A great collection of grooves – as some of Blue Note's best soul jazz artists of the 60s and 70s take on a host of funky tunes and soul music classics. The vibe is great throughout – and most cuts are instrumentals, based around tunes that you might know, but redone here with that great Blue Note funkosity that made the label so wonderful! Titles include "Think" by Lonnie Smith, "As" by Gene Harris, "Pillow Talk" by Lou Donaldson, "Ain't That Peculiar" by Big John Patton, "If You Really Love Me" by Grant Green, "Feel Like Makin Love" by Marlena Shaw, "Me & Mrs Jones" by Ronnie Foster, "Soul Limbo" by Candido, "I'll Be There" by Hank Mobley, "Mr Big Stuff" by Reuben Wilson, "People Make The World Go Round" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Can't Hide Love" by Carmen McRae, and "Just My Imagination" by Donald Byrd. CD

Genius work from one of the most soulful production teams ever – brothers Larry and Fonce Mizell, a pair who really helped transform the sound of funky jazz in the 70s! The Mizell touch is a tricky thing to sum up adequately – a sublime blend of keyboards, splashy rhythms, vocal choirs, and fuller backings – all set in a way that still allows plenty of space for a main jazz soloist to do their thing. And even if you don't know the brothers' work by itself, we can bet you've heard its influence in a range of modern hip hop, electronica, and dance music over the past few years – because the Mizell influence is still burning strong, many long decades after their initial work in the studio. This excellent collection really goes out of its way to bring together some of the best Mizell-produced tracks for Blue Note and Capitol from the mid 70s – in a way that sits classics alongside some lesser-remembered numbers, and which nicely excludes a few tracks that have already been over-compiled in recent years. Titles include "Wind Parade", "Dominoes", "Change", and "Design A Nation" by Donald Byrd, "Reason To Survive" by Rance Allen, "Uno Esta" and "Black & Blues" by Bobbi Humphrey, "Funked Up" by Gary Bartz, "N R Time" by Mizellstory, and "Think Twice (Mizell Brothers 2005 rmx)" by Donald Byrd. CD

A great follow-up to the first set in this series – a dozen classic dancefloor tunes, running the gamut from funky fusion to jazzy soul to 80s groove! The vibe here is definitely somewhere in the Larry Mizell/Capitol Rare mode – with a real focus on the kind of smooth groovers that really helped set the pace as the disco era drew to a close. Titles include "Always There" by Ronnie Laws, "Dominoes" by Donald Byrd, "Promise Me" by Dayton, "Music Is My Sanctuary" by Gary Bartz, "Parisienne Girl" by Incognito, "Mr Magician" by Mystic Merlin, "Groove On" by Willie Beaver Hale, "Do Me Baby" by Mel'isa Morgan, "Doin Alright" by O'Bryan, "Too Many Games" by Maze, and "Prance On" by Eddie Henderson. CD

A hip Japanese collection with Blue Note work by Bobby Hutcherson, Bobbi Humphrey, Chico Hamilton, Alphonse Mouzon, Freddie Hubbard, Ronnie Foster, Gene Harris, Donald Byrd, and others. CD