Azie Mortimer was a nightclub singer who performed jazz when appearing live, but recorded primarily as a soul or R&B singer out of Chicago. She recorded for a variety of record labels at the start of her career, issuing one-off singles on the Bigtop, Regatta, Troy, Palette and Swan labels between 1960 and 1963, before being given a chance by some of the bigger labels like Epic and RCA Victor. In the end she went back to Troy Records in 1968 for a couple more records, before moving on to Number One Records for three singles in 1969. In 1971 she released her sole album, 'Feeling Of Jazz', which as the title suggests was a jazz vocal record, despite the fact that nearly all of her singles were in the soul and R&B genre. In 1967 she married renowned academic Mort Kaplan, and she predeceased him by a few months, with them both passing away in 2017. Mortimer left behind a largely ignored body of work, possible because she didn't have a steady label behind her who could promote her records, but this hour long collection showcases some of the fine music that she produced in her decade long career in the 60s'. And in case you're wondering, the intro to 'The Best Years (Of Our Lives)' is supposed to sound like that.
Track listing
01 Lips (single 1960)
02 Wrapped Up In A Dream (b-side of 'Lips')
03 Treat Me Like You Love Me (single 1961)
04 Little Playboy (single 1962)
05 A Forever Kind Of Love (b-side of 'Little Playboy')
06 Mama, What Should I Do (single 1962)
07 When You're Talking Love (b-side of 'Mama, What Should I Do')
08 Put Yourself In My Place (single 1963)
09 Bring Back Your Love (b-side of 'Put Yourself In My Place')
10 (I Get The Feeling) You're Ashamed Of Me (single 1965)
11 The Other Half Of Me (b-side of '(I Get The Feeling) You're Ashamed Of Me')
12 Little Miss Everything (single 1966)
13 The Best Years (Of Our Lives) (b-side of 'Little MIss Everything')
14 Untouched By Human Love (single 1968)
15 That's That (Get Off My Back) (single 1969)
16 Eternally (b-side of 'That's That (Get Off My Back)')
17 I Don't Care (single 1970)
18 Prove It (b-side of 'I Don't Care')
19 You Can't Take It Away (single 1970)
20 A One Way Love (Is A Wrong Way Love) (b-side of 'You Can't Take It Away')
21 Haunted (single 1973)
22 Cool It (b-side of 'Haunted')
23 Telling A Lie (single 1973)
24 Set This Happiness Inside Me Free (single 1973)
25 Moments (b-side of 'Set This Happiness Inside Me Free')
