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A strange and tasty little album that Roland Kirk made with organist Jack McDuff in the early 60s – one of his few outings in such a format, and a smoking little session that almost makes us wish he'd cut more of them! The format is relatively simple – with lots of interplay between McDuff's organ and Kirk's range of reeds (tenor, manzello, stritch, flute, and siren on this record!) And given that both players have a good sense of whimsy that still always manages to swing nicely, the pairing is a strong one – and makes for a record that's slightly different for both artists. Titles include "Makin Whoopie", "Funk Underneath", "Kirk's Work", "Three for Dizzy", and "Doin' the Sixty-Eight".

Tight funky instrumentals from Brother Jack McDuff – an Atlantic groover that's probably closer to his late 60s gems for Cadet Records than it is his earlier work for Prestige! The solos are shorter, but they're packed nicely around the rhythms – played by a combo that features a young Melvin Sparks on some mighty nice guitar – plus Leo Johnson on tenor and Ray Appleton on drums! The groove is tight and choppy, with little bits of funk, and McDuff's usual sense of humor and warmth – and for the record, Jack wrote loads of original tracks, including "Mush Melon", "Snap Back Jack", "Strolling Blues", and "Do It Now".

A really unusual album for Jack McDuff – one that was recorded in Memphis, with a lineup and a feel that's quite different from other Blue Note sessions of the time! There's a lot of electricity bubbling in the record – and although McDuff normally never worked with a bassist on earlier sessions, this one features a unnamed player who really lays out a nice bottom for the whole session – bubbling the tunes with lots of work on the electric, and letting McDuff concentrate on funking things up with the keys of the Hammond! The set features a key recording of Jack's classic "Theme From the Electric Surfboard", plus the funky numbers "Butter (For Yo Popcorn)", "The Vibrator", and "Down Home Style".

A really unusual album for Jack McDuff – one that was recorded in Memphis, with a lineup and a feel that's quite different from other Blue Note sessions of the time! There's a lot of electricity bubbling in the record – and although McDuff normally never worked with a bassist on earlier sessions, this one features a unnamed player who really lays out a nice bottom for the whole session – bubbling the tunes with lots of work on the electric, and letting McDuff concentrate on funking things up with the keys of the Hammond! The set features a key recording of Jack's classic "Theme From the Electric Surfboard", plus the funky numbers "Butter (For Yo Popcorn)", "The Vibrator", and "Down Home Style".

A great groover from Brother Jack! The record is one of a few that Prestige cut matching Jack's hot quartet with the larger arrangements of Benny Golson – and that formula created some real winners that still sound great today! Sure, the formula was initiated by matching Jimmy Smith with Oliver Nelson, but the McDuff/Golson team is infinitely hipper, and they always managed to swing hard hard hard. Plus, Brother Jack's firey organ solos stretch out nice and lean through the arrangement, giving the record a great soulful sound. Titles include "Rail Head", "Bossa Nova West", "Pink Panther", and "Once In A Lifetime".

One of the records that put a young Brother Jack McDuff on the map – and a perfect example of the rougher R&B roots that first emerged in his early work on the Hammond! The session's got a much more down-n-dirty feel than some of McDuff's tighter 60s quartet work – and offers a nice bridge between 50s use of the organ in R&B, and the growing soul jazz take on the instrument that McDuff was helping to forge at the time. The group's a real cooker too – with some great work on guitar by a young Grant Green, smoking tenor from Jimmy Forrest, and lyrically dancing drums from the great Ben Dixon. Titles include the great original "Whap!", plus versions of "I Want A Little Girl" and "The Honeydripper" – and an excellent reading of Henry Mancini's "Mr Lucky", virtually worth the price of the record alone!

One of the records that put a young Brother Jack McDuff on the map – and a perfect example of the rougher R&B roots that first emerged in his early work on the Hammond! The session's got a much more down-n-dirty feel than some of McDuff's tighter 60s quartet work – and offers a nice bridge between 50s use of the organ in R&B, and the growing soul jazz take on the instrument that McDuff was helping to forge at the time. The group's a real cooker too – with some great work on guitar by a young Grant Green, smoking tenor from Jimmy Forrest, and lyrically dancing drums from the great Ben Dixon. Titles include the great original "Whap!", plus versions of "I Want A Little Girl" and "The Honeydripper" – and an excellent reading of Henry Mancini's "Mr Lucky", virtually worth the price of the record alone!

A killer diller of a live set from Brother Jack McDuff – a cut that burns with energy that almost beats his studio 60s classics for Prestige! The group is one of Jack's best ever – a lineup that includes the twin tenors of Red Holloway and Harold Vick, plus incredibly sharp guitar from a young George Benson, and some of the most unique soul jazz drum work you'll ever hear – courtesy of the amazing Joe Dukes. Despite their individual strengths, which might make this whole thing an ego-fest – all players fit perfectly into place on the album's hard wailing batch of groovers, and groove together with a sympathetic energy that's simply amazing! Titles include a great remake of "Jive Samba", plus "Dink's Blues", "Grease Monkey", "Passing Through", and "Vas Dis". This is the kind of thing live recording equipment was made for!

A lost electric groover from Brother Jack McDuff – sweet keyboards instead of his usual Hammond, but still plenty darn great! The record's got a slinky groove that's almost more CTI than Chess Records – with full arrangements by Billy Jones, who also plays guitar on the record – alongside plenty of great sax and flute from Joe Farrell. Sessions were done at the All Platinum Studios in New Jersey – no surprise, given that Chess was owned by that label by this point, and Jones himself was recording for them as part of the group Brother To Brother. The overall groove is somewhere between Bob James and Larry Mizell – although very much its own sort of bag as well – and titles include a great remake of "Theme From Electric Surfboard", plus "Dit Da Dit", "Ju Ju", "To Be Named Later", "Mini Pads", "Summer Dream", and "Mannix Theme". Gotta love the cover, too!

A monster record by Brother Jack McDuff, and one of his best-ever – in our humble opinion! At first glance, the album appears to be just a bunch of jazz covers of standards and pop tracks – like "Tobacco Road", "Shadow Of Your Smile", "This Bitter Earth", and "Teardrops From My Eyes" – but Jack's got some help from JJ Jackson on the arrangements, and the outwardly simple tracks are twisted into these amazing grooves that have Jack wailing away in strange choppy funky ways on the organ! The whole album must be heard to be believed, and the version of "Shadow Of Your Smile", which starts with a nice break, is worth the price of the album alone! Plus, the whole thing's packaged in a very groovy cover, too.

One of Jack McDuff's first albums as a leader – and a really solid cooker that also features vibes and tenor sax! Given that McDuff hardly ever recorded with vibes again, the session's got a real standout sound that deserves to be heard – as Jack's smoking work on the Hammond comes into play with the leaner vibes of the great Lem Winchester, and gets topped off by some deeply soulful tenor sax from the great Jimmy Forrest. The group's rounded out by drummer Bill Elliott – a player who knows how to hit that right "kick" on the kit to fit the McDuff groove, and titles include "Yeah, Baby", "Tippin' In", "Smooth Sailing", "Mean To Me", "Autumn Leaves", and "Tough Duff".

2 of the greatest albums ever by Jack McDuff – back to back on one CD! Soulful Drums of Joe Dukes was originally issued under the name of McDuff's famous mid-60s funky drummer, Joe Dukes – but it's actually a McDuff session, recorded with the classic quartet lineup that includes Red Holloway on tenor and alto, George Benson on guitar, and Dukes on drums. The album's got an incredible sound, with Dukes' unique approach to drums scattering all over the kit, creating these complicated dancing rhythms for the organ, sax, and guitar lineup. The album's filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons" – and the whole thing's great! Equally sublime is the album Hot Barbeque – probably the strongest of all of McDuff's mid 60s albums, with a coherency and a solidness to the playing that you'd have to work hard to find on other organ group sides from the time. Jack's work on the Hammond is incredible, filled with sharp changes and turns that will leave you breathless, and which will soon make him your favorite organist ever. Benson's guitar is incredible, too – filled with energy and intensity, vamping away at a pace and accuracy that's simply inexplicable. Every single cut's a gem – and the album includes the vocal-driven groover "Hot Barbeque", plus "Hippy Dip", "601 1/2 North Poplar", "The Three Day Thang", and "Briar Patch". All That, and the CD also includes the rare bonus track "Redwood City"!

A monster! "Smokey Joe's La La" is a hard-dancing, heavy-stepping, piano-driven instrumental that we never tire of! The pianist has this heavy left hand that really works the go-go groove of the cut wonderfully – taking into sock-boogaloo heaven! The flipside features a killer from Brother Jack McDuff! "Hot Barbeque" is one of his greatest tunes ever – and a rare number in that it's got vocals shouted over the top, screaming "hot barbeque – today!" while the organ, guitar, and tenor race madly over this jaunty rhythm laid down by the drums of Joe Dukes!

The brain trust of soul jazz in the early 60s – led by tenorist Gene Ammons on both albums! Soul Summit Volume one features Ammons and Sonny Stitt on tenor, plus Jack McDuff on Hammond – a definite soul summit for the time – with 3 top-shelf players in the lead, all getting plenty of room to do their thing! Both Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt are on tenor in the front, working with the respect and confidence they'd forged together on other co-led sessions from the time – and Jack McDuff's a great addition to the set, playing Hammond with his newly-lean tone, and really helping things move along nicely. Drummer Charlie Persip has a nicely booming style here – one that gets the group out of the box from the get-go, and McDuff's handling all the bass work on the organ, which always makes for a tight rhythmic romp! Most tunes are in that great raw Prestige mode from the old days, as you'd guess by titles like "Tubby", "Dumplin", and "Shuffle Twist" – alongside other numbers that include "Sleeping Susan" and "Out In The Cold Again". Soul Summit Vol 2 is a set that's less a "summit" than a great collection of groovy work for Prestige Records in the 60s – tracks that didn't make it onto other full albums of the time, but which feature material by some of the most soulful talents on the label! Tenorist Gene Ammons is the main star here – stretching out wonderfully on most numbers on the record – although the set also features added tenor work from Red Holloway, George Barrow, and Harold Vick! The mighty Jack McDuff lends his Hammond to a few tunes, Etta Jones sings on three numbers, and the record even features trumpet from Clark Terry, alto from Oliver Nelson, and congas from Ray Barretto too – on cuts that include "Scram", "Cool Cool Daddy", "Ballad For Baby", "If You Are But A Dream", "But Not For Me", and "Love I've Found You".

A classic early set from Jack McDuff – and a record that's very much in his own hands, despite the presence of Gene Ammons as a co-leader! The group's more of a McDuff one than an Ammons ensemble – and features the great Joe Dukes on drums, Eddie Diehl on guitar, and Harold Vick on tenor, who plays alongside Ammons' guest appearance on 5 of the album's 6 tracks. The tunes are in that Steppin Out mode – a cross between Jack's gutbuckety R&B work of the early Prestige years, and some of his cleaner grooves of the mid 60s – and titles include "Mellow Gravy", "Watch Out", "Strollin", "Buzzin Round", and "Mr Clean".

Stitt & McDuff in a very tasty set of organ/tenor grooves, played with that style that Prestige was finally beginning to perfect in the early 60s, as it let these organ combos shake off their 50's R&B sound, and start to hit a straighter jazz groove. Art Taylor's on drums, Eddie Diehl's on guitar, and Ray Barretto lopes along behind on congas. Titles include "Thirty Three, Ninety Six", "Nuther Fu'Ther", "Ringin' In", and "Pam Ain't Blue". Great cover, too – with Stitt in some very heavy-duty shades, looking very tuff!

A definite soul summit for the time – with 3 top-shelf players in the lead, all getting plenty of room to do their thing! Both Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt are on tenor in the front, working with the respect and confidence they'd forged together on other co-led sessions from the time – and Jack McDuff's a great addition to the set, playing Hammond with his newly-lean tone, and really helping things move along nicely. Drummer Charlie Persip has a nicely booming style here – one that gets the group out of the box from the get-go, and McDuff's handling all the bass work on the organ, which always makes for a tight rhythmic romp! Most tunes are in that great raw Prestige mode from the old days, as you'd guess by titles like "Tubby", "Dumplin", and "Shuffle Twist" – alongside other numbers that include "Sleeping Susan" and "Out In The Cold Again".

A classic set of soul jazz tracks from Gator Tail and Brother Jack McDuff – recorded in a raw grooving style, very similar to that used on some of their live recordings from the same time. The core of the group features Bill Jennings on guitar and Wendell Marshall on bass, but some of the rhythm players change up over the course of the tracks, and Buck Clarke adds some nice conga on side 2! Includes the nice 10 minute groover "This'll Get To Ya", plus "Glad A See Ya", "Three Little Words", and "To' Gether".

A sweet Atlantic soul groover from Brother Jack McDuff – and a set that has him tightening up his Hammond sound from his earlier years at Prestige Records! The tunes here are short and punched-up – almost instrumental soul numbers in their construction, but still filled with plenty of jazz – thanks to Jack's mad solos on organ, and some killer drums from Joe Dukes and Bernard Purdie! Other players include George Coleman on tenor, Cornell Dupree on guitar, and Buddy Lucas on baritone sax – and arrangements are by JJ Jackson and Jack himself. Titles include "Hotcha", "Down In the Valley", "Same Old Same Old", "No Tears", "What'd I Say", "Gonna Hang Me Up A Sign", and "Minha Saudade".

Hard hitting R&B organ tracks from the early years of Jack McDuff! The CD features 14 tracks – with the full LP of Brother Jack and Goodnight, It's Time To Go, and one extra track from Jack's Steppin Out LP. The tracks show Jack just getting past the stock jukebox sound of his "Honeydripper" hit, and pushing into a realm that's a lot more lively, jazzy, and filled with his own unique touches. Tracks include "Drowsy", "Sanctified Waltz", "Godiva Brown", "A Smooth One", and "McDuff Speaking".

One of the great funky electronic records recorded by McDuff for Cadet! Includes some excellent groovers with a tight loping funk feel – like "Blue Monsoon", "A Long Goodie", and a nice cover of "Don't Mess With Mister T". Jack plays moog and Fender Rhodes, along with his usual organ, and the record has a great electric sound to it!

Late 60's album that brings together a number of tracks that were recorded in the mid 60's, but never issued at the time. There's a number of different groups on here, but Joe Dukes plays drums in all of them. Other players include Harold Vick, Grant Green, George Benson, and Harold Ousley. Titles include "Shortnin Bread", "Shaky", "Godiva Brown", and "Moody McDuff".

A great little album that has McDuff soloing on Hammond, over larger funkier arrangements – very much in the manner of his sublime Moon Rapping set, also recorded for Blue Note. Arrangements are by JJ Jackson and Jerry Long – and McDuff will blow your mind as he navigates the mix of time changes, theme changes, and rhythm changes over the course of the long tracks on the set. Includes the sublime sample cut "Hunk O Funk", plus "Mystic John", "Seven Keys For Seven Doors", and "Yellow Wednesday".

One of Jack McDuff's first albums as a leader – and a really solid cooker that also features vibes and tenor sax! Given that McDuff hardly ever recorded with vibes again, the session's got a real standout sound that deserves to be heard – as Jack's smoking work on the Hammond comes into play with the leaner vibes of the great Lem Winchester, and gets topped off by some deeply soulful tenor sax from the great Jimmy Forrest. The group's rounded out by drummer Bill Elliott – a player who knows how to hit that right "kick" on the kit to fit the McDuff groove, and titles include "Yeah, Baby", "Tippin' In", "Smooth Sailing", "Mean To Me", "Autumn Leaves", and "Tough Duff".

2 of the greatest albums ever by Jack McDuff – back to back on one CD! Soulful Drums of Joe Dukes was originally issued under the name of McDuff's famous mid-60s funky drummer, Joe Dukes – but it's actually a McDuff session, recorded with the classic quartet lineup that includes Red Holloway on tenor and alto, George Benson on guitar, and Dukes on drums. The album's got an incredible sound, with Dukes' unique approach to drums scattering all over the kit, creating these complicated dancing rhythms for the organ, sax, and guitar lineup. The album's filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons" – and the whole thing's great! Equally sublime is the album Hot Barbeque – probably the strongest of all of McDuff's mid 60s albums, with a coherency and a solidness to the playing that you'd have to work hard to find on other organ group sides from the time. Jack's work on the Hammond is incredible, filled with sharp changes and turns that will leave you breathless, and which will soon make him your favorite organist ever. Benson's guitar is incredible, too – filled with energy and intensity, vamping away at a pace and accuracy that's simply inexplicable. Every single cut's a gem – and the album includes the vocal-driven groover "Hot Barbeque", plus "Hippy Dip", "601 1/2 North Poplar", "The Three Day Thang", and "Briar Patch". All That, and the CD also includes the rare bonus track "Redwood City"!

2 of Brother Jack's best albums for Atlantic on one CD! Both records have a groovy 60's soul jazz organ sound, and the kind of amazing arrangements that make Jack's albums way better than most of his contemporaries. Change Is Gonna Come has lots of short soulful instrumentals, Joe Dukes or Pretty Purdie on drums, and titles like "Down In The Valley", "Same Old, Same Old", "No Tears", "Minha Saudade", and "Hotcha". Double Barrelled Soul has David Fathead Newman as a special guest, and features some nice early guitar playing by Melvin Sparks. That one includes a great version of "Sunny", plus the cuts "Esperanto", "Duffin' Round", and "More Head". Nice stuff, and over 70 minutes of funky organ grooves!

Tight funky instrumentals from Brother Jack McDuff – an Atlantic groover that's probably closer to his late 60s gems for Cadet Records than it is his earlier work for Prestige! The solos are shorter, but they're packed nicely around the rhythms – played by a combo that features a young Melvin Sparks on some mighty nice guitar – plus Leo Johnson on tenor and Ray Appleton on drums! The groove is tight and choppy, with little bits of funk, and McDuff's usual sense of humor and warmth – and for the record, Jack wrote loads of original tracks, including "Mush Melon", "Snap Back Jack", "Strolling Blues", and "Do It Now".

A lost electric groover from Brother Jack McDuff – sweet keyboards instead of his usual Hammond, but still plenty darn great! The record's got a slinky groove that's almost more CTI than Chess Records – with full arrangements by Billy Jones, who also plays guitar on the record – alongside plenty of great sax and flute from Joe Farrell. Sessions were done at the All Platinum Studios in New Jersey – no surprise, given that Chess was owned by that label by this point, and Jones himself was recording for them as part of the group Brother To Brother. The overall groove is somewhere between Bob James and Larry Mizell – although very much its own sort of bag as well – and titles include a great remake of "Theme From Electric Surfboard", plus "Dit Da Dit", "Ju Ju", "To Be Named Later", "Mini Pads", "Summer Dream", and "Mannix Theme". Gotta love the cover, too!

A classic set of soul jazz tracks from Gator Tail and Brother Jack McDuff – recorded in a raw grooving style, very similar to that used on some of their live recordings at the time! The tracks on the disc are lifted from the first Together Again album cut by the pair, and the second set – appropriately titled Together Again, Again! All tracks were recorded between the years 1959 and 1961, and feature Jackson and McDuff at the height of their early soul jazz powers – grooving in a tenor/organ style that's clearly linked to raw grooves of earlier R&B work, but which also has a much stronger approach to jazz soloing. Tracks include the great 10 minute groover "This'll Get To Ya", plus "Glad A See Ya", "Three Little Words", "Snake Crawl", "Backtrack", "Gil's Pills", and "To' Gether".

An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The tracks are much longer than you'll find on Jack's other work – and the group plays these lines that are laidback and trippy, yet which still have a tremendous amount of funk in them. Guitar sets the tone, spacing out over the drums of the great Joe Dukes; electric bass rumbles at all the low, dark spots; flute and tenor sax cut some sharp edges in the void; and the organ of Brother Jack comes in over the top, and soars with cosmic lines of sound! The album includes the monster cut "Oblighetto", sampled by Tribe Called Quest years back – plus other amazing groovers, like "Flat Backin", "Moon Rappin", and "Loose Foot".

A monster record by Brother Jack McDuff, and one of his best-ever – in our humble opinion! At first glance, the album appears to be just a bunch of jazz covers of standards and pop tracks – like "Tobacco Road", "Shadow Of Your Smile", "This Bitter Earth", and "Teardrops From My Eyes" – but Jack's got some help from JJ Jackson on the arrangements, and the outwardly simple tracks are twisted into these amazing grooves that have Jack wailing away in strange choppy funky ways on the organ! The whole album must be heard to be believed, and the version of "Shadow Of Your Smile", which starts with a nice break, is worth the price of the album alone! Plus, the whole thing's packaged in a very groovy cover, too.

A great little record from the days before George Benson had totally hit his smooth jazz sound of the 70s, and was being pushed by Columbia as a hard wailing soul jazz leader! The record features his classic quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ – grooving away hard hard hard, sometimes even harder than George! Benson's fresh off his work with the Jack McDuff quartet, and his style's nice and lean, with some good riffs, and a very tight approach to the strings. Titles include "The Cooker", "Benny's Back", "Bossa Rocka", and "Benson's Rider".

One of the best of Odell Brown's groovy organ jazz albums for Cadet from the late 60's. His groovy little combo – which features Artee "Duke" Payne on sax, Tommy Purvis on tenor, Phil Upchurch on bass, and Master Henry Gibson on conga – grooves nicely through short "combo" oriented organ cuts like "Get Off My Back", "Mirar, Mirar", "She's Coming My Way", "Tough Tip", and "No More Water In The Well". They play with a mix of funkiness and virtuosity, and with the same sense of humor as contemporary groups like the Jack McDuff quartet or Young-Holt Unlimited. Nice stuff, and one of the harder records to find by them.

Soulful and pounding! Joe Dukes is one of the greatest soul jazz drummers ever – the key to the unique sound that Jack McDuff had during his big rise to fame in the mid 60s, a combination of tightly funky rhythms underneath, with a freer approach to the top of the kit that worked perfectly with McDuff's hefty Hammond Organ work. The group on this album's McDuff's classic quartet that includes Red Holloway on tenor and alto, George Benson on guitar, and Dukes on drums. The album's got an incredible sound, with Dukes' unique approach to drums scattering all over the kit, creating these complicated dancing rhythms for the organ, sax, and guitar lineup. The album's filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons" – and the whole thing's great! . Filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons". Super-rare, too!

The classic debut from one of the weirdest concept groups of the 60s – a mime rock band brought together by producer Lew Futterman – who'd also worked on some killer funky jazzy sessions with Brother Jack McDuff! The style here is psychedelic pop through and through – and although the group didn't speak, they do sing (is that really mime?) – and work in a groovy sing-song blend of reeds and rockish rhythms, one that definitely has some of the same sharp changes and funky undercurrents you'd find in Futterman's jazz projects – although honed down here into much shorter Sunshine tunes! The album's a very unique little record – and oddly the group flourished for years. But somehow this first record has a charm that's really undeniable – and is maybe still their best effort ever. Titles include "White Winged Doves","Dream Of Tomorrow", "Pray For Rain", "How Does It Feel To Be Free", "I Ride To Nowhere", "Come & See Me", and "Jelly Jam".

The grooviest organ working the other side of the Atlantic in the 60s – as mighty a talent on the Hammond as Jimmy Smith or Jack McDuff back in the US at the time, and equally groovy too! Ingfried Hoffmann's work on the keys is probably best known from his searing soul jazz sides with Klaus Doldinger in the pre-Passport years – but this package focuses even more strongly on Hoffmann's sides as a leader – all of which are tightly snapping, quickly vamping, and filled with loads of lively organ and guitar! The core part of the set is Ingfried's lost album From Twen With Love – a 1966 spy-jazz styled album, with both original numbers, and a few James Bond covers – all played by a quintet that features guitars from Volker Kriegel and Pierre Cavalli, bass by Peter Trunk, and funky drums from Rafi Luderitz. Titles include "Yeah Dr No", "Thunderball", "007 Bond Street", "Sharp Sharks", "Phantom's Walk", "Let Live & Die", "Vabanque At Casino Royale", and "James Only Lives Twice". Added to that core album are 4 more bonus tracks – 3 recorded in 1963 with Rene Thomas on guitar and Klaus Weiss on drums, including "Midnight Bossa Nova", "TV Swing", and "Soul Twist" – plus the great "Playgirl", recorded with Peter Thomas in 1966.

Nice double-length CD that brings together tuff soul jazz tenor tracks culled from some mid 60s sessions that Red Holloway cut with Brother Jack McDuff. Some of the tracks appeared on the albums Cookin' Together and The Dynamic Jack McDuff, and the material is a mix of quartet sides and larger group ones, with Benny Golson directing the band. Red's in the pocket all the way through, and it's a real treat to hear him trading lines with Brother Jack's firey organ. Titles include "Wives & Lovers", "Bossa Nova West", "Redwood City", "Shout Brother", and "Rail Head". Very groovy!

One of the first in a run of excellent mid 60s sides from tenor saxophonist Red Holloway – a very cooking player who's at the height of his powers on this hard-edged set! The date has Red in territory that's slightly more expanded than his dates with Jack McDuff – a quartet mode with John Patton on organ, Eric Gale on guitar, and Paul Serrano on trumpet – all in a tightly arranged sound that's almost equal parts soul jazz and 60s soul instrumental! One track features a slightly different lineup – with Hobart Dotson on trumpet, George Butchka on organ, and Charles Lindsay on guitar – but the groove is quite the same, and features plenty of sweetly funky little numbers! Titles include "Bretheren", "Miss Judie Mae", "Monkey Sho Can Talk", "Crib Theme", and "The Burner".

The sweet second album from If – a Brit jazz-rock combo with a really great sound! The album was produced by Lew Futterman, the talent behind some of Jack McDuff's large-arrangement albums for Blue Note – and Lew seems to bring in a similar ambitious feel to the set that really brings the most out of the instrumentation. The group features some great organ and electric piano by John Mealing, and saxes by Dick Morrisey – and as always with this sort of thing, there's some vocals that sound a bit dated – but the overall feel is still quite strong, especially in the breakout instrumental passages. Titles include "Your City Is Falling", "Shadows & Echoes", "I Couldn't Write & Tell You", and "Sunday Sad".

Seminal early work from Willis Jackson – two classics back to back on a single CD! Blue Gator is a massive early Prestige set from tenorist Willis – and just the kind of record that set him firmly in the soul jazz camp for the 60s! By the time of the set, Jackson had already won plenty of fame for his R&B-tinged work – but here, he stretches out a bit more, and really gets creative on his solos – working with a very hip group that includes Jack McDuff on organ and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar – both players making a similar shift in their music at the time. The tracks are lively, recorded with a bold, loud tone, and have lots of those great open-mouthed tones from Jackson – quite possibly a good reason for his "Gator" nickname! Tracks include "Blue Gator", "East Breeze", "The Gator Jumps", and "Try A Little Tenderness". Cookin Sherry is solid-sending soul jazz from the great Willis Jackson! The album features Gator blowing in a group that includes Jack McDuff and Wild Bill Jennings on all cuts – plus bass by either Milt Hinton or Wendell Marshall, drums by Bill Elliott or Al Johnson, and some tasty added conga by Buck Clarke on a few cuts! The album's got a tight, yet laidback feel to – perfect kickback jam session material, in that classic Prestige soul jazz mode. Titles include "Contrasts", "Cookin Sherry", "Mellow Blues", and "Sportin".

One of the most soul jazz-styled sets ever cut by German clarinetist Rolf Kuhn – a very groovy record that features work from tenorist Klaus Doldinger and organist Ingfried Hoffmann! On their own albums of the 60s, Doldinger and Hoffmann are quite a pair – swinging almost as perfectly as Willis Jackson and Jack McDuff on Prestige, in the US at the same time. So you can imagine the effect they have on Kuhn – a player who can sometimes be a lot more modern, but who here really takes off in an easygoing groove – swinging soulfully on a set of short and groovy tracks, with great rhythm work from Hermann Schoonderwalt on bass and Cees See on drums. Titles include "Rainbow In My Tears", "Opus 90", "Combo Swing", "Scottish", "Swing For Sale", "The Snake", and "L'Amour Sans Espoir".

A great little set of grooves by organist Lonnie Smith – and one of his best albums ever! The key to Drives is that it finds Lonnie backed by a totally sympathetic group of musicians – including Ronnie Cuber on baritone, Dave Hubbard on tenor, and the great Joe Dukes on drums – whomping away on the kit with all the dexterity he brought to Jack McDuff's classic recordings of the mid 60s! There's a measured funkiness in spots that's totally killer – with sparer moments that are just as impressive – with great solos by the players. Excellent stuff – including the original "Psychedelic Pi", great covers of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Seven Steps to Heaven", the funky "Twenty Five Miles", plus "Spinning Wheel".

One of our favorite compilations of all time – a smoking batch of soulful jazz from the 60s, with a slight bit of funk and blues thrown in as well! The set's exactly what's promised in the title – jazz cuts, but with an ultra-cool mod vibe – the kind of soulful sounds that played big with the younger London crowd digging American music in the mid 60s – and also the kind of music you'd be likely to find blasting out of a backroom jukebox on the west side of Chicago! There's loads of rare single mixes of LP tracks on the set, and a number of smoking 45s from artists you might know better from more mainstream work – really hitting hard here, alongside a few special numbers from the indie underground too. Tracks are cool enough for old school hipsters – but appealing enough to bring in a new listener too – and as proof of that, we've given this one away for many years as a Christmas present. The collection features 25 tracks in all – non-stop pleasure throughout – with titles that include "Soul Shoutin" by Shirley Scott, "Tengo Tango" by Cannonball Adderley Sextet, "Whip It On Me" by Billy Hawks, "Yeh Yeh" by Mongo Santamaria, "Black Talk" by Charles Earland, "I'm Ready" by Otis Spann, "Mama Rufus" by Merced Blue Notes, "Theme From NYPD" by Johnny Hammond, "Step Out & Get It" by The Nomos, "Why Don't You Do Right" by Mark Murphy, "Collard Greens" by Freddie McCoy, "Theme From The Carpetbaggers" by Jack McDuff, "Filthy McNasty" by Eddie Jefferson, "Evil Ways" by Cal Tjader, "Kenny's Theme" by Kenny Burrell, and "Games" by Ivan Boogaloo Joe Jones.

One of our favorite compilations of all time – a smoking batch of soulful jazz from the 60s, with a slight bit of funk and blues thrown in as well! The set's exactly what's promised in the title – jazz cuts, but with an ultra-cool mod vibe – the kind of soulful sounds that played big with the younger London crowd digging American music in the mid 60s – and also the kind of music you'd be likely to find blasting out of a backroom jukebox on the west side of Chicago! There's loads of rare single mixes of LP tracks on the set, and a number of smoking 45s from artists you might know better from more mainstream work – really hitting hard here, alongside a few special numbers from the indie underground too. Tracks are cool enough for old school hipsters – but appealing enough to bring in a new listener too – and as proof of that, we've given this one away for many years as a Christmas present. The collection features 25 tracks in all – non-stop pleasure throughout – with titles that include "Soul Shoutin" by Shirley Scott, "Tengo Tango" by Cannonball Adderley Sextet, "Whip It On Me" by Billy Hawks, "Yeh Yeh" by Mongo Santamaria, "Black Talk" by Charles Earland, "I'm Ready" by Otis Spann, "Mama Rufus" by Merced Blue Notes, "Theme From NYPD" by Johnny Hammond, "Step Out & Get It" by The Nomos, "Why Don't You Do Right" by Mark Murphy, "Collard Greens" by Freddie McCoy, "Theme From The Carpetbaggers" by Jack McDuff, "Filthy McNasty" by Eddie Jefferson, "Evil Ways" by Cal Tjader, "Kenny's Theme" by Kenny Burrell, and "Games" by Ivan Boogaloo Joe Jones.

Yipes! This one made everyone a bucket of money – especially Quincy Jones, whose new Qwest imprint the record was one of the first to grace. George has come a long way from his roots with Jack McDuff here – but in a way that kind of has us impressed, as he's grooving away slickly on guitar, laying down some smooth vocals that we never would have imagined from his mid 60s recordings. Includes the massive hit "Give Me The Night", a cover of "Moody's Mood", and the tracks "Star Of A Story (X)", "Midnight Love Affair", "What's On Your Mind", and "Dinorah, Dinorah". The sound of a million supermarkets and elevators during the 80s!

A great little record from the days before George Benson had totally hit his smooth jazz sound of the 70s, and was being pushed by Columbia as a hard wailing soul jazz leader! The record features his classic quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ – grooving away hard hard hard, sometimes even harder than George! Benson's fresh off his work with the Jack McDuff quartet, and his style's nice and lean, with some good riffs, and a very tight approach to the strings. Titles include "The Cooker", "Benny's Back", "Bossa Rocka", and "Benson's Rider".

A tight quartet session that pairs the master funky guitarist with Jack McDuff, Al Harewood, and (surprisingly) Yusef Lateef, who plays tenor and flute on the record, in a style that's a lot harder than some of his own work from the time! The group grooves in a nice laidback way through 4 long tracks – "Grantstand", "My Funny Valentine", "Blues In Maude's Flat", and "Old Folks" – and the session is very open-ended, with a good live soul jazz vibe. CD also features a bonus track – "Green's Greenery". This is the newly remastered version, with crisp sound and additional notes and photos!

A great little album – one that features Groove playing in front of larger arrangements from Chess Records soul maestro Richard Evans – in a style that has the swinging power of some of Evan's best soul and jazz work at the Chicago label, and which makes for a slightly different approach for Holmes! The Hammond is out front in the mix, really bouncing around the bigger backings in a style that's similar to some of Jack McDuff's experiments of the time – some of them also recorded with Evans! There's a few soul covers – like "Ain't That Peculiar" and "Function At The Junction" – plus other nice ones like "Super Soul", "Bluesette", and "I Will Wait For You".

The sweet second album from If – a Brit jazz-rock combo with a really great sound! The album was produced by Lew Futterman, the talent behind some of Jack McDuff's large-arrangement albums for Blue Note – and Lew seems to bring in a similar ambitious feel to the set that really brings the most out of the instrumentation. The group features some great organ and electric piano by John Mealing, and saxes by Dick Morrisey – and as always with this sort of thing, there's some vocals that sound a bit dated – but the overall feel is still quite strong, especially in the breakout instrumental passages. Titles include "Your City Is Falling", "Shadows & Echoes", "I Couldn't Write & Tell You", and "Sunday Sad".

Heavy tenor from Willis Jackson – two early 60s killers for Prestige, back to back on a single CD! First up is Keep On A Blowin – an album that has hard wailin' soul jazz solos by Brother Jack McDuff on organ and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar! Those two, plus Gator, make up the core of the combo that features additional backing by bass and drums, but you won't need to worry about the additional players, because the triple threat of tenor/organ/guitar will hold all your attention. Tracks are long, and as usual, the best ones are the originals, including "Blue Strollin", "A Smooth One", and "Keep On A Blowin". Thunderbird is a massive groover – and a set that rumbles as much as you might guess from the title! The album's got Willis Jackson blowing in a very open, loud tenor tone – working with an unusual group that features Freddie Roach on organ, and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar – the former a hip, smooth keyboardist, the latter a rougher, bluesier player – making for a really nice mix of modes! There's a deep soul jazz bottom throughout – and titles include "Thunderbird", "Oh Lady Be Good", "Back & Forth", and "California Sun".

A great album from Willis Jackson – a real sleeper, and with a very groovy feel! Willis smokes with an organ combo that has Butch Cornell at the keys, and which also features Vince Corrao on guitar and Franklyn Robinson on trumpet. The tracks are a mix of originals and Beatles covers (believe it or not!), and Willis is in that playful mid-60s mode, where he's working with so much profiency on the tenor that he can take some groovy chances on the solos. The rhythm's got a great Cadet soul jazz vibe to it – and the album fits nicely with some of Jack McDuff's work on the same label. Titles include "Yesterday", "Hard Day's Night", "Goose Pimples", and "Doin' The Mudcat".

One of Willis' excellent groovers from the mid 60s – cut with his super-hip group that featured Pat Azzara on guitar and Carl Wilson on organ, augmented by trumpet from Frank Robinson and drums by Joseph Hadrick. The tunes are mostly simple numbers, but Jackson handles them with a tight soulful flair – taking chances with familiar tunes, in the mode of work from the time by Jack McDuff or Groove Holmes. Titles include "One Mint Julep", "Tangerine", "Ebb Tide", "Blue Gator", and "Secret Love".

Very funky 2LP live set that stands as one of Houston Person's last great albums. Recorded for the obscure Eastbound arm of the Westbound funk label, and featuring an all-star cast that includes Grant Green, Jack McDuff, Marcus Belgrave, Sonny Phillips, Spanky Wilson, and Idris Muhammad. Very heavy grooves, and some nice deep funk in the classic Prestige mode. Includes covers of "Pain" by the Ohio Players and "Crazy Legs" by Donald Austin, plus the tracks "Kittitian Carnival", "Where Is The Love", and "Easy Walker". A few mellow tracks, but the funky stuff more than makes up for it.

A monster! This is one of the rare few albums that tenorist Harold Vick ever cut as a leader – and it's pretty darn great all the way through! Vick is probably best known as the sax player with Jack McDuff during his mid 60s glory years – and this album captures him a similar mode, working hard and fast in an organ combo with Big John Patton at the keys, Grant Green on guitar, and Ben Dixon on drums. The group's augmented by Blue Mitchell, who solos in the front with Vick – and the album includes a great version of Vick's "Our Miss Brooks", plus "Steppin Out", "Vicksville", and "Trimmed In Blue".

Amazing work from a key force in jazz organ – not Jimmy Smith, not Jack McDuff, but Brazilian musician Walter Wanderley! Not long after American artists first started hitting the Hammond for groovy sounds in the 50s, Wanderley picked up the instrument down in Brazil – and fused a jazz organ approach with lots of lively samba rhythms – to created a style that went onto become the stuff of legend, thanks to later crossover classics on Verve! The sounds here are those from Walter's roots – four albums recorded for EMI/Odeon at the start of the 60s – most of which we've never even seen in the original – which makes this reissue package even more essential! Many tracks were recorded in the early bossa nova years, and there's definitely a bossa jazz vibe to most numbers here – especially given the tight percussion, and Wanderley's great way with an easygoing groove. 4CD package features rare albums Eu Voce E Walter Wanderley (1959), Feito Sob Medida (1959), Successos Dancantes Em Ritmo De Romance (1960), and Sucesso E Samba (1960) – all totally great all the way through, with original cover art too! (Note that there are some offbeat sound passages – mostly flaws in the original tapes that create occasional distortion at short points – which haven't been corrected by the remastering. But the set is fully licensed and legitimate.)

A landmark album from this legendary Chicago soul jazz combo – and a record that helped set the tone for changes to come in funky jazz for the 70s! Tenorist Clarence Wheeler heads up the group – and they've got an amazing organ/bass sound that's made them a legend with funk fans for years – a groove that's filled with complicated riffing and changes, almost the "next level" of soul jazz beyond the already hip Jack McDuff groove of the Prestige years – taken into a lot more righteous territory! The grooves are totally infectious, and they echo with some of the best styles of the group's contemporaries on the Chicago scene – particularly the electric Eddie Harris combo, or the best work going down over at Cadet Records! The album features a wonderful extended version of "Hey Jude", with a million jazzy changes and loads of nice riffs (which is probably why it's been heavily sampled) – plus groovy groovy versions of Eddie Harris' "Sham Time" and Jack McDuff's "Theme From The Electric Surfboard". And all that's only on side one! Side two's got even more great stuff – like "Doin What I Wanna", "Dream Bossa Nova", and "Right On" – and the whole record's a gem!

Soulful and pounding! Joe Dukes is one of the greatest soul jazz drummers ever – the key to the unique sound that Jack McDuff had during his big rise to fame in the mid 60s, a combination of tightly funky rhythms underneath, with a freer approach to the top of the kit that worked perfectly with McDuff's hefty Hammond Organ work. The group on this album's McDuff's classic quartet that includes Red Holloway on tenor and alto, George Benson on guitar, and Dukes on drums. The album's got an incredible sound, with Dukes' unique approach to drums scattering all over the kit, creating these complicated dancing rhythms for the organ, sax, and guitar lineup. The album's filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons" – and the whole thing's great! . Filled with excellent groovers, like "Moohah the D.J.", "Soulful Drums", "Greasy Drums", and "My Three Sons". Super-rare, too!

A killer – one of the best from Prestige during the runaway classic years of the early 70s! Melvin Sparks is a genius guitarist, with a talent as rich as that of Grant Green, who's probably his most immediate precursor. He'd played in the groups of Lou Donaldson and Jack McDuff during the late 60s, but by the time of this release, he was breaking out on his own as one of the hottest funk guitarists in jazz. The group's an excellent one – and features Idris Muhammad on funky drums, Virgil Jones on trumpet, and the great Leon Spencer on organ. The tracks are nice and long, especially the original "The Stinker", and the cool cover of "Spill the Wine". Also includes a great funky cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf".

2 great ones from funky guitarist Melvin Sparks – back to back on a single CD! The Sparks album is a killer – one of the best from Prestige during the runaway classic years of the early 70s! Melvin Sparks is a genius guitarist, with a talent as rich as that of Grant Green, who's probably his most immediate precursor. He'd played in the groups of Lou Donaldson and Jack McDuff during the late 60s, but by the time of this release, he was breaking out on his own as one of the hottest funk guitarists in jazz. The group's an excellent one – and features Idris Muhammad on funky drums, Virgil Jones on trumpet, and the great Leon Spencer on organ. The tracks are nice and long, especially the original "The Stinker", and the cool cover of "Spill the Wine". Also includes a great funky cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf". Akilah is an album that was cut for Prestige during the years when they were expanding the lineup on the albums a bit past the usual soul jazz quintet format – but even with a bigger group, the album's still got a great array of players, including Leon Spencer on organ, Idris Muhammad on drums, Virgil Jones on trumpet, Dave Hubbard on tenor, Hubert Laws on flute, and Sonny Fortune on alto. Melvin's single-line guitar work is incredibly great – very much like Grant Green's during the early 70s – and titles include "Love the Life You Live", "Akilah", and "All Wrapped Up".

George Benson's first LP for Columbia – a hard, heavy, soul jazz slammer that bears no resemblance to his overproduced work of the 70s! The album's a real cooker – recorded hot on the heels of Benson's classic work on Prestige with the Jack McDuff group, and sounding a lot like McDuff's hard wailing organ jazz of the same time. George is working with a group that features a young Lonnie Smith on organ, plus Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Ronnie Cuber on sax, and Charlie Persip on drums – all tightly coming together, and jamming hard on the album's short cooking tracks. Tracks include "Clockwise", "Jaguar", "Hello Birdie", and "Bullfight". Plus, the CD adds five bonus tracks, including "Sideman", "Minor Chant", and the previously unreleased "J.H. Bossa Nova" and "Clockwise (Alternate Take)".

Two Sonny Stitt dates with organ – both from different ends of the 60s! First up is Soul Shack – a mellow burner, and a real classic from the early 60s soul jazz years of Prestige Records! The album brings together the saxes of Sonny Stitt (both alto and tenor) and the Hammond of Jack McDuff – who's really coming into his own at this point, and has a lean, mean tone that's a perfect match for Stitt's horn. There's a bluesy undercurrent to the record, but without any of the cliches that might have crept in a few years before – leaving Stitt in the modern company you might expect, in ways that are similar to his dates with Don Patterson. Rhythm is from Leonard Gaskin on bass and Herbie Lovelle on drums – and titles include "Shadows", "Soul Shack", "Sunday", "Love Nes", "For You", and "Hairy". Night Letter is a great set of Varitone sax numbers from Sonny Stitt – recorded for Prestige with a bit more bite than some of his albums of the type for Roulette! The album's got a tight tenor/organ vibe throughout – thanks to work on Hammond from Gene Ludwig, working under the "nom de date" of Booker Patterson – bumped along strongly with some tight guitar from the great Pat Martino! Drums are by Randy Gelispie – and Stitt's electric horn melds in with the organ and guitar wonderfully – with a sound that's a lot deeper than other uses of the instrument at the time. Titles include "Loose Walk", "Night Letter", "Stringing The Jug", and "Blue String".

Crisply-tailored, yet soulful and groovy mod jazz from the 60s – a slew of great numbers by Byrdie Green, Johnny Lytle, Mark Murphy, Reuben Wilson, The Nightbeats, The Cals, Billy Larkin, Johnny Hammond Smith, Byrdie Smith and more! Lots of great stuff here, from names synonymous to moddish jazz and others that nicely fit that mold for a bit – cats like Buddy Guy, for instance. A sweet, sweet set from the passionate compilers at Kent UK! Includes "The Real Thing" by Troy Dodds, "Finders Keepers" by Floyd White, "Rod Run" by The Reuben Wilson Quartet, "Talkin' About Love" by Tobi Lark, "Screamin'" by Jack McDuff, "Double Love" by The Cals, "Tricky Too" by Gus Jenkins, "Fever" by Buddy Guy, "Work Song" by Clint Stacy, "My Beat" by George Stone, " It's Like Love" by Mark Murphy, "The Village Caller" by The Johnny Lytle Trio and more.