All Categories — In Stock — LPs  

... read more

... read more

... read more

Solo Stephen Stills on Columbia – with titles that include "The Loner", "Soldier", "Different Tongues", "Stateline Blues", "No Me Niegas", and "Ring Of Love".... read more

Plenty of style here – a great later date from Sonny Stitt – one of those near-perfect gems from the years when he had fallen far from the mainstream of jazz, but could still blow with some of the best! There's a simple, almost understated quality to the date that's really wonderful... read more

A seminal set of Sonny Stitt recordings for Prestige – material that was originally issued on singles and 10" LPs, pulled together to make one classic album! The material here was recorded in 1951 and 1952, and shows Stitt at all of his prime youthful power – blowing beautifully... read more

A record with a simple, elegant title – and a similar cover image too – but if you know Sonny Stitt, you know there's often plenty beneath the surface, and this classic Chess Records has plenty to offer, once you start listening! The album's right up there with Sonny's work for Roost... read more

A classic from Stitt – cut during the underground days of the early 60s, when both he and Gene Ammons seemed to be recording for just about every jazz label around, and when they both seemed to be doing an awful lot of work in Chicago. This album was done in a flurry that Jug and Stitt cut... read more

By this point in his career, Sonny hardly needed a tune up in his style – but the album's a great one from his post-Prestige years, and a real back-to-basics effort that recalls the genius of his work on Roost! The format is straight and simple – Stitt's tenor and alto fronting a... read more

Head to head blowing from Sonny Sitt and Paul Gonsalves – just the kind of twin-horn performance that Stitt was famous for in his live battle days, and one that also reminds us that Gonsalves can be a very loose swinger when he wants to be! The tracks are all long, and played with the sort... read more

First pressing of an album that was more famously issued under the title Nuther Fu'ther – and which features Stitt & McDuff in a very tasty set of ortan/tenor grooves, played with that style that Prestige was finally beginning to perfect in the early 60s, as it let these organ combos... read more

Cool duets between Czech reedman Jiri Stivin and guitarist Rudolf Dasek – a set with a lot fuller feel than you might expect! The work is straight, and never too outside – and although there's no drums or bass in the performance, there's an inherently rhythmic sensibility to most... read more

... read more

A nice little mid 70s set from Sly – one recorded without the Family Stone, but still grooving wonderfully with lots of funky edges! Sly's expanded his sound nicely here – pushing past the shorter funk of earlier years to work in some complicated instrumentation that keeps things... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Great work from this famous Italian maestro – sweeping, soaring instrumentals – but also a bit funky at times too! Ettore brings a real soundtrack approach to most numbers – fitting, given that most tunes here are film themes – and he uses full strings, plus some nicely... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

An unusual non-Ellington session from Billy Strayhorn – but one that's recorded in septet formation with plenty of the Duke's men at his side! Strayhorn's in the lead on piano, and other players include Quentin Jackson on trombone, Cue Porter (Johnny Hodges?) on alto sax, Shorty Baker on... read more

A very cool update of older vocal group modes – taken into sublime 70s territory with arrangements and production from Willie Hutch! Street Corner Symphony were part of the 70s doo wop revival movement – but unlike some of their acapella contemporaries, they were always happy to let in... read more

... read more

... read more

A seminal early recording from one of our favorite reed players ever! In the late 1950s, the young Frank Strozier came up to Chicago from Memphis, along with his longtime friend, pianist Harold Mabern. The two of them both settled nicely in the city's MJT+3 combo, where they proceeded to recorde... read more

Late 70s soul fusion from masters of the groove – perhaps the best ever by the late 70s supergroup Stuff – featuring a core group that includes Cornell Dupree, Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, and Richard Tee! This time out the smooth sound is vibrantly top notch – all produced by Steve... read more

Wild twanginess from this off-beat group that included Kev Hopper on bass and samples. This was the one that was supposed to make them stars, but instead got them shackled to an unfortunate major label contract that smothered them. Too bad, but the records got some nice moments like "Charlton... read more

Tracks includes "Chaos (7" Mix)", "Alcohol", "Charlton Heston", and "Living It Down".... read more

... read more

One of the most obscure Stylistics albums of the 70s – a smooth late 70s modern soul effort, headed up by group soul maestro Teddy Randazzo! Teddy wrote, arranged, and produced the whole set – and the record nicely links together older group harmony styles, especially 60s uptown soul... read more

A mid 70s album from the Stylistics which is not a great one but is has some moments. Some of the song titles are just plain goofy – "Funky Weekend", "The Day The Clown Came To Town" and "To Save My Rock 'N' Roll Soul" but there are a couple of nice slower tempo... read more

... read more

... read more

Several explorations of a theme by Electronic virtuoso Subotnick, programmed according to graphic scores on an early analog synthesizer/sequencer.... read more

... read more

... read more

A real finger-popper from Japanese pianist Kunihiko Sugano – a sweet 60s album that has him playing like the best American players of the soul jazz generation! There's a boldness to the left hand that echoes bits of Ray Bryant or Junior Mance – yet Sugano can also tipple the keys with... read more

One of our favorite albums by Don Sugarcane Harris – largely because it's got more of a jazz component than some of the others! Harris is still playing violin on the set, but the real charm seems to come from the tightness of the group – which features some lesser-known LA players on... read more

The eponymous LP by the Sugarhill Gang – with some of the most infectious late 70s/early 80s grooves ever laid to wax! This is one of the first-ever full-length hip hop albums – cut on the success of the massive "Rapper's Delight" single! The record purports to feature... read more

A mostly orchestral score, but a pretty nice one – composed and conducted for Sukman, written for an obscure underwater action film that starred David McCallum and Lloyd Bridges. There's some nice use of strings on the set, to give the record an almost "underwater" feel –... read more

Groovy groovy sitar pop – played by Big Jim Sullivan, also known as Lord Sitar! This set is a great session of 60s pop tunes, turned Eastern, in the mode of work by Ananda Shankar or Vince Bell – with a blend of original compositions, mixing sitar, tabla, and all manner of baroque 60s... read more

In the years after Charlie Parker passed away, tributes to his greatness were a very common thing in local jazz scenes across the US. This is a prime example of that tradition, but way more than that, it's also a killer Chicago jazz session from the old days – featuring trumpeter Ira... read more

A beautiful, and oft-overlooked, album of modal jazz tracks performed by Chicago jazz musician Ira Sullivan – who normally plays trumpet and tenor, but who also shows here his amazing talent on soprano sax! The album's quite different than most of Sullivan's straighter material, and some... read more

... read more

... read more

One of the earliest Capitol albums by otherworldly singer Yma Sumac! As with Yma's other records, the album features many original tunes written by Moise Vivanco – her frequent musical collaborator at the time, and the force behind much of the stronger South American musical elements of the... read more

Bill Summers is a long way from The Headhunters on this record – but he's still sounding great! Unlike the acoustic rhythms of Summers' 70s albums, this set has Bill crafting some electro-tinged groovers designed to appeal to the street crowd indicated by the image of a boom box on the front... read more

... read more

... read more

Obscure little disco record, issued on the Pi Kappa label, and with an uptempo east coast sound that's part disco, part Buddah-type soul of earlier generations. Paul Kyser handled the whole project – and wrote, arranged, and produced all the material. Most of the tracks have an instrumental... read more

6 numbers in all "Girls Out On The Floor", "Fire 121", "Do It To The Beat", "We Don't Need No Music", "Laugh The Night Away" and 'Rocko Laugh".... read more

Funky soul covers from a host of hit blacksploitation films – played in fresh new versions by the mysterious Super Dudes! Most of the tracks here follow the originals pretty closely, but have some different elements that we really appreciate – slight changes in rhythms or... read more

Hardly the surf music set you'd expect from the title – but still a set that's plenty surf-washed, thanks to a great choice of exotic numbers for the record! The Surfers are a vocal group, not a guitar-based instrumental combo – and they harmonize with a mixture of jazz and pop modes... read more

A great bit of boogie from the Chicago scene of the early 80s – a set recorded with a nice jazzy bounce overall, and a strong ear for a catchy hook and tight groove – very much in the mode of Omni or Zoom from the same period! Alfonzo's got a warm vocal style that soars up to falsetto... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Heavy fusion from southern Wisconsin – a pretty tasty little set by a group we know nothing about! The lineup includes bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, and saxes – played in a style that's somewhere between some of the jamming, frenetic European groups of the time, and some of the... read more

A great back-to-basics set for the Sweet Inspirations – now working here as the trio of Estelle Brown, Myrna Smith, and Sylvia Shamwell – and working with David Porter in a strongly Memphis mode! The arrangements on the set are a bit more ambitious than usual for Stax at the time... read more

Heavenly soul from the lovely Sweet Inspirations! The record was the group's first secular album for Atlantic – after recording one gospel album, and doing the backings on a number of fine Aretha Franklin sessions – and it's a gem of a female soul record, with the same classic sound... read more

A groovy groovy treasure! The work of The Swingle Singers is well known to any fan of 60s French tunes – as their groundbreaking approach to vocalese had a huge influence on other pop, easy, and soundtrack work of the time. This nicely-done set features jazz scat versions of tunes by all... read more

One of our favorite albums by the Swingle Singers – a really cool batch of tracks that has them working with compositions by French composers – rococo tunes that have a bit more of a flourish for them to work with their vocal trickery! The sound is great, and tunes are short, very... read more

... read more

... read more

A landmark soul album – and one of the first to break that acoustic-based Soul II Soul sound back into the American market. In a late 80s market of weak tinny soul albums, this one stood out as a deep rich wonderful gem, with a solid classic sound that's still pretty darn nice in any decade!... read more

... read more

... read more

The first album by The Sylvers – a hard soulful band made up of youngsters from LA, but who had a lot more going on than some of the other kiddie-soul bands of the early 70s! The group's a sextet at this point, with four male voices and two female ones – coming across as a sweet blend... read more

... read more

A great little set from Sylvester – 3 sides recorded live in San Francisco, one more recorded in the studio! All the sides have a complicated approach to the groove – larger orchestrations that really show Syl pushing his conception of soul to the max, sounding really wonderful, and... read more

An overlooked gem from Sylvester's years on Fantasy Records – a set that has him working strongly with soul maestro Harvey Fuqua, in a really great blend of disco and more laidback modes! There's a balance here that's like early Luther at his best – a way of being proudly poised, yet... read more

A work of incredible brilliance – a lost treasure from the late 80s that's been one of our favorite records for years! The album's quite different than most other work by David Sylvian – not nearly as open-ended and loose as his more experimental, soundscape-like projects – nor... read more

Sylvia's Decca recording with backing by the Ralph Burns Orchestra, tracks include "Lilac Wine", "My Ship", "Woman's Intuition", "I'm So Happy I Could Cry", "Experiment" and "Honey In The Honeycomb".... read more

Syreeta's a bit past the point of her early genius here – still singing in that warm and sweet style we love so much, but working with Jermaine Jackson, in a setting that's sometimes a bit too cold for her magic to fully take place. Overall, the album's got a few nice numbers – and is... read more

Excellent trippy pop-psychedelia from Gabor Szabo! The record's a bit less jazz than some of his other efforts, with more of that faked-out "eastern"production that you'd get on efforts like these – with occasional voices behind his guitar. Titles include "The End Of... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

An incredible album by the Tamba 4 – one of 2 albums the Brazilian bossa combo did in the US for A&M Records, during the brief time when they were expanded to a quartet from the original Tamba Trio lineup! The set is completely sublime – a wonderful mix of the group's trademark... read more

Beautiful stuff – and a record we never tire of hearing! This album's a sublime extension of the earlier Brazilian style of the Tamba Trio – in a set that has them adding a fourth member, and picking up some cool new sounds from producer Creed Taylor! The set brings the group's... read more

... read more

... read more

Sweet and dreamy instrumental pop from John Andrews Tartaglia – an arranger we only know from a few late 60s sides at Capitol Records – all of which are pretty great! Tartaglia's got a style that's still heavy in mainstream 60s easy modes, but borrows a fair bit from the generation of... read more

Grady's most obscure album – and one that's got much more of a jazzy tip than his other ones. Richard Tee plays electric piano, and the band includes Billy Butler, George Coleman, and Ron Carter – all of whom do their best to keep things hip, and not fall into some of the schmaltzier... read more

Although Howard Tate's work on Verve has gotten a lot of acclaim – thanks to an excellent CD reissue – this later album for Atlantic still remains in the ranks of soul obscurities. The album's perhaps not as great as Tate's Verve work – in that the arrangements don't fit as hand-i... read more

... read more