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Very early work from Charlie Byrd – a cool little record that has him playing at his home turf of the Showboat club in DC, and working with a group that includes a fair bit of horn players! The style's quite different than Byrd's better-known Brazilian work of the 60s, or his lusher large group sets – as tunes move between small combo club grooving and some more ambitious modes that are almost 50s chamber jazz. Ginny Byrd sings on two tracks, but others are instrumental – and players include the mighty Buck Hill on tenor, plus T Carson on piano, Keter Betts on bass and cello, Bobby Felder on valve trombone, and Kenneth Pasamanick on bassoon. Titles include "Tri X", "Blue Turning Grey Over You", "Byrd's Word", "Conversation Piece", "Top's Tune", "Buck's Hill", and "Don't Explain".

A cool collection of rare recordings from trumpeter Allen Houser – mostly recorded around the DC scene of the 70s, all with hip small group players and a pretty soulful feel overall! Houser's trumpet is set up in quartet, quintet, and sextet formations – often with a groove that draws from the hardbop years of Blue Note and Prestige, even more so than on some of Houser's commercially released work from the time. Players include Buck Hill on tenor, Reuben Brown on electric piano, Bob Butta on piano, Bob Balthis on valve trombone, and Joe Clark on tenor sax. A few tracks are recorded under the leadership of Julio Miranda or Joe Clark – and titles include "Peace", "Our Day Will Come", "Doxy", "Blues For Philly Joe", "Song For My Father", and "Four".

No Samba – but mighty nice! This lost little gem features music from a group led by trumpeter Allen Houser, a mid-Atlantic player who's working here with players that include Terry Plumeri and Steve Novosel on bass, Vince Genova on piano, and Buck Hill on tenor. The tracks are long, original, and have an organically grooving style that's a bit modal, a bit spiritual, and somewhere in the neighborhood of some of the work that Novosel cut with Lloyd McNeil, but with a more pronounced edge. The writing is really strong, and the group's solos burst out with life and light, especially on the long sprightly tracks on the session! A great lost discovery, with tracks that include "10 Years After", "No Samba", "Mexico", and "Cousin Rae's 3 Step".

A later set from Shirley Scott, but one that's recorded with an old school lineup that includes Art Harper on bass and Mickey Roker on drums – plus some guest tenor work from the mighty Buck Hill! The tunes are a lot more open and fluid than Scott's sound on Prestige in the 60s – with a bit of the vibe she picked up during her 70s years, as she really started to loosen up from before. And although the tunes are mostly familiar numbers, this approach really changes them up – moving them farther from the standard ballad mode of earlier Scott albums. Shirley plays piano on one track – "Yours Is My Heart Alone" – and all others feature organ, on titles that include "Skylark", "Triste", "More Than You Know", "Blues For Groove", and "Have You Met Miss Jones".

A strong showcase for young Nat Adderley's talents on cornet – and an album that's got a different feel that his work with his more famous brother's combo at the same time! The style here is simple – Nat blowing with 2 different quartets – one with Joe Zawinul on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums (all from Cannonball's group) – the other with the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Despite's Nat's reputation as a gutbuckety soul jazz player, he actually gets in some nicely lyrical licks in this set – blowing in a soulful modern style that almost recalls the work of Carmell Jones at times! Titles include "Chloe", "Images", "Scotch & Water", and "Naturally".

Exactly the kind of a record to show why Skip James was really a cut above most of his contemporaries – a bluesman who works here with a sense of darkness and foreboding that really sets a chill to most of his tunes! There's less of the usual short-term sadness and smaller complaints of other records of this vintage – and instead, James creates this overwhelming sense of melancholy that comes through not just in the lyrics of the tunes, nor his mournful way of singing – but also in the eerie chords he chooses for his work on guitar. The package features a great number of songs played with cross-note tuning – and titles include "How Long Buck", "Devil Got My Woman", "Hard Luck Child", "Drunken Spree", "Be Ready When He Comes", "Yola My Blues Away", "What Am I To Do Blues", and "Illinois Blues".

One of the first, and most famous, of Norman Granz's landmark JATP sessions – featuring an extended reading of "How High The Moon" that was a bit of jazz history itself! The session was recorded at Syria Mosque Auditorium in Pittsburgh – and featured players that include Buck Clayton, Flip Phillips, Trummy Young, Coleman Hawikins, Kenny Kersey, and Willie Smith. Titles include the extended version of "How High The Moon", and "Bellboy Blues" – as well as 2 titles from another JATP session, "Lady Be Good" and "After You've Gone" – featuring Howard McGhee, Charlie Parker, and Willie Smith.

A cool compilation – and one that's much hipper than you'd guess from the Ibiza sticker on the cover! Instead of the usual sunny Spanish grooves, this one's filled with deeply spiritual tracks and hipper sounds from the left side of the club underground – some of our favorite artists from both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific, sifted out nicely by Daniel Pencoba with a really sensitive approach overall! The sound's laidback, but never in a chillout way – and titles include "Dawn" by Build An Ark, "Brown Sugar" by Dal Green, "Home" by Bing Ji Ling, "Once You're Near Me" by Kutiman, "Love Is To Blame" by Yukihiro Fukutomi with Isabelle Antena & Ernesto, "I'll Be Your Wings (M&D rmx)" by Invisible Session, "Reversed (Circle Research rmx demo)" by Elizabeth Shepherd, "Neil Diamond" by Bucky Johnson, "Life Angles" by Yesterdays New Quintet, and "Oasis" by Carlos Nino & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.

The classic club album by Love Committee, and one of the most sought-after albums on Gold Mind/Salsoul – a soulful set of club classics that almost beats most of the other work by its contemporaries! The session's grounded in some very solid help from the Sigma Sound team – production and arrangements by the likes of Norman Harris, Ron Tyson, or BHY Productions – in that wonderfully soulful style that was the best mode of the Harris Machine when it was working overtime! The style is disco, but far from the cliches of more commercial work like this – and much more in the legacy of Philly soul from the earlier part of the decade. Titles include "Cheaters Never Win", the classic dancefloor track – plus "Law & Order", "Pass The Buck", "Give Her Love", "Just As Long As I Got You", and "If You Change Your Mind".

One of Lee Morgan's first-ever recordings as a leader, cut way back when he was just a hip teenager from Philly with a bucketful of promise on the trumpet! The session's a crack hard bop date – with an all-star cast that includes Hank Mobley on tenor, Hank Jones on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – and although the proceedings are a bit rough around the edges compared to some of the Blue Note sets, the album's still filled with a heck of a lot of fire, and like all Morgan albums, is totally worth owning! Tracks are longish, and filled with imagination – and titles include "Bet", "Hank's Shout", "Nostalgia", "That's All", and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise".

A great one from Shawn Phillips – a set that has more of the jazzy tones of his later work coming to the forefront – in a sound that's fuller, richer than before – with larger orchestrations by Paul Buckmaster and Ian Green, and a growing sense of groove that's made Shawn one of the best examples of the early 70s folk funk generation! There's a tightly vamping energy to most of the best numbers that's really great – and a slightly jazzy sensibility too, even when things still sound mostly folksy overall. Titles include "Song For Mr C", "Sleepwalker", "Keep On", "Song For Sagittarians", "Steel Eyes", "Schmaltz Waltz", and "F Sharp Splendor".

Great late 70s work from Jimmy Smith – two albums back to back on a single CD! One of our favorite later albums from organist Jimmy Smith – and a set that cooks heavily in a wicked blend of jazz, funk, and soul! The style's a bit like the groove that Johnny Hammond hit during his Gears period – arranged by Eugene McDaniels and Alan Silvestri, with an approach that's somewhere between Larry Mizell and Skip Scarborough – tight grooves, bits of vocals, yet plenty of room for Smith's keyboard solos to take off over the top! Players include Herbie Hancock on piano, Alan Silvestri on guitar, and Lenny White on drums – but the main star is Jimmy – who's grooving massively over the top of the album, with soaring solos that are some of his best work from the late 70s. Our favorite track on here is a masterful take of "Can't Hide Love", but there's a lot of other nice funky tracks like "Slippery Hips", "My Place In Space", and "Give Up the Booty". Unfinished Business is mighty soulful business from the great Jimmy Smith – a set for Mercury Records that updates his sound slightly, yet also hits some classic Hammond lines too! Jimmy plays a bit of acoustic piano and keyboards in addition to his classic organ – and works here in a setting that's tightly arranged, yet mostly small combo – with work from Ray Crawford on guitar, Nolan Phillips on tenor and flute, and added percussion from Buck Clarke and Stephanie Spruill. Rhythms step along nicely in kind of a 70s take on 60s soul jazz modes – leaving lots of room for Jimmy to open up on his solos – but there's also a few other more ambitious moments, including a great take on "Serpentine Fire" arranged by Ronnie Foster – and a warmly wonderful "Stevie" – which is a suite of tracks dedicated to Stevie Wonder. Other titles include "8 Counts For Rita", "Blues For Charlie", "Until It's Time For You To Go", and "Norristown PA".