With selections by Abbey Lincoln, Bobby Goldsboro, Jackie DeShannon, Count Five, John Fred & His Playboy Band, Desmond Dekker & The Aces, and a side's worth of themes by Goldenthal. LP, Vinyl record album

With Oliver Lake on alto, soprano, and flute – plus Michael Gregory Jackson on guitar, Pheeroan Ak Laff on drums, Anthony Davis on piano, and Abdul Wadud on cello. LP, Vinyl record album

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Features Joe Lovano and David Sanches on saxophones, Santi Debriano on bass, Jack Dejohnette on drums, and Ruben Blades on vocals. CD

Features Eddie Allen on trumpet, Kirk Lightsey on piano, Onaje Allan Gumbs on keys, Cecil McBee on bass, and Lewis Nash on drums. Tracks include "Giant Steps", "Tenderly", "Voyager II", "Dearly Beloved", "Autumn", and "Willow Weep For Me". CD

Threadgill plays alto sax and bass flute and is joined by Ted Daniels on trumpet and flugelhorn, Bill Lowe on bass trombone, Diedre Murry on cello, Fred Hopkins on bass, and Newman Barker and Reggie Nicholson on drums and percussion. 4 tracks in all, including "Off The Rag", "The Devil Is On The Loose And Dancin' With A Monkey", "Gift", and "Sweet Holy Rag". CD

A wonderful album from Muhal – with all the soulful spiritualness of his best 70s work, more stripped down than later orchestrated efforts, and with a gentler more intimate approach than earlier work. The set is mostly solo piano – although Abrams also plays some occasional percussion – and features some wonderfully introspective playing, as free as that of Cecil Taylor or other 70s avant contemporaries, but always rhythmic, and never losing a sense of soul and meaning. Titles include "D Song", "String Song", and "Voice Song" – all long. LP, Vinyl record album

A great introduction to one of the hippest big bands of the 70s – a duo who did for the jazz ensemble mode in their decade what Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland did in the 60s! Tracks include "Studio J", "Quadrille, Anyone", "Kogun", "First Night", and "Road Time Shuffle". CD

Nice soundtrack to the now-legendary film by Bruce Weber that tracked Chet Baker during some of the last days of his life. The set's got a nice mix of vocal and instrumental tracks, with Chet in fine enough form at the time of the recording. Titles include "You're My Thrill", "Moon & Sand", "Zingaro", "My One & Only Love", and "Almost Blue". CD

A beautiful album from pianist Warren Bernhardt – maybe one of his most introspective sets of the early years, and one with a fantastic close-up focus on his acoustic piano talents! Despite Bernhardt's presence in a late 70s scene that featured many fusion artists, his most sensitive side often seemed to be in his work on acoustic piano – which is on full display here, on a set of tracks that are mostly solo, and which have this very unique voice. Bernhardt's got some of the flowing lyricism of Keith Jarrett, but also brings things in more sharply – letting his more open moments mix with tuneful passages in this really great way – and leaving us breathless at his ability to do so much with so little, yet all in a very understated way. Titles include "Metrics", "Mirror", "Song To My Father", "Snow Birds", and "Floating". LP, Vinyl record album

Some solo numbers, but some great duets with Ricky Ford on tenor or Anthony Braxton on alto, and Rufus Reid on bass! Also features one unusual number – "Wende" – with Chris Connor on vocals. LP, Vinyl record album

Michael Brecker on saxophone and Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugelhorn. CD

With Joe Lovano on tenor sax, Randy Brecker on trumpet, and John Scofield on guitar! CD

Features Hargrove on trumpet and Antonio Hart on saxophone, with John Hicks and Geoffrey Keezer taking turns on piano, and Ralph Peterson and Al Foster on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Antonio Hart and Gary Bartz on alto saxophone, Jamal Haynes on trombone, Darren Barrett on trumpet, Aaron Graves on piano, Rodney Whitaker on bass, Greg Hutchinson on drums, and Kimati Dinizulu on percussion. CD

A beautifully spacey set from guitarist Steve Khan – a record that has the leader playing mostly acoustic, but in a setting that's also got this nicely echoey vibe and some great electric touches! The record is as spacious as an ECM session, but has a very different vibe – maybe a quality that's less sonically organic, but equally powerful – as the steel strings of Khan's guitar have this raspy quality in the echo, and are matched with some contributions on other guitars from David Russell Young – and some very light electronics that shade in some of the background elements in a very gentle way. Titles include "In A Silent Way", "Peace", "Threesome", "Infant Eyes", and a long "Thelonious Monk Medley". CD

Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone and Mal Waldron on piano. Titles include "House Party Starting", "I'll Keep Loving You", "Mistral Breeze", and "The Mooche". CD

Includes the songs "Watch What Happens", "You Must Believe In Spring", "Friday Fugue", "Once Upon A Summertime", "J & B", "The Saddest Thing Of All", and "Splittons". CD

Features Mulgrew Miller on piano, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Kenny Garrett on alto, and Joe Henderson on tenor! CD

With Peter Erskine on drums. CD

Marcus Roberts on solo piano. CD

Prime late 70s AACM/loft jazz material, composed and led by Threadgill, and featuring groups that include avant players like Joseph Jarman, Douglas Ewart, Amina Claudine Myers, and Rufus Reid. Titles include "Sir Simpleton", "Celebration", and "Air Song" – and most tracks have some poetic vocals, sung by Myers. LP, Vinyl record album

With Threadgill on bass flute, alto, and tenor, Rasul Sadik on trumpet, Frank Lacy on trombone, Deirdre Murray on cello, Fred Hopkins on bass, and both Pheeroan Aklaff and Reggie Nicholson on percussion – each getting a different channel of the recording! Titles include "Silver & Gold Baby Silver & Gold", "Bermuda Blues", "Good Times", and "Those Who Eat Cookies". CD

Nice soundtrack to the now-legendary film by Bruce Weber that tracked Chet Baker during some of the last days of his life. The set's got a nice mix of vocal and instrumental tracks, with Chet in fine enough form at the time of the recording. Titles include "You're My Thrill", "Moon & Sand", "Zingaro", "My One & Only Love", and "Almost Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most evocative albums we've ever heard from pianist Ran Blake – a set that's got all the sharp edges of some of his most adventurous solo work, but one that also has Ran working in a few different settings, often with a very poetic feel! The set's not a hokey retro-crime record – as you might fear from the title (and countless later jazz albums that evoke that aesthetic) – and although Blake's working through melodies from older films, plus a few original numbers in the same spirit, his presentation is completely unique – and explosively personal throughout! His own piano is tremendous – blocks of sound and runs of notes that are extremely imaginative, and which flow forward from the same dark spirit we love on Blake's other recordings. And they're often balanced with shifting contributions from other musicians – players who include John Heiss on flute, Paul Meyers on bass, Ted Curson on trumpet, and Daryl Lowrey on alto and soprano sax – all of whom make some great additions to the set. Titles include a nice take on "The Pawnbroker" – plus other film titles that include "Eve", "Touch Of Evil", "Le Boucher", "Pinky", and "Doktor Mabuse" – as well as Blake originals "Spiral Staircase" and "Garden Of Delight". CD

Features Hargrove on trumpet, Antonio Hart on alto, Marc Cary on piano, Rodney Whitaker on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums – plus guest tenors Branford Marsalis and David 'Fathead' Newman. CD

With Mark Harvey and Kenny Mason on trumpet and flugelhorn, Len Deflor and John Hagenon tenor and soprano, Stan Strickland on tenor, soprano, and flute, Tim Sessions on trombone, Ernesto Provencher on string and electric bass, TC Tommy Campbell on bass, Arnie Clapman on congas, and David Moss on percussion. LP, Vinyl record album

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With Kenny Darron on piano, Todd Coolman on bass, Akira Tana on drums, and Onaje Allan Gumbs on synthesizer. LP, Vinyl record album