Devoted to various different categories of ‘Great Black Music’ (jazz, R&B, soul etc.), the first five releases from the new ‘Precious & Rare’ collection focus on female jazz singers. Around twenty further CDs featuring the great female jazz singers - both well-known and obscure - should be released soon to add to this series. Its aim is to showcase the early studio recordings of the great female jazz singers in their entirety. Some singers will have more than one CD devoted to their work. Great attention has been paid to the design of the collection as a whole, and to the choice of songs and their chronology. The best sounding sources, newly remastered in a recording studio, have been used. Listening comfort for this collection is probably the best on the market. Some of the songs are treasures which have never been released before on CD, and the booklet which comes with each album includes precious contemporary documents, often hitherto unpublished. The texts presenting the collection in both English and French are rich with detail and were written by the best international specialists. They include an exhaustive contemporary discography. The origin and the status of each song is clearly indicated on the reverse side of each album (LP, single, film score / songs never released when they were made etc.) Put together with meticulous care by one of the most eminent remastering specialists, these first five CDs will delight fans of female jazz singers and dedicated collectors alike. The Precious & Rare collection: beautifully edited, with rare attention to detail!