A very cool, surprisingly righteous album from trumpeter Bobby Bryant – maybe the hippest set he ever cut, and a record that features some great larger arrangements that are overflowing with soul! The set features work from Charles Owens and Herman Riley on tenors, Dennis Budimir on guitar, Joe Sample on piano, and Henry Cain on organ – and the whole thing has a wonderfully groovy vibe! Tracks include "Swahili Strut", "Prayer For Peace", "Kriss Kross", and "Nite Crawlers". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing grooves like you've never heard before – seminal sides by Salah Ragab and his Cairo Jazz Band – work done by the percussionist who'd also worked with Sun Ra, but who's even more amazing here on his own! As you can probably guess from their name, the ensemble was an Egyptian one – working in an incredible blend of jazz and more traditional Egyptian-styled sounds – a blend that comes across with all the exotic feel of the pyramids at dawn, but which manages to groove like some of the best funky work from America at the time! Instrumentation includes lot of percussion, heavy piano and horns, and some especially great flute on most tracks – all coming together with a sound that's unlike anything else we've heard before. This collection is the first time that this music has been brought together officially, all with the kind of top-shelf production and packaging we've come to expect from the Art Yard label! Titles include "Ramadan In Space Time", "Neveen", "Kleopatra", "Mervat", and "Oriental Mood". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing grooves like you've never heard before – seminal sides by Salah Ragab and his Cairo Jazz Band – work done by the percussionist who'd also worked with Sun Ra, but who's even more amazing here on his own! As you can probably guess from their name, the ensemble was an Egyptian one – working in an incredible blend of jazz and more traditional Egyptian-styled sounds – a blend that comes across with all the exotic feel of the pyramids at dawn, but which manages to groove like some of the best funky work from America at the time! Instrumentation includes lot of percussion, heavy piano and horns, and some especially great flute on most tracks – all coming together with a sound that's unlike anything else we've heard before. This collection is the first time that this music has been brought together officially, all with the kind of top-shelf production and packaging we've come to expect from the Art Yard label! Titles include "Ramadan In Space Time", "Neveen", "Kleopatra", "Mervat", and "Oriental Mood". LP, Vinyl record album

Bold new work from the legendary Pyramids ensemble – a spiritual jazz group who go back to the 70s, but who've reemerged in recent years with a renewed sense of energy, and a very forward-thinking sound! Leader Idris Ackamoor is still a master of tone and feeling on reeds – including alto and tenor, plus some other instrumentation as well – and he also vocalizes a bit on the record too hitting some righteous expressions that are in the spirit of Leon Thomas or Dwight Trible, mixed along with instrumentation from other players on drums, percussion, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, and guitar. The album's got a beautifully positive vibe – and titles include "Police Dem", "First Peoples", "Afro Futuristic Dreams", "Garland Rose", "Truth To Power", and "Requiem For The Ancestors". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful soul album on the Black Fire label – a hip 70s imprint best known for spiritual jazz – stepping out here on a record that has a lot more vocals than their other releases, but which makes for a mighty nice fit! Wayne Davis is wonderful here – singing with the warmth of a Leroy Hutson at times, and some of the more righteous currents of DJ Rogers at others – often with harmony backings that really elevate the tunes, and a jazzy current in some of the instrumentation that ties things strongly back to the other artists on the Black Fire label! One of those groups, Experience Unlimited, lend their horn section for the record – and Davis himself shows off his deeper musical skills by also handling the piano and keyboards on the record. The whole thing is great – and titles include "Morning", "Things See Just Right Now", "Strive On and Be Strong", "The Garden", "Look at the People", and Al Johnson's "Dawn of a New Day". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

The keyboards of Greg Foat have a really great setting here in a collaboration with Gigi Masin – served up in a style that's maybe more laidback and spacious than before, yet in a way that makes us fall in love with Greg's electric piano lines all over again! Masin's got roots in more ambient sounds, but the record definitely has a jazz approach at the core – plenty of the increasingly sensitive styles that Foat has developed as the years moved on – shifting from an initial role as a guy who could handle vintage keys, to a point where he's really emerged as a more fully-fledged jazz player overall! The blend of keyboards and a larger sonic palette still has plenty of live instrumentation in the mix – different than a project of this sort by an artist like Bugge Wesseltoft – and titles include "London Nights", "Viento Calido", "Your Move", "Sabena", "Leo Theo", "Love Theme", and "Dolphin". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the boldest albums ever from this legendary spiritual jazz ensemble – and a set that has them reaching even further heights in their music! There's a bit more focus here than before – tunes that are somewhat shorter, and really hone in on the best elements in the group's sound – the amazing reed lines of Idris Ackamoor, and the building percussion in the grooves – often touched with odd sounds and unusual elements that give the record a similar feel to some of the more percussive Sun Ra albums on Saturn. There's a bit of vocals at points, but really just used to augment the instrumentation – and the album's got the sharply righteous tones you might expect to hear in some of the hippest Strata East work of the period! Titles include "Aomawa", "Black Man & Woman Of The Nile", "Jamaican Carnival", "Birth Speed Merging", and "Reaffirmation". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Sun Ra's greatest albums of the 70s – recording during the same sessions that yielded the famous Space Is The Place record for Blue Thumb, and done with a very similar feel – an expansive configuration of the Arkestra in peak form! The range of expression is really incredible – from the spiritual soul jazz of "Pan Afro", to the lightly grooving June Tyson vocals of "Neptune", to the extended suite "Discipline 27-II", a stretched-out spacey number with vocal "dramatizing" by Ra, Tyson, Ruth Wright, and Judith Holton. That track's a particularly great one, with the kind of spiritual resonance behind the spacey approach that rarely comes through as strongly on other albums – but the whole set is wonderful, and judging how reminscient of it some of the best, similarly-minded underground jazz is decades later – the whole thing is an amazing testament to how strong Ra's influence is today. LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderfully-done collection of work from the legendary Sun Ra – put together by longtime musical partner Marshall Allen, and way way different than the typical mish-mash of tracks you'd find on some of the budget or public domain titles on the market! First off, the track selection is really thoughtful – music that definitely defines the Arkestra in the 60s and 70s, but which also highlights some of its overlooked corners too – pulled together from recordings that appeared on the Saturn, Impulse, and other labels – all curated and remastered by Art Yard, who've done their share of great Ra reissues over the years. Plus, the package features a few unreleased performances as well – and although it would serve as a great introduction to the music of Sun Ra, it's also really perfectly put together for longtime Ra fans as well – given the focus, track selection, and overall quality of the whole thing. The sounds are sublime – maybe one of the best summations of the righteous, cosmic genius of the Arkestra at its best – and titles include "Reflects Motion", "Island In The Sun (extended)", "Somewhere In Space", "The Lady With The Golden Stockings", "Somebody Else's World", "Ancient Aethiopia", "Astro Black", "Have You Heard The Latest News From Neptune", "We Travel The Spaceways", and "Plutonian Nights". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing album from Sun Ra – a set that's got some of the same soulful focus as Space Is The Place, and a really surprising sense of groove on many moments! The record's actually a bit funky – if you can believe it – and was recorded with electric keyboards, bass, and guitar (played by the mysterious Disco Kid) – at the studios of Bob Blank, at a time when he was really able to capture the many strands of music that would come together in a performance, then find just the right way to put them over on record! The album was originally dismissed by many Sun Ra fans for being a funk sell-out album – but over the years, it's become a prized album for its cosmic sense of soul and great focus of the group's more far-reaching ideas – and at some level, it's probably the sound that most people imagine the Arkestra to have when they're first starting out, rather than the more avant material that dominates most of their catalog. The whole thing is wonderful – and titles include "That's How I Feel", "Where Pathways Meet", "Twin Stars of Thence", and "There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)". LP, Vinyl record album

A whole new side of the talents of Sun Ra – especially if you only know the longer-style jams on some of his albums from the 60s and 70s! From the very start of his career, Ra was every bit as interested in issuing music on 45s as he was on albums – and in fact, at some of the more desperate times, the 7" single turned out to be a very affordable format to try out new ideas – including some great projects with other artists! The array of work presented here is stunning – as the set includes some very up-close and personal moments with Ra on record, plus some tight jazzy tracks from the Arkestra, surprising vocal group material designed to crack the R&B market, and some especially cool projects with other singers too. The package is put together with very detailed notes on all the singles – and while the bulk of this material comes from the key Arkestra years of the late 50s through the early 80s, there's also a few tracks from other dates too – including a handful of songs that were only issued as 45s in later years. This limited part 2 of the vinyl set features wonderful tracks from later years – including "The Blue Set", "Space Loneliness", "State Street", "Love In Outer Space", "Mayan Temple", "Quest", "Rough House Blues", "Journey To Saturn", "Blues On Planet Mars", "The Bridge", "Rocket #9", "The Perfect Man", "Outer Space Plateau", "Extensions", "Orbitration In Blue", "A Blue One", "Big City Blue", "I'm Gonna Unmask The Batman", "Saturn Moon", "Disco 2021", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "I Am The Instrument", "Cosmic Drama", "Nuclear War", "Hell #1", and "Cosmo-Extensions" – plus the tracks "Tell Her To Come On Home" and "I'm Making Believe" by Little Mack. LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning early moment in the long career of reedman Idris Ackamoor – music that predates his famous 70s work with The Pyramids, but which came from the same Ohio scene – an early collective of spiritual jazz players who are captured here in an amazing live performance! Unlike work by The Pyramids, The Collective were never issued on record at the time – yet they've got a tremendously powerful blend of spiritual currents and avant ideas – always skating the line between inside and out, structure and freedom – with work from Ackamoor on alto, Margaux Simmons on flute, Steve Rumboat on French Horn, Lester Knibbs on piano, Greg LaMont Wright on soprano, and Steve Maniscoso on percussion. Titles include "Beginning Roots", "The Shepherd's Tune", "Idrissa's Dream", "Black Queen", and "Veil Of Solitude". LP, Vinyl record album

The image on the cover really gets at the feel of the set – as the instrumentation here features simply percussion, electric guitar, and flute – all used in really inventive, highly rhythmic ways! There's a lilting groove to the set that recalls earlier rhythms from the South African scene – but the use of guitar and phrasing of the flute are also showing a stronger influence from jazz – maybe not the modern modes of a group like The Blue Notes, yet still a key cultural shift that really makes the album a legendary one from the scene at the time! Titles include "Soul Of Africa", "Jolly Journey", "Malombi Walk", "Sibathathu", "Abbey's Body", "Umkhosi", "Ngivulele", and "Emoubane". (Global Grooves, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A really early experiment in mixing South African styles with jazz – a set that's maybe more strongly on some of Township modes of the years before than a few of the other key modern projects of the time! Instrumentation often has pennywhistle in the lead on solos, used in a way a funky flute might on an American jazz set – and the rhythms often have raw hand percussion, mixed with warmer riffing currents on electric guitar – creating this sense of balance that gives the whole record a hell of a lot of charm! The sound is nice and lean, in a really great way – and titles include "Abbey's Mood", "Lousy Fever", "A Tribute To Birds", "Blues After Lunch", "Grab This For Me", "Root Of Africa", "Vuma Mbari", and "Jikeleza". (Global Grooves, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

Incredible music from The Pyramids – an obscure Midwestern combo who made some pretty amazing records in the early 70s! There's a heavy dose of spirituality in the mix here – a vibe that rivals some of the best albums of the time on Strata East, but with a freer sound overall – elements of the AACM Chicago scene, or some of the hipper grooves coming out of St Louis – particularly in the way the band builds up energy on the longer tracks. The reeds are especially nice – alto sax from Idris Ackamoor and flute from Margo Ackamoor – and all other group members play percussion, and vocalize too – singing along with some of the tunes in chanting, chorus formation, which adds an even further element of soul to the mix. Rhythms range from hard-driving to completely hypnotic – and titles include "Nsorama", "My Africa", "Mogho Naba", and "Queen Of The Spirits". LP, Vinyl record album

The first of three albums issued by The Pyramids – a wonderful bit of spiritual soul jazz with a really cosmic feel! The group are heavy on percussion and reeds – blending congas and assorted other percussion instruments with soprano sax, alto, and flute – all in a captivating sound that builds up nicely over the course of the album's two long tracks! The music is very organic – never too forced, nor never too far out – and there's a majestic quality to the whole thing, one that really lives up to the group's name and image on the cover. And although the ensemble hail from Ohio – hardly a spot you'd peg for spiritual jazz in the 70s – they're a key link between the early 70s avant movements in Chicago and St Louis, some of the hip grooves in Detroit's Tribe Records scene, and the growing loft jazz movement in New York. The title track – "Lalibela" – spans a side and a half of the record, and it's followed by the 16 minute tune "Indigo". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great lineup of musicians from the London scene – coming together here in a mix of modes that's both electric and acoustic, jazz and more global-based – all with the far-reaching sounds you might expect from their previous work in groups like Collocutor or Comet Is Coming! There's a freshness here that's wonderful, right from the very first note – players with a jazz sensibility, but who've also drunk up all the criss-crossing modes that have been bubbling up in London in recent years – pushing past conventional rhythms and instrumental placements, and creating an intensity that takes their music to audiences who might never have listened to mainstream jazz! Players include Tamar Osborn on bass clarinet, flute, and soprano sax; Bex Burch on vibes, electronics, and percussion; Danalogue on Fender Rhodes and other keyboards; Al MacSween on prepared and conventional piano; and Sarathy Korwar on drums and tablas – and all the players seem to handle a wide variety of other instruments as well. Titles include "Prepare To Let Go", "Sounds Welcome", "Expand", "It's Complicated", "Murmuration", "How Many Are One", "Bold Dream", and "My Resonance". LP, Vinyl record album

The Yusef here is Yusef Lateef – and reedman Bennie Maupin teams with Adam Rudolph in a set of richly organic numbers that we're guessing Lateef would have really appreciated! There's less "symphonic" and more "tone poem" on the record than the title might imply – as the setting is very intimate, with just a variety of reeds from Maupin, used in sonic territory created by Rudolph – a mix of percussion, electronics, and plenty of effects – but all used gently, and without any sort of bombast – so that the music progresses with a careful unfolding that lets all the best elements find a way to resonate together! The album features one long track, divided into five movements – and Maupin is at his most experimental here, while Rudolph really seems to respectfully address the legendary legacy of his collaborator. LP, Vinyl record album

Really fantastic work from the continuing version of Sun Ra's Arkestra led by Marshall Allen – and an album of rich sophistication that definitely shows the mature version of the group really finding their own sense of voice and spirit! There's a laidback take to the music that partly recalls some of the modes that the Arkestra had in their earlier days, when they were exploring some exotica currents mixed with more avant jazz inclinations – although the expression of the sound here is more focused and majestic, with slight string touches blending in with instrumentation of a more jazz-based mode – handled by Marshall Allen on alto and kora, Knoel Scott on tenor and baritone, Michael Ray and Cecil Brooks on trumpets, Dave Davis on trombone, Farid Barron on piano, Dave Hotep on guitar, and Tara Middleton on some mighty nice flute and violin. There's a richness to the sound that comes from all the other players involved in the proceedings – and titles include "Day Of The Living Sky", "Firefly", "Wish Upon A Star", "Chopin", "Marshall's Groove", and "Somebody Else's Idea". LP, Vinyl record album

Really unique recordings from the Sun Ra Arkestra – material recorded in Egypt in 1983 – juxtaposed with sessions from percussionist Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band! The work here has much more of a "jazz meets world" sound than some of Ra's other recordings – and most tracks are extremely melodic and rhythmic – in a way that mixes Eastern instrumentation and themes with some of the more familiar Arkestra modes – a sound that takes the Sun Ra groove one step further, and which sounds totally sublime! Highlights include the groover "Egypt Strut", the flute-heavy "Oriental Mood", and beautiful "Dawn". Really great stuff – and a key glimpse at this rare slice of Ra's career! LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet sounds from the lovely lady – one of Patrice Rushen's last truly great albums, and a masterpiece of 80s groove with lots of jazzy touches! The keyboard sound has evolved a bit here – compressed with more electronic percussion than on Patrice's earlier records, but still done with a degree of soul that sets it apart from work by most of her contemporaries – and the music has this warm flow that really sets Rushen apart from the rest – a sublime mix of soul, funk, and fusion that holds together perfectly throughout! Titles include "Gotta Find It", "Gone With The Night", "My Love's Not Going Anywhere", "High In Me", "To Each His Own", "Heartache Heartbreak", and "Feels So Real". 2LP version features bonus tracks – "Get Off (12" mix)", "Get Off (inst)", "Feels So Real (edit)", and "Feels So Real (dub)". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

Nothing posh about this one – as the album's an all-out, all-access affair – a great way for anyone to get into the grooves of the mighty Patrice Rushen! Patrice is at the height of her powers here – equally magic on keyboards and vocals, and coming up with groove after groove in a sublime blend of 70s jazz funk and Minnie Riperton-esque soul! The whole album's a winner – real magic that never gets old, and the kind of LP that makes you understand why you'll find Patrice's records in just about any soul collection from the time! Tracks include "I Need Your Love", "Time Will Tell", "The Dream", "Never Gonna Give You Up", and "Don't Blame Me". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

John Sinclair's got his name on the cover, but the real genius on the record comes from the artists within – a mix of talents from the Detroit underground of the 60s and 70s, and some important visitors too – all stepping out here in a set of live recordings that are issued for the first time ever! The material is wonderful – some of it at the level of the Strata Records efforts of Detroit artists, others as a way of hearing some bigger names in a nicely personal, local setting – maybe a bit like the Left Bank recordings from the Baltimore scene in the late 60s. As usual, Strut have done a wonderful job with the whole package – and titles include "Blackjack" and "Cristo Redentor" by Donald Byrd, "Cheeba" and "Help Me Get Away" by Lyman Woodard, "Water Torture" by Bennie Maupin, "Three Flowers" by Charles Moore, "Bees" by Ron English with Lyman Woodard, "Passion Dance" by Teddy Harris, and "Effi" and "The Promise" by the Detroit Contemporary Four, a group that features a young Stanley Cowell on piano! (Funky Compilations, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Basin Street", "Weather Bird", "End Blues", "Two Deuces", "Sugar Foot Strut", "Muggles", and more! LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Hey Girl", "Nassau Day", "Livin Inside Your Love", "Welcome Into My World", "Before You Go", "Unchained Melody", "Love Ballad", "Prelude To Fall", and "Soulful Strut". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that really dives deep with a rich mix of creative rhythms and inventive horn lines! The album still has Jack DeJohnette staying true to his more avant roots – working with tenor from David Murray, alto and soprano sax from John Purcell, baritone and tuba from Howard Johnson, and bass from Rufus Reid – a lineup that's a bit bigger than on other Special Edition albums, and which is used to fill in even more colors and deeper elements than before. Some of the tunes are wonderfully vivid in approach – and titles include "Festival", "Third World Anthem", "Zoot Suite", "Ahmad The Terrible", and "New Orleans Strut". LP, Vinyl record album

A live set from Deodato – but one that's very much in the mode of his best CTI studio sessions – with soaring, over the top keyboard work that's totally great – backed by some tightly compressed guitar, bass, and drums, with just enough funk in the mix to keep things interesting! As with other Deodato records from the time, there's a mix of moods here that comes together nicely – a range that goes past his easy hits, and shows Deodato to be one of the hippest, most soulful keyboard talents of his generation. Titles include a great version of "Super Strut" that grooves for over 8 minutes, and which has some firey guitar that really competes with Deodato's work on the keys – and other tracks include "Farewell To A Friend", "Pavane For A Dead Princess", "Rio Sangre", and "Jivin". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet keyboard soul from Deodato – a set that steps off nicely from the strengths of his big hits on CTI, hitting a similarly flowing groove that's really great! The instrumentation here is a bit more expanded than before, but never in a way that buries the keyboards – and Deodato's right out front on a range of electric keys that get some great support from John Tropea's finely-honed work on guitar! Titles include "Havana Strut", "Whirlwinds", "West 42nd Street", and a nice cover of Steely Dan's "Do It Again". And heck, even the album's version of Glen Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" manages to come off like a funk tune! LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite Ramsey Lewis albums ever – and a perfect summation of the genius that was brewing on the Chicago scene in the late 60s and early 70s! The album has Ramsey working strongly with Earth Wind & Fire – no surprise, given his close ties to Maurice White, who was the drummer in Ramsey's trio before starting his own group – and the shared relationship both artists had with producer Charles Stepney! The three were all key parts of the late 60s sound at Chess Records – but here, they've brought the same soulful energy to Columbia – working in a wider, more mature groove for the 70s – one that has Lewis' wicked Fender Rhodes lines stretching out strongly over tight, compressed, funky lines from EWF! The centerpiece of the set is the massive 7 minute "Sun Goddess", but there's lots of other nice ones like "Living For The City", "Gemini Rising", and "Jungle Strut". Funky, electric, and sublimely wonderful all the way through! LP, Vinyl record album

The sound of Gerry Mulligan in the early 60s – and one of the best records by his larger than usual Concert Jazz Band! Given Gerry's piano-less experiments of the 50s, it's surprising to actually have him as the pianist on this session – hitting the keys with a nice light touch, so that the larger horn section can take over most of the tunes – a beautifully-arranged ensemble who have a feel that's lighter than some of the groups of the 50s – such as the Kenton ensemble – yet one that's equally modern at times! The lineup is wonderful – with Clark Terry and Nick Travis on trumpets, Willie Dennis and Bob Brookmeyer on trombones, and Gene Quill, Gene Allen, and Eddie Caine on saxes – plus guitar from Jim Hall, bass from Bill Crow, and drums from Gus Johnson. Titles include "Big City Life", "Bridgehampton South", "My Kind Of Love", "Pretty Gypsy", "Bridgehampton Strut", and "Big City Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty strange concept for an album – a bunch of LA jazz players get together and do versions of songs usually associated with the south! This penchant for swinging tunes from unusual sources was one of Pell's strongest 50s tricks, though, and he makes it come off pretty well with a group that includes Tommy Tedesco on guitar, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Marty Paich on piano, and Med Flory on baritone sax. Arrangements are by Flory, Paich, Bob Florence, Bill Holman, and Johnny Williams – and titles include "Shi Me Sha Wabble", "Sugar Foot Strut", "Jazz Me Blues", "Blues", "Paper Doll", and "Ballin The Jack". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky keyboards galore – and one of the greatest records ever from this legendary Brazilian jazz talent! The album follows nicely off Deodato's Prelude classic for CTI – and like that one, this set's built on long-flowing tunes that rise and fall with a wonderful sense of rhythm – a sublime electric piano groove that's quite different than anything Deodato recorded before – and possibly never realized this perfectly again after his CTI years. Other players include Stanley Clarke on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, and Hubert Laws on flute – and titles include the massive Latin funk track "Super Strut", plus the tunes "Pavane For A Dead Princess", "Skyscrapers", and a great version of "Nights In White Satin". LP, Vinyl record album

If you ever needed a record to re-remind you of the genius of Jackie McLean, this Blue Note classic may well be it! At first glance, the session appears to be the usual sort of date – a quintet outing, with help from Donald Byrd on trumpet, Walter Davis on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Pete LaRoca on drums – yet as with all of McLean's best moments on records, the album explodes with freshly creative energy from the start – getting way past any easy expectation in the way it sets up the groove and delivers the sound! Jackie's tone is amazing – very modern at times, yet with all the soul of hardbop – and although the rhythms are relatively straight, there's always a slight setting-free at points – that pre-new thing groove that McLean further explored on records like Capuchin Swing or Fickle Sonance. The sound is amazing throughout – and titles are all originals by McLean and Davis – great gems that include "Davis Cup", "Sweet Cakes", "Hip Strut", "Minor Apprehension", and "Greasy". LP, Vinyl record album

The debut of a legendary British jazz group – one who not only gave that nation's scene a fresh voice in music, but who also really set the tone for many other acts to come! After a stretch when the London scene was doing a great job of matching American efforts in bop and swing, players like Don Rendell and Ian Carr found a way to really carve out some bold space of their own – here, by matching their own strong sense of writing and arranging, always filled with beautiful tone and color, with some of the more modern phrasing and styles that were just creeping up around town. The set's not nearly as experimental as the work of Joe Harriott, but has all the hallmarks of that generation's openness to new ways of expression – often given a surprisingly soulful swing, and captured perfectly as one of the early entries in the famous Lansdowne Series recordings. The rest of the group is equally great – and in addition to Rendell on tenor and soprano sax, and Carr on trumpet and flugelhorn – the combo includes Colin Purbrook on piano, Dave Green on bass, and Trevor Tompkin on drums. Titles include "Garrison 64", "Blue Mosque", "Just Blue", "Latin Blue", "Sailin", and "Big City Strut". LP, Vinyl record album

A cool Japanese-only collection, overflowing with CTI keyboard gems from Deodato – including "Super Strut", "Spirit Of Summer", "2001", "Baubles Bangles & Beads", "Prelude To Afternoon Of A Faun", "September", "Pavane For A Dead Princess", and "Rhapsody In Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from John Lee and Gerry Brown – a pair of fusion stalwarts who added key help to a number of classic 70s sessions for other artists – and got to make a rare few albums like this on their own! Lee's on bass and Brown's on drums, and the pair are in perfect time throughout – working with Skip Drinkwater production, which helps them find even more focus than before, and shake off some of the more jamming aspects of their rock-fusion performances with others – a move that helps them come up with a wonderfully soulful sound in the process – very much in the best Drinkwater soul jazz style of the time! Some cuts have vocals that get nice and soulful – from Donald Smith, CP Alexander, and Tawatha Agee – and titles include the brilliant "Love The Way You Make Me Feel" – plus "Freeze It Up", "Breakin", "Rise On", "Funky Now", "Strut N Get Up", and "Down The Way". LP, Vinyl record album

The debut of a legendary British jazz group – one who not only gave that nation's scene a fresh voice in music, but who also really set the tone for many other acts to come! After a stretch when the London scene was doing a great job of matching American efforts in bop and swing, players like Don Rendell and Ian Carr found a way to really carve out some bold space of their own – here, by matching their own strong sense of writing and arranging, always filled with beautiful tone and color, with some of the more modern phrasing and styles that were just creeping up around town. The set's not nearly as experimental as the work of Joe Harriott, but has all the hallmarks of that generation's openness to new ways of expression – often given a surprisingly soulful swing, and captured perfectly as one of the early entries in the famous Lansdowne Series recordings. The rest of the group is equally great – and in addition to Rendell on tenor and soprano sax, and Carr on trumpet and flugelhorn – the combo includes Colin Purbrook on piano, Dave Green on bass, and Trevor Tompkin on drums. Titles include "Garrison 64", "Blue Mosque", "Just Blue", "Latin Blue", "Sailin", and "Big City Strut". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic jazz funk from tenor giant Gene Ammons – really reinventing himself here after some time off the scene in the 60s! The record has Ammons coming from an older generation to set a new fire with the fresh Prestige jazz funk sound at the start of the 70s – working in a very cool combo that features funky drums from Bernard Purdie, plus organ from Sonny Phillips and guitar from the great Billy Butler – another player who was making a fresh mark for himself on Prestige at the time. Titles include the funky nugget "Jungle Strut", a nice version of "Son of A Preacher Man", plus "Ger-ru", which features Junior Mance on piano. LP, Vinyl record album

A rare groover from the team of Ray Brown and Quincy Jones – a smoking little set that completely revises the music for The Adventurers! The original score for the film featured tunes by Antonio Carlos Jobim, played by Deodato – a great combination at the time, but completely different than the heavy funk laid out here by Ray and Quincy! The pair really cook things up strongly here – hitting some of the best funky vibes you'd hear on Quincy Jones scores from the late 60s and early 70s – or some of Ray Brown's funkiest jazz sessions of the time. Brown leads the band, and the set's produced by Quincy – who also arranged some tracks – with help from JJ Johnson, Tom Scott, and Jimmy Jones too. Titles include "Fat Cat Strut", "Polo Pony", "El Lobo's Marc", "Wishful Thinking", "Love Theme From The Adventurers", and "Go Down Dying". (Soundtracks, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

The Oscar Peterson Trio plays – and pretty nicely too! The album's got a simple, unassuming cover and title – but it delivers some rock-solid grooves that are very much in the spirit of Peterson's famous sound in the 60s – that classic combination of piano, bass, and drums delivered with the help of Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen – both players who helped Oscar set a whole new standard in piano jazz! Titles include the great groover "The Strut" – plus "Little Darlin", "Fly Me To The Moon", "This Nearly Was Mine", "Let's Fall In Love", and "Little Right Foot". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing album from Sun Ra – a set that's got some of the same soulful focus as Space Is The Place, and a really surprising sense of groove on many moments! The record's actually a bit funky – if you can believe it – and was recorded with electric keyboards, bass, and guitar (played by the mysterious Disco Kid) – at the studios of Bob Blank, at a time when he was really able to capture the many strands of music that would come together in a performance, then find just the right way to put them over on record! The album was originally dismissed by many Sun Ra fans for being a funk sell-out album – but over the years, it's become a prized album for its cosmic sense of soul and great focus of the group's more far-reaching ideas – and at some level, it's probably the sound that most people imagine the Arkestra to have when they're first starting out, rather than the more avant material that dominates most of their catalog. The whole thing is wonderful – and titles include "That's How I Feel", "Where Pathways Meet", "Twin Stars of Thence", and "There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Freetime", "Summer Strut", "Telluride", "Elegy For Trane", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The cover's a bit nondescript, but the music is anything but – instrumental funk with a great jazzy vibe – served up here by an obscure Portland group from the end of the 70s! These guys are clearly schooled on some of the best jazz funk of the time, but also have a more personal vibe of their own – a nice change from the slickness of major label fusion, as they serve up a great mix of two keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion – all recorded in a home studio, but with instrumentation that really goes beyond any sort of homegrown affair! The mixture of tight instrumentation and a down-to-earth vibe reminds us of some of our favorite Fantasy Records work of the time – on titles that include "Latin Summer", "Tut's Strut", "Song For Valerie", "Chrome Dome", and "Time Of My Life". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most legendary albums on Blue Note – or maybe THE most legendary albums on Blue Note – a stunning session that shows what the label was capable of when it was really hitting on all burners – from the lineup to the music to the production – and even the classic cover art on the front! The album's a crowning achievement for pianist Sonny Clark – a player who'd already brought greatness to the world before the record, but really knocks it out of the park during the session – leading a razor sharp lineup that includes Art Farmer on trumpet, Jackie McLean on alto, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums – all coming together with some magic in the studio, crafting a sound that forever put Blue Note on the map! Tracks are long, open-ended, and almost effortlessly soulful – and titles include Clark's classics "Cool Struttin" and "Blue Minor", plus versions of "Sippin At Bells" and "Deep Night". LP, Vinyl record album

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With Johnny Windhurst on clarinet, Ray Parker on piano, Pops Foster on string bass, and George Thompson on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Obscure work from Gerry Mulligan – and some of his best of the 70s! The record is a soundtrack for a French film starring Yves Montand, and the soundtrack was handled by Mulligan with assistance from Don Elliott – who brings in a funky style that's quite different than you'd expect from most of Gerry's work. Mulligan's horn sounds really great in these arrangements – strutting out nicely on the funky tracks, and kicking back with a cool sound on the mellower ones. Titles include "Trucking Again", "The Trap", "Dance Of The Truck", "Watching & Waiting", and "Theme From La Menace". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic stuff, and a record that was virtually the blueprint for spiritual soul jazz in the 70s! Although Max Roach first rose to fame during the bop years, by the time of this set he'd really stretched out a lot – moving past initial righteous projects in the Civil Rights era, to even more progressive work with a group like this! The players are all youthful geniuses who would go onto shape the sound of 70s jazz tremendously – working here at a point that already shows their brilliance – Gary Bartz on alto, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, and even Andy Bey, who sings vocals on the title track. The overall style is very similar to Bartz's early albums on Milestone, or to some of the Music Inc records on Strata East, which feature Cowell and Tolliver. It's no surprise that Cowell contributed 3 tracks to the set – "Effi", "Equipoise", and "Abstrutions" – and the group also performs a great version of Bartz's "Libra"! LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic stuff, and a record that was virtually the blueprint for spiritual soul jazz in the 70s! Although Max Roach first rose to fame during the bop years, by the time of this set he'd really stretched out a lot – moving past initial righteous projects in the Civil Rights era, to even more progressive work with a group like this! The players are all youthful geniuses who would go onto shape the sound of 70s jazz tremendously – working here at a point that already shows their brilliance – Gary Bartz on alto, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, and even Andy Bey, who sings vocals on the title track. The overall style is very similar to Bartz's early albums on Milestone, or to some of the Music Inc records on Strata East, which feature Cowell and Tolliver. It's no surprise that Cowell contributed 3 tracks to the set – "Effi", "Equipoise", and "Abstrutions" – and the group also performs a great version of Bartz's "Libra"! LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Muskrat Ramble", "Heebie Jeebies", "Gut Bucket Blues", "Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "I'm Not Rough", "Hotter Than That", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Thanks A Million", "Lyin To Myself", "Ev'ntide", "Swing That Music", "Thankful", "The Skeleton In The Closet", "Jubilee", "Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "I Double Dare You", "It's Wonderful", "You're A Lucky Guy", "Everything's Been Done Before", "Hey Lawdy Mama", and "Grooving". LP, Vinyl record album

An all-tenor set from Bobby Jaspar – material recorded in Paris in 1953 and 1954, played with a variety of different groups! Jaspar's tenor has a really great sound here – kind of a Lester Young rasp that marks him as a very Getz-like musician at this point – but with a slightly more upbeat edge as well – working nicely alongside players who include Jimmy Gourley on guitar, Fats Sadi on vibes, Roger Guerin on trumpet, Henri Renaud on piano, and Nat Peck on trombone. Titles include "Black Horse", "Kaba Soutra", "Strike Up The Band", "Up In Quincy's Room", "Capri", "Early Wake", "Jeux De Quartes", "Schabooz", and "Struttin With Some Barbecue". LP, Vinyl record album

Don't let the title put you off, as Ray Nance isn't losing steam on the record – arnd instead really reworks the sound that he first created in the Ellington group – by working here in a lean European combo with a great MPS approach! Nance plays trumpet and violin, and even sings a bit – and the rhythm is from Kenny Drew on piano, Ron Mathewson on bass, and Daniel Humair on drums – a combo who make for some very interesting moments. Titles include a long Nance original titled "Wild Child" – plus "Russian Lullaby", "He Huffed N Puffed", "Some Of These Days", and "Struttin With Some Barbecue". LP, Vinyl record album

The White Blinds serve up a heady brew of organ jazz here – a lean combo with tight drums, riffing guitar, and plenty of sweet lines on the Hammond organ – all captured at a level that's somewhere between Prestige Records soul jazz of the mid 60s, and Booker T & The MGs on Stax! Tunes are tight, and there's a mix of funky currents happening in the rhythms from track to track – a shift in groove style that keeps things fresh throughout, but never in a way that sounds confused or mixed up – as the rock-solid instrumentation of the trio is very unified throughout! All tunes are originals by the group – and titles include "Night Walk", "Bay To LA", "Tail Feather", "Struttin", "So Pretty", "Miss Roberta", "On The Clock", and "Shakey Leg". (Deep Funk, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album