A stunning book – even more amazing than we were expecting, and we were really expecting a lot! This is a heavy, hardcover, full color volume that takes a deep dig into the world of British jazz during some crucial modern years – presented with oversized images throughout, in the manner of some hefty art book from Taschen or one of those other fancy publishers! Author Richard Morton Jack presents listings for hundreds of crucial albums – each with both front and back cover artwork reproduced in full, in a size that's about a square 9" for most of the records, on pages that are much larger, with text at the bottom on each record, and even inner label reproductions! If you love Brit jazz from this period as much as we do, you'll find plenty to love – as the book contains listings for crucial records by giants like Joe Harriott, Stan Tracey, Graham Collier, Mike Westbrook, John Stevens, Don Rendell, and dozens of others – not just familiar albums, but really rare ones we've never seen before – work on the Lansdowne series on Columbia, and other labels that include RCA, EMI, Argo, and CBS – plus smaller indies too. The book is as beautiful as having an original pressing of one of these gems in your hands – and given that most of the originals go for hundreds of dollars, if/when you can find them, the book is a hell of a deal. Hardcover, 372 pages, and in full color throughout. Book

A huge book of jazz reviews from the UK – all penned by journalist Chris Searle from the Morning Star – and presented here with a bonus 2CD set of rare material from the UK scene! The CD is really incredible – and is almost worth the price of the package alone – as it features never-issued work that echoes some of the ideas in the book – served up by some of the luminaries we've come to love from the Jazz In Britain label! There's a huge amount of material from various groups led by pianist Chris McGregor – titles that include "New Year Carnival", "Sun Song", "Night Poem", and "Sabendye Baye" – plus more cuts that include "Saalfelden Encore" by Trevor Watts, "Live At The Albert" by Mujician, "Number Three" and "Sixes & Sevens" by John Stevens, "Six Piece Group Improvisation" by Splinters, and "How About You" by Bruce Turner. The book covers more contemporary musicians in UK performances – almost 400 pages of reviews from the Morning Star, on artists who include Susan Alcorn, Denys Baptiste, Fred Frith, Anthony Braxton, Mary Halvorsen, Oliver Lake, Frank Lowe, Myra Melford, Archie Shepp, Henry Grimes, and dozens of others. Book

Legendary work from the British jazz scene of the early 70s – served up here by a group of important players who made some amazing music in the years before, two of whom would leave the planet not long after these legendary recordings! Splinters never issued a full album at the time – partly due to the loss of some members – but their music represents this key crossroads in all the development that had taken place in UK jazz during the crucial late 60s/early 70s years – maybe no surprise, given that the lineup features drums from Phil Seamen and John Stevens, who each are recorded in a different channel – plus tenor and flute from Tubby Hayes, alto from Trevor Watts, trumpet and flugelhorn from Kenny Wheeler, and bass from Jeff Clyne. The great Stan Tracey also plays piano on most tracks – and all the musicians are very much opening up their bag, even sounding more expressively experimental than on some of their famous studio sides from the period. The package features two rare live recordings from the short-lived group – 9 tracks recorded at the 100 Club, and 6 more recorded at Grass Roots. This is a very limited edition 3 CD set – housed in 12" square, 34 page hardcover book – with dozens of previously unseen images from the 100 Club and Grass Roots shows by legendary British jazz photographer Jak Kilby, and an extensive essay on the history of the group by Simon Spillett including interviews with Trevor Watts, Jeff Clyne, and Clark Tracey. (Jazz, Books) CD