Toni Harper - Candy Store Blues: The Singles & Albums Collection 1948-60 (2026)

The American jazz and pop singer Toni Harper was a remarkable performer, beginning her career as a child star, and first appearing on stage as a dancer at the age of 12, then starting to sing with noted jazz orchestras a couple of years later, immediately having her first hit 1948 when she was 14. After a few quiet years, she started recording albums in the mid-1950s and made some high-quality jazz and sophisticated pop collections before retiring from the business in 1960 in her early'30s. This 73-track 3-CD collection comprises a significant proportion - around 70% - of her career recorded output, and includes singles for Columbia and Verve with the bands of Eddie Beale, Herb Jeffries, Dizzy Gillespie and Buddy Bregman, plus the tracks from her album "Toni" on Verve, and the albums "Lady Lonely" and "Night Mood" on RCA. It includes her 1948 R&B hit single "Candy Store Blues". On her Verve album she is accompanied by Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Alvin Stoller. She was an unusual, distinctive and stylish performer, and this selection of recordings from across her career is an enlightening showcase for her often unheralded talents.

Tracklist:
1-1 Toni Harper;Eddie Beal And His Sextet - Dolly's Lullaby [3:05]
1-2 Toni Harper;Eddie Beal And His Sextet - Candy Store Blues [3:16]
1-3 Toni Harper;Eddie Beal And His Sextet - Tabby The Cat [2:38]
1-4 Toni Harper;Eddie Beal And His Sextet - You're My Everything [2:28]
1-5 Toni Harper - Bippity Be-Bop Pony [2:27]
1-6 Toni Harper - Miss In Between Blues [2:30]
1-7 Toni Harper;Herb Jeffries - Peppermint Stick [3:09]
1-8 Toni Harper;Herb Jeffries - You're Too Tall, I'm Too Small [2:56]
1-9 Toni Harper - The Muffin Man [2:19]
1-10 Toni Harper - Cinderella Baby [2:47]
1-11 Toni Harper - It's Story Time Again [2:57]
1-12 Toni Harper - Rock-A-Bye Baby [2:55]
1-13 Toni Harper - Floppy [3:07]
1-14 Toni Harper - Is That All I Mean To You [2:57]
1-15 Toni Harper - Get Goin' Engineer [2:51]
1-16 Toni Harper - Sam's Song (The Happy Tune) [2:50]
1-17 Toni Harper - Happy Feet [2:38]
1-18 Toni Harper - Dish Rag [2:38]
1-19 Toni Harper - Get Up [2:18]
1-20 Toni Harper - Snowy White Snow And Jingle Bells [2:16]
1-21 Toni Harper - Jingle Bells [2:45]
1-22 Toni Harper;Harry James & His Orch. - Baby Blues [3:06]
1-23 Toni Harper;Harry James & His Orch. - Peculiar Kind Of Feeling [2:49]
1-24 Toni Harper - That's All I Want For Christmas [2:15]
1-25 Toni Harper - Mom And Dad's Waltz [2:56]
1-26 Toni Harper;HARRY JAMES - Blacksmith Blues [2:48]
2-1 Toni Harper;HARRY JAMES - Don't Send Me Home [3:01]
2-2 Harry James & His Orchestra - Melancholy Trumpet (Ooh-Wah) [2:34]
2-3 Toni Harper;HARRY JAMES - Fruit Cake [2:49]
2-4 Toni Harper - Silly Heart [2:36]
2-5 Toni Harper - I'll Never Forget You [3:15]
2-6 Toni Harper - Taking A Chance On Love [2:13]
2-7 Toni Harper - Play Me The Blues [2:54]
2-8 Toni Harper - I Telephoned I Telegraphd [2:44]
2-9 Toni Harper - We Got To Live, Got To Grow [2:43]
2-10 Toni Harper - Can't We Be Friends? [3:27]
2-11 Toni Harper - I Could Write A Book [2:37]
2-12 Toni Harper - Gone With The Wind [2:22]
2-13 Toni Harper - Singin' In The Rain [2:52]
2-14 Toni Harper - Love For Sale [5:35]
2-15 Toni Harper - Just A Sittin' And A-Rockin' [3:23]
2-16 Toni Harper - A Foggy Day [3:02]
2-17 Toni Harper - You Don't Know What Love Is [2:36]
2-18 Toni Harper - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered [4:20]
2-19 Toni Harper - Little Girl Blue [3:24]
2-20 Toni Harper - You Took Advantage Of Me [2:39]
2-21 Toni Harper - Like Someone In Love [4:24]
2-22 Toni Harper - Lady Lonely [2:59]
2-23 Toni Harper - He Was A Man [4:03]
3-1 Toni Harper - In The Dark Of Night [3:03]
3-2 Toni Harper - My Heart Is A Lonely Hunter [2:34]
3-3 Toni Harper - Lack Of Love [3:10]
3-4 Toni Harper - Blue It Grows [3:23]
3-5 Toni Harper - I Love The Blues [3:15]
3-6 Toni Harper - You Taught Me How To Cry [3:27]
3-7 Toni Harper - Velvet Hammer [3:13]
3-8 Toni Harper - Other Woman [2:58]
3-9 Toni Harper - Nobody Home But The Blues [3:46]
3-10 Toni Harper - Busy Blues [2:59]
3-11 Toni Harper - Love Has Come, Love Has Gone [3:09]
3-12 Toni Harper - River Weep [3:08]
3-13 Toni Harper - In The Still Of The Night [2:38]
3-14 Toni Harper - Paradise [2:51]
3-15 Toni Harper - 'Round Midnight [3:35]
3-16 Toni Harper - The Meaning Of The Blues [3:08]
3-17 Toni Harper - Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night In The Week) [2:58]
3-18 Toni Harper - Night After Night [3:03]
3-19 Toni Harper - Just Go [2:46]
3-20 Toni Harper - A Sleepin' Bee [2:41]
3-21 Toni Harper - My Ship [3:19]
3-22 Toni Harper - You And The Night And The Music [2:10]
3-23 Toni Harper - Petals On The Pond [2:54]
3-24 Toni Harper - Where Flamingos Fly [3:12]