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Brilliant work as a leader from McCoy Tyner – and easily one of his most righteous albums ever – a true batch of spiritual gems that really takes the John Coltrane legacy one step further! Most numbers build with a modal vibe that's more Impulse Records than Blue Note – and... read more

A beautifully full session from McCoy Tyner – one recorded with added horns and voices, and very much in the mode of some of Horce Silver's best 70s experiments for Blue Note! The sound is as bold, dynamic, and soulful as other Tyner albums from the time – and the added elements really... read more

Nicer than you might think, for the vintage! Other players include Ron Carter on bass, Al Foster on drums, Jon Faddis on trumpet, and Marcus Miller on a bit of electric bass. Titles include "You Taught My Heart To Sing", "Hip Toe", "Spur Of The Moment", "It's... read more

A hearty collection of The Originator at his most influential – the mighty mid 70s period when he was defining the DJ landscape of Kingston and beyond! U-Roy toasts or otherwise reworks Delroy Wilson, Cornell Campbell, Johnny Clarke and many more – on cuts produced for the most party... read more

A nice little tribute to soul, jazz and fusion legend George Benson – and a project that's a labor of love for Benson-devotee, soulful spirit and brilliant guitarist U-Nam – with an allstar lineup that features Ronnie Foster, George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Andreas Oberg, Tim Owens, Marcus... read more

A mighty strong late effort from U-Roy – a record that features a solid roster of legendary and contemporary guests – and one that shows that The Originator can still deliver a fresh, timeless original record even this late in the game! U-Roy is classic-era toaster who sounds perfectly... read more

An amazing collaboration between musicians from three different nations – recorded high in the mountains in Northern Italy – with an equally majestic sound to match! The album's especially noteworthy for being a great space for vocalist Cleveland Watkiss to really rediscover the jazz-ba... read more

A beautiful little record from Matt Ulery – double-length in size, and even more than double in terms of feeling and depth! Matt's a figure on the Chicago scene – and in a way, his music represents the return to arrangements in the city's recent avant jazz world – yet his music... read more

Raspy guitar from James Blood Ulmer – cut right at the end of the 80s decade when he was clearly one of the most inventive players on his instrument! The set's got a quality that's similar to some of James' other records from the US of the time – as it's trying to branch out to a wider... read more

A landmark album of the New York downtown scene – and one of the most groundbreaking guitar jazz albums of the 70s! James Blood Ulmer plays here with members of Ornette Coleman's group of the time – including Ornette himself, Denardo Coleman, and Jaamaladeen Tacuma. The style is very... read more

A pair of late disco classics from Ultimate – back to back in a single set! First up is the group's self-titled debut from 1979 – Euro disco, but recorded in Philly – which makes for a wonderful criss-crossing of modes throughout! As with other disco sets of the style from the... read more

One of the greatest soundtracks we've ever heard from Piero Umiliani – an incredibly groovy record from the very first note! The score's got a fantastic mix of groovy scoring, jazzy bits, and cool little vocals – spare organ lines that set the tune on most numbers, stepping basslines... read more

A great later entry from Italian soundtrack maestro Piero Umiliani – recorded in the late 70s, but done in a style that's heavy on the jazz of Piero's roots – much more like the sort of Italian soundtracks you'd hear right at the start of the 60s! Some of the recording quality belies... read more

A moody western soundtrack from Piero Umiliani – one that's put together with a nice sense of space and gentle sonic progression – almost with more Morricone elements at times than you might expect for Umiliani – yet handled in a way that still showcases a few of his own groovier... read more

A wild one from Italian soundtrack composer Piero Umiliani – a set that definitely lives up to the disco promise of the title, but which still has some of the cool playful touches of Umiliani's work in movies too! The record may well be the funkiest that Piero ever cut – and was done... read more

A great entry in the Kriminal series of films – one that features some wonderfully groovy work from Piero Umiliani! The music here is Umiliani at his most playful – rooted in jazz, but with warmer touches from bossa and other mod 60s Italian styles too – sometimes set to wordless... read more

A driving 60s spy soundtrack from Piero Umiliani – and a perfect bridge between his earlier jazz work and his groovier styles to come! The album's almost in a crime jazz mode – ala American work of a few years before – but there's also some sweet touches that definitely mark it... read more

A female doctor in a military hospital – with all the goofy results you could expect from an Italian sex comedy! Piero Umiliani's music definitely matches the mood of the piece – plenty playful at most points, with styles that move between clever themes, odd melodies, and some sweeter,... read more

Wonderful work from one of the grooviest soundtrack composers ever! At the end of the 60s, Piero Umiliani wrote some of the best film scores to come out of the Italian scene – and this little gem, long out of print, is certainly one of them! The album's got some beautifully jazzy numbers... read more

One of the coolest Italian soundtracks we've heard in a long time – a wonderful set of tunes that moves from slinky, to easy, to groovy, and beyond! The tunes start out bubbling very spare and slow – with floating piano, moog, and other nice bits – and as the record progresses,... read more

A rare gothic horror soundtrack by Piero Umiliani – and it's a great one – with sounds that range from melodic, orchestral mood music to spare, eerie-as-hell experimental effects! The title sequence that kicks the soundtrack off is actually quite pretty – with some wonderfully... read more

A groovy erotic film score by Piero Umiliani – his soundtrack for 1970's Le Isole Dell'Amore – and it's a wonderfully arranged one by the maestro! The film is apparently Island-set, so you can expect some raw percussion and a sunny vibe overall – but it's actually got a lot more... read more

Sounds sleepy – but it's totally groovy!! The mad talents of Italian soundtrack genius Piero Umiliani are turned towards his love of Duke Ellington – and the result is an incredibly groovy batch of tracks that mix up jazz, electronics, and plenty of great keyboards! The bulk of the... read more

A really cool spy soundtrack from the Italian 60s scene – put together by Piero Umiliani with lots of jazzy touches! The music here is a nice change from the more obvious, more familiar American spy modes of the time – and often uses some cool vibes mixed with horns, to create this... read more

A host of dreamy soundtrack tunes – all from the magical pen of Piero Umiliani – easily one of the best of the late 60s/early 70s Italian scene! Umiliani hit worldwide fame for his "Mah Na Mah Na" tune from the film Sweden Heaven & Hell – which is included here... read more

A fab little soundtrack from one of our favorite Italian composers – a lost gem originally issued in 1971, with a very groovy sound! The score has Piero Umiliani picking up a bit more funk than usual – working with electric bass and keyboards to come up with some totally great tracks... read more

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An amazing set of modern jazz – penned by Italian film composer Piero Umiliani, but also played by a very hip group headed by a young Gato Barbieri! Although Gato's probably best known for his late 60s appearances on the American scene, and his 70s dates for Impulse and Flying Dutchman... read more

A tight bit of dancefloor funk from the duo of Frank and Eddie Dillard – one on guitar, one on bass, and both on vocals – both working here with some great clubby production from Walter Murphy! The set's got a bit more edge than Murphy's own records – thanks to the emphasis on... read more

A pretty cool, seemingly unlikely duo effort on Rhymesayers – pairing up underground hip hop mainstay Aesop Rock and avant indie vocalist Kimya Dawson of Moldy Peaches! It actually works well! Aesop's no nonsense sounding voice can deliver even the most abstract lyrics with strength and... read more

One of our favorite funk combos take on a host of gems from the past – all classic soul and funk numbers that really expand the sound of Osaka Monaurail! The group first got their start doing a great riff on the sound of James Brown – but here, they move into Memphis soul, Chicago funk... read more

Chicago deep house player & producer Glenn Underground's deepest and most soul jazz-steeped effort to date! We really thought Glenn stepped up his game pretty decisively on the previous full length for his Strictly Jaz Unit label – and Forgotten Art is another major leap forward. This... read more

Warmly soulful sounds from Chicago deep house icon Glenn Underground – who continues to masterfully translate dancefloor-tailored soundscapes into the full length album format – and he does it with a compelling vibe that leaves a lot of his contemporaries in the dust! Glenn is great... read more

A nice one by Undisputed Truth – and the Method To The Madness is shoot further out into a space funk realm! By this point in the mid 70s, the group has firmly developed their spacier identity – possibly as an answer to George Clinton and Earth Wind & Fire's big cosmic funk vibe at... read more

Plenty of unity here – a mix of older jazz modes with just a slight contemporary bent – in ways that make the combo groove like some of the best club jazz acts in recent years! The instrumentation is mostly acoustic – a tight array of saxes, piano, vibes, guitar, and plenty of... read more

Excellent work by the Universal Robot Band – an electronic ensemble put together by producer Greg Carmichael, and featuring that great funky moog sound that he and Patrick Adams were using heavily at the time! The tracks have a funky disco groove – similar to groups on P&P Records,... read more

An excellent bit of 80s groove! Unlimited Touch have a cool 2-female lead vocal style – and they keep it tight and soulful on grooves that have a nice tight club sound, in a style that often reminds us of Roy Ayers produced albums, like Ladies Of The 80s, or some of the more uptempo tracks... read more

Probably the best jazz album that Phil Upchurch ever cut! Phil plays in two settings here – one with a funky large group, arranged and conducted by Ed Bland (who did a lot of the work for Perception records in the early 70s) – the other with a quintet that includes Wynton Kelly,... read more

One of the sweetest fusion sets ever recorded from guitarist Phil Upchurch – a set that's less trippy than his earlier albums, but one that more than makes up for that with a tightly soulful groove! Production is by John Tropea and George Benson – and you can definitely hear their... read more

One of the sweetest fusion sets ever recorded from guitarist Phil Upchurch – a set that's less trippy than his earlier albums, but one that more than makes up for that with a tightly soulful groove! Production is by John Tropea and George Benson – and you can definitely hear their... read more

You could go 'round and 'round with music historians arguing whether or not this album, or Java Java Java or Aquarius Dub was the first full length dub LP, but it makes no difference to us, this is one mighty set of Perryisms, wrought in the pre-Black Ark era. There's a dozen of the Upsetter's... read more

Solid DC hip hop from Uptown XO – produced entirely by AB The Pro for a nicely cohesive vibe all the way – with appearances by Messiah, Doe Gicapom & Benjui, Sanni & U St Face. Includes "Grey Poupon" feat Messiah, "Spread Love", "Everyday" feat AB... read more

One of the most soul-based albums in Michal Urbaniak's catalog – a session originally done with TK records during the height of their dancefloor years, fitted up with some really great clubby grooves! The sound here is a mix of fusion and soul – done in a way that still gives Urbaniak... read more

Michal Urbaniak's third Fusion set for Columbia – very fittingly titled, considering what a huge influence his playing had on the genre! The album's a very tight batch of groovers – soaring and spacious, but never overindulgent – sometimes featuring scatting vocals by wife... read more

A pretty sweet 70s session from Michal Urbaniak – done in the same heavy funk style as his bigger label recordings of the time, with a solid blend of electric rhythms and some nice trippy solo work! The core of the group is Urbaniak on violin and lyricon, Urszula Dudziak on voice and... read more

Two full albums, and a heck of a lot of bonus tracks too! First up is the first album in Boris Midney's USA-European Connection – and virtually a one man disco symphony in itself! The whole album comes off as one long extended track – even though the variations are given title... read more

Mindblowing work from Vainica Doble – a Spanish group with a really unusual feel! The combo features dreamy vocals from singers Gloria Van Aerssen & Carmen Santonja – folded together in a style that's unlike any other female harmony work we can think of – hardly the sweet... read more

Piano and bass, a beautiful combination – handled here in a relatively lively mode at the Village Vanguard! The album's filled with magical interplay between the piano of Bebo Valdes and bass of Javier Colina – ringing out in styles that definitely hearken back to Afro-Cuban roots, yet... read more

A stunner of an album – and a really unique Latin percussion jam from the 70s! The session's headed by the legendary Carlos Patato Valdez – who arguably sounds better here than on any of his earlier albums – as he's working with a really fluid, open groove – achieved in the... read more

One of the excellent albums cut by conga player Patato Valdez for the Latin Percussion label – and a tight stripped-down jam session with a very traditional Afro-Cuban feel! The groove is pure New York Latin – with the wonderful "return to basics" sound that LPV was... read more

An early cooker from the young Bobby Valentin – a record cut even before his initial outings for Fania, and done with the same trumpet-heavy groove! There's a raw crackle to the set that's mighty nice – not really Latin soul, but the kind of small combo energy you'd find in the... read more

A soaringly soulful set, thanks to production by Carl Davis and Willie Henderson, and arrangements by Tom Tom Washington and Sonny Sanders – a Brunswick super-team who make the set sound just like some of their bigger records from the time! Add to that a host of tracks penned by Eugene... read more

Three incredible albums from Marcos Valle – quite different than his 60s and 70s records, but really wonderful too! These 80s sets have Valle coming off of a brief stretch working in the US on soul music – particularly some sublime efforts with Leon Ware for Elektra Records – a... read more

A great Marcos Valle appearance from recent years – a set that captures him at the time of his excellent comeback on Far Out Records – but in a way that's different than his recordings for that label! The recording is nice and intimate, in that great Ensaio way – very classic,... read more

An incredible record from Marcos Valle – maybe our favorite-ever of his recent-revival years! The sound here is sublime – a warm blend of funky rhythms, bossa roots, and larger orchestrations – all very much in the spirit of those legendary albums that Valle recorded for... read more

One of Marcos Valle's most strangely beautiful albums – a set that really his him stepping off strongly from his bossa nova years – really moving into mindblowing music with a range of styles that's simply incredible! There's definitely a bit of bossa at the core, but the larger... read more

Some of the most brilliantly baroque work ever recorded by Marcos Valle – an obscure 1970 album that collects together tunes from a few of his odd soundtrack experiments of the late 60s, plus a few others that are in a very similar vein! Marcos is really going over the top here –... read more

An insanely wonderful album that will always remain one of the all-time favorites of the Dusty Groove staff! This beautiful batch of tracks by Brazilian singer/songwriter Marcos Valle has him pushing waaaay past his bossa work of the 60s – into a cool 70s mix of electronics and sexy scoring,... read more

One of the grooviest Verve albums of all time – a rare American session from Brazilian legend Marcos Valle – and his only US album to feature vocals! The album's even dreamier than Valle's early bossa sides from Brazil – and the setting has some nice Verve-like touches from... read more

A holy grail! This is one of Marcos Valle's best-ever albums – and it's certainly the one to best realize the larger scope he was heading for in the years after the bossa – that sublime mix of jazz and more expansive arrangements – a perfect fit for the growing sophistication of... read more

One of jazz accordian player Art Van Damme's groovy records for MPS – recorded in the early and late 70s and finally released in 1979! So Nice was recorded in quintet sessions on 1973 – featuring Siegfried Schwab, Heribert Thusek, Eberhard Weber and Charly Antolini – and it's a... read more

The accordion never sounded groovier – thanks to some great playing by Art Van Damme and amazing production by MPS! This 5CD set features a whopping 10 albums that Art recorded for the legendary German label between 1966 and 1972 – all of which are hipper and more swinging than any of... read more

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One of the two incredible Townes Van Zandt albums by Townes Van Zandt from 1972 – both right up there with his best ever! High, Low & In Between, along with The Late Great Townes Van Zandt represent real career high points for Townes – with sparer, folk-based production and songs... read more

One of the best ever records by Townes Van Zandt – cut during his early 70s studio peak – and contrary to the title, a good 25 years before he passed away! He's again working with producer Jack Clement, but this record pares down the slicker and bigger production touches that seemed... read more

A beautiful 2CD set of long buried Townes Van Zandt recordings from the early 70s – a period that you can easily argue was his peak – even though few people were buying his records at the time! You get a pretty solid representation of 2 sides of the Townes sound on this great... read more

Beautiful solo piano from Jasper Van't Hof – an artist we mostly know from 70s electronic sessions for MPS, but who sounds really wonderful here in a spare acoustic setting! Jasper's got this really fluid approach to his instrument – sometimes soaring over the keyboard of the piano as... read more

One of the loosest, freest recordings we've heard from Ken Vandermark in awhile – a great set of duets with drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, who's really got the right spirit here to match the sensitivity in Vandermark's reeds! Many tunes are in a sparer, gentler exploration of textures and tones... read more

Hidden gems and otherwise – a massive collection of work from Luther Vandross – almost all of which goes way beyond his overplayed hits! The package brings together some forgotten album tracks, a few rare singles, and even sound soundtrack numbers – all to show that there's way... read more

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A great late album from French composer, arranger, lyricist, singer and all around creative musical force Jean Claude Vannier – with Vannier singing moody, vintage orch pop numbers in a mode that does both JCV and his old collaborator Serge Gainsbourg proudly! The set has a very lively feel... read more

A stunner of dramatic orchestrations from the earlyish part of the past millenium – bookended by a couple of the most mindblowingly influential pieces from the great Edgard Varese in the late 20s & early 30s – plus exceptional orchestrations by Carlos Chavez, Silvestre Revueltas,... read more

Some of the most important recordings in the career of Sarah Vaughan – rich package of albums that really helped her refine her style strongly, and unlock an approach to jazz that nobody else could touch! Vaughan had always been a great singer, no matter what the setting – but here,... read more

Great 70s live work from Sarah Vaughan – material that easily stands alongside her best for the Pablo label at the same time, but which is far more obscure overall! The notes on the CD aren't much – and obviously help enforce the obscurity of the sessions – but we can say that... read more

A really rich album by Sarah Vaughan – recorded in Paris in 1958, with orchestrations by Quincy Jones – and large group backing that includes some great tenor work by Zoot Sims! The session's one of Vaughan's most cohesive albums of the period, and although it's got "violins"... read more

A sweet little album that serves up exactly what it promises in the title – a set of 60s pop tunes, all reworked by the jazz vocal artistry of Sarah Vaughan! The set's one of the most upbeat and bouncy that Vaguhan cut during the decade – and although you might know some of the tunes... read more

A great album – made even better – as Louie Vega's heavenly Elements Of Life set gets "extensions" from a host of other producers and DJs! This isn't one of those "let's see how much we can mess up the original record" sort of projects – as the core sound and... read more

Two different sides of Louie Vega – served up to show his rich work for the King Street Records label over the years! CD one features a continuous mix by Louie – one that brings his talents for a dancefloor vibe to the works of other contemporaries – as Vega mixes together their... read more

Louie Vega on Fania Records – a long-overdue match that really makes for some amazing sounds on this set! The pairing isn't that much of a surprise – given that Louie's done plenty to keep Latin music alive in the past few decades in the clubs – from his own Nuyorican Soul... read more

One of the only American releases from Eastern European jazzman Karel Valebny – the force behind some great albums on MPS and other overseas labels, sounding equally great here on a late 60s set for ESP! The music is as bizarre as the cover – modern jazz overall, but done with a great... read more

A smoking debut from this funky Atlanta combo – a group who've worked together for years, and have a totally top-shelf quality on this first album! Vocalist Ruby Velle is firmly in the lead – hitting hard with a soulful punch that rivals some of the most soulful female singers on funk... read more

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Really tremendous work from Caetano Veloso – an album as striking as its cover image, and a record that shows that, yet again, Veloso is one of the few of his generation who's kept growing as a creative artist! The sound is wonderful – very similar to the recent albums Ce and Zii &... read more

A lively album that mixes Caetano's rich songwriting style with a hard percussive base, which gives the tracks a fast jumpy feel, and gives even more power to Caetano's strong voice. There's little psychedelic bits, with good guitars that get noisy in parts, but there's also a warm MPB feel to the... read more

Some of the most beautiful work ever recorded by Caetano Veloso – an album that carries on the style of English language lyrics used on his session in exile in 1971, but which also introduces him back to the world of Brazilian popular music! The album's a great transition for Veloso –... read more

A legendary pairing of two amazing artists – a once-in-a-lifetime performance from Caetano Veloso and David Byrne (and we don't mean that as a Talking Heads pun, either!) The album's got a stripped-down, acoustic feel that really lets both singers open up and dominate the proceedings –... read more

Delicate dissonance, bruised beauty, and hazy noise pop – all in one of the best rock albums ever made – the amazing first album from the Velvet Underground and Nico! The album's the stuff of legend – and for good reason, too – a surprising slab of vinyl that barely set the... read more

Delicate dissonance, bruised beauty, and hazy noise pop – all in one of the best rock albums ever made – the amazing first album from the Velvet Underground and Nico! The album's the stuff of legend – and for good reason, too – a surprising slab of vinyl that barely set the... read more

Wild work from The Ventures – a set that really has them trying to change with the times – and coming up with some excellent sounds in the process! The inside cover features a cool "photo story" of the group – very unusual, as it shows the aging quartet trying to act... read more

The Ventures were furiously productive in the early 60s – delivering gem after gem – and this is among the best! Telstar is somewhere near the ninth record by the group, offering a dizzying mix of covers of some of the most popular songs of the day. The guitar still leads as the main... read more

The legendary rock instrumentalists update their first hit song this killer set from '64 – and better it! Walk Don't Run Vol 2 is a peak period effort from The Ventures – with gritty, groovy covers that show their range as well as any of their early-to-mid 60s albums. Much more than... read more

Heady sounds from the late 60s Ventures – as the group take on some of the fuzzed-up rock sounds of the time – most of which was arguably influenced by their own experiments earlier in the decade! There's actually a fair bit of original numbers on the set – some killer tracks... read more

One of the only few albums to ever feature the vocals of Judy Clay – a wonderful deep soul singer who also cut a handful of excellent singles for Stax in the late 60s! Like some of that work – specifically her Stax duets with William Bell – this set really showcases Judy's... read more

Sweet and jazzy pop from early 70s Brazil – a great little album that we'd rank with our favorites by Marcos Valle and Edu Lobo! Arthur Verocai isn't nearly as well-known as those two, but he works in a similar territory – taking jazz, large arrangements, and nice touches of electric... read more

Alberto Verrecchia's score from the mid 70s women in prison flick Prigione Di Donne – a mix of tense, dramatic passages with mournful vocalism (courtesy Edda Del'Orso, naturally) – to more sweepingly melodramatic sounds! On those tracks, the strings swell up big, as does the piano roll... read more

A gem of a bossa nova guitar session – light and lively, and filled with great acoustic lines from guitarist Geraldo Vespar! The tunes are all instrumental, and they feature some great larger backings too – arrangements that either bring up the rhythms nicely with a lot of percussion,... read more

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A great batch of driving, early 60s soul from the Vibrations – their complete recordings for the Checker label for the first time on CD! The Vibrations never really achieved the massive popular success of some of the soul groups of the era, but they could hang with the best of them –... read more