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The brain trust of soul jazz in the early 60s – led by tenorist Gene Ammons on both albums! Soul Summit Volume one features Ammons and Sonny Stitt on tenor, plus Jack McDuff on Hammond – a definite soul summit for the time – with 3 top-shelf players in the lead, all getting... read more

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Nice and rarely seen trio side from under-recorded Chicago pianist Anderson. He plays here with Bill Lee and either Walter Perkins or Philly Joe Jones on drums, in a trio that made the core of the rhythm section on Frank Strozier's excellent Jazzland date, Long Night. The group is in fine form... read more

Spare set of moody out pieces, played by a trio that includes Andrews on reeds, Nana Vasconcelos on percussion, and Nat Adderley Jr. on piano – adding a surprisingly nice sound to the album. Titles include "Vamos Para Casa", "Danca Das Kashala E Sarhanna", and "Um... read more

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One of the funkiest records ever from Charly Antolini – the drummer who cut some mighty groovy records for MPS! This album features Charly's drums really kicking hard – actually hitting some moments that make for some tight breaks in the set, supported by instrumentation that's very... read more

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One of the most creative albums ever from UK composer Neil Ardley – and that's saying a lot, given the complexity of his other work! The set's got a wonderful blend of jazz arrangements and some freer passages – scored by Ardley with some of his most sensitive, most beautiful music... read more

One of the most creative albums ever from UK composer Neil Ardley – and that's saying a lot, given the complexity of his other work! The set's got a wonderful blend of jazz arrangements and some freer passages – scored by Ardley with some of his most sensitive, most beautiful music... read more

Interesting stuff, if not the kind of record you'd put on every day. The album's an interview with Louis Armstrong's wife Lil, and she talks at length about her famous days in the early years of jazz. Segments include "The Young Louis", "Early Life In Chicago", "Return To... read more

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Billed as "some of the most important jazz recordings ever made" – and for good reason, too! The set brings together all the crucial early Louis Armstrong recordings from the 78rpm era – late 20s/early 30s sides for Okey, Parlophone, RCA, and Odeon – all presented with... read more

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A key album in the career of Louis Armstrong – one that helped him forge the fourth or fifth great comeback in his career! As you'd guess by the title, the album's built around Louis' hit version of "Hello Dolly" – sung in a mode that at one level stretches back to his roots... read more

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A classic live date from Satchmo – and expanded to include the complete performances on that legendary night at Boston's Symphony Hall – for the first time ever! Recorded in November of 1947 and originally released in '51, it's never before been issued with both the first and second... read more

Some consider this the worst point in Louis' career – when he was singing odd pop material for Decca, and had really left his jazz roots behind. We don't think it's that bad, though – and the album's got a wonderfully playful style that shows what a great entertainer Louis could be... read more

Music from the film of the same name – with some extracts from the film, too!... read more

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Gentle-going genius from the later years of Satchmo's career – a session that has Louis on trumpet and vocals, backed by the Oscar Peterson Trio! Peterson's usual group with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown is expanded slightly for this outing – bringing in Louis Bellson on drums to syncopate... read more

One of the last live appearances by Louis Armstrong – presented here in a really charming little album, issued in a small pressing by The National Press Club! The album's a great document of all the Armstrong charms in one package – as Louis talks as much as he plays – telling... read more

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Previously unissued material from the great Harry Arnold – excellent mid 60s big band sessions, as creative as they are hard-swinging! Arnold's group here is at the top of its form – working together with a rich array of tones and colors that show the best legacies of 50s modern jazz... read more

A very soulful batch of fusion tracks from drummer Horacee Arnold – here leading a group that includes reed talents Billy Harper and Joe Farrell, percussionist Ralph McDonald, guitarist Ralph Towner, and Dave Friedman on vibes and percussion. Tracks are long and spiralling, with a spiritual... read more

A very soulful batch of fusion tracks from drummer Horacee Arnold – here leading a group that includes reed talents Billy Harper and Joe Farrell, percussionist Ralph McDonald, guitarist Ralph Towner, and Dave Friedman on vibes and percussion. Tracks are long and spiralling, with a spiritual... read more

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A lost chapter in the career of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – an obscure early 70s album, issued by the mostly-blues Paula Records label in Louisiana, and one of the hardest to find albums in their catalog! The album features 3 long tracks – "Chi-Congo", "Enlorfe",... read more

An important pre-Art Ensemble Of Chicago moment – one that has most of the group coming together in a pair of rare recordings in the home of Lester Bowie – already sounding amazingly creative as a unit! The sound is almost freer than later work by the group – or certainly at the... read more

One of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's all-time classics! If you've ever bought an Art Ensemble album and said "Hmm, what's all the fuss about?", get this one. It'll change your mind. The band is in perfect form – and hits an incredible blend of free thinking modernism and soulful... read more

A the time they were taking Paris by storm, the Art Ensemble recorded this brilliant message to folks everywhere – one of their best early albums, and a landmark in Chicago avant garde jazz! The record features the group at their best – playing very tightly, but also with a sense of... read more

Beautiful work from the Art Ensemble – and one of their undisputed classics! The record features some of the most perfectly realized moments the band ever cut to wax, with a blend of whimsical multi-instrumental improvisation, and a strong sense of the spiritual tradition in jazz. The album... read more

An incredible package – and one that features three of the most important records ever cut by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago! All three albums were recorded at the Saravah Studios in the summer of 1969 – during a time when the Art Ensemble of Chicago were making big waves on the Parisian... read more

A rare treasure from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – recorded as a supposed third album for Atlantic records in 1974, but unissued for years until the group released it on their own! The session is a live one, recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival – and features the unique addition of... read more

The start of a beautiful relationship between the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and the DIW label – a Japanese imprint who brought the group back to full prominence in the years after they stopped recording for ECM! DIW also let the group really do their own thing, too – almost moving back... read more

Soprano voice and four different saxophones – a really unusual combination, with sparkling musical results! The title's a bit hokey, but the record's got a wonderfully fresh feel – angular lines from this Dutch sax quartet – very much in the best spirit of 80s experiments in the... read more

A totally wild little record – and one of the most unique jazz collections we've ever heard – or seen! The original package of the record is a 5LP presentation of music that brings together four of the most important French piano talents of the postwar years – Georges Arvanitas,... read more

One of the most hard-hitting albums ever cut by pianist Georges Arvanitas – an early effort that's all soul jazz all the way through! Although Arvanitas is best known as a committed modernist, especially in later years, this sweet early 60s session is a stone cooker in the best mode of Blue... read more

A great follow-up to the previous collaboration between pianist Ehud Asherie and tenorist Harry Allen – this time titled after a darker corner of downtown New York! As with the other date, this one features no other instrumentation at all – just warmly expressive duets on piano and... read more

Nothing too high-toned here, despite the title – as the set's a nicely mellow batch of duets between pianist Ehud Asherie and tenorist Harry Allen – caught in a laidback, open-ended style that's mighty nice! As with some of Allen's best work, there's a strong sense of nostalgia going... read more

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A brilliant jazz rock jammer from Brian Auger – recorded here with a bit more effects than usual, in a nicely tripped-out way that makes us forgive the vocals and really get into the grooves of the tunes! The group seems even tighter than ever – but never too slick or rocking –... read more

Brian Auger's first album with The Oblivion Express – a harder-rocking ensemble than his initial Trinity trio, but one who also really pushed things with a really jazzy edge! Like many of Auger's contemporaries on the UK scene, Brian was making the shift from Brit beat group jazz and soul,... read more

The third album from Brian Auger & The Trinity – and the first to feature the group recording without vocals from Julie Driscoll! The sound here is just as soulful as before – a tight take on American soul jazz and funky soul of the 60s – pushed along by Auger's mighty work... read more

Soaring organ work from Brian Auger's Oblivion Express – and arguably the greatest album he ever cut with this post-Trinity group! The sound here is clean and lean – with Brian himself on a mix of organ, piano, and moog – really hitting a nice jazz funk mode that drops some of... read more

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One of a few records cut by this surprisingly popular Australian group – temporary ex-pats to the US scene, featuring Errol Buddle on tenor and Bryce Rhode on piano, two of the country's greatest jazz players of the 50s and 60s. Given the sympatico between the Aussie and LA mode of the 50s... read more

An incredibly well-crafted set from bassist Omer Avital – a player who's really got a bold vision for his group here, and manages to lead a host of strong players through a set of very personal material! There's some great righteous energy going on here – making the set easily one of... read more

An excellent funky fusion group from Chicago – and one of the best ensembles to record for the Black Jazz label! The group's made up of hip Chicago underground players – and includes Ken Chaney on electric piano, Ari Brown on saxes, and Frank Gordon on trumpet – a lineup that... read more

No Mirage here – as the album's got a presence that's impossible to deny – a solid, soulful uttering from this key Chicago combo of the 70s! The group's led by reedman Ari Brown – better known for his later avant work – and they've got a wicked blend of keyboards and horns... read more

One of David Axelrod's oddest records, but still a darn great one! The whole album is sort of a concept album about slavery (hence the title "The Auction"), and it has some spiritual political vocals on a number of tracks – but underneath is the usual great funky instrumentation of... read more

Killer stuff! David Axelrod was a legendary soul and jazz producer who worked for Captiol during the late 60s, where he put together some of the label's most amazing records – a number of which are the sort of stuff hip hoppers die for these days! Most of Axelrod's work was quite obscure,... read more

Stunning! This is David Axelrod's rare suite of tracks dedicated to saving the enviroment with a set of jazzy funky grooves! The record's probably his most baroque album ever, with a big group of jazz players that mixes vibes, guitars, and off-kilter reeds – plus a group of singers who... read more

David Axelrod takes on Handel's Messiah – and the result is an amazingly complex set of music – very similar to his earlier albums on Capitol Records, and his Warner work with the Electric Prunes! If you love the Axe, you'll find plenty to love here – spare, dark orchestrations,... read more

A killer set of Danish modern jazz – recorded at the start of the 60s with a really searing lineup! The set's go-led by pianist Bent Axen and tenorist Bent Jaedig – two guys with a very hip approach to their music, an a keen ear for the sharper sides of jazz at the time – a blend... read more

A brilliant set of straight jazz material from Roy Ayers – a set recorded for Atlantic at a time when he was working for the label in Herbie Mann's group – but done in a much more righteous groove that really points the way towards Roy's growth in the 70s! The lineup changes a bit... read more

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A really great little album from Roy Ayers – titled after a famous 60s pop hit, but with a much hipper feel than you'd expect! The group on the album features modernist soul jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock, Gary Bartz, Charles Tolliver, and Hubert Laws – all of whom work nicely with... read more

A far-reaching early gem from Roy Ayers – a set that's much more jazz-based than his later work, and a record that has him touching base with the Blue Note and Strata East sides of the jazz spectrum! The lineup here is incredibly hip – a mix of players that includes a young Charles... read more

A beautifully packaged reissue of this rare set from 1964 – an early example of the genius of Albert Ayler, recorded in The Netherlands for a small audience in a Dutch radio studio! The setting is a wonderful one – a mix of the live freedoms that would really let Ayler stretch out... read more

The complete recordings from Albert Ayler's 1966 ESP set at Slugs Nightclub – located in his home turf of the East Village, a very fervent setting for avant jazz at the time! The material has a feel that's a lot like Ayler's studio recordings for ESP, but the tracks are longer overall, and... read more

A seminal Albert Ayler session from the 60s – recorded at the legendary Judson Hall with an incredible sound! There's a bold, righteous feel to this record that possibly even tops other Ayler classics for ESP – and the spacious setting makes the notes echo, rebound, and come back... read more

A landmark recording – Albert Ayler's first album for the ESP label, and a record that hit the jazz world like a bullet! Spiritual Unity sets the stage for a format that would become huge in the European avant scene of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even today – the sax-driven power-trio,... read more

A landmark recording – Albert Ayler's first album for the ESP label, and a record that hit the jazz world like a bullet! Spiritual Unity sets the stage for a format that would become huge in the European avant scene of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and even today – the sax-driven power-trio,... read more

The last of Azymuth's LPs before Jose Roberto Bertrami left, only to rejoin the group about a decade later. The group's still in fine form here, playing everything from breezy Brazilian jazz and fusion , to some acoustic jazz numbers, and as always, Bertrami's work on the keys is fluid and bright.... read more

Warmly mellow grooves from Azymuth – a set that nicely lives up to the "Flame" in the title – and which shows the strengths the trio picked up during their years in the US! The sound here is round and soulful – a great fusion of the group's roots in the 70s Brazilian... read more

A classic session of Italian modernist jazz – led by bassist Giorgio Azzolini, and featuring searing trumpet work by Enrico Rava! Pianist Franco D'Andrea and drummer Aldo Romano complete the group – and the tracks show a definite influence of the free jazz stylings that were sweeping... read more

A lost Italian gem from the 60s! Bassist Giorgio Azzolini was one of Italy's best players during the postwar years, and this handsome reissue brings to light one of his rarer sessions from the 60s. The record's a lyrical septet session, with Azzolini's warm round basslines right up front, and... read more

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Titles include "Up In A Tree", "Yonder In Molon", "Midsummer Eve", "Far Away Star", and "Loves Me Loves Me Not".... read more

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A hard-jamming bit of jazz rock – with lots of free solo work on alto and soprano sax by Ron Aspery, and a pretty strong power-trio instrumental format from Tony Hicks on drums and Colin Hodgkinson on bass. The album's more jamming than it is funky, but there's some pretty great playing on... read more

Hardbop albums don't get any better than this – and although drummer Dave Bailey only recorded for a brief stretch as a leader, this session's one that shows that he was a heck of a force to contend with! The record's got an intensity that easily rivals the best by Art Blakey over at Blue... read more

Heavy duty hardbop – and one of three amazing Epic sessions cut by drummer Dave Bailey! The set grooves as massively as his One and Two Feet In The Gutter albums – and is recorded with a similar lineup that includes Horace Parlan on piano, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Charlie Rouse on... read more

Possibly the best document you could ever hope to find of the inventive guitar skills of Derek Bailey – a CD that brings together his seminal In Whose Tradition album with rare bonus tracks and unreleased numbers too! The core of the record features Bailey playing solo – both acoustic... read more

A well-titled album from the legendary Derek Bailey – definitely a set that lives up to his tremendous reputation over the years! Bailey plays solo guitar here – working through a set of short improvised pieces, and coming up with sounds that are simply incredible – especially... read more

Derek Bailey in all of his unfettered glory – working here solo, on some very extended passages – on a great recording that offers up the entirety of a full concert from the end of the 80s! Bailey's guitar work here seems to be even more inventive than his famous experiments of the 70s... read more

Pure genius from the B Baker Chocolate Company – a set that's equal parts fusion and soul, held together by these rich arrangements that really send the whole thing home! The album's never too slick, yet has a sense of perfection that matches some of the best soulful fusion dates at Blue... read more

A lost album of raw twangy guitar from Mickey Baker – best known as the noisier half of the Mickey & Sylvia team – and even more let loose here on his own! The record is pretty rocking all around – with lots of loud, complex guitar soloing from Mickey – in a manner that... read more

A sweet instrumental tribute to the 70s soul genius of Thom Bell – plus the Delfonics and Stylistics as well – served up with lots of mellow keyboards from the mighty Bob Baldwin! Given that Bob's got a firm lock on soulful sounds of the 21st Century, he's a great choice to revive the... read more

Blistering sounds from Ballister – quite possibly the fiercest album so far from this key Chicago group – and that's saying a lot, given the intensity of their previous work! The trio really seem to know each other intimately by this point – so that they can really let loose, and... read more

The coolest album so far from this compelling Norwegian combo – a set that's got a much more hypnotic feel than any of their other records – spinning out in a weird way that's kind of a combination of ECM jazz and Terry Riley! The tunes all have this slow pulsing sort of quality –... read more

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One of the last sessions ever recorded by the legendary Billy Bang – but a set that still bristles with all the intensity that first made us fall in love with his music! If anything, the album's almost a back-to-basics effort for Billy – served up with the kind of soulful, searching... read more

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One of the first albums ever cut as a leader by reedman Gato Barbieri – and a very sharp-edged session that's quite different than his better-known work in the 70s! Barbieri's tenor here has an incredible tone – as deeply soulful as Pharoah Sanders or late John Coltrane, and blown with... read more

A real sleeper – and one of the treasures of the Arista Freedom series! The album's a rare meeting between Argentine tenor player Gato Barbieri and South African pianist Dollar Brand – a true global meeting of the jazz minds, and a recording that's stronger than most of the work either... read more

A nice set from these latter day Detroit free music explorers, with a spiritual vibe and a varied approach to improvisation that isn't afraid to groove at moments, but also involves some nice textural dynamic playing in a very post AACM mode. Anthony Holland plays reeds, Tani Tabal tablas and trap... read more

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Later work from Charlie Barnet, but a set that really cooks nicely overall – still with the strong sax tones of earlier years, but also with a groovier sort of sparkle that marks the 60s date of the session! The tunes are short, but Charlie gets plenty of space to do his thing –... read more

Bold work from Charlie Barnet – packaged in a cover with great graphics too!... read more

A nice jammer from the "second wind" period of CTI – and a strong return to Latin jazz for Ray! The set's a great mixture of smooth CTI electric funk and Latin-oriented grooves – and it features work by Ray on congas and percussion, plus a list of players that includes Tito... read more