don’t Cry Baby
6. Trav’lin’ All Alone
7. Little Mama
8. I Want A Little Girl
9. Drifting
10. Song Of The Wanderer
11. Piano Man
12-23: ‘Once More With Feeling’
12. Once More With Feeling
13. Stormy Weather
14. Cottage For Sale
15. Blues In The Night
16. I Hear A Rhapsody
17. As Time Goes By
18. That Old Black Magic
19. I Apologise
20. I Love You
21. With Every Breath I Take
22. Secret Love
23. I’m Beginning To See The Light
24. ‘Deed I Do from No Cover, No Minimum