A really great back to basics album from guitarist Phil Upchurch – a set that's a lot more jazz-based than the instrumental funk he was laying down in the late 60s and early 70s – with a lean style that brings plenty of focus to Phil's stunning work on a hollow-body guitar! The group's a quartet – with David Arnay on piano, Kevin Axt on bass, Vince Wilburn on drums, and Mike Smith on percussion – acoustic players who balance out the warmer electric vibe of the Upchurch guitar – on titles that include a strong mix of soul and jazz covers, plus two originals too. Tracks include "La Costa", "Jive Samba", "Jack Of Speed", "Tell The Truth", "Home Again", "Girl Talk", "She's Alright", and "Back In Love Again". LP, Vinyl record album

A soul record we'd put up there with some of our favorites produced in Chicago during the early 70s – a gospel album from Pastor TL Barrett, but one that's gone on to legendary status among funk and soul collectors over the years! Barrett works here with his Youth For Christ Choir, of Mt. Zion Baptist Church – a south side ensemble that's filled with genuine spirit and passion, aimed towards lofty ideals – but set up with some deep secular soul production touches and instrumentation that keep things razor sharp throughout! The album was cut at the affordable Sound Market Studio – but behind the soaring, spirited lead and chorus vocal arrangements are players supervised by Chess Records sax player and arranger Gene Barge – with other Chess players Richard Evans and Phil Upchurch on the sessions too. Raw drums, grooving organ, and incredible bass lines lay the foundation, but it's the voices that really shine on this completely wonderful, totally essential set! Titles include "Like A Ship", "Wonderful", "It's Me O Lord", "Ever Since", "Nobody Knows", "Joyful Noice", "Medley/Dr. Watts Hymn & The Disciples Prayer" and "Blessed Quietness". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite albums of all time – and a legendary testament to the greatness of the Chicago music scene in the late 60s! Melvin Jackson was the bassist in Eddie Harris' very successful group of the time – and his playing on Eddie's trippy and funky records for Atlantic is one of the factors that made them so great. Here, he's working with an acoustic bass, amplified with electronics like a Varitone sax – and this strange-sounding instrument is set up in a hip group that mixes Cadet funky studio players (Phil Upchurch, Morris Jennings, Jody Christian) with some of the brighter young players of the AACM (Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Leo Smith.) Jackson's bass is looped through all sorts of crazy effects, and the result is this amazing blend of avant garde playing and groovy rhythms that is beyond compare! The album includes great reworkings of two Eddie Harris funk tracks – "Bold and Black" and "Cold Duck Time" – plus monster originals like "Funky Doo", "Say What", "Dance Of The Dervish", and "Funky Skull (parts 1 & 2)". LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic chapter in the career of the great Muddy Waters – a set that was initially dismissed as "inauthentic", but which has gone on to much-deserved fame over the years! Part of the genius here is the great Charles Stepney – that hip Chicago arranger who did so many wonderful things in the Chess/Cadet Records studios at the end of the 60s – which he definitely does here, as the gritty blues of Muddy Waters is mixed with a righteous current of 70s funky – with added guitar from Phil Upchurch and Pete Cosey, bass from Louis Satterfield, and organ from Stepney himself! The vibe is similar to the best funk blues sessions on Chess at the time by Bo Diddley and Etta James – and titles include "I'm A Man", "I Just Want To Make Love to You", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Same Thing", "She's All Right", and "Tom Cat". LP, Vinyl record album

A soul record we'd put up there with some of our favorites produced in Chicago during the early 70s – a gospel album from Pastor TL Barrett, but one that's gone on to legendary status among funk and soul collectors over the years! Barrett works here with his Youth For Christ Choir, of Mt. Zion Baptist Church – a south side ensemble that's filled with genuine spirit and passion, aimed towards lofty ideals – but set up with some deep secular soul production touches and instrumentation that keep things razor sharp throughout! The album was cut at the affordable Sound Market Studio – but behind the soaring, spirited lead and chorus vocal arrangements are players supervised by Chess Records sax player and arranger Gene Barge – with other Chess players Richard Evans and Phil Upchurch on the sessions too. Raw drums, grooving organ, and incredible bass lines lay the foundation, but it's the voices that really shine on this completely wonderful, totally essential set! Titles include "Like A Ship", "Wonderful", "It's Me O Lord", "Ever Since", "Nobody Knows", "Joyful Noice", "Medley/Dr. Watts Hymn & The Disciples Prayer" and "Blessed Quietness". LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a record from the funk-heavy period of Muddy Waters – a moment that once made the traditional blues fans mad, but which has gone onto become the stuff of legend – thanks to a real criss-crossing of Chicago talents in the studio! The set was co-produced by Chess Records talents Charles Stepney, Gene Barge, and Marshall Chess – and features expanded instrumentation that includes Phil Upchurch on added guitar, Louis Satterfield on bass, Charles Stepney on organ, and Morris Jennings on drums – plus even more guitar from Pete Cosey, who you might know from later work on some Miles Davis electric albums! Muddy is still very firmly the lead talent at the core, though – coming across with a badass kind of vibe that mixes his raw roots with the hipper soul of the new generation – a great Chess/Cadet hybird that was years ahead of its time. Titles include "I Am The Blues", "Hurtin Soul", "Bottom Of The Sea", "Honey Bee", "Rollin' And Tumblin'", "Screamin & Cryin", and "Blues & Trouble". LP, Vinyl record album