Welcome back, hipsters and moochers, to the Leopard Lounge, where the lights are low, the broads smoke cigarillos and the barman is always discreet.

We have gathered a plethora of finger-snappin’, hip-shakin’ vocals performed by some of the suavest cats and kittens in jazzville, for the perfect nightcap, guaranteed to cool you down and raise your spirits.

Wild and swingin’, cool and crazy, these vintage masterpieces set the scene for the night. So guys and dolls, fix yourselves your drink of choice, and let the music work its magic.

1. Bobby Darin – All Nite Long
By the time Bobby Darin recorded ‘All Nite Long’ in 1960, he had already gone through two of his incarnations – rock’n’roll teen idol and Sinatra-style hipster. Woody Harris, his collaborator on a number of hits, penned this straight-ahead blues, which combines elements of ‘Goin’ To Chicago’ with Roll ‘Em Pete’, and highlights Darin’s showstopping blend of jazz and rhythm and blues.

2. Chris Connor – Blow, Gabriel, Blow
Influenced by Anita O'Day, Chris Connor, along with Julie London and June Christy, epitomised cool jazz singing in the 1950s. Signed to Atlantic in 1957, she was to reign supreme as the label’s jazz diva for the next ten years. Recorded in spring 1958, with a quartet led by guitarist Mundell Lowe, Chris Craft featured quality songs that gave Connor plenty of room to use her sassy charm and humour, such as this rarely heard Cole Porter number.

3. Mel Tormé – Lullaby Of Birdland
George Shearing’s elegy to the world’s most famous jazz club was eventually adopted as Birdland’s official signature tune, which all performers were expected to incorporate into their nightly sets. Arranged by Shorty Rogers, Mel Tormé’s elegant rendition of this quintessential standard scored him a hit with the music press of time, especially Downbeat magazine who hailed his performance as “flawless” in 1964.

4. Carmen McRae – I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good
A contemporary of Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae was a vibrant improviser and interpreter, whose unique phrasing and ironic interpretations made her performances memorable. An international institution by the time she signed to Atlantic in 1967, she recorded some of her best studio work for the label, including this majestic rendition of Duke Ellington’s ‘I’ve Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good’, lavishly arranged and conducted by Jimmy Jones.

5. Austin Cromer – As Long As She Needs Me
In the original liner notes to Austin Cromer’s 1965 LP Sings For Her, Atlantic producer Joel Dorn predicted that at long last this gifted vocalist would be known as something more than “the guy who sang ‘Over The Rainbow’ with Dizzy Gillespie’s band. Sadly this prophecy never came true, which is a shame, as tracks like Oliver’s ‘As Long As She Needs Me’, with sensitive accompaniment by flautist Hubert Laws and pianist Armando ‘Chick’ Corea’, reveal a potentially major talent.

6. Esther Phillips – I Wish You Love
A child prodigy, Esther Phillips (then billed as ‘Little Esther’) was discovered by Johnny Otis at a talent show in 1949, aged 13. She topped the R&B charts the following year with the Savoy single ‘Double Crossin’ Blues’. Back in the public eye in 1962 with her country-soul take on ‘Release Me’, she signed to Atlantic in 1964. Her first LP for the label, And I Love Him, arranged by Ray Ellis, a fine producer, arranger and conductor who collaborated with some of the greatest from Billie Holiday to the Drifters, unveils a talented and versatile singer, equally at ease with the Beatles’ repertoire as with standards like Charles Trenet’s ‘I Wish You Love’.

7. Mavis Rivers – You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
Samoan-born GI’s sweetheart Mavis Rivers began her musical career singing in her father’s band, entertaining troops stationed in the Pacific during World War II. By the early ‘60s, she had recorded three LPs for Capitol, before joining Reprise Records in 1961. For her label debut Mavis, from which this effortlessly cool reworking of the Cole Porter classic is taken, they coupled her with the Dek-tette of Marty Paich, the brilliant arranger and conductor who had used this format (a ten-piece band with a distinctive tonal palette featuring a French horn, tuba, and no piano) with formidable success for a variety of singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Mel Tormé.

8. Bobby Scott – Baby Won’t You Please Come Home
A multi-talented musician, pianist, vibist, and singer Bobby Scott also played the accordion, the bass, the cello and the clarinet. A professional since the age of 11, he worked as a sideman for Louis Prima and Gene Krupa before beginning a career as a solo artist in the mid ‘50s, recording with several labels, including Bethlehem, Verve and Atlantic, where he came up with this explosive take on Clarence Williams’ megastandard ‘Baby Won’t You Please Come Home’.

9. Ella Fitzgerald – Things Ain’t What They Used To Be (And You Better Believe It)
Ella Fitzgerald was still a formidable creative force in the 1970s, as can be heard on Things Ain’t What They Used To Be, an album that reunited her with Songbook deviser and Verve label founder Norman Granz in the producer’s chair, along with arranger and bandleader Gerald Wilson. Fusing big bands with pop culture, the LP was a groovy affair, covering hits of the day like Bobby Hebb’s ‘Sunny’ and Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’, along with jazz standards like ‘Black Coffee’, ‘Willow Weep For Me’, and this stunning rendition of the title track.

10. George Melly & The Feetwarmers – Roll’ Em Pete
A noted raconteur, art critic and autobiographer, as well as a British jazz legend, George Melly’s reputation as a peerless entertainer has won him fans everywhere. His unique blend of jazz, blues, humour and showmanship is showcased on this spirited version of Joe Turner’s ‘Roll ‘Em Pete’, recorded live with John Chilton’s Feetwarmers at London’s Merlin’s Cave in 1973.

11. Chiles & Pettiford – Around The World In 80 Days & Bill Bailey
The house band of Jilly’s in the mid ‘60s, New York’s jet set’s top nightclub and Frank Sinatra’s favourite hangout, Chiles & Pettiford (pianist Walter Chiles, bassist Clarence Pettiford and drummer Al Harewood) were a bright and inventive combo whose smooth manner of working with the artists who decided to ‘sit in’ with them late at night (Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Sammy Davis, Jr. amongst others) endeared them to performers and audiences alike. Here they are captured on this live take of ‘Around The World In 80 Days & Bill Bailey’ – a performance as memorable as it is unusual.

12. Ann Richards – The Masquerade Is Over
Probably the most visually imposing jazz singer of all time, and the only one to appear in an orb-filling spread in Playboy magazine, Ann Richards succeeded Chris Connor in the Stan Kenton Band, and later became the second Mrs Kenton. Boasting some inspired backing by guitarist Barney Kessel, trumpeter Jack Sheldon, bassist Red Callendar and drummer Larry Bunker, Ann, Man!, her only LP as a headliner, sounds every bit as remarkable as she looked, especially this tasteful rendition of ‘The Masquerade Is Over’.

13. Ada Lee – Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound
Another child prodigy, Ada Lee, although classically trained, was equally adept at jazz, soul, gospel and blues. In the late 1950s she was singing at local dates with the Count Basie and Lionel Hampton bands, until she was spotted by Newport Jazz Festival promoter George Wein, who became her manager. The smouldering blues of ‘Rain Is Such A Lonesome Sound’ comes from her 1961 album Ada Lee Comes On!.

14. Lurlean Hunter – We’ll Be Together Again
This now-forgotten Chicago-born singer also recorded for the Discovery label and appeared on the Nat ‘King’ Cole TV show in 1956. Although not a blues singer, sultry-voiced Lurlean Hunter shows a keen appreciation of the form on this reworking of the Trenet classic ‘We’ll Be Together Again’, arranged and conducted by Jimmy Giuffre, and featuring trumpeter Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and clarinettist Rudy Rutherford in a superlative solo.

15. Betty Carter – The Good Life
Nicknamed ‘Betty Be Bop’ by Lionel Hampton, Betty Carter was a restless improviser who could stretch melody and harmony as much as any bebop horn player. Typically, the audacious Miss Carter used her 1962 Atco album ‘Round Midnight with Oliver Nelson’s orchestra to experiment with all kinds of material, and came up with a career perennial with ‘The Good Life’.

MINNIE ‘MINX’ MEHARI