If the recognition of one's peers is the true measure of success, then few men are as successful as composer, arranger, and conductor Henry Mancini. In a career that spanned 40 years, writing for film and television, Mancini won four Oscars and twenty Grammys, the all-time record for a pop artist. For 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's alone, Mancini won five Grammys and two Oscars. Breakfast at Tiffany's includes the classic "Moon River" (lyrics by Johnny Mercer), arguably one of the finest pop songs of the last 50 years. At last count, there were over 1,000 recordings of it. His other notable songs include "Dear Heart," "Days of Wine and Roses" (one Oscar, two Grammys), and "Charade," the last two with lyrics by Mercer. He also had a number one record and won a Grammy for Nino Rota's "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet." Among his other notable film scores are The Pink Panther (three Grammys), Hatari! (one Grammy), Victor/Victoria (an Oscar), Two for the Road, Wait Until Dark, and 10. His television themes include "Peter Gunn" (two Grammys, recorded by many rock artists), "Mr. Lucky" (two Grammys), "Newhart," "Remington Steele," and The Thorn Birds television mini-series.

Brazilian jazz vocalist and pianist Tania Maria's career has spanned over three decades, starting when she was just 13 and she fronted a band of professional musicians organized by her father, who was a metal worker and gifted amateur musician. He had encouraged her to study piano so that she could accompany him on his weekend jam sessions, but her musical talent grew beyond those small performances. Maria's four sisters also had musical talents, but they eventually grew from their impoverished roots to become professionals, a path that Maria was on herself as well. She attended law school for two years, then married and had a family. The pull of music was too strong, however, and in 1971 she released her first album in Brazil, Olha Quem Chega. In the late '70s she moved to Paris and expanded her career, touring internationally. A date in Australia brought her to the attention of guitarist Charlie Byrd, who hooked her up with Carl Jefferson, head of Concord Records. The label provided her with her first international commercial success with her 1984 album Come With Me, and continued to record her music and issue it to an international audience. Based in New York since the '80s, Maria still sings the pop and blues-influenced music that brought her fame, releasing several albums in the '90s. Her first album of the new millennium, Viva Brazil, was also released by Concord Records.

Frank Sinatra was arguably the most important popular music figure of the 20th century, his only real rivals for the title being Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles. In a professional career that lasted 60 years, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to maintain his appeal and pursue his musical goals despite often countervailing trends. He came to the fore during the swing era of the 1930s and '40s, helped to define the "sing era" of the '40s and '50s, and continued to attract listeners during the rock era that began in the mid-'50s. He scored his first number one hit in 1940 and was still making million-selling recordings in 1994. This popularity was a mark of his success at singing and promoting the American popular song as it was written, particularly in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. He was able to take the work of great theater composers of that period, such as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, and reinterpret their songs for later audiences in a way that led to their rediscovery and their permanent enshrinement as classics. On records and in live performances, on film, radio, and television, he consistently sang standards in a way that demonstrated their perennial appeal.

Broadway star Sarah Brightman was the inspiration behind such stage hits as Phantom of the Opera and Requiem, written in her honor by ex-husband Andrew Lloyd Webber. Born August 14, 1960, in Berkhampstead, England, Brightman began dancing at the age of three, and ten years later made her London theatrical debut in Charles Strouse's I and Albert. By 1976, she was a dancer on the television series Pan's People, and later led the pop group Hot Gossip, which in 1978 scored a U.K. number one hit with the single "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper." In 1981, she was cast in the role of Jemima in Lloyd Webber's Cats; there she and the composer were introduced, and he divorced his first wife to marry her in 1984. Their relationship lasted through 1990, during which time Brightman created the role of Christine Daaé in Phantom, also appearing in Requiem and Aspects of Love; after their divorce, she toured in The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Concert Spectacular. In addition to her stage work, Brightman also recorded a number of solo albums, including 1988's The Trees They Grow So High, 1989's The Songs That Got Away, 1990's As I Came of Age, 1993's Dive, 1995's Fly, and 1998's Eden. The following year saw the release of The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, which featured some of her finest moments from Lloyd Webber cast recordings, as well as The Songs That Got Away. Luna followed in the spring of 2000; Encore appeared the next year. Brightman then adopted a Middle Eastern theme for her 2003 release, Harem. Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, Vol. 2 arrived in 2005, followed by the CD/DVD Diva: The Singles Collection in 2006. In 2007, Brightman appeared on BBC One's Just the Two of Us and performed at the Concert for Diana, the Shanghai Live Earth show, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The following year saw the release of Symphony and an appearance in Repo! the Genetic Opera.

Primarily a bassist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Marcus Miller has worked on hundreds of sessions -- crossing jazz, R&B, and rock -- and has released several solo recordings since his late '70s beginnings with Bobbi Humphrey and Lonnie Liston Smith. Despite the many hats he has worn -- improviser, interpreter, arranger, songwriter, film-music composer, bassist, clarinetist, saxophonist -- none of them have been put on for the sake of the whim. Never one to merely get his feet wet, Miller has been a utility player in the most extreme and prolific sense.

This is a brilliant follow-up to their earlier duo date for DMP. Their sparkling interplay produces many delightful moments, because this duo shares the spotlight, unlike the many piano/bass outings that focus on the keyboard 80 percent of the time. The dramatic rendition of "'Round Midnight" finds the two of them taking turns in the spotlight while avoiding the all too clichéd approaches. Jimmy Rowles' enticing "502 Blues" features Drummond's fat toned bass with soft backgrounds by Mays. The pianist also contributed three originals to the date, with "Ray's Refrain" proving to be especially enticing. A follow-up is long overdue.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Known to Americans most for her belting rendition of the theme to Goldfinger, the 1964 edition in the James Bond series (as well as 1971's Diamonds Are Forever and 1979's Moonraker), Shirley Bassey was one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century. Known as Bassey the Belter and also the Tigress of Tiger Bay, her early career in touring shows and cabaret brought her a recording contract with Philips by the late '50s. After reaching the top of the British charts in 1959 with "As I Love You" and later "Reach for the Stars/Climb Every Mountain," Bassey was tapped to swing the theme song to the third James Bond vehicle. Her voice, brassy and sexy, conveyed the James Bond myth perfectly and became a big hit in America. Though later chart placings in the U.S. were few, she continued to do well in Great Britain, France and the Netherlands into the mid-'70s.

Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis' emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated. Somehow, Gillespie could make any "wrong" note fit, and harmonically he was ahead of everyone in the 1940s, including Charlie Parker. Unlike Bird, Dizzy was an enthusiastic teacher who wrote down his musical innovations and was eager to explain them to the next generation, thereby insuring that bebop would eventually become the foundation of jazz.

In a career tragically cut short in mid-stride by a brain tumor, George Gershwin (1898-1937) proved himself to be not only one of the great songwriters of his extremely rich era, but also a gifted "serious" composer who bridged the worlds of classical and popular music. The latter is all the more striking, given that, of his contemporaries, Gershwin was the most influenced by such styles as jazz and blues.

Chet Baker was a primary exponent of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the early and mid-'50s. As a trumpeter, he had a generally restrained, intimate playing style and he attracted attention beyond jazz for his photogenic looks and singing. But his career was marred by drug addiction.

Benny Carter, 87 at the time of this recording, could pass musically for 57. His alto playing is as flawless as ever but 79-year-old trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison very much sounds his age and falters constantly throughout the date. Pianist Cedar Walton (who sounds for probably the only time in his career like Oscar Peterson), guitarist Mundell Lowe, bassst Ray Brown and drummer Jeff Hamilton make up a strong rhythm section but Edison and the so-so material cause this session to fall far short of its potential.