Vee Jay Records, started in 1953, was the first black-owned record company. It put to disc a wide variety of artists and styles, and was the first U.S. company to record
the Beatles. It also made several good jazz recordings. Since going bankrupt in1966, the label has been resuscitated from time to time under various names. Blue Moon Records of Spain has now revived the Vee Jay name and has been reissuing selected items from the company's jazz catalog. This album is a two-fer consisting of LPs by vocalists
Ann Richards and
Mavis Rivers.
Richards' session is a live performance from the Losers nightclub in Hollywood;
Rivers' set is from a Las Vegas studio, and features a sterling group of jazz musicians. If, by putting these two items together, Vee Jay was trying to accentuate contrasts between the two singers, it succeeded: there are many, the most obvious of which is that
Richards, who was married to
Stan Kenton, ended her life tragically by suicide, whereas
Rivers, on the other hand, had a more stable existence.