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Spacey fingerstyle guitar meanderings from Robbie Basho – a contemporary of John Fahey who helped create the genre of tripped out, open tuning excursions! This album was recorded after Basho's early work for the Takoma label, and it's got a bit less Native American imagery than before – replaced with more of a sense of Eastern mysticism for inspiration that also features some vocals alongside the guitar! Titles include "Venus In Cancer", "Eagle Sails The Blue Diamond Waters", "Kowaka D'Amour", "Song For The Queen", "Cathedrals Et Fleur De Lis" and "Wine Song (Sweet Wine Of Love)".

A great Crusaders album – and one that's a perfect bridge between their earlier soul jazz styles, and their tighter funkier electric one. The record was recorded live at the Roxy, and the group is augmented by Larry Carlton on guitar, who gives the tracks a nice razor edge at his best moments. All songs are pretty long – and the band is in extremely good form, jamming away with lots of funky vamping, and breaking out with some very soulful solos. Titles include "Scratch", "Hard Times", "So Far Away", and "Way Back Home".

An excellent little record from Hugh Masekela – cut right during that perfect time when he was mixing soul, funk, and just the right amount of jazz to keep things real! The record features some nice electric piano from Joe Sample, and the best cuts have a choppy funky groove. Some cuts have vocals, but the best moments are instrumental – like the riffs on "Jungle Jim", "Night In Tunisia", and "In The Marketplace".

A mad bit of funk and jazz from Ben Sidran – much more tripped-out than his later work! Ben's got a great bunch of musicians on the album – with either Tony Williams or "funky drummer" Clyde Stubblefield on drums, and Phil Upchurch on bass, laying down a nice dark groove on the best cuts – often with an offbeat funky sound that's made the record a favorite for crate-diggers for years. Ben's on piano, grooving in a number of different hipster modes – from LA sleezy to New Orleans soulful – and his vocals, as always, are compelling and catchy. The set includes the nice long groover "Now I Live (And Now My Life Is Done)", a monster track with a great slow groove that's been sampled a number of times over the years – and other cuts include "Full Compass", "Play The Piano", and "Think Twice".

Plenty of darkness here from Phil Upchurch – those great tones and notes he worked so well back in the 70s – all with that near-perfect quality that made him one of the most in-demand players of his day! The style here is a bit different than some of Phil's previous work in Chicago – as the set was recorded on the west coast with support from players who include Joe Sample on piano, Arthur Adams on rhythm guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Harvey Mason on drums. But that shift of locale hasn't dampened Phil's sound at all – and he's still getting a bit of hometown help from Donny Hathaway, who arranged a few tracks and also plays a bit of electric piano on the record. Other arrangements are by Nick DeCaro, and titles include "Love & Peace", "Darkness, Darkness", "Cold Sweat", and "Inner City Blues".

A nicely-done overview of the best work of South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela – featuring tracks from his groundbreaking years at the Chisa, Uni, and Blue Thumb labels! The tracks bring together South African rhythms with a buoyant, celebratory approach to soul jazz – cut by Masekela with influences from the burning LA scene of the late 60s, and recorded with a soulful finish that works as well on the set's longer, more complicated tracks, as it does on the shorter groovier tunes! 11 tracks in all, with titles that include "Mace & Grenades", "Ha Lese Le Di Khanna", "Child Of The Earth", "Gold", "Languta", "Stimela", "Been Such A Long Time Gone", and "Bajabula Bonke".

Titles include "The Seal Of Seasons", "Stones For Avalon", "She Was Born To Be My Unicorn", "Evenings Of Damask", and "Iscariot".

Some of the smoothest funky jazz ever recorded – and a great set of classic 70s tracks by the legendary Crusaders! By the time of these recordings, the group had already performed on countless soul jazz sides of their own, and moved from the 60s into the 70s with a tight brand of groove that was their very own. The group had no trouble crossing the borders between soul, jazz, and R&B – and effortlessly mixed funky rhythms, tight solos, sweet vocals, and impeccable production into a sound that still holds up magically today. This 11 track set features some of the group's best work from their ABC/Blue Thumb years – tunes that include "Street Life", "Way Back Home", "Creole", "Scratch", "Greasy Spoon", "Free As The Wind", "So Far Away", "I Felt The Love", and "Put It Where You Want It".

A landmark album from The Crusaders – and a set that really has them sweetening up their groove with lots of tasty R&B touches! The guitar's a bit more pronounced in the mix on this one – setting up some tightly funky rhythms that almost seem to free up the horns even more for solo work – resulting in a sound that brings together all the best bits of the LA scene into one impeccable album of smooth jazzy funk! Titles includes their classic "Stomp & Buck Dance", plus lots of other nice groovers like "Double Bubble", "Time Bomb", "The Well's Gone Dry", "Whispering Pines", "Lillies Of The Nile", "Greasy Spoon", and "Super Stuff".

One of the greatest solo albums ever issued by Latin jazz trumpeter Luis Gasca – a set that really expands on his debut for Atlantic Records, and which brings in a whole host of early 70s west coast Latin influences! The style here is very laidback and open – a bit like some of the Chicano funk coming out of the LA scene at the time, but a fair bit more jazz oriented overall – with long lean solos from both Gasca on trumpet and Joe Henderson on tenor sax, set up in a half-electric set of rhythms laid out on guitar, organ, keyboards, bass, and plenty of percussion! Other players here are all top-shelf too – and include Carlos Santana, George Cables, Stanley Clarke, Coke Escovedo, and Lenny White. The album features 4 long tracks – "Spanish Gypsy", "Street Dude", "La Raza", and "Little Mama".

The soulful vocalist of Incognito strikes out on her own – serving up an excellent debut LP! This one's got a bit more of a modern R&B approach than the jazzier work of Incognito – but still stays in the hip London soul mode, thanks to some great production work by Ray Hayden of Opaz! Maysa's voice is incredible – running up to the heavens, and dipping deep in that wonderful way she has, to make the songs bottom out with a heck of a lot of feeling. Titles include "Peace Of Mind", "Goodbye Manhattan", "JFS", "Let It Go", "Sexy", "Black Heaven", and "What About Our Love?".

One of the greatest albums of all time – a masterpiece of moody soul, spacey vocals, and jazzy vibes – all produced by the legendary Roy Ayers! Ramp take their name from the anagram Roy Ayers Musical Productions – and in a way, the group's the summation of all the genius that Roy had been cooking up on his own albums of the 70s – served up at an even higher level than before! The group boasts a unique two-female vocal style – sung together in a mode that had been used on Roy's own albums, but never this fully – all supported by some complex jazzy instrumentation, very heavy on the vibes and keyboards! Nearly every cut is fantastic – and the album has a strange off-kilter vibe that's totally amazing, and which has captivated soul fans for years – a blend of mellow and upbeat, complicated and straightforward that's totally great. Titles include the massive cut "Daylight", sampled famously over the years, plus "American Promise", "Come Into Knowledge", "I Just Love You", and the band's great cover of "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", done in a way that's strangely both similar and different than Roy's own version!

Excellent early 70s work from jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo – a super-dope album that's one of the best he ever recorded! Part of the success of the record has to do with the presence of Bobby Womack – normally a soul singer, but also a heck of a guitarist, playing here alongside Szabo in a very cool twin-guitar style that makes for an amazing sound. Both players have a hollow, warm tone to their work on the strings – stepping around a blend of soul and jazz that's nicely tripped out in a 70s Blue Thumb style. The highlight of the record is the massive track "Breezin", a sample track used by more than one group over the years – but the whole record's amazing, filled with slow, trippy grooves that were years ahead of their time! Titles include "I Remember When", "Just A Little Communication", "Amazon", "Fingers", and "Azure Blue".

An early 70s classic from The Crusaders – and a record that has the group perfectly poised between the rougher soul jazz of their roots and some of the tighter styles they brought into play during the 70s! The sound here is heavily electric – thanks to great keyboards from Joe Sample and bass from Wilton Felder – but the style isn't nearly as slick as on later albums recorded under the Crusaders name, thanks to the hipper, looser feel the group were allowed while working for the Chisa label! As on the first album recorded after the group shifted their name from the Jazz Crusaders, the set features added guitar work by Larry Carlton, David T Walker, and Arthur Adams – all of whom really help to emphasize the funkier side of the tracks while Wayne Henderson's trombone and Wilton Felder's tenor remind us they've still got a great talent for jazz! Titles include "Search For Soul", "Gotta Get It On", "Look Beyond That Hill", "Ain't Gon Change A Thing", and "A Message From The Inner City".

One of our favorite records of all time! We've got to admit, this one's an acquired taste, but if you dig cool LA studio pop from the early 70's, this record's a real treasure! Nick DeCaro was probably best known to the world as an instrumental arranger for A&M (he did a lot of the Claudine Longet albums), but this record from the early 70's has him singing in a set of cool spacey tracks that mix studio pop and jazz for a sound that's unlike anything else we've ever heard before. Nick's backed by a tight group that includes LA jazz players like Arthur Adams, Wilton Felder, Paul Humphrey, Harvey Mason, and David T. Walker – and the sound is very compressed, very laidback, and very very hip. Tracks include "Under The Jamaican Moon", "Wailing Wall", and great versions of "Getting Mighty Crowded" and Stevie Wonder's "Angie Girl". Remember, it's an acquired taste, but if you like stuff like middle period Steely Dan or Maria Muldaur, you'll really dig this one!

One of the greatest albums of all time – a masterpiece of moody soul, spacey vocals, and jazzy vibes – all produced by the legendary Roy Ayers! Ramp take their name from the anagram Roy Ayers Musical Productions – and in a way, the group's the summation of all the genius that Roy had been cooking up on his own albums of the 70s – served up at an even higher level than before! The group boasts a unique two-female vocal style – sung together in a mode that had been used on Roy's own albums, but never this fully – all supported by some complex jazzy instrumentation, very heavy on the vibes and keyboards! Nearly every cut is fantastic – and the album has a strange off-kilter vibe that's totally amazing, and which has captivated soul fans for years – a blend of mellow and upbeat, complicated and straightforward that's totally great. Titles include the massive cut "Daylight", sampled famously over the years, plus "American Promise", "Come Into Knowledge", "I Just Love You", and the band's great cover of "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", done in a way that's strangely both similar and different than Roy's own version!

A brilliant debut from Sylvester – quite different than his later disco and club work – although still pretty upbeat and groovy overall! The album's a really unique sort of effort – one that's unabashedly gender-bending, but also wonderfully solid from a musical perspective – funky at points, rootsy at others – with an odd blend of 70s soul and older R&B elements, all filtered through the genre-bending sound of the Bay Area scene of the time! Arrangements are by Sylvester and The Hot Band, but Ben Sidran produced, and we're sure that the record's offbeat qualities are partly due to his own great style of the time – that weird, slightly messed-up groove you'd find on Ben's Blue Thumb album. The set features wild covers of "Southern Man" and "My Country Tis Of Thee" – plus "Whiter Shade Of Pale", "Gimme A Pigfoot", "God Bless The Child", "I'm A Steam Roller", "That Is Rock n Roll", and "Come Back Baby".

One of the first albums from guitarist Kenny Burrell as a leader – a date that has him working with players from his hometown scene in Detroit – in case you couldn't guess from the title! Kenny's style here is a bit different than on the Blue Note dates of the time – almost a bit more personal, and leaner – which is a surprise, given the usual heavier feel of a Savoy session. Other players include Pepper Adams on baritone, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – and before you complain, we know that not all of these guys are from Detroit – but that's the way they titled the thing, so you'll have to write to the label! Adams is a bit down in the mix, so he never over-dominates Burrell's tone – but he still gets plenty of space to sparkle on his solos, working with those sharp edges that make his Savoy appearances so great. Titles include "Your Host", "Afternoon In Paris", "Apothegh", "Cottontail", and "Tom's Thumb".

One of the grooviest albums ever cut by Papa John Creach – a set that mixes his bluesy roots with some stoner funk and rock elements from the early 70s! Creach is on vocals and violin, and working here with a host of famous luminaries – including Grace Slick, Carlos Santana, Paul Kantner, and Jerry Garcia – each of whom definitely leave their mark on the record! Yet despite all these famous names, the record's got a pretty unified feel – and the best cuts have a nicely messed-up funk sound that we really like a lot – kind of in a Blue Thumb sort of blend, with a mix of rootsy elements and wilder electric ones and plenty of funky rhythms at the bottom. Titles include "Soul Fever", "String Jet Rock", "The Janitor Drives A Cadillac", "Plunk A Little Funk", and "Papa John's Down Home Blues".

Sweet funky jazz from the 70s! Gonzalez were an obscure UK combo – probably known a lot better over in England, but pretty darn hard to find over here in America – and they've got a tight style that reminds us of some of the more well-produced jazz funk coming out on labels like Blue Note or Blue Thumb during the mid 70s. Some cuts have vocals, but most of the record's instrumental – and it's filled with great guitars, and some excellent sax work that goes way past the usual funky tenor line! The groove's a nicely sophisticated blend of jazz funk and modern soul – with the kind of groove that you might expect to hear on some of the Capitol Rare compilations. The CD brings together cuts from the group's first album Gonzalez, plus a few more from the album Our Only Weapon Is Our Music. Titles include "Pack It Up", "Funky Frith Street", "Saoco", "Ahwai Five-O", "Rissoled", and "Adelanto Nightride". Very nice – and the kind of group we love to discover!

One of the first albums from guitarist Kenny Burrell as a leader – a date that has him working with players from his hometown scene in Detroit – in case you couldn't guess from the title! Kenny's style here is a bit different than on the Blue Note dates of the time – almost a bit more personal, and leaner – which is a surprise, given the usual heavier feel of a Savoy session. Other players include Pepper Adams on baritone, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – and before you complain, we know that not all of these guys are from Detroit – but that's the way they titled the thing, so you'll have to write to the label! Adams is a bit down in the mix, so he never over-dominates Burrell's tone – but he still gets plenty of space to sparkle on his solos, working with those sharp edges that make his Savoy appearances so great. Titles include "Your Host", "Afternoon In Paris", "Apothegh", "Cottontail", and "Tom's Thumb".

Titles include "Paint It Black", "Stupid Girl", "Lady Jane", "Under My Thumb", "Flight 505", "High & Dry", and "Going Home".

Two great ones as a leader from bassist Ray Brown – back to back on a single CD! All Star Big Band is a standout session from Brown – one of a few 60s big band sessions recorded for Verve, featuring some searing solo work from Cannonball Adderley! Brown's name as a leader is possibly more as a compadre than the main driving force of the record – as the arrangements here are by Ernie Wilkins, often in the tightly soulful bag he was laying down at the time – and Adderley's presence as the main soloist certainly gives a Cannonball flair to the record. But there's definitely plenty of Brown's warmth guiding the whole session – and other players include Nat Adderley, Clark Terry, Melba Liston, Budd Johnson, and Yusef Lateef. Some tracks have Brown's bass right out front in the arrangements, dipping nicely and adding into the groove – and titles include "Tricotism", "Cannon Built", "Thumbstring", "Two For The Blues", and "Work Song". Ray Brown & Milt Jackson is a really hip record from the team of bassist Ray Brown and vibist Milt Jackson – a swinging large group record that has them fronting arrangements from Oliver Nelson and Jimmy Heath! Nelson and Heath are both mighty hip cats at this point in their career – and bring a soulful swing to the record that really takes off – a groove that's lively, but tuned with lots of cool colors and tones too – shifting effortlessly while things move forward – but always with the right soulful appeal for older fans of both leaders. Milt's especially great in this setting – even more on fire than some of his other collaborations with Brown – and titles include "Dew & Mud", "Lined With A Groove", "Lazy Theme", "In A Crowd", and "Now Hear My Meaning".

One of the bluesiest of Mel Brown's funky guitar records for Impulse. The album includes some very stripped-down performances that highlight Mel's deep soulful guitar style, and the nice groovy keyboards of Clifford Coulter. Mel sings a bit, but not much, and the best tracks are the long trippy instrumentals. Titles include "18 Pounds Of Unclean Chitlins", "You Got Me Hummin", "Scorpio" (not the Dennis Coffey version), and the funky funky "Do Your Thing", which has a tight Isleys groove.

A spacious mid 70s set from Yusef Lateef – with some numbers showing his more soaringly spiritual bent – and others hewing towards a more bluesy or loosely funky vein. Tracked live in San Francisco, some numbers were later augmented with overdubbed strings and vocals – there's some nicely thumping elements of earthy percussion, loose moments, and quiet passages that sometimes build slowly, and at others change abruptly for maximum impact. The set features several longer selections, including the suite divided "Samba De Amor" in three sections, plus "Yusef's Mood" and "I Be Cold" – all approach or crossing the 20 minute mark – plus nice takes on "But Beautiful" and " A Flower". The group features Kenny Barron on piano and cowbell, Bob Cunningham on bass and bells, Albert Kuumba Heath on percussion and flute, and Bill Salter on bass – alongside Lateef whose working with tenor sax, flutes, oboe, thumb piano and percussion.