Samara Joy: Linger Awhile is the singer’s Verve debut—a label that boasts some of the most stellar performers of the last decades, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and more. At just 22 years old, she’s already made a huge impression in the music industry with a voice, tone 
and phrasing that harkens back to the most iconic jazz vocalists of all time, from Ella Fitzgerald to Sarah Vaughan to Billie Holiday and more. The Bronx native was the 2019 winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Linger Awhile updates classic songs, including those by George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and more. A pre-release single, “Can’t Get Out Of This Mood,” was notably performed in the past by Nina Simone and Frank Sinatra. Lingger Awhile also features appearances from guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, bassist David Wong, and drummer Kenny Washington.
Celia Berk: Now That I Have Everything ( Gramercy Nightingale) is the singer’s third album since ending a hiatus in the music scene nearly 
a decade ago. The album features a crew of first-rate musicians, including pianists Tedd Firth (who also produced and arranged most of the material), percussionist Rex Benincasa, bassists David Finck and Jay Leonhart and guitarist Matt Munisteri. Pianist Sean Gough also arranged five of the tracks on the album. Song choices include material not often heard, let alone recorded, such as Billy Strayhorn’s “Bittersweet” (lyric by Roger Schore),”Comes Love” (Sam H. Stept, Lew Brown, Charles Tobias) and the title song, Ervin Drake’s “Now That I Have Everything,” not heard since before Margaret Whiting, who died in 2011. There’s also an “undiscovered” verse to the Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn tune, “How Are Ya’ Fixed For Love?” unearthed by Firth. 
Bob Levy: Romantic Cool Jazz Getaway (Silk River Music) is an instrumental jazz album of 18 tracks featuring musicians of note on each cut. Many of the songs are in vocal format on Levy’s previous album, “While I’m Still Here” and a few other of Levy’s CDs, plus two new ones. Levy is a multi-award winning ASCAP songwriter whose career started in New York City when he was twenty-two, co-writing with singer-songwriter Ronny Whyte. That songwriting partnership continues today creating jazz songs that have been performed at many New York clubs like Birdland snd Pangea and which have also been featured in major television programs.
Jackie Evancho: Carousel Of Time (Melody Place Music) contains 10 covers of 
Joni Mitchell songs in new interpretations of classic tracks that include “Both Sides Now,” as well as “A Case Of You” and “River.” Other selections are “The Gallery,” “I Had a King” and more. The singer-songwriter was first nationally recognized as a powerful vocal force as a young 10-year old contestant on “America’s Got Talent.” Since then, the classical crossover artist has gone on to release eight solo albums across several genres of music. Her last album wasThe Debut, issued in 2019, a collection of Broadway songs.
Needed/Good Times Roll.” The tunes are ones that moved Harkness to learn music, now interpreted through the lens of 40+ years as a pro guitarist. Harkness has two Backstage Bistro Awards, for Outstanding Instrumentalist of 2011 and his group Clearly Now in 2020; also 2014 and 2015 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards for Best CD Release and Duet show/CD respectively; and a total of eight MAC Awards: for ensemble instrumentalist, his solo shows, a CD with duo partner, Canadian trumpeter Mike Herriot, and Major Duo/Group Clearly Now. His recorded output includes eight solo records already in the marketplace.
is vocal idols including Mel Torme, Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, Donny Hathaway and others in a set of six songs. Arrangements are by musical director-pianist Russ Kassoff, who has been Kump’s M.D. in previous outings on CD and in person. Three standards from a half century and more ago include classics, “For All We Know,” “Summertime” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” Also included is the “modern” tune from the popular Broadway show, Dear Evan Hansen, “You Will Be Found.” Other musicians on the album are Kurt Bacher (woodwinds), David Finck (bass) and Dennis Mackrel (drums/percussion). Kump’s career in New York was established, but over a decade ago he returned to Los Angeles to earn a Masters in Social Work from the University of Southern California, specializing in the treatment of trauma, anxiety disorders and a variety of addictions. The Best Is Yet to Come represents a fuller re-entry into music and performing. 
Hadestown; jazz standards (“The Nearness of You,”); and pop hits (“Mercedes Benz”); in addition to Yeager’s original songs. Benko is featured on vocals, clarinet, flute, and percussion, with Yeager playing piano, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, celeste, organ, and percussion. “People” from Funny Girl is included, with the pair offering a romantic, bolero-inspired piano-voice take on the material. The pair squarely place their musical preferences and approaches on each track. With “People,” for example. their objective was to find the spirit of the scene the song grows out of—a moment of intimacy, reflection, and seduction, which led to our delicate version.” The standard, “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?”, among other selections, exemplifies the couples’ intense love for the Big Easy. An original by Yeager, “Sweet Pea,” is dedicated to legendary jazz songwriter-pianist Billy Strayhorn, “Take the A Train” as well as Duke Ellington’s longtime collaborator
gines five Duke Ellington classics on solo guitar, alongside several collaborative tracks, performing some of Ellington’s most-cherished masterpieces including “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Prelude to a Kiss,” “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Cotton Tail,” with Joy and Jordan making appearances on “Solitude” and “Mood Indigo,” respectively. The classic jazz sound of Art Tatum, an inspiration of Grasso’s, stays present throughout the album. His influence is apparent in the transitional runs that play a major part in much of his compositions, with whole-tone scales able to take the listener from one chord to the next throughout the album.
