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Mid 60s surf grooves from Jerry Cole – blazing guitar-led instrumentals, though this is not a simple, quickie cash-in on the surf trend – it's a actually a top notch taste of expert LA studio genius! Cole is a brilliant guitarist, and the Spaceman he assembled for the Surf Age record... read more

Great earlier stuff from Natalie Cole – actually her third great album in a row – a tremendous early creative and commerical winning streak for Natalie! Thankful has her sweet, soulful voice out from of prodcution by Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy of the Independents, and they give her... read more

A great slice of work from trumpeter Bill Coleman – an American player by birth, but one who became a key part of the French jazz scene in the postwar years – thanks to a big move overseas! Yet the sides here show Bill in an even fresher setting – not just a UK venue, but also... read more

A great slice of work from trumpeter Bill Coleman – an American player by birth, but one who became a key part of the French jazz scene in the postwar years – thanks to a big move overseas! Yet the sides here show Bill in an even fresher setting – not just a UK venue, but also... read more

A stunning session by Ornette Coleman, and one that always seems to get overlooked in discussions of his albums for Atlantic! His quartet here features the amazing Scott LaFaro on bass, and a young Ed Blackwell on drums – both of whom give the tracks an amazing pulse that brings new energy... read more

A really unique chapter in the career of Ornette Coleman – an album that he produced by himself in 1962, away from any other label – as an effort to showcase the newly freer sounds of his music! The recording's the first in a really groundbreaking stretch for the 60s – and it was... read more

Complex rhythms from reedman Steve Coleman – as you might guess from the title, or from some of the other excellent work by his Five Elements group! The bass and drums are definitely at the core of the set – handled by Anthony Tidd and Sean Rickman, respectively – but the alto of... read more

A great set from Chicago's Joan Collaso – one of the hippest vocalists working today in the Windy City! There's a soulful swing to the record that grabs us right from the get-go – thanks to a killer take on "My Favorite Things" – done in an open-ended spirit that owes... read more

A hip little album from Buddy Collette – one that's ostensibly based around the then-popular idea of a set of Paris-inspired tunes – but which comes off with a sound that's a lot deeper than you might expect! David Axelrod produced the set – it was one of his early projects for... read more

Buddy Collette's definitely a man of many parts here – and many talents too, considering the reedwork on the set! Buddy plays alto, tenor, clarinet, and flute – using the horns with wonderful invention that really showcases his unique style of the time – that mix of modern and... read more

A mighty helping of music from the overlooked Mitty Collier – a 60s soul singer on Chess Records, and one who was every bit as great as bigger label stars like Etta James or Fontella Bass! Like both of those singers, Mitty's got a voice that grabs you right from the get-go – a deeply... read more

A rare score from French arranger Michel Colombier – penned for an equally-obscure film directed by the great Jacques Demy! The album follows the same musical style as some of Demy's better-known work from the 60s – like Umbrellas Of Cherbourg or Young Girls Of Rochefort –... read more

A roots-oriented 70s classic from Willie Colon – one of his standout albums of the decade! Willie continues his "life of crime" approach for the early 70s – moving into an old west look on the cover, and matching that with a slightly rootsier sound on the album! The real... read more

Nice work from Colonel Red on the Tokyo Dawn label – soul jazz inspired broken beats and a mix of grittier and spacier textures! Rumbling bass and compelling beats are at the center, with some percolating keys and wavy atmospherics giving it a nicely diverse feel – with some emotive... read more

One of the lesser-known groups of the early 80s funk scene in Ohio – but a killer combo with a groove that's as good as their contemporaries! The album's got production and arrangements from Ranhi Harris of Dayton, who also plays a bit on the record as well – and the groove is kind of... read more

John Coltrane made plenty of great music during his late 50s time at the Prestige Records label – some of it under his own name, and a lot more while working with other leaders! This package presents the full recordings from that second half of Coltrane's Prestige performances –... read more

Ravi Coltrane's first album for Blue Note – put together here with production help from Joe Lovano, who also plays a bit of guest tenor too! The album's got a really dark edge – and really works strongly in those edgier sides of the spectrum – those modes that Coltrane's... read more

An album that definitely lives up to the title promised by The Commodores – a record that takes all their raw funky energy of the early years, and fuses it into a new groove that would catapult the sextet to superstardom! The sound is commercial, but still has a pretty fresh sort of feel too... read more

By this point in their career, The Commodores have lost Lionel Richie and any sort of funk credibility they had from their early years – but they also somehow manage to reemerge with a great new talent for a sweet mellow groove! The title tune "Nightshift" was one of those tracks... read more

Rootsy gospel from The Como Mamas – a tremendous trio of female singers, working here in an all-acapella mode that's completely sublime! The set's an offshoot of the Como Now project done by Daptone a few years ago, and has the same timeless feel – quite a difference from the heavy... read more

A classic set of spiritual fusion from this short-lived allstar group Compost – featuring Harold Vick, Bob Moses, Jumma Santos, and Jack DeJohnette! Vick's at his moody soulful best here, in a mode that's similar to his Strata East work – and the record also features occasional vocals... read more

A sweet surprise from Andy Compton of The Rurals – work that's even more profoundly steeped in deep soul atmosphere – with Compton collaborating with seductive female vocalists for one of the sultriest underground soul sets we've heard in a while! This is one of those records that you'd... read more

A super-funky set – two vintage albums from Con Funk Shun – back to back on a single CD! The self-titled Con Funk Shun album is quite different than their later, better known hits! The group sure knew how to slap that bass, even back on this first album for Mercury – but then... read more

Funky genius from Con Funk Shun – a pair of late 70s albums – together in a single set! Loveshine finds the group working under the production helm of Skip Scarborough, who seems to give them an even sharper edge than usual! The album's filled with those tightly compressed rhythms... read more

A Chilean group with a really wonderful sound – one that mixes familiar folksy guitar and flute with some larger string arrangements – in a style that's quite sublime, and which echoes strongly with the British acid folk generation! Lyrics are all in Spanish, but there's a timeless... read more

A full length debut knockout for The Congregation – who had more-or-less been serving as the live soul house band on the north side of Chicago in the months leading up to Right Now Everything – and deservedly so! The group might take the most cues from classic raw soul and live show... read more

A really dreamy little set from this hip Brazilian combo – a set that's got a bossa feel overall, but which also seems to draw a bit from folkloric roots too! The instrumentation is nice and warm – a great 60s blend of light percussion, acoustic guitar, and nice bits of jazzy flute and... read more

A deep deep deep collection of work from Arthur Conley – one that really shows the true spectrum of his mighty soul talents – and which goes way past his few overplayed hits of the 60s! The focus here is on slow-burners and mellow groovers – tunes that really bring out the depth... read more

The second Arthur Conley album for Atlantic – and like the first, a record that really cooks with some great Otis Redding production! The sound and style is very similar to Otis' work for Stax during the 60s – but the album was recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, with... read more

Rare radio work from vocalist Chris Connor – a number of performances recorded for the US military, and done as nicely as any of her classic studio albums from the 50s! Most of the tracks here are from 1959, and capture Connor at her best icy modern mode – singing with depth, but great... read more

An excellent album of smooth soul tracks – one that reaches back to some of Norman's earlier records for inspiration, and which takes the sound up a few notches to expand the groove. Norman gets help on the arranging tip from Al Johnson, McKinley Jackson, and Paul Riser – which is why... read more

A pair of groovers by Norman Connors from the start of the 80s – Take It To The Limit and Mr C – together in a single set! Take It To The Limit is excellent album of smooth soul – one that reaches back to some of Norman's earlier records for inspiration, and which takes the sound... read more

A fantastic bit of modern soul from Norman Connors – proof that he was still growing and changing as an artist, continuing to push his groove into whole new areas as the 70s progressed. The record takes the smooth jazzy sound of the earlier Buddah sides, sharpens it into a more sophisticated... read more

A pair of mellow soul and jazzy groove masterpieces by Norman Connors – You Are My Starship form '76 and Romantic Journey from '77 in a single set! The former opens with the heavenly title cut – which features Michael Henderson on vocals and Gary Bartz on sax. Bartz plays on a number... read more

Incredible work from Nicola Conte – Schema records maestro making his Blue Note debut with this set – and giving the label one of their best new albums of the 21st Century! The record's quite different than Nicola's programmed dancefloor work for Schema – and is much more of an... read more

A rare early soundtrack from Bill Conti – penned for an obscure Italian film in the years before his 70s blockbuster film scores – and done with a groovy groovy sound that's really outta sight! The style is much more mod than we've ever heard from Bill – funky in parts, and... read more

The legendary unreleased Motown recordings by The Contours – material that should have been issued as a full length LP in 1964 – but all but a couple tunes have languished in the vaults until now! The group simply kills on on these dancefloor ready stormers, with raucous, charismatic... read more

An overlooked gem from The Controllers – one issued a bit late to be part of the classic wave of group soul, but a set that's still overflowing with really old school harmonies! The Controllers really have a wonderful way of putting over a ballad – letting things build slow and mellow,... read more

Cook Classics cooks up one of the best sets so far in the Now Again Music Library Series – part hip hop instrumentals, part Sound Library funk – built from samples culled from the Now Again catalog! Cook Classics Vs Now Again works as both a prime example of the Cook Classics as a... read more

One of those great examples of a wildly successful songwriter recording a terrific album of his own, but not connecting with the pop consciousness – which is shame, because Roger James Cooke's Study is, well, a study in wonderful late 60s songcraft! Cook was actually no stranger to... read more

A legendary run of music from the late, great Sam Cooke – almost all of his recordings for RCA Records, packaged here in one sweet little package! The scope of the set is wonderful – and almost something of a revelation, given that a number of these titles have never appeared on CD in... read more

Wonderful mellow work from Sam Cooke – and a set that's recorded with a sound that's very much in keeping with the "night beat" that you might expect from the title! In fact, there's not so much a "beat" as a simple easy groove – a gentle sort of "night"... read more

A classic live album – one of the first in soul music, and a beautiful set of smooth soul tunes from Sam Cooke! Sam's singing at the high-end nitespot The Copacabana – and like many live sets performed there, this one's tailored a bit to the classy crowd at the show – but that... read more

A great one from this all-star group – an incredibly righteous combo that's given Billy Harper one of his best chances to play in years! As with the previous album by The Cookers, the Harper influence really runs strong – not just in the use of some of his great tracks in the... read more

The third album from Alice Cooper and perhaps the first great one – starting the 70s sleaze show win streak with the massive "I'm Eighteen" –and a record full of great, gritty and grimy rock 'n' roll. Bob Ezrin's producing for the first time, and if the songs and the whole... read more

A pair of overlooked gems from 70s singer/songwriter Marty Cooper – an artist who definitely leans towards the country side of the spectrum, but also comes across with more of a mellow rock feel too! A Minute Of Your Time is a 1972 set for the Barnaby label – one that beautifully mixes... read more

A second sublime set from Ruth Copeland – a funky female singer from the Detroit scene of the early 70s, with key ties to the P-Funk universe, and a unique groove that mixes singer/songwriter modes with the fuzzier funkier elements of artists like Betty Davis or Yvonne Fair! There's a bit... read more

A surprisingly groovy little set – one of a few outings cut by singer Ruth Copeland – kind of an enigmatic figure in the early P-Funk years! The approach here is more rock than soul, but there's definitely some funky undercurrents too – of the sort that have always made Copeland... read more

Great work from Johnny Coppola – a member of America's famous first family of film, and a hell of a crooner in his own right! Johnny lives in a world where the Rat Pack never ended – and he sings here with a style we haven't heard this well since the days of Frank Sinatra at Reprise... read more

A gem of a set from a singer who should have been much bigger back in the 50s – served up with the same sort of small combo backings you'd get on the Chris Connor albums for Bethlehem! Marlene Cord is a hell of a singer on her own – with a voice that's never hokey, yet full of feeling... read more

Four classic albums by this hip UK group – all with rare bonus tracks too! First up is the wonderful Dad Man Cat – our favorite record by one of the best funk records to ever come out of England! On this great debut album, Corduroy are a tight funky combo, with an organ and clavinet... read more

An incredible debut as a leader for Chick Corea – quite different than his 70s work, and a set that's filled with heavy soul jazz and Latin influences! Chick's coming off of years of work in Latin bands, and in smaller soul jazz combos, and his writing here is a mix of the freer style that... read more

That's a pretty festive pig roast taking place on the cover of this one – and the band's got an equally festive groove to match! The set bristles with all the sharp energy we love from the early Cortijo albums – a tight, percussion-heavy approach to Latin grooves – one that's a... read more

A legendary bit of funky fusion from the French scene of the 70s – the standout set from Cortex, a combo who's very heavy on the keyboards! The tunes have a feel that's quite different than American electric work of the time – funky, but also a bit breezy too – with a strong... read more

Classic sounds from Cortijo and Ismael Rivera – one of the best 60s teams in Latin music! The grooves are filled with lots of lively percussion – that great small combo sound that Cortijo did so well at this point – and Rivera's got a wonderfully soulful way with the vocals... read more

Damn hard to go wrong with Cortijo at this point in his career – as records like this are razor-sharp, all the way through! The cooker features excellent vocals from a young Ismael Rivera – who's already got this transcendent quality that points towards larger Latin dimensions to come... read more

Sublime work from Alaide Costa – a beautifully mature album from the late 80s, and one that has her working with a host of great guest help from the Milton Nascimento camp, and the jazzier side of the MPB spectrum! In addition to vocals from Milton on one cut, the set also features... read more

One of the rootsiest albums we've ever heard from the lovely Ana Costa – quite different than her earlier funk and soul sides in Brazil, and done in a really great samba mode overall! Instrumentation is mostly acoustic – with excellent percussion and guitar – and Costa's vocals... read more

The long-overdue return of Coultrain – an artist we've been digging right from the start, when he dropped off a pile of handmade CDs as freebies to give away in our store! Since that time, Coultrain has emerged to become one of the freshest talents of the underground – through work... read more

The drums are definitely exciting here – really tight rhythms that drive most of these cuts into a funky frenzy – even if the groove is more based on American soul of the late 60s than the African rock promised in the title! Most of the tunes are covers, but remade here as really hip... read more

A seminal set from Country Joe & The Fish – one of those albums that brought the new psychedelic sound strongly into the mainstream – but all without softening up or commercializing it at all! There's still a very sharp edge to the record – mean organ lines, fuzzy guitar, and... read more

Hell, Boots, it's not a bother – we actually dig Sorry To Bother You as much as any Coup music since Steal This Album! There's a great vibe on Sorry To Bother you – with rebellious, progressive lyricism, of course – but musically, this one surpasses the preceding Coup album, in... read more

A rare bit of Cali soul – and a lot groovier than you'd guess from the cover! The music is rich in jazzy inflections – funky fusion used behind the lead vocals of Errol Knowles, in a blend that's quite similar to the best Bay Area funk of the time – particularly some of the... read more

A wonderful album of mellow soul tracks! The record is Lou Courtney's masterpiece – and it's a jam-packed set filled with great tracks that rank right up there with classic 70s work by artists like Marvin Gaye, Leroy Hutson, or Leon Ware! Leon Pendarvis handled most of the arrangements... read more

A cool step sideways for the great Don Covay – a set that still holds onto all the soul of his earlier work for Atlantic – but one that also has Don hitting a rootsier, bluesier mode too! The combo's definitely a blues group at their core, but apart from some harmonica and a bit more... read more

Incredible work from the young Stanley Cowell – one of his first albums ever, but already a step ahead of most of his contemporaries! The set's a trio date, unlike some of Cowell's later albums for Strata East – and it's got a wonderful blend of soaring piano lines and more complicated... read more

A crossover classic from Deborah Cox – a record that's filled with plenty of tuneful tracks, yet sung with a surprising depth of soul! Production is top-shelf on most numbers – and is often in that great 90s mode that's reintroducing warmer sounds that had slipped out of soul music the... read more

Amazing lost sounds from Detroit – a previously unissued album from pianist Kenny Cox – best known for his late 60s albums on Blue Note, but working here in a really righteous style, and using a fair bit of Fender Rhodes as well! The album's a lost gem from the Strata label –... read more

Lol Coxhill in two different settings – both of them great! Half the set features Coxhill working with Simon Emmerson on electronics – processing Lol's work on soprano sax, and creating even more amazing sounds than came from the horn on its own! The processing makes the music feel a... read more

A brilliant testament to the collaborative strengths of reedman Lol Coxhill – an artist who's always been willing to take chances, and frequently does so in the company of other important avant musicians – usually spurring them onto new levels of creativity in the process! This set... read more

A really rich document of the charms and talents of reedman Lol Coxhill – a set that features music from a wide range of scenes and settings in Lol's long career – including bits of hardbop from the 50s, R&B from the 60s, and a wide range of great performances from later years too! ... read more

Enigmatic sounds from UK reedman Lol Coxhill – a really cool collaboration with Morgan Fisher – who adds in his own tape manipulation, guitar, and piano next to Coxhill's work on soprano sax – plus a bit of carillion too! The style's even more spacey and laidback than Lol's 70s... read more

After Hours is the time when Crawford really hits his stride – playing lean and mellow in that easy soulful way that always seemed to work better than any of his other approaches to jazz. This album's got him blowing alto and even playing a bit of piano, in middle-sized groups that include... read more

Warm and laidback soul jazz from the great Hank Crawford – cut in a relaxed mode that makes the set feel like some of the late nite smokers on the Prestige label at the time! Hank's alto work is perfectly placed on the set, and he's working with fellow Ray Charles bandmember David Fathead... read more

One of the most highly-regarded albums of Hank Crawford's 60s run on Atlantic Records – a set when everything seems to come together just right – and provide an even better showcase than usual for Hank's soulful lines on alto sax! The set also features tenor from David Newman –... read more

Randy Crawford and Joe Sample – a mighty wonderful combination who've made some great studio sessions together – working here in an even more organic live concert setting! The album's got a stripped-down, back-to-basics approach – Joe just playing acoustic piano and working with... read more

An excellent bit of spiritual soul jazz on Horace Tapscott's Nimbus label – featuring a group led by pianist Kaeef Rauzadun that includes Henry Franklin on bass, George Bohannon on trombone, Wilbert Hemsley on tenor, and Gary Bias on alto and soprano sax. The album's also got some beautiful... read more

Warmly wonderful sounds from Maria Creuza – really coming into her own at the time of this mid 80s set – and finding a way to blend together rootsy sounds and sophisticated production – all with a result that's a bit like Gal Costa at the time! There's a gentle feel to the set... read more

Pure magic from the lovely Maria Creuza – a singer who only seems to get more soulful as the years go on! The set's got a different feel than some of Maria's earlier work – rootsy some minutes, but with a soul-styled sophistication at others – often arranged with jazzy... read more

A really compelling blend of sounds – and a set that's billed as a hip hop album, but which is way way more than that – more a wonderful hybrid of global styles, all wrapped up with the crispness of the contemporary Brazilian underground! The set begins with a number that's straight... read more

A trio of Anthony Braxton alumni take on some of the master's amazing compositions – played here in free-flowing modes by the group of Marilyn Crispell on piano, Marc Dresser on bass, and Gerry Hemmingway on drums! The compositions are all Braxton numbered formulas – those incredibly... read more

A fantastic album from Sonny Criss! The record is one of his excellent late 60s "comeback" sides for Prestige – and it features incredibly solid, confident, and hard alto solos, blown with a tremendous amount of imagination. Bob Cranshaw and Alan Dawson provide excellent rhythm... read more

Crazy psyche era wierdness from Cromagnon – the band name and album title may reference prehistory, but this stuff is actually way ahead of it's time – if we didn't see the date on this thing, we'd have sworn it to be from the art damaged post punk early 80s! The group is credited to... read more

A smooth later groover from Crown Heights Affair – a lot more 80s sounding than the group's classic work, but in a way that's actually totally great! CHA were never shy of hitting a mainstream sound – and early in the group's career, they traded harder funk for smoother disco –... read more

A mellow soul classic from Chicago – and one of the last great records to come out of the city's hip 70s soul scene! We know very little about Crystal Winds – save for this excellent record, one of the few titles issued on the short-lived Cash Ear label, a south-side imprint in the... read more

A massive set from Nigeria's CS Crew – and a set that definitely lives up to its title! The bass is super-heavy on these grooves – way more so than on other Afro Funk records of the time, and in ways that easily match, if not beat, the early best by Fatback Band and Kool & The Gang... read more

Ronnie Cuber's an overlooked monster in jazz – a hell of a player, and has been for decades – and one of the last few cats who can really handle a baritone sax! Cuber was late in a legacy of baritonists that included Pepper Adams, Sahib Shihab, Cecil Payne, and Lars Gullin – a... read more

One of the few albums as a leader from Mighty Mike Cuozzo – a tight tenor player with a great sort of 50s swing! The set's the kind of no-nonsense, well-blown effort you might expect from Sonny Stitt or Seldon Powell at the time – tunes that pack in plenty over a relatively short space... read more

Hard driving work by Ted Curson! Jubilant Power is a pretty apt title for the set – played with a celebratory fire – combining the freer loft-style playing of his late 70s American work, with some of the tighter grooving rhythmic approaches of his early 70s sides in France. Chris... read more

Rare solo material from pianist Leo Cuypers – a really wonderful set that gives us a chance to hear his talents in a completely unfettered setting! We know Cuypers best from some of his efforts in groups, and it's a great change to hear him here on his own – working through some... read more

Cyclist rides in with Bones In Motion – a joint release by Stones Throw and Leaving Records – an icy cool mix of early electro and housey influences with grittier, more experimental touches! The hypnotic approach and 80s era synth atmosphere bring Tour De France era Kraftwerk to mind... read more

The best of a handful of albums that the one-time Prince bassist put out in the early 80s – a record that made a splash via the great Prince-penned "The Dance Electric" – possibly a blessing and a curse for AC, as Prince was so huge at the time that the record going public was... read more

A wicked double-header – a pair of rare French vampire soundtracks, packaged together in a single CD! First up is Fascination – a totally cool score from Philippe D'Aram – one that's heavy on electronics, amidst the usual horror movie moods – which gives the music a cold,... read more

Samba jazz, but lots more too – a set that's got plenty of dark edges amidst the warmer rhythms – which makes for one of the most compelling albums we've heard so far from drummer Duduka Da Fonseca! The group's a quintet, with some especially nice work on tenor from Anat Cohen –... read more

An album that bristles with soul and life from the very first note – one of a great run of 70s samba sets recorded by Xango Da Mangueira – all of them pretty darn great! This one's got all the right elements firmly in place – immediately catchy rhythms served up by simple... read more

Wonderful work from the later years of Moreira Da Silva – a quartet of albums recorded for the Odeon label at the end of the 50s, and which really show Da Silva hitting a mature sort of stride! The timing was perfect for these sets – as improved studio techniques in Brazil really... read more

An overlooked gem from 80s Brazil – a rare bit of indie samba work from Luiz Carlos Da Vila – and a record that's definitely a cut above the usual material in the genre! There's a wonderfully rich sound to the record right from the start – soulful vocals from Luiz Carlos, and... read more

Easygoing samba sounds from Mano Decio Da Viola – an overlooked 70s gem, but a set that stands with the best of Mano's bigger contemporaries in the samba scene! Mano's vocals have this raspy, personal feel – almost as if he's speaking instead of singing at some points – although... read more

A record that acts just like its title – as the set really helps focus the brilliance of Paulinho Da Viola into bright rays of color – showing different tones and feelings with each new tune on the set! By that, we don't mean that the album's schizophrenic – just that it's got a... read more

Exactly the kind of record to show why we love Japanese piano trio sessions so much – a sweet 80s date from lyrical genius Iwasaki Daisuke! The album's got a relatively understated feel at first, but really grabs us once it gets going – with a mix of complicated solo lines and subtle,... read more