***Vocalist Catherine Russell’s new CD on the Dot Time label, Send For Me features a baker’s dozen of newly recorded tunes, meeting a simple standard of “Songs that inspire or touch me in some way.” In culling 
material for her new album from the likes of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Luis Russell, Betty Carter, Frank Sinatra, Dakota Staton and many more, Russel has matched her choices with a band of stellar musicians that include Matt Munisteri (guitar, musical director), Mark McLean (drums; tambourine), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), Evan Arntzen (reeds) and more, on tracks that include “At the Swing Cats Ball,” “Make It Last,” “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” “Going Back to New Orleans” and more. Send For Me is a follow up to Russell’s 2019 release Alone Together, which received a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Jazz Vocal.
***The eighth studio album, In This Raggedy Time, by singer-songwriters Anya Turner and Robert Grusecki, is a musical collage of fifteen new songs written during and around the pandemic and features 
John Putnam (guitar) Tod Hedrick (bass) and John Redsecker (drums). Titles include “In This Raggedy Time,” ”Never Let It Go,” “What I Miss,” “Stay Home,” “Elizabeth 1918,” “Something New (in the New Year)” and more. Turner & Grusecki are recipients of the Bistro Award for Outstanding Songwriting. More information is at AnyaRobertMusic.com
***Brainstorm Records has released Maureen Taylor: Cosmic Connections—The Lyrics of Michael Colby. The collaboration between Taylor and Colby features nineteen Colby songs, written with composers who include Artie Bressler, Ned 
Paul Ginsburg, John C. Introcaso, Paul Katz, Sheldon Levin, Gerald Jay Markoe, Peter Millrose, Steven Silverstein, Joseph Thalken and Jack Urbont. Colby is known as the creator of such unique musicals as Charlotte Sweet (with Gerald Jay Markoe), Tales of Tinseltown (with Paul Katz) and Mrs. McThing (with Jack Urbont based on a book by Mary Chase), among other shows. He is the author of the memoir The Algonquin Kid: Adventures Growing Up in New York’s Legendary Hotel. Taylor is a classically trained singer and an award winner in the Monastero Bel Canto Competition.
***Marking the veteran vocalist’s 60th anniversary as a recording artist, and her first album in over a decade. Club44 Records has released Carol Sloane, Live at Birdland, recorded live on September 2019. Sloane was joined by an all-star trio of the late Mike Renzi on piano, Jay Leonhart on bas
s and Scott Hamilton on saxophone. For Live at Birdland, Sloane presents 13 songs including “The Very Thought of You,” “Two for the Road,” “Blue Turning Grey Over You,” “If I Should Lose You” and many more. In 1958, after performing with local groups during her teens, Sloane was offered a job singing with the famous Larry Elgart Orchestra. She toured with the band until 1961, and then released her first album for Columbia Records in 1962, beginning a unstopable career ever since.
***Southport Records honors guitar legend George Freeman on his 95th birthday with George Freemam—Everybody Say Yeah! Freeman’s musical childhood included visits to the family home by trumpeter Louis Arms
trong and pianist Fats Waller, to growing up with his eldest brother Eldridge (known as Bruz) on drums and middle brother Von on the tenor saxophone. Beside Freeman, personnel includes Mike Allemana, Ruben Alvarez, Tatsu Aoki, Harrison Bankhead, Billy Branch, Kirk Brown, John Devlin, Hamid Drake, Luiz Ewerling, Chico Freeman, Von Freeman, Lou Gregory, Joe Jenkins, Joanie Pallatto, Penny Pendleton, Alejo Poveda, Michael Raynor, Phil Thomas and Eldee Young with tracks that include “There Will Never Be Another You,” “It’s Cha Time!” “Gorgeous George,” “Manteca” and more.
***Vocalist Sean Patrick Murtagh has announced his debut album, The Mario 101! Vol. 1, consisting of 12 tracks celebrating the legendary tenor Mario Lanza. The CD is based on Murtagh’s concert series, The Mario 100, in which he celebrated the Mario Lanza Centennial by presenting 100 songs from the Golden Tenor of Hollywood’s extensive songbook over 12 concerts. With Yasuhiko Fukuoka as his music director and engineer, the two have have selected 12 songs that capture the essence of Lanza’s discography from opera to Neapolitan to Broadway and more. Murtagh is an award-winning actor and singer based in New York City, whose work has been seen on theatrical and cabaret stages on both coasts, Off-Broadway, and on TV and in film. For more information, visit http://www.seanpatrickmurtagh.com 
***Jazz vocalist Nicole Henry’s eighth album, Time to Love Again, on Banister Records, features the single release “Your Smiling Face,” plus tunes including “Midnight At The Oasis,” “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” “Wild Is The Wind” and more—numbers that cross many generations of song. Musicians are Peter Wallace on keys, Eric England and David Chiverton on bass, Dan Warner, Camilo Velandia and Aaron Lebo on guitar, Richard Bravo and Eduardo Rodriguez on percussion, Jean Caze on trumpet and John Michalak on saxophone, among many others. Special guests include saxophonist Troy Roberts and harmonica legend Gregoire Marét.
***In her new CD, Ghost Song, on the Nonesuch label, Cécile McLorin Salvant features more originals than covers, breaking away from the sounds and structures of small-group jazz. Some tracks feature a banjo, a flute and hand percussion, for instance, but no bassist or drummer. On one, a cathedral-grade pipe organ replaces the piano. Salvant hers
elf says, “Every song on the album is themed around ghosts—it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator.” Personnel are Cécile McLorin Salvant: vocals, piano; Paul Sikivie: electric and acoustic bass, synth; Sullivan Fortner: piano, Fender Rhodes, vocals; Alexa Tarantino: flute; Aaron Diehl: piano, pipe organ; Marvin Sewell: guitar; James Chirillo; banjo; Daniel Swenberg: lute; Burniss Travis: bass; Kyle Poole: drums; Keita Ogawa: percussion.
***Yellow Sound records has released a two-disc CD, Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions—Volume Two, the next installment of the three-volume set dedicated to the work of Stephen Sondheim. The album is produced by the series creator Phil Geoffrey Bond and features Music Director Joseph Goodrich on piano. Sondheim Unplugged: The NYC Sessions, which will ultimately encompass 70 singers and 120 songs, is derived from the revue series of the same name. Several of this edition’s
key performers originated roles in Sondheim musicals, including George Lee Andrews (A Little Night Music), George Dvorsky (Passion), Danielle Ferland (Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George), Teri Ralston (Company, A Little Night Music), Sarah Rice (Sweeney Todd), and Jim Walton (Merrily We Roll Along).
***A 44-track CD, simply titled Album, featuring over 70 members of singer-songwriter Joe Iconis’ vast family, will be released by Ghostlight Records in June. Collaborators include Aaron Tveit, Andrew Rannells, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Krysta Rodriguez, Kerry Butler, Danny Burstein, Annie Golden, George Salazar, Will Roland, Andrew Barth Feldman and many more. Album features a cocktail of musical genres with stories of love, hope, murder, resilience and connection as well as never-before-heard songs from Iconis, a musical theater writer who has been nominated for a Tony Award, four Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Outer Critics’ Circle Awards, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award and a Richard Rodgers Award. His musical Be More Chill (with Joe Tracz) played Broadway and London after a premiere at Two River Theater.
***Jazz cabaret duo Ann Osmond and Dennis Yerry have released of their new album, Two, which includes songs ranging from jazz classics “Take Five” and “A Night in Tunisia” to Broadway’s “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” and “Lazy Afternoon” to Stevie Wonder’s “As.” Osmond is a singer and actor with roots in the theatre and Yerry is a jazz pianist and composer. Two also features Christian Fabian on bass and Ray Marchica on drums and percussion. The duo has performed at NYC venues including Metropolitan Room, The Cornelia Street Café and Birdland’s Cast Party. Regional venues include The Falcon, The Belleayre Music Festival (opening for Manhattan Transfer), Colony Woodstock, and Phoenicia Festival of the Voice.
