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Jim Hall's working here beautifully with trumpeter Tom Harrell – a player whose spacious tones are a perfect match for Jim's open, airy phrasing on the guitar – all supported beautifully by rhythms from Steve LaSpina on bass and Joey Baron on drums! Harrell plays mostly flugelhorn on... read more

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A really strong debut from Anthony Hamilton – easily the strongest album we've ever heard on the usually much more commercial So So Def label! Anthony seriously vibrates the rich depth of southern soul on every cut here, as filtered through late-model natural hip hop beats and vibes. He's... read more

A label shift for Anthony Hamilton – and a bit of a shift in sound too – one that's slightly more rootsy at the bottom, almost a bit more grit than before – in keeping with the cover image and title of the set! The music's still very much in a contemporary R&B vein, but there'... read more

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A nice mid 60s batch of blues-folk-rock from John Hammond – who's in excellent form at this point – but the record is perhaps more famous for the accompaniment – a backing band that includes Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson of the soon-to-be The Band, along with... read more

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Five disc set in a beautifully bound burlap and cardboard book. Comes with a poster as well.... read more

The classic jazz vibes of Lionel Hampton meets the soulful arrangements of the Chicago Brunswick studios – and the result is a great batch of funky instrumentals that have a similar sound to some of the classic Cadet albums from the same time! Willie Henderson and Tom Tom Washington did most... read more

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A killer 70s soundtrack from Herbie Hancock! The record takes the funky style that Herbie was cutting with the Headhunters, and blends it with some more sophisticated scoring that's top in the 70s action and blacksploitation modes – perfect for the dark theme of the movie's story. There's... read more

A lyrical masterpiece from the mid-60's! Freddie Hubbard and Herbie trade lines on extended compositions, as Herbie shows the world that he's more than just a soul jazz player by coming up with some of the most spiritual work of his career. Of course, that doesn't displace the treasure that is... read more

A seminal jazz funk session of the 70s – Herbie Hancock's legendary meeting with The Headhunters, and a killer batch of tunes that really gave the combo their name! Herbie's playing a wide range of keys here – including Fender Rhodes, clavinet, and Arp – but almost even better is... read more

A really unique little record from Herbie Hancock – one that's almost completely improvised over Latin percussion! The setup is quite spare – and quite different than Herbie's other Blue Note work – and the group features improvised backgrounds by bassist Paul Chambers and 2... read more

Essential set that brings together all of Herbie's key transitional recordings for Warner Brothers! Herbie started his years for the label playing in a more straight-ahead funky style – with perennial sample fave recordings like "Wiggle Waggle", "Fat Mama", and "Tell... read more

Classic Herbie from the early years, and a great mix of soul jazz and modernism! The record include a nice groovy "hit", Herbie's "Blind Man, Blind Man" – an obvious follow-up to "Watermelon Man", but still a standout track with a lot of imagination, and a... read more

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Soulful 70s work from Herbie Hancock – a record that tightens things up from the Headhunters and Sextant sessions, but which still retains a lot of their depth and charm! Players here including some previous partners – like Bennie Maupin on reeds and Paul Jackson on bass – plus... read more

Also featuring Wallace Roney & Tony Williams.... read more

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How many different personalities does Dan the Automator have? Way better than we'd expected, but we were only expecting a sort of joke one-off project. We should have known better, given that Prince Paul's themed projects (like Prince Among Thieves) have been pretty dope. Guest spots by just... read more

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Fantastic work from a lost chapter of Coltrane's career! Sure, you may know his early work with Miles Davis, or his groundbreaking later recordings on Atlantic and Impulse – but in the late 50s, 'Trane recorded some fantastic sides with trumpeter Wilbur Harden for Savoy Records, and the... read more

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Beautifully understated work from trumpeter Roy Hargrove – an open, laidback session that's easily one of the best he's done in years! Gone are the urban sounds of his RH Factor records, and the more cerebral modes of some of his other jazz sets – and instead, this time around Roy's... read more

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Fantastic work from one of the most unique talents in jazz! Rufus Harley plays bagpipes – yes, that's right, bagpipes – in a modal Coltrane-esque way that's simply got to be heard to be believed. He uses the drone capability of the instrument to explore reed patterns in the same way... read more

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Some of the best Billy Harper work of the past decade or two – a 3 volume series of live performances, all recorded in the Far East in 1991! This first volume features Billy recorded in Korea, with a group that includes Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Francesca Tanksley on piano, Louis Spears on... read more

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This is the kind of reissue we like to see! Funky pianist Gene Harris had spent most of the 60s playing in a standard trio format with his group The Three Sounds – but by the time of this live set, the group was evolving into a monster jazz funk combo, and Harris was getting beautifully... read more

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Far and above the best album by sweet soul vocalist Major Harris! Harris had knocked around for years in vocal groups during the 60s, and had even sung for a bit with The Delfonics in the early 70s – but this album is his crowning achievement, a landmark of sweet Philly soul with some... read more

Surprisingly fantastic bit of funky sitar tracks! The project's a recent one, but it's got a classic 70s global crossover funk sound that's very much in the vein of the weird Indian-funk work of Ananda Shankar or The Dave Pike set. The record's got a raw Meters-esque groove at the base –... read more

A bold statement from this ambitious Chicago group – a righteous assemblage of musicians working in a tradition that's partly linked to the spiritual jazz of an earlier AACM era, but which is also keenly conscious of the underground soul of groups like Fertile Ground! At its core, there's a... read more

A great recent album on Blue Note, and one that's an incredibly loving hommage to the label's great history. The group features Greg Osby on alto, Mark Shim on tenor, Stefon Harris on vibes, and Jason Moran on piano – and the four of them play together in a tight, soulful style that brings... read more

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Perhaps not as high profile as some of the other producers who've been focused on heavily in the spate of revive and reggae reissue madness, Harry Johnson nonetheless turned out numerous solid productions from the late 60s onward. This boatload of excellent instrumentals should go a long way... read more

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A beautiful album of dark-hued vocals – sung by Johnny Hartman with a quality that's as smokey as the image of him with a cigarette on the cover! The album set a whole new standard for male vocal jazz in the 60s – and is a distillation and refinement of earlier ideas in music by Billy... read more

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All classics – with 15 cuts that include "The Ghetto", "Where Is The Love", "Giving Up", "Someday We'll Be Free", "To Be Young Gifted & Black", "This Christmas", "You've Got A Friend", "Back Together Again",... read more

Donny Hathaway's soulful daughter makes a long-overdue return – bringing us her first album in over a decade! The wait's been more than worth it, though – as its clear that Lalah's matured strongly over the years – coming up with a rich, soulful sound that shows that she's got a... read more

A stunning debut from Havana – a really compelling set, and one with a sound to bridge a number of different scenes at once! At one level, Havana's got a smoothness that could easily put her in the forefront of mainstream soul – but at another, she also has a keen ear for a more... read more

'Leaping brilliance on the keys from a young Hampton Hawes – a player who makes this record bristle with excitement from the very first note! The format is simple, but the presentation here is breathtaking – a rock-solid trio performance that shows why Hawes was one of the greatest... read more

The darkly brooding image of Hampton Hawes on the front cover of this one is a real standout in the mostly-sweet cover lineup of the Contemporary label – but it's also a great indication of the sound of the record, which is something different than most of its contemporaries! Hawes is... read more

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A key album in the reintroduction of Coleman Hawkins in the late 50s – recorded in a style that still bears a lot of traces of earlier years, but at a time when Hawk was being claimed as a key influence by a variety of younger modernists! The set's got a sense of freedom that's really... read more

A near-forgotten gem from Coleman Hawkins excellent late 50s period – recorded for the short-lived Felsted label, and done in a beautifully relaxed way! The tracks here are long and easy-going – at times even more open than Hawkins' work for Verve, and in the style he'd explore even... read more

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The full length debut of Mayer Hawthorne for Stones Throw – with both classic Motown and 60s & 70s Detroit indie soul influences, done the right way, and all of it wonderful and true to his heroes – after some promising early singles, we can now say emphatically that Mayer Hawthorne... read more

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One of Isaac Hayes early 70s classics for Stax Records – a perfectly conceived masterpiece of baroque soul that builds and builds as the set goes on! Ike heads up the instrumentation on electric piano, vibes, and plenty of percussion – but he's also getting strong support here from the... read more

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An amazing record by one of England's greatest jazz talents ever! This very rare album was recorded in the US, under the supervision of Roland Kirk – who also plays on the record, along with Walter Bishop Jr, Sam Jones, and Louis Hayes. Tubby's tone is fantastic – with all the raw... read more

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Leon Haywood's best album from the 70s! After working as a keyboardist and sometimes vocalist for a number of years – making some strong and some tentative entries into the soul genre – Leon really exploded with this album, an electric funk classic that gave the world his fantastic... read more

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The return of the Headhunters – with percussionist Bill Summers and drummer Mike Clark heading this modern incarnation of the legendary soul-funk-fusion combo – proudly and fearlessly fusing the far-reaching funk style they innovated in the 70s with post millenium grooves! The... read more

A moody set of vocals by singer Pat Healy – set to arrangements by Fred Katz with a very sad and somber feel. The mood here is very similar to work by June Christy – especially during her later, more mellow years at Capitol – and titles are a good mix of unusual tunes, with songs... read more

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18 tracks in all!... read more

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Pretty darn beautiful work from Joe Henderson – much freer than just about any other record of his we can think of! The album is a trio session – with Joe blowing freely on tenor in the front, backing from bass and drums – and the centerpiece of the set is the track "Barcelon... read more

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Late work from the tenor legend Joe Henderson – his last album for Verve – leading an impeccable core combo and guests through the Gershwins' classic Porgy & Bess! The players including Jon Scofield on guitars, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Stefon Harris on vibes, Dave Holland on bass,... read more

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A 70s soul genius – even if you've never heard of the guy! Ron Henderson's a real enigma – a totally great soul artist who recorded throughout the 60s and 70s, but never really cracked the big time – thanks to the fact that his work was spread out over a number of different... read more