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One of the last live appearances by Louis Armstrong – presented here in a really charming little album, issued in a small pressing by The National Press Club! The album's a great document of all the Armstrong charms in one package – as Louis talks as much as he plays – telling stories and speaking about the music on the first half of the set. The second half then features material recorded after Armstrong's passing – with Tyree Glenn and Tommy Gwaltney keeping up the vibe, especially on some of the spoken passages where Glenn talks about Louis! The sound quality is a bit "broadcast"-styled at the start – and titles include "Rockin Chair", "Royal Garden Blues", "Love For Sale", "Crazy Rhythm", and "It's Alright With Me".

Fantastic funk from a group who definitely earn their name – a sweet jelly bean jar of 70s groovers – played in this great compressed bass-heavy style! The group hail from southeast Asia, but sing in English throughout – and play tunes that clearly echo their love of American funk by groups like War or Sly & The Family Stone – both covered here, but in ways that really tune the tunes inside out nicely! There's never too much jamming on the instrumentation, but the production has a way of folding the edges into the middle – creating this cool cross-filtered sound that works especially well on the vocals, and gives them this offbeat quality that really furthers the charm of the set. Titles include "Stand II", "Assassination", "Spill The Wine", "Get It Together", "You Got Me", and "Thank You". CD features the bonus track "Jerry Beans Xtract".

Fierce funky electronics from Sign Of Four – a record that almost sounds like Malcom Catto's jamming with Jean Jacques Perry! "Jumping Beans" starts off with these really cool percolating moogy bits – but then drums come in and really kick things large – and the electronics only seem to increase to match the intensity – very nice! "Samba Electronico" isn't really a samba tune, but has these batucada-like electronic percolations – moving fast, and with distorted electronics over the top – plus a bit of piano line that gives the whole thing a sweet 60s twist!

Includes tracks by Ralph Sutton, Don Ewell, Joe Sullivan, Cliff Jackson, Charles Thompson, and others.

One of the last live appearances by Louis Armstrong – presented here in a really charming little album, issued in a small pressing by The National Press Club! The album's a great document of all the Armstrong charms in one package – as Louis talks as much as he plays – telling stories and speaking about the music on the first half of the set. The second half then features material recorded after Armstrong's passing – with Tyree Glenn and Tommy Gwaltney keeping up the vibe, especially on some of the spoken passages where Glenn talks about Louis! The sound quality is a bit "broadcast"-styled at the start – and titles include "Rockin Chair", "Royal Garden Blues", "Love For Sale", "Crazy Rhythm", and "It's Alright With Me".

Way more than just an album with Gene Ammons as a leader – and instead, a set that truly earns the "all stars" listed on the cover – thanks to a great array of supporting players, and a very loose, open-ended jam session style that lets everyone get in plenty of solo space! Ammons' tenor is tremendous, but he's also a great collaborator here, too – working with Idrees Suliman on trumpet, Pepper Adams on baritone, Mal Waldron on piano, Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and Ray Barretto on conga – in a mode that's maybe slightly tighter than some of the blowing sessions Prestige was doing at the time, but which still has that key longform creative energy that made the hardbop generation so great. Titles include "Blue Gene", "Scamperin", "Blue Greens n Beans", and "Hip Tip" – and all tracks are long, with plenty of focus on solos!

Amazing work from the Spanish Harlem underground of the late 60s! From the title, to the cover, to the beautiful blend of songs, this album perfectly sums up the rich energy and raw power bubbling in the NuYorican scene of the time – effortlessly blending together soul, Latin, jazz, and funk – making the whole thing work perfectly because that's the way it was! These cats didn't know anything about rules – at least not until the big bad older Latin mafia snapped them in place – and the result is a freewheeling album of hard grooving jammers and sweetly emotive soul tunes! Tracks include "Puerto Rico Me Llama", "Make Me Smile", "Es Tu Cosa", "The Prayer", "Aguanta La Lengua", and "Chili Beans".

A killer bit of Latin Soul – one of the few albums ever recorded by conga player George Guzman, working here with a very cool, very hip, late 60s ensemble! The group sport 3 trumpets, piano, bass, and some very strong percussion – plus vocals in both English and Spanish, which makes for a perfect back and forth mood to the set, handling both straight Latin and Latin Soul numbers with ease! Loads of great tracks – including "Diggin' Rice & Beans", "Manteca", "Really Bad Scene", La Banda Ya Llego", and "Winter Love". Nice, tight, and very very groovy.

Two great Memphis instrumental groups, back to back on one CD – in a smoking little live set that keeps the Stax Records sound strong – even away from the studio! The set's actually heavier on work by Booker T & The MGs than it is cuts by The Mar-Keys – as Book and crew handle seven out of the record's ten tracks – all with that sublime Hammond-heavy groove that makes them so great – and which takes on an even rawer sound here in the live setting! But The Mar-Keys are pretty sweet too – maybe a bit looser than on their singles – and we mean that in a good way. Booker T & The MGs play "Green Onions", "Hip Hug Her", "Tic Tac Toe", "Booker Lou", "Gimme Some Lovin", "Outrage", and "Red Beans & Rice" – and The Mar-Keys serve up "Last Night", "Grab This Thing", and "Philly Dog".

Cool beans! This is the original US single version of this tasty cut by Piero Umiliani! "Mah Na Mah Na" is simply wonderful – a weird nasally vocal humming along while some female singers come around in back – organ bubbling, the whole thing sounding about as mad as it can be! The flip is straighter – but still pretty groovy!

An incredible album – and one of the most revolutionary rock albums of the late 60s! The Who recorded this one as a tribute to mainstream radio at the time – linking together some solid stand alone tunes with shorter, wittier tracks that were recorded as commercials for products that included baked beans, acne cream, and deodorant – as well as cool announcer bits too! The end result is one of the most sonically complex records issued by a mainstream rock act of the time – sort of like The Who said "yeah, everyone's trying to copy Sgt Peppers with big arrangements, but we'll take this concept album thing in a whole new direction!" Brilliant all the way through, and with tracks that include "Armenia City In The Sky", "Heinz Baked Beans", "Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand", "I Can See For Miles", "I Can't Reach You", "Rale", "Sunrise", and "Silas Stingy".

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girl group and solo sounds from vaults of Red Bird – that wonderful label founded by songwriting giants Lieber & Stoller in the 60s – stereo masters from '64-'66! The label came out of the girl group boom earlier in the decade, so some of the material blew up big on the charts while a great deal of it fell by the pop wayside. The thing is, ALL of it wonderful – sweet, soaring pop soul majesty from some of the best songwriters and loveliest voices of their time! Great singles by The Goodies, The Jelly Beans, The Ad-Libs, Ellie Greenwich, Evie Sands, The Butterflys, The Charmettes, The Young Generation and more – stuff that truly rivals The Wall Of Sound! Include "The Dum Dum Ditty" by The Goodies, "The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget", "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" and "How Fine Can One Guy Be" by The Jelly Beans, "The Boy From New York City" and "I'm Just A Down Home Girl" by The Ad-Libs, "You Don't Know" and "Another Boy Like Mine" by Ellie Greenwich, "I Can't Let Go" and "Take Me For A Little While" by Evie Sands, "Gee Baby Gee" by The Butterflys, "The Hideaway" by The Young Generation, "He's So Easy To Love" by Roddie Joy and more..

An incredible collection of work from the great Johnny Copeland – way way way more stuff from the early years than we ever knew he recorded! Johnny's one of the few Texas singers of his generation who kept the flame burning brightly over the decades – but it's this stuff that's still his best work – amazing southern soul tracks handled in a mode that's unlike anything else – no Memphis or Muscle Shoals cliches here, and instead a really deep, personal approach to the music that makes tremendous use of Copeland's vocals! There's some slight undercurrents of blues at points, but the music is definitely soul – sometimes inflected with jazz on the mellower cuts, ala a Duke/Peacock recording – although the tracks here were for the Jet Stream, Wet Soul, and Wand labels – mixed here with a number of previously unreleased tracks. The 2CD package really hones in on Johnny's greatness – and serves up a whopping 43 tracks recorded between 1965 and 1971 – titles that include "The Invitation", "Why Don't You Make Up Your Mind", "Somebody's Been Scratchin", "Every Dog's Got His Day", "Wizard Of Art", "I Waited Too Long", "The Hip Hop", "Four Dried Beans", "Mother Nature", "You're Gonna Reap Just What You Sow", "Dedicated To The Greatest", "I Wish I Was Single", "Danger Zone", and "Slow Walk You Down".

Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff go head to head in this double-organ extravaganza! The set was recorded live in Boston in 1973, and it features some of the most furiously funky live organ grooving you'll find this side of Root Down – and a whole lot of super tight jazz jamming! The group's got three guitarists, one of whom is the great O'Donel Levy, plus Mike Moss on drums and Kwasi Jayourba percussion. Most of the tracks are nice and long, with lots of solo space, and titles include opening funky monster "The Preacher's Tune", plus "Beans", "Chopper", "Boston Whaler", "Mozambique" and "Brown Bread".

Jazzy vibes – and jazzy sax, trumpet, and keyboards too – all heard in a host of rare cuts from the 70s – pulled together in one massively great batch of music! The set does a great job of digging around the edges of the 70s – moving past too-familiar jazz funk classics, and coming up with numbers that really get at the more sophisticated side of the genre! Most of the work is by relatively well-known artists, but the whole thing's still a nice change from the mainstream, and features loads of rare groove classics – including "In Good Faith" by Norman Harris, "Latin Spirit" by Leon Huff, "Latin Love" by Dexter Wansel, "Cisco Kid" by Reuben Wilson, "Red Beans" by Jimmy McGriff, "Out On The Coast" by Larry Willis, "Give Me Your Love" by Funk Incorporated, "Killing Time" by Natural Essence, "Like A Thief In The Night" by Mike Longo, "Them Changes" by Lionel Hampton, and "Killing Me Softly" by Hysear Don Walker.

Fantastic funkiness! Although Les Baxter's best known for his easy listening work in the late 50s/early 60s, this 1969 biker flick soundtrack is a motherlode of funky funky tracks, and a veritable cornucopia of breakbeats. The drums are nice and hard, and there's plenty of fuzzy guitars to give a razor sharp edge to the groove! A few tracks have vocals, but it's the funk rock instrumentals that drive this one into pulp soundtrack classic status. Highlights include the classics "Hogin' Machine" and "Hot Wind", but there's lots of other nice ones like "Soul Groove", "Chain Fight", "Dan's Theme", "Scoobee Doo" and the killer "Wheels (Main Title Theme)". This great limited edition CD version has a 4 bonus tracks made up of the full version of the end title song, medleys of shorter cues from the film, instrumental bits and more. "Travelin' Man", "Take It From Me (Source)/Gila Monster/Cathy Left Behind /Mongoose Gets Beans", "Gang Rides Through The Hills/Tosses Bike Over Bank/Snake Or Rope" and more.

A smoker of a swing session from tenorist Eddie Barefield – one of the few records he ever cut as a leader! Barefield's tenor has a rich legacy that goes back to famous 30s work with Bennie Moten, Cab Calloway, and Fletcher Henderson – and had a longtime friendship with Ben Webster, with whom he often played. While it might be a stretch to say that Eddie's as great as Ben, he's definitely got the soul and feeling of that generation – and really opens up here in the kind of modern setting that lets his solos spin out even more than back in the day. The group's a nice mix of players, too – and includes Jon Faddis on trumpet, John Bunch on piano, Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, and Panama Francis on drums. Titles include "Spud", "For Grandma Webster", "Brown Baby", "Barefield's Lady", and "Soup Beans". CD also features two unissued bonus tracks – "Wildcat Blues" and "The Fox".

Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff go head to head in this double-organ extravaganza! The set was recorded live in Boston in 1973, and it features some of the most furiously funky live organ grooving you'll find this side of Root Down – and a whole lot of super tight jazz jamming! The group's got three guitarists, one of whom is the great O'Donel Levy, plus Mike Moss on drums and Kwasi Jayourba percussion. Most of the tracks are nice and long, with lots of solo space, and titles include opening funky monster "The Preacher's Tune", plus "Beans", "Chopper", "Boston Whaler", "Mozambique" and "Brown Bread".

A sublime set of 60s New York sounds – some of the best compositions by the team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, served up by a host of excellent soul, rock, and pop artists of the time! There's a really unifying feel to the work here – not just the continual themes of sadness and wanting that the pair were known for (especially Ellie!), but also the "wall of sound" style of production, which always seemed to bring their subtle messages to the forefront in really wonderful ways! And while this may be the second set in Ace's series on the pair, all the work here is totally top-shelf – essential stuff that include "Sweet Laurie Fair Laurie" by The Tokens, "Baby I Love You" by The Ronettes, "Every Boy & Every Girl" by The Chiffons, "All Grown Up" by The Exciters, "I Got To Go Back" by The McCoys, "That's All I Ever Want From You Baby" by Manfred Mann, "Goodnight Goodnight" by Ellie Greenwich, "Look Of Love" by Leslie Gore, "The Train From Kansas City" by The Shangri-Las, "Don't Ever Leave Me" by Connie Francis, "I Know It's All Right" by Sam Hawkins, "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" by The Jelly Beans, "That Boy John" by The Raindrops, "I Wonder" by The Butteflies, "Chapel Of Love" by The Dixie Cups, and "Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home" by Darline Love.