... LP, Vinyl record album

One of Al Hirt's grooviest records – and a set that definitely lives up to the "soul" in the title! The album's always in demand for the excellent sample cut "Harlem Hendoo", but it certainly isn't a one tracker – thanks to composer Paul Griffin and arranger Teacho Wiltshire, as Hirt gets un-characteristically funky on tunes like "Honey Pot", "Mess Around", "Girl", and "Love Ya' Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of groovy groovy records from trumpeter Al Hirt! Hirt Plays Bert has Al Hirt taking on the music of German easy maestro Bert Kaempfert – working strongly with this cool syncopated electric bass at the bottom – which creates the same sort of stepping grooves you'd hear in Bert's music! Most tunes are numbers made into instrumental hits by Kaempfert, but given a more expressive Hirt flourish in the lead trumpet – and titles include "Swingin Safari", "Red Roses For A Blue Lady", "Spanish Eyes", "Magic Trumpet", "Afrikaan Beat", and "Strangers In The Night". Latin In The Horn is one of the grooviest albums ever from trumpeter Al Hirt – thanks to some great arrangements from Lalo Schifrin! The "Latin" in the horn is a bit subdued here – not as firey as the title might make you think, but with a majestic, noble sound – one that has Al blowing a mixture of Brazilian and Spanish themes in a slightly dramatic way, underpinned by groovy Schifrin arrangements that have the sweeping feel of his cinematic work of the 60s! There's less bossa than you might expect, but the setting is still pretty darn great – and the Latin themes really take Hirt past his usual hoke of the time. Titles include "Manha De Carnival", "Taboo", "Baia", "Gringo A Go Go", "A Sky Without Stars", "Be True To Me", and "Desafinado". CD

Strings of many shapes and sizes – not just violins, but guitars as well – all coming together in a host of instrumental pop classics! The package is a lot cooler than you might expect – and features about a decade of chart-topping instrumentals – the kind of clever little tunes that made radio so great back in the day, and which often took familiar instrumentation and played around with it a bit in the studio – so that the end result was a heck of a lot more than just the sum of its parts! Styles are great – and run from folksy to rocking to exotic, and more – really creative stuff spun out over a set list of 28 tracks that include "The Dis-Advantages Of You" by The Brass Ring, "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat, "Fly Me To The Moon" by Joe Harnell, "Flying Circle" by Frankie Slay, "Image" by Hank Levine, "Mexico" by Bob Moore, "Beautiful Obsession" by Sir Chauncey & His Exciting Strings, "Summer Set" by Monty Kelly, "Baby Elephant Walk" by The Minature Men, "Java" by Al Hirt, "The Enchanted Sea" by The Islanders, "More" by Kai Winding, "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" by Sounds Orchestral, "Swingin Safari" by Billy Vaughan, "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk, and "Lost Love" by HB Barnum. (Funky Compilations, Now Sound) CD