(Vocal Jazz) VA - Baby It's Cold Outside (2CD) - 2009, MP3, 320 kbps

CD1:
01. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan - Baby It's Cold Outside (2:44)
02. Norah Jones - Come Away with Me (3:19)
03. Helen Merrill - You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To (4:22)
04. Peggy Lee - Fever (3:23)
05. Paul Anka - True (4:32)
06. Natalie Cole - My Baby Just Cares for Me (4:30)
07. Grace Knight - Sway (2:44)
08. Blackwood & Megan Washington - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (4:57)
09. Jack Harrison - Moon River (2:58)
10. Katie Noonan - Too Marvellous for Words (2:52)
11. Nina Simone - Feeling Good (2:56)
12. Julie London - When I Fall in Love (3:23)
13. The Idea of North - Mas que nada (3:37)
14. Michelle Nicolle - The Loveliest Night of the Year (3:40)
15. Sarah Vaughan - It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream (3:22)
16. Fiona Burnett - Hallelujah (4:35)
17. Barb Jungr - Waterloo Sunset (4:34)
CD2:
01. Dinah Washington - Mad About the Boy (2:50)
02. Ricky May - A Kiss to Build a Dream On (3:34)
03. Shirley Horn - In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (3:24)
04. The George Golla Orchestra - Don't Get Around Much Anymore (4:40)
05. Anita O'Day - Crazy He Calls Me (3:27)
06. Yvonne Kenny - All the Things You Are (3:46)
07. Billie Holiday - Moonglow (3:01)
08. Catherine Hunter - Only Trust Your Heart (3:52)
09. Paul Grabowsky & Bernie McGann - I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face (4:37)
10. The Mell-O-Tones & Janet Seidel - Why Don't You Do Right? (2:34)
11. The George Shearing Quintet & Nancy Wilson - All Night Long (3:08)
12. Laura Fygi - Let There Be Love (2:49)
13. Becky Fox - Je t'appartiens/Let It Be Me (5:39)
14. The Kevin Hunt Trio - Moon of Blue (3:30)
15. Judi Connelli - The Neaness of You (3:01)
16. Alison Wedding - And I Love Him (4:53)
17. Russell Holmes Trio - You've Got a Friend (5:13)

This ABC Music compilation, subtitled "Smooth Jazz For a Cozy Evening", is the perfect antidote to a cold winter's night.
Poor yourself a nice glass of red, stoke the fire, snuggle up to someone and let the smooth tones of the likes of Nina Simone, Sarah Vaughn, Becky Fox and Katie Noonan wash over you.
The title track and first song on the first CD is a duet by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, which sits alongside other classics such as Nina Simone's "Feeling Good", Billie Holiday's 'Moonglow" and Dinah Washington's "Mad About the Boy". There are also some wonderful cover versions of other timeless hits - including Brisbane singer-songwriter Katie Noonan's interpretation of "Too Marvellous for Words" and The Russell Holmes Trio's recent cover of Carol King's "You've Got a Friend" - along with tracks from two of the stars of the recent Adelaide Cabaret Festival, headline act Grace Knight and Janet Seidel.
Standouts for me were Melbourne-based jazz saxophonist Fiona Burnett's version of Leonard Cohen's spine-tingling "Hallelujah" and Norah Jones' beautiful, Grammy-winning single "Come Away With Me", but, to be honest, there isn't a single track on this double-CD release that I don't like. Even Canadian singer Paul Anka's "True", a cover of the much-maligned Spandeau Ballet song from the '80s, swings along quite nicely after a glass of shiraz (although it's still not quite the sounds of the soul).