Welcome, music sluts and slutinos to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with several dollops of mystery, intrigue and wait, what? Let me explain. As you may know, there are countless jazz vocalists from the mid-to-late 1950s who are lost to time, and I'm not talking about the already-established, like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday or Peggy Lee. I'm talking about the up-and-comers who were inspired as children by those giants of jazz, and come the 1950s, were at last ready to make their own mark.  Many didn't get the chance, and others, who released one or two LPs, suddenly had the plug pulled, their dreams abruptly dashed. The cause of all this? The rise of rock n' roll, a force so sensational, so overwhelmingly popular, that it changed the music landscape overnight. And forever. Who wants to hear the new jazz vocalist, the record companies figured, when you can sign that rising rock 'n roller who's firing up all the kids at the club?   Newbie jazz...

Greetings music prostitots, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with an added squirt of maple syrup. "Why?" you enquire. DJ Li'l Scratch will happily provide the answer tonight at the Manor's "Pickle Gobbler After-Hours Musique and Mani-Pedi Lounge," where he'll be getting his claws did and playing hot tunes by Canada-Land's hottest jazz vocalist. Canada, as you know, has many wonderful singers, like Joni Mitchell, and many we'd like to return-to-sender, like The Biebs, but few croon jazz as well or as famously as our lady below. Her career spans fifty years, and she's not only a celebrated singer, but a consummate musician and composer.  Stand back, ya'll, Ranee Lee is in the house. And she's no ordinary jazz diva. Born in Brooklyn, where she sang in high school and toured with several jazz bands, she later made Canada her permanent home - Montreal, to be exact - and first toured not as a singer, but as a succ...

Greetings, music sluts, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Did you know, it's also National First Ladies Day, which celebrates American President's wives. This is not to be confused with Ella Fitzgerald, who was known as The First Lady of Song , but if you'd like to celebrate First Ladies and Ella, who am I to stop you? Meanwhile, DJ Li'l Scratch has a surprise for you tonight at the Manor's "Low Hangers Lounge," where he'll be spinning tunes by a two-time Grammy-nominated artist who got her start singing with her local church choir, then won a talent contest as a fourteen-year-old at the legendary Barrelhouse Club in Watts, Los Angeles, co-owned by the equally legendary musician, composer and bandleader, Johnny Otis . He promptly recorded her first songs and insisted she join his tour. Esther Phillips, or "Little Esther" as she was first known on an early handbill, was a master at R&B, blues, jazz, pop, soul and...the ...

Can you believe we’re headed into summertime already? Wheeeeeee! Is your swimsuit bod ready yet? Are you hankering for some good tunes by the pool? Then head over in your finest scanties to "Five-Finger Slippy," the Manor's popular new jazz and supper club, because DJ Li'l Scratch is spinning tunes by a terrific jazz singer who only put out a handful of LPs. We're talking the incomparable Frances Wayne. Ain't she lovely? Or "bella" as her parents might have said, since she was born of Italian immigrants in Boston. As for her singing, sometimes when you have it, you know it and you know it early - and so does everyone else around you. Frances hit New York city as a teenager and almost immediately found herself in high demand, singing and touring with the Charlie Barnet and Woody Herman bands, amongst others, and creating a solo sensation at nighteries in NYC and L.A. In short order, she nabbed a recording contract, later scoring one of her biggest hit...

Welcome, music sloots, to another edition of Manor Music Monday, where we can all jam with music and share it with everyone in the Manor. Better still, at the Manor's "Deez Nuts" after-hours lounge, DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning tunes from a melodious missy we'll all enjoy. Intrigued? Wanna know who? For that, let's time travel back to the 1930s, shall we? Hold tight. Wheeeeee! Phew, that was fast (I think I hurt my coccyx!). But here we are - and there she is. The lovely and talented Midge Williams. "Midge whooooooo?" you may ask. I did, too, but she looked so fetching years ago when I saw her on CD covers and in photos that I decided to find out what her deal was. What I discovered is a largely unheralded jazz singer who really ought to be in every jazz lovers library. Why? Start with her creamy-smooth vocals, which curl flirtatiously around the lyrics in songs like "It All Begins And Ends With You" or "I'm With You Right Or W...

Greetings, music hors, and welcome to another hotsy-totsy edition of Music Manor Monday, where we share music - old or new - that we've been enjoying lately. For his part, DJ Li'l Scratch will be at the Manor's "Liquor in the Front" lounge tonight, spinning tunes by a jazz and blues legend who thrilled audiences over the span of an incredible six decade career. Can you guess who? Yes, it's Ernestine Anderson, who burst onto the scene in 1958 with her sensational LP, " Hot Cargo ," which introduced a distinctive and gifted singer equal to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Yet time has not been kind to Ernestine, and though she's not forgotten, by any means, she certainly deserves more notice than she receives nowadays.  By the way - and I swear I’ll bring this back around to Ernestine - I love hearing great performers live, don't you? Even though there's always a few imperfections here or there, you get a deeper feel for wha...

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...

Welcome, music sluts, to another swingin' edition of Music Manor Monday, where DJ Li'l Scratch is playin' and slayin' tonight at our exclusive "Boots Knocking" lounge with none other than Miss Felicia Sanders. "It's not the brains you reach for, it's the heart," she once said when asked to explain her singular singing style.  She sang for years (and years) in small, sometimes ratty, nightclubs in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and early 50s, where she was considered an "underground success" and dubbed "America's Edith Piaf." But for some dumbfounding reason, no one wanted to record her. Yet years later, at NYC's tiny, but influential  Blue Angel Supper Club , she wowed everyone in town and could no longer be ignored. Record companies at last came calling. The result was her terrific first album, "At The Blue Angel," a generous mix of jazz standards which she wholly revitalizes with her unique, deeply felt...

Clear the way! They're comin' through! Virginia, Mattie Jane and Anne Louise. That's right, the sisters. Are. In. The. House. Lucky you, you'll hear them tonight at the Manor's exclusive "Crisco Twister" after-hours club, where DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning The Peters Sisters, a powerhouse vocal trio who started out singing at their local church in the early 1930s in Los Angeles. People took notice. In no time at all, they were swingin' and singin' at the popular Trocadero Club in Hollywood. Then the movie industry took notice. Called "rotund and delightfully upbeat," they appeared as a novelty act in several 20th Century Fox movies, though their numbers were cut from prints distributed to the South. But no matter, since they continued killing at various night clubs, including The Cotton Club in Harlem where they performed with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway, thankyouverymuch. Yet these were international sisters, mind you, for t...

Welcome, fellow music hors, to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Today's entry is 'specially dipped in sleaze - and before you say, "Ah, so a regular Monday," I'd like to point out that this time it's Italian sleaze. Intrigued? I know you are, so hop by the Manor's exclusive "Minchia Mouthful Lounge" tonight, where DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning tunes by an early-aughts maestro who'll be there in person. You'll want to show up, I swear.  Who, you ask? Let's put it this way. Very few men can get away with a porn-stache, but voila! Or rather, ecco! Italian composer Daniele Luppi wears it well. Bell'uomo! Or as Hotmami Silver-Flint said when I first posted his picture last Friday, "He looks like he'd fuck you and leave you before the cum dries. So, yes, would." There's something swingin', yet smarmy, about Luppi's picture, and the same might be said of his music (I mean this as a compliment!). I...

Welcome, music hors, to the Manor's exclusive "Poca Chica Lounge," where DJ Li'l Scratch is bringing us some classic blues from the divine Ms. Trudy Lynn. Trudy, as you may know, is a blues artist extraordinaire. When she performs indoors, she raises the roof - and, yes, this happens outdoors, too, 'cause heaven blows its top every time she sings. Not for nothing was Trudy the opening act for several "Ike and Tina Turner" tours, but that was just a start for this sonically-astounding performer and composer, who was soon after cutting LPs and performing in clubs worldwide.  Born in Texas, where she honed her gifts, Trudy first learned about the blues as a young girl when she tiptoed from her mother's beauty salon to Club Matinee , the legendary Houston Club, which was right around the corner. Destiny? Seems like, right? Though her family later thought she'd purse a career as an X-Ray technician after high school, Trudy had other ideas, by then in ...

Phew. Is it hot in here? Is it gas or electric heat I'm feeling? Oh, throw open all the windows! Let the cool ocean breeze wrap around us we dance. Or so you'll be saying while dancing and  cha-cha-cha'ing at The Manor's exclusive "Galactic Muffin Lounge," where our own DJ Li'l Scratch is spinning the best of  Tino Contreras, the head-trippy, vanguard Mexican jazz drummer and composer.  Ay! Even if you haven't heard of Tino, you've  heard  him at one point or another in your life. He's long been cherished South of the Border, but it's taken quite a bit longer for us  gringos  to catch on. Just wait.  His jazz is propulsive, joyful, and dripping with sex, with everything from bongos, big bass swings, trumpets, psychedelic jazz riffs and ritual chants tossed into the mix, all of which you can hear in "Santo," his spaced-out classic:  Tino lived long enough to find himself all but canonized in his country and in jazz circles worldwi...

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...