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Great work from Johnny Coppola – a member of America's famous first family of film, and a hell of a crooner in his own right! Johnny lives in a world where the Rat Pack never ended – and he sings here with a style we haven't heard this well since the days of Frank Sinatra at Reprise – a tremendous old school approach to masculine jazz singing – served up with a hell of a lot more personality than just about any other Sinatra copycat in recent years! Johnny's definitely his own man on the set – partly because the tunes are almost all originals, with very cool lyrics by Coppola – and music penned by Bill Cunliffe, who handled all the instrumentation for the record – at a level that really keeps things top-shelf. Make no mistake, Johnny's vocals don't have the purity of Sinatra – but he does really evoke this world of second-string male singers of the 60s – guys like Bobby Cole, Frankie Randall, David Allen, and others – all equally swinging, and able to put a sense of male personality into a tune that other singers of the type could never touch. Titles include "Night Of Our Dreams", "A Long Love Affair", "Sandra", "Time To Run Son", "I'm Through With All Of These Dreams", "I'll Sleep Alone", and "Somebody's Got To Be That Guy".

Smoking soul from 60s Texas – a tremendous amount of rare tunes from obscure little singles – pulled together to showcase the Lonestar State as a musical powerhouse to rival Motown, Philly, or the Windy City! The tracks here are all from various labels headed by the legendary Huey P Meux – and unlike other Texas work you may know from the time, lots of these numbers are bubbling over with the kind of soul elements you'd normally hear from east coast indie work of the time – and in that way, are almost like some of the other 60s material cut by southern transplants on the LA scene of the time – familiar, but a little offbeat too – with odd little twists and turns that really keep things interesting, and which make the package a really fresh musical discovery. There's some nice deep soul elements at times, particularly on the mellower cuts – and titles include "Go Go Train" by Jackie Paine, "That Is Why The End Must Begin" by Joe Masters, "Irene" by Rockin Dave Allen, "Time" by Charles Barry, "Get To Gitten" by Big Walter, "Doggin Around" by Jean Knight, "Friends In Show Business" by Joe Melvin, "Neighbor Neighbor" by Alton Valier, "You'll Lose A Good Thing (demo)" by Barbara Lynn, "Let Them Talk" by Johnny Adams, "If You're Looking For A Fool" by David King Thomas, and "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" by Margo White.

David Weiss has a great conception for this hip little set – a contemporary exploration of the best spiritual energy running through the Blue Note scene in the late 60s – based around compositions by Charles Tolliver, Wayne Shorter, and Charles Moore – the last of whom was featured with the Kenny Cox group from Detroit at the end of the 60s! In keeping with the chosen work, there's a great balance here between swing, soul, and modernism – tunes that unfold strongly with the best sort of progressive jazz energy, yet never get too indulgent – and really let the main soloists take flight over a complicated groove provided by the other members of the group. Weiss is wonderful on trumpet – reminding us of Charles Tolliver back in the day – and other players include JD Allen on tenor, Nir Felder on guitar, Matt Clohesy on bass, and Jamire Williams on drums – on tunes that include "Revillot", "Gravity Point", "Paraphernalia", "Hidden Meanings", and "Snuck In".

Spare improvisations from Chicago saxophonist David Boykin – recorded as a duet with butoh artist Nicole Legette, who also seems to be vocalizing a bit on the record! The album's easily one of the most challenging that Boykin's ever given us – quite open, and very expressive – sometimes concerned strongly with low tones on the saxophone, while at others screaming out with almost voice-like qualities. There's a feel here that's almost like some of Roscoe Mitchell's best solo work from years back – and the 27 minute CD features 11 smaller excerpts that are all pretty wonderful!

Loose, soulful and swaggering tenor sax from a pair of legends – Hal Singer and David Murray – fellows who busted boundaries for decades! On Challenge, recorded in Paris in Spring, 2010, they play great, mostly original material with passionate conviction and a a boundless sense of intutitive interplay. Singer and Murray communicate masterfully, and their excellent group includes Rasul Siddik on trumpet, Lafayette Gilchrist on piano, Jaribu Shahid and the always great Hamid Drake on drums. Includes Singer's "Challenge", "Hamid's Time" and "Dreams Of Dreams", Murray's "Hong Kong Nights", "Long March To Freedom", "Stressology" and more.

A collection psychedelic rock & folk from the late 60s & early 70s – a driving rockers, freaked out folk, and exotic pop gems – a wide variety of tunes share a common trait in the use of sitar and/or other elements of Middle Eastern folk and rock! Volume 6 in the Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers has some a lot of groovy obscurities, mostly in the psyche realm, but with a few easier folksy numbers, and some baroque touches, too. 19 tracks in all: "Real Life Performed Dream" by Tomorrow, "Temple Balls" by Shiny Gnomes, "Butterfly" by The Fox, "Way Of Going" by The Cosmic Gardeners, "Melba" by Catharsis, "I'll Drive You From My Mind" by Fallen Angels, "Another Day Another Lifetime" by The David and much more.

A hip little album from Buddy Collette – one that's ostensibly based around the then-popular idea of a set of Paris-inspired tunes – but which comes off with a sound that's a lot deeper than you might expect! David Axelrod produced the set – it was one of his early projects for Specialty Records – and Buddy Collette plays alto, tenor, and flute – in a group with Frank Rosolino on trombone, Howard Roberts on guitar, Red Mitchell on bass, and Bill Richmond or Bill Douglass on drums. Red Callender joins in on some tracks, and his deep tones mixed with Rosolino's trombone, really help offset the lighter sounds of Collette's reeds in a nice way. Titles include "Domino", "Mam'Selle", "Pigalle", "I Love Paris", "La Vie En Rose", and "Under Paris Skies". CD features 4 bonus alternate takes, too!

A treasure trove of Brit sound library work – most of it from the legendary KPM 1000 Series, plus assorted bits from the Conroy label as well! The work here leans heavily towards funky jazz – those fuzzy, hard-driving tunes that always made KPM sides a key choice for action films and cop shows – and which have made digging through sound library records such a delight all these many decades later! The compilers did a really wonderful job with this set – creating a feel that's a bit different than the usual sound library collection – because although funky overall, the package also features some jazzy moments too – key cuts that are interspersed with the action moments to create a really fleshed-out sense of mood and feeling. Plus, the set list is huge – 25 tracks in all, running for well over 70 minutes – truly the treasure trove we promised at the start of this review, with titles that include "Soul For Sale" and "Tycoon" by Keith Mansfield, "Block Buster" and "Head In The Clouds" by Johnny Pearson, "Loco Motion" and "Soul Foot Strut" by Dave Gold, "Traffic" and "Challenger" by Alan Hawkshaw, "Short Cut" by James Clarke, "Heavy Traffic" by James Cameron, "Speculation" by David Lindup, "Vegas To LA" by Dick Doerschuk, "Tough Assignment" by Chris Gunning, "Speedway" by Nick Ingman, "String Boogie" by Brian Bennett, and "The Double Take" by Steve Gray.