Welcome, music sloots, to the latest edition of Music Manor Monday, a time to share our music favorites - past and present - and go clubbing at one of the Manor's many dazzling venues. Tonight at "Lickalottapus Lounge," our exclusive after hours club, DJ Li'l Scratch will be laying down tracks from a jazz and blues legend who can touch you like an angel and so much more.  Her bold vocal delivery - listen as she slaps down the lyrics like cards in a high-stakes game; sharp, deliberate, impossible to ignore - has long made her a favorite of jazz aficionados, something which has almost been overshadowed by her acting career, even to this day. Whom do I speak of? You may know, of course, since she remains popular with multiple generations of audiences.  She was built to last. And sometimes stars like her, when they've been around that long and reach a "certain age," just don't give a fuck a good gumdrop about what anybody thinks. Yes, they'll wear a...

I t's time to jump, jam and jive, and there's no cat around who can do that better than DJ Li'l Scratch, am I right? Tonight, at the Manor's exclusive "Cake Shake Lounge," Li'l Scratch will be spinning tunes from the smoothest jazz vocalist around. Can you guess? I'll give you a hint. Who has the vocal smoothness of Etta Jones with the rhythmic snap of Della Reese? If you guessed Helen Humes, you were right.  "For who - and for what?" you might also ask.  Let me explain, first by pointing out that Cincinnati once had its very own popular Cotton Club nightspot .  "Wait - really? Shut up!" you exclaim. I will not shut up, and  for reals, it did . And get this: that's where the incomparable Helen Humes truly kicked off her career in the early 1930s. "Saucy," "rousing," "classy" and "swingin'" are just a few of the adjectives that were used to describe Helen during her heyday, though later...