With Bill Black's Combo. 7-inch, Vinyl record

Soulful tenor giant Willis Jackson is anything but loose on this classic set – as the album's a smoker, and one with a very tight sound! The group has Carl Wilson playing Hammond with a nicely heavy groove – alongside Frank Robinson on trumpet and Bill Jones on guitar – all held down by the drums of Joe Hadrick, in a combo that's a nice change from some of the more familiar Prestige Records combos! Titles include a very lively reading of "After Hours", plus the tracks "Y'all", "What Will I Tell My Heart", and "Secret Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Great small combo work from Gene Krupa – one of his excellent sides for Verve during the 50s! Players here include the great Eddie Lockjaw Davis on tenor, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, and Bill Harris on trombone – and rhythm is from Teddy Wilson on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Krupa on drums – a swinging little unit that keeps plenty of room for warm solo lines in the set! Titles include "Who's Rhythm", "Second Helping Blues", "Bloozy Woozy", "Meddle My Minor", and "Windy". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful session by Andrew Hill – recorded in 1968, but issued only briefly in 1981 – and out of print for years! The session is a key one in understanding Hill's work – as it's a bridge between the arch modernism of his early Blue Note sides, and the more soul-oriented playing of the Grass Roots album. The set features wonderful frontline work in the trumpet of Charles Tolliver, and tenor and soprano of Joe Farrell – both players who open up the sound at the same time they're giving it a nice bottom – egged on by the rest of the combo, which includes Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album's an enchanting one – not as dark as early years, but still with a compelling vision that's all Hill's own. Titles include "Dance With Death", "Love Nocturne", "Black Sabbath", "Partitions", and "Fish N Rice". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Cal Tjader's best late 50s dates for Fantasy Records – thanks to some smoking tenor sax from Jose "Chombo" Silva! The album has Cal working in the very comfortable territory of San Francisco's Blackhawk Nightclub – in a combo that also features familiar players Vince Guaraldi on piano, Al McKibbon on bass, Willie Boby on drums, and Mongo Santamaria on congas – all musicians who'd previously helped Tjader hit some of his best Latin grooves! But the addition of Silva on a few tracks here really makes the set crackle – giving it a gutsy, soulful fee that you don't always get on some of Tjader's other records. Tracks are longish – and titles include the nice original "Bill B", plus jazzy versions of "I Love Paris", "Blue & Sentimental", and "Night In Tunisia". LP, Vinyl record album

The Perfect Toy label has an amazing way of coming up with grooves we've never heard before – really rare tracks that make us dig each new release from the label – just as they keep on digging for more rare records to make their releases great! We've been Hammond fans for decades – and always have searched ourselves for all sorts of rare organ jazz and soul gems – yet even with that experience, we'd never come across most of these cuts – which are from rare singles and obscure albums, and show that there's a heck of a lot to discover in the world of jazz organ, once you get past Blue Note and Prestige Records! Most numbers here are small combo funk – and titles include "Beware Of The Dog" by The Group Solo, "Miss Delores Funk" by Soul Brothers, "A Soulful Feeling" by The Tears, "Corporation" by Timmy Sims & His Organ Combo, "Nervous Conclusion" by The Cherry Fogg, "A Ritual Melody" by Black River Circus, "Harbor Melon" by The Young Ones, and "Theme For Billy" by Kurt Watkins & Soul Sister 7. LP, Vinyl record album

Great lost work from Ornette Coleman – material recorded in New York and LA during the years 1959 through 1961 – never issued at the time, but pulled together in this wonderful package at the start of the 70s! Although not recorded as an official album, the record stands easily with the best Ornette had to offer at Atlantic Records – and all tracks here have that sense of sharpness, rhythm, and timing that made the Coleman combo one of the most exciting of the time. Players include Ornette on alto throughout, plus Don Cherry on trumpet and pocket trumpet, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins on drums, and Charlie Haden (mostly), Scott LaFaro, and Jimmy Garrison on bass. All tracks are originals by Ornette – and titles include "Moon Inhabitants", "The Fifth of Beethoven", "Circle with a Hole In the Middle", and "The Alchemy of Scott La Faro", featuring the great late bassist, Scott La Faro! LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to imagine Etta Jones being lonely and blue – especially when she sounds as great as this! The album's one of Jones' early classics from Prestige – a date that really has her classing things up a lot, and drawing on bits of Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington's styles, to mix in with the bluesier tones of her roots – put together with a great deal of charm, and a new sophistication that made Etta one of the hippest jazz singers of the 60s! Backing is by a cool small combo – with Patti Brown on piano, Wally Richardson on guitar, and a bit of tenor from Budd Johnson – and titles include "I'll Be There", "In the Dark", "Gentlemen Friend", "I Wonder", and "Miss You So". LP, Vinyl record album