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One of the first great European statements from tenorist Dexter Gordon – a 1967 live recording that really lets Dexter stretch out, and show an even deeper side of his talents than on his 60s albums for Blue Note! The rhythm section here is rock solid – Kenny Drew on piano, Neils Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, and Albert Tootie Heath on drums – a unit that still retains the sharpness of the Blue Note dates, but also has the energy to "go long" as Gordon pushes a few of the numbers on the set well past the ten minute mark. Gordon's solos are wonderfully imaginative and expressive – and titles include "Devilette", "For All We Know", "Doxy", and "Sonnymoon For Two". Material previously issued on LP under the title Montmartre Collection Vol 1.

No gravity here – in fact, quite the reverse, as gravity almost seems suspended in the way these guys work together with a beautifully fluid vibe! The tenor of Donny McCaslin's very firmly in the lead on the set – sometimes amidst spare instrumentation, often standing as the prow of the quartet's rhythmic progression – sounds that stem from the keyboards of Jason Linder, bass of Tim Lefebvre, and drums of Mark Guiliana. Things are sometimes spacey, sometimes a bit more forceful – and always a clear expression of McCaslin's unique musical vision. Titles include "Says Who", "Stadium Jazz", "Love Song For An Echo", "Praia Grande", and "Alpha & Omega".

Great back-to-basics work from Jimmy Ponder – a well-crafted but laidback session that has the guitarist really opening up nicely in a hip quartet! Jimmy never tries too hard to get things back to the sound of the old days – never any of those hokey nods to the acid jazz generation you might find at the time – and instead, he really enjoys the open setting of the session, and crafts some well-played solos with a sweet hollow-body sound! The group features Mark Soskin on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Roger Humphrey on drums – and the album features an especially nice 9 minute take on "The Creator Has A Master Plan", plus "Johnny's Place", "Moonlight In Vermont", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", and "Sunshine".

Lots of sharp changes here – deft tenor work from Tom Tallitsch, really cooking strongly alongside the Hammond of Jared Gold! Gold's fast becoming one of our favorite contemporary players on his instrument – and for this sweet little set, he brings out a lot of Larry Young-like lines – arcing and curving with an angular feel that's really great – and setting fire to Tom's tenor nicely, as it runs alongside the organ with a Joe Henderson sort of vibe. Guitar is from Dave Allen, drums from Mark Ferber, and titles include "Tenderfoot", "Coming Around", "Double Shot", "Flat Stanley", "Travel Companion", and "Dunes".

Drummer Lenny White live – stepping out here in a sweet funky set that also features some great keyboards from Patrice Rushen and Don Blackman! The date was recorded in the late 90s, and has a back-to-basics quality that reflects the renewed love of older funk styles that players like White were picking up at the time – a quality that shakes off some of the excesses of fusion, and glitz of smooth jazz – and really lets the players stretch out in a no-nonsense setting! The whole group's pretty great – and fetaures Bennie Maupin on saxes, Victor Bailey and Foley on basses, Mark Ledford on trumpet, and the aforementioned Rushen and Blackman on keyboards – on titles that include "Whew What A Dream", "East St Louis", "Pic Pocket", "Dark", and "Wolfbane".

A funky explosion of dancefloor grooves – key 70s club cuts from Capitol, Blue Note, and TK Records – all packaged together in a massively upbeat set! Most tracks here move at a pretty quick clip – and represent the funkier side of the 70s disco scene – cuts that draw more from tight instrumental jamming than from smoother tricks in the studio! Almost all numbers have some sort of lyrics, but they usually take second stage to the rhythms – and a fair bit of the numbers are long, with timings that move well past the five minute mark. Titles include "Changin" by Brass Construction, "Do What You Wanna Do" by T-Connection, "Is It In" by Jimmy Bo Horne, "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" by KC & The Sunshine Band, "Freak In Freak Out" by Timmy Thomas, "Singing Hallelujah" by Queen Samantha, "Caricatures" by Donald Byrd, "Pack It Up" by Gonzalez, "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me" by Peter Brown, and "Time Is On My Side" by Maze.

Funky nuggets from a vastly under-tapped source – the mighty holdings of Warner Music, which include some great funky singles from Atlantic, Atco, and Reprise – as well as even deeper gems on a batch of obscure labels like Kwanza and Clintone! The package is totally great – with a heavy, hard edge that goes way past the more famous soul tunes on Atlantic – into the deeper funky territory normally reserved for smaller indie labels at the time. A few tracks on here are by well-known acts, but there's a lot more that aren't – and this all-legit, well-noted collection kicks it far better than any old dodgy funky 45 set! 25 fantastic cuts in all, including "Improve" by Darrow Fletcher, "I'm Just Like You" by 6ix, "Rise Up" by The Commodores (pre-Motown!), "Help Me Make Up My Mind" by Joyce Jones, "Do The Funky Boogaloo (part 1)" by Barry Jones, "Mashed Potato Popcorn" by Freddie & The Kinfolk, "Get In The Groove" by The Mighty Hannibal, "Funky John" by Johnny Cameron & The Camerons, "The Memphis Train" by Rufus Thomas, "I'm On The Move" by Bobby Byrd, "Whatever's Fair" by Mark Holder & The Positives, "Hang On In There" by Stovall Sisters, "Won't Nobody Listen" by Black Haze Express, and "Your Love Is Certified" by Rasputin's Stash.

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.

A shapely set of grooves from the Tru Thoughts label – a double-length set at half the price of a regular CD – and one that also features a fair bit of rare mixes and hard to find tracks! The package is a great way to dip into the richness of the label – one of the few leftfield imprints that are still going strong these days, and continuing to push boundaries with its fresh approach to a 21st Century groove. Creative production and soulful vocals abound – and titles include "Heroine" by Freddie Cruger & Anthony Mills Are Wildcookie, "Sleepwalker (Ambassadeurs rmx)" by Nostalgia 77, "Darkrum" by Anchorsong, "The Why" by Mark De Clive-Lowe, "Swing Samba" by Drumagick, "Big Fat Liar" by Kinny, "Fairplay (Zed Bias old skool mix)" by Zed Bias, "Sleepwalker (Lanu rmx)" by Nostalgia 77, and "Crash & Burn (Hint club mix)" by Hint. 2CD set features 29 tracks in all!

A different side of the stepper's scene in Chicago – the more bluesy, southern soul-inflected one – kind of a criss-cross of two different modes in the Windy City! The tracks here are from a variety of sources, but all echo kind of a down home mode – often a modern take on older southern styles that comes off with a sweet little groove – one that's almost a musical illustration of the regional shifts that have taken place as folks from points south moved up to Chicago over the years. That's not to say that all the tunes here have Chicago origins, just that they play well in a side of the city's scene – and the track list includes "Hard Road To Travel" by Shakey Jake, "Wrapped Up In Your Love" by Joe Perkins, "That's When The Crying Begins" by Kip Anderson, "A Good Date" by Charles Earland, "Man To Woman" by Lonnie Youngblood, "Too Many Hands" by Otis Clay, "I'm At The Crossroad" by Vernon Garrett, "Blues For Gerry" by Mark III Trio, "Stone Hearted Woman" by Andrew Tibbs, and "Give It Back" by Lee Roberts.

An incredible full length debut from vocalist Mario Biondi – a jazz singer we'd rank right up there with the legendary Mark Murphy – supported here with great backings from the High Five Quintet! The grooves here are in a soaring, tightly-stepping style – very much the best club jazz mode of the contemporary European scene – with all-acoustic instrumentation, and rhythms that move along at a really great dancefloor pace! Mario's vocals are really unique too – with a little rasp that catches slightly, and really brings a timeless quality to his voice – mixing personal feeling into the lively numbers on the album, with an unexpected depth that really makes the album stand out from similar sessions of this type! There's echoes of hip vocal jazz work from years past by artists like The Peddlers, Bobby Cole, or Mark Murphy – and titles include "A Child Runs Free", "No Mercy For Me", "This Is What You Are", "I Can't Keep From Cryin Sometimes", "Rio De Janeiro Blue", "Handful Of Soul", "On A Clear Day", "Never Die", "No Trouble On The Mountain", "Slow Hot Wind", and "Gig".

An amazing collection of music – some of the hippest jazz to ever come out of the west coast scene, and a legendary pairing of trumpeter Bobby Bradford and saxophonist John Carter! Both players have really gone onto leave their mark in later years – but honestly, they almost reached the peak of their powers with these incredible early recordings – beautifully bracing modern jazz, of a sort that somewhat follows an Ornette Coleman lineage, but which also opens up into the new spirituality that was hitting the LA scene in the post-Coltrane years – almost a bridge between the Coleman/Dolphy generation, and the later Nimbus scene that would rise in the west! The music here is stark, simple, and quite organic – yet has an energy that's all its own – an amazing progression of rhythms and horn sounds, wrapped together beautifully through a killer set of original compositions. Carter plays alto, tenor, clarinet, and flute; Bradford is on trumpet, and rhythm players include Nate Morgan and Bill Henderson on piano, Henry Franklin and Louis Spears on bass, and Bruz Freeman and Leon Ndugu Chancler on drums. The set brings together material originally issued on the Seeking and Secrets albums for the Revelation label – but then also features lots more previously unreleased tracks – making the set more than 50% new material! Most titles are of the 1969/Early 70s vintage of the Revelation albums – but the set also features some beautiful 1979 duets between Carter and Bradford, with no other instrumentation at all. 22 tracks in all – and an instant treasure!

A long-overdue collection of all the mixes, side-projects, and rare "Nicola Conte version" tracks that have cropped up in the past decade or so – work that's every bit as great as the material Conte includes on his own albums and singles! Nicola Conte's not a remixer – he's a re-imaginer – and when he sets out to serve up his own version of a track, he often starts from scratch – using his own band, his own arrangements, and his own key elements – all of which turn any projects for other artists into grooves that are very Conte-directed – the kind of classic jazz-infused gems that Nicola's been laying down on his own Schema Records label for over a decade! This double-disc set is filled with amazing work that Conte's done for other folks – and it also include a few rare and unreleased tracks under his own name as well – a massive helping of music that's really mindblowing throughout – sure to please any fan of Nicola, as well as anyone who digs the artists included in the package. Nicola Conte tracks include "Castles In The Rain", "Charade", "New Blues", "When I Wish Upon A Star", "Solo", "Black Is The Graceful Veil (acoustic version)", "Groovy Samba", and "All Or Nothing At All", which features vocals by Jose James! Other cuts include Conte mixes and reworks of "Stolen Moments (Midnight Mood rework)" by Mark Murphy, "Yellow Daisies" by Fertile Ground, "So Danco Samba (Nicola Conte rework)" by Til Bronner, "Terra De Ninguem" by Sabrina Malheiros, "Take Off (Campi's Idea version)" by Marco Di Marco, "3 Corners (For Friends & Relatives version)" by Five Corners Quintet, "You Are" by Povo, "Our Love" by Luisito Quintero, "Healing Blue (shape of jazz to come version)" by Sunaga T Experience, "Lotus Sun" by Maki Mannami, "Heaven (west coast vibes rmx)" by Bitter:Sweet, "Quiet Nights (out of the cool version)" by Re:Jazz, "Elevated States" by Thunderball, "Mood Indigo" by Akiko, "Take Five (Nicola Conte rmx)" by Roberto Roena, and "Kerma Elastica (Nicola Conte rmx)" by Bobby Hughes Combination.

Bassist Scott LaFaro left a very big mark on jazz – especially given his few short years on this planet – recording seminal sides with players like Bill Evans and Hampton Hawes – both of whom were really transformed by his work on bass! This set brings together some rare material from the late 50s – three appearances on the Stars Of Jazz TV show, including two with Victor Feldman on piano and Stan Levy on bass, and one more with Cal Tjader on vibes and Vince Guaraldi on piano! The set also features a nice long rehearsal track, recorded at the LA store Recordville – also with the Feldman trio – and titles include "Rehearsal Blues"," Bebop", "Flamingo", "Deep In A Dream", "Crow's Nest", "Liz Anne", "Tumbaro", and "You Are My Lucky Star".

Swirling psychedelia from the late 60s & early 70s – raga inflected soundscapes featuring the sitar – and a plethora of other mind-altering instrumentation in the psyche pop canon! Many of the tunes are kind of sole examples of a psychedelic combo trying out the sitar sound, while others feature regular dabblers – but it's all groovy stuff. Features acts from the UK and US scenes, with the Mecki Mark Men, Moonkyte, Full Moon Band, the comparably iconic Ananda Shankar, and much more! Titles include "Free" by Mecki Mark Men, "Caves Of Her Mind" by Stunt's Blue Leg Expedition, "I Know What To Say" by The Ugly Ducklings, "Where Will The Grass Grow" by Moonkyte, "Prayer To St Peter" by Nick Carter, "Renunciation" by Ananda Shanker, "One Grain Of Sand" by Wizz Jones, "The Shoemaker Of Leatherwear Square" by Lemon Pipers, "Aurore Cosmic" by Popera Cosmic and more. 20 tracks in all.

The title's a hokey one, but the album's surprisingly great – a hip batch of jazz and funk numbers from the Muse Records catalog, and one that goes way past the dated language on the cover! Most of the tracks here are from the 70s, and they really show the depth of Muse's groove at the time – an inherited approach to soul jazz from 60s work at Prestige Records – one that features some of the best artists on that label, all recording in very relaxed, open-ended company! Titles include "Heavy Juice" by Houston Person, "So What" by Johnny Lytle, "Iron City" by Grant Green, "Mambo Inn" by Lou Donaldson, "As Time Goes By" by Mark Murphy, "Harold's House Of Jazz" by Richie Cole & Eddie Jefferson, "Speak Low" by Melvin Sparks, "Possum Grease" by Johnny Lytle, "Street Song" by Bobby Hutcherson, and "Prodigal Son" by Harold Ousley.

One of the real standouts in Evelyn King's career – a sharply focused album that's filled with catchy 80s styled tunes – and which benefits from some great help from a young Kashif! Lots of the tracks have that great flair for a catchy hook that mark's Evelyn's best work – an approach that's never too slick or too forced, and which has a comfortable way of sliding into a tune. Titles include "I'm In Love", "What Are You Waiting For", "If You Want My Lovin", "I Can't Take It", "The Best Is Yet To Come", and "The Other Side Of Love". This Big Break UK remastered edition has 5 bonus tracks: "I'm In Love", "Don't Hide Our Love" and "Spirit Of The Dancer" (all single versions), "If You Want My Lovin (UK Single Version)" and "I'm In Love (12" Dance Mix)".