A beautiful early 70s debut LP from a then 20 year old, Halifax-reared Catherine Howe – produced and arranged by US jazz pianist Bobby Scott in a mode that manages to feel lush and opulent while never belying Catherine's warmth, intimacy and maturity! The sound is warmly baroque, and Catherine's lovely vocals and evocative songwriting style is sheerly natural – recorded in a fairly stripped down setting and fleshed out with strings by the London Symphony Orchestra. The mix of intimacy and grandeur makes the record a bit of stylistic cousin to Nick Drake's Bryter Layter – we take our Drake seriously and we don't throw that comparison out lightly! Released by a doomed Reflection Records, which closed up shop the same year – the album was almost instantly relegated to obscurity, but has become the stuff of legend over the years – thanks to reissues, and interest in Howe's music from younger generations. Titles include "Up North", "On A Misty Morning", "Nothing More Than Strangers", "My Child", "The Innocence Of A Child", "It Comes With The Breezes" and more – plus the bonus demo "In The Hot Summer" – which led to the next phase of Catherine's career at RCA. CD

A wonderful testament to the mindblowing collaborative powers of reedman Ken Vandermark – one of the most consistently creative saxophonists of the past few decades, and a spirit with a heart that's as big as his music! Ken's a wonder by himself, but one of the things that's always really impressed us is his strong ear for others – which includes not just fellow jazz musicians, but also decades of sounds in other styles too. Here, Vandermark displays his strong sensitivity towards five key contemporaries – in a box set that features different duets on each CD! The set features one album each of improvisations with Paul Lytton on drums and percussion, Ikue Mori on laptop and electronics, Kris Davis on piano, William Parker on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums and percussion – and Ken is mindblowing throughout, with an incredible ear for his partners, delivered over a number of different reed instruments. Box set also features great notes from Vandermark – who's also a hell of a writer, too! CD

A trio of Charlie Parker label releases from Lester Young – all served up in a single package! First up is Pres – rare live material from Lester Young – one of the first albums to offer up Pres in such a setting, although without some of the details and notes of other records of this nature! The vibe is definitely "live", and like some of the other Charlie Parker label releases, the record's a good document of a side of a key soloist in a setting that's different from his studio material – as the tunes are all quite long, and with a freer, looser sense of improvisation than on some of his studio sides. There's a trumpeter who gets in a lot of licks on the set (Roy Eldridge?) – and titles include "Destination Moon", "I Cover The Waterfront", "Sunday", "Lester Leaps In", and "Blues". Pres Is Blue is a 60s album, but one that features early 50s material recorded at the Savoy in New York – a live date that features tenor genius Lester Young blowing with an unusual combo that includes Kenny Drew on piano, Aaron Bell on bass, and Jo Jones on drums – plus the lesser-known Jesse Drake on trumpet! The tunes are standards, but opened up by Lester with a heck of a lot of warmth – on titles that include "Stardust", "Mean To Me", "Pennies From Heaven", and "Three Little Words". Just You Just Me is late 40s live work from Lester Young, recorded right on the scene in New York, likely at the Royal Roost – and presented as one of those key bebop documents that came out on the Charlie Parker label in the 60s! As the rest of those, the approach here isn't that of Verve or Norgran, but is a great illustration of the artist at work on the scene – on titles that include "DB Blues", "Be Bop Boogie", "Just You Just Me", "I Cover The Waterfront", "Sunday", and "These Foolish Things". CD

An imagined soundtrack to a journey through London in the generation of Get Carter and Carnaby Street – and one that showcases not just the rich array of sounds and styles that were taking place in the city at the time, and in a way that highlights all sorts of different locations around town! This isn't a package of well-worn British rock classics – and as with other Bob Stanley sets on Ace Records, the music comes from a deep dig and decades-long understanding of records in many modes – which makes for a track selection that's as sublime as it is surprising, and another revelatory collection from Mr Stanley! There's two dozen gems on the collection – some we've never heard, some we'd forgotten about – all of which sound great in the company of each other – with titles that include "Hampstead Way" by Linda Lewis, "Cutty Sark" by John Barry, "Sunny Goodge Street" by Marianne Faithfull, "Marcel's" by Herman's Hermits, "London Bridge" by Cilla Black, "Mayfair" by Nick Drake, "Vauxhall To Lambeth Bridge" by Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll, "City Road" by Dave Evans, "Beckton Dumps" by Humble Pie, "Notting Hill Gate" by Quintessence, "Friday Hill" by Bulldog Breed, "Goodbye Post Office Tower" by Cressida, "Kew Gardens" by Ralph McTell, and "Euston Station" by Barbara Ruskin. CD

The second set of rare international work from this great Groove Club series – rare material from Cambodia, and even more unusual and obscure than the French material we loved in volume one! The package here is equally strong – detailed notes on all the music, to really get at the unusual blend of Anglo rock elements and more regional elements – the latter of which definitely come across in some of the phrasing and instrumental inflections – both of which make this "rock" very different than you might expect! 19 tracks in all, in a cool book-style cover – with tracks that include "Do You No Wrong Again" by Thra Kha Band, "Khnyom Jah Karake" by Tet Somnang and Meas Samon, "Pros Chang Reiy" and "Pail Loung Rom" by Pan Ron, "Jet Snaeh Theang Nov" and "Yuvachon Yuvatey Samai Tmai" by Sinn Sisamouth & Ros Dereysothea, "Duang Netra" and "Satt Thee Thuy" by Sinn Sisamouth, "Bong Rau Roub Khnyom" by Ros Sereysothea, and "Youm Os Tirk Pnake" by Pov Vannary. CD

You might not know Les Cousins, but back in the city it was a very important club on the London scene – a crossroads of blues, folk, and other styles – with an influence that was every bit important in England as the Greenwich Village clubs were in the US! This massive 3CD set does a great job of documenting the sounds that passed through its stage – not via live recordings, but over a well-chosen array of cuts that demonstrate just how hip British work of the time could be – folk-plus material, of the sort you'd hear on the best albums on Island Records or Transatlantic, all very much of the generation of Nick Drake and Fairport Convention! The 3CD set does a really great job of showing the wide range of acts from this moment – including many we haven't had on other reissues in recent years – in a great box that features 72 tracks, and very detailed notes on the material. Includes work from The Levee Brothers, Roy Harper, Dr Strangely Strange, Strawbs, Owen Hand, Dave Evans, Anne Briggs, Tom Yates, Duffy Power, Ron Geesin, Jackson C Frank, Martin Carthy, Dando Shaft, Shelagh McDonald, Al Jones, Sweeney's Men, Sam Mitchell, Tir Na Nog, Beverly, Michael Chapman, and many others. CD

A heck of a collection – and one that really gets at the amazing array of free-thinking jazz that was brewing up on the European scene during the 70s! The set brings together over eight hours of music recorded during two years of this legendary festival – and each new disc has some great surprises along the way! There's some possibly more familiar material here – such as long improvisations that include a solo piano performance by Joachim Kuhn, two by a Mal Waldron trio with Jimmy Woode on bass and Allen Blairman on drums, one by a trio headed by pianist Yosuke Yamashita and with Akira Sakata on alto, two more by the duo of Peter Brotzmann on tenor and Han Bennink on drums, and a final two long improvisations by a great Archie Shepp gruop with Richard Greenlee on trombone, Dave Burell on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Beaver Harris on drums! Yet that's only the tip of the iceberg – as there's a full CD of music by a group led by Hugo Heredia on saxes and flute – with Horace Parlan on piano, Dodo Goys on bass, Tullio D'Piscopo on drums, and Mandrake Ivanir Do Nascimento on percussion. And there's another CD that features an hour-long improvisation by a version of the Willem Breuker Kollektief with Leo Cuypers on piano, Maarten Van Norden on tenor, Boy Raaymakers on trumpet, and Bernhard Hunnekink and Willem Van Manen on trombones. There's also a very long track by a cool quartet headed by Polish alto giant Zbigniew Namyslowski – and one more by the French Machi Oul Big Band. There's also tracks by Riot, with Uli Beckerhoff on trumpet; Grumpff with Michael Schlaper on tenor and soprano, and Ekkehard Jost on baritone; Mumps with Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone and John Surman on tenor; and the Eddie Prevost Quartet with Geoff Hawkins on tenor and Gerry Gold on trumpet. And last but not least are two long trcks by the Czech group Celula Jazz Crew – with Laco Deczi on trumpet, Karel Ruzicka on electric piano, and Svatopluc Kosvanec on trombone. Phew – that's a lot of music, and the whole thing comes in a very cool 10" box set, complete with a booklet of notes, too! CD

Where the girls are is right here – served up in a beautiful blend of rare tracks from the mid 60s – almost all of them in a female group mode, at a time when that style was really hitting new heights in American popular music! The work here is a mixture of rock and soul, and almost all of it features female harmonies set to sublime pop production – modes that range from west coast dreamy to Brill Building groovy – all laid out in an extended track list that also includes a few never-issued tracks as well! This series has been running for quite some time, but it's always a great one – and we're amazed at how the folks at Ace keep turning up nuggets we never would have heard otherwise – all presented with wonderful sound, and full notes to support the whole collection – a lot more than you can say for dodgier sets on the market. Titles include "Billy Sunshine" by Evie Sands, "With A Kiss" by The Bluezettes, "Don't Forget" by The Murmaids, "That's The Way It Is" by The Sweet Three, "Moon Walking" by The Blossoms, "More Than A Friend" by The Wooden Nickels, "On A Rainy Night" by The Flowers, "What Did You Do Last Night" by The Drake Sisters, "I Can Tell I'm Losing Your Love" by Lena Calhoun & The Emotions, "You Better Stop It" by The Lovelites, "Ballyhoo" by Ramona King, "Bad Boy" by Christine Cooper, and "Baby I Miss You" by The Popsicles. CD

We've really loved the music of pianist Amaro Freitas in the past, but this time around he's got a special sort of something extra in his music – both in the way he approaches the sound, and the way he works with other players! The first half of the set is an exploration of landscape, both in sound and spirit – which then opens up to tracks that have Freitas coming into contact with other important musicians as well – flute from Shabaka Hutchings on two tracks, one of which also has drums from Hamid Drake – harp from Brandee Younger on another, and guitar from Jeff Parker on one more – all musicians we really love for their own work, and who we're delighted to hear interacting with Amaro, who has maybe been a more underground artist in recent years. Titles include "Mar De Cirandeiras", "Gloriosa", "Encantados", "Viva Nana", "Sonho Ancestral", and "Danca Dos Martelos". CD

A great later moment from Pharoah Sanders – a set that's one of his few from the time that really stretches out in the same open, spiritual territory of his classic recordings for Impulse! The group's a trio – with Sanders on tenor and wood flute, Hamid Drake on drums and other percussion, and Adam Rudolph on a host of different instruments – from hand percussion, to kalimba, bamboo flute, and gong! The style's probably mostly like Rudolph's other material – not nearly as outside as some of Drake's recordings – but the presence of Sanders' horn really shapes things a lot, and gives the whole thing a lot more bite than some of Adam's other material. The tracks are long, and mostly have Pharoah soaring out with beautifully emotive work on tenor. Titles include "Morning In Soweto", "Sunrise", "The Thousand Petalled Lotus", "Roundhouse", "Sunset", and "Calling To The Luminous Beings". CD

Tenorist Fred Anderson made some fantastic albums for the Okka Disk label during the later years of his life – and this wonderful set has the legend making tremendous new fire with the label's excellent DKV Trio! Given that the group already features Ken Vandermark on saxes, the pairing of Anderson and Ken is a heck of a match – driven on strongly here by the bassist Kent Kessler, who's at the height of his powers during these years – and drummer Hamid Drake, whose range is maybe even more bold here than usual. Titles include "Planet E", "Lady's In Love", "Aaron's Tune", "Black Woman", "Our Theme", and "Dark Day". CD

A record that crackles with spiritual energy right from the start – a mixture of strongly rhythmic structures and more open improvisations, all handled at a level that really seems to bring out the best of the musicians involved in the project! There's some London ties to the set, and the music resonates partly with that shift to that city from the South African jazz scene in the 70s – not entirely Blue Notes territory, but maybe not that far off either – and a fantastic testament to the strengths as a leader of Paul Dunmall. Paul blows tenor and c soprano saxes, alongside more work from Xhosa Cole on tenor and Soweto Kinch on tenor and alto – in a very cool lineup that also features vibes from Corey Mwamba, bass from Dave Kane, and drums from the great Hamid Drake! Titles include "Disbelief", "Many Sparrows", "You Look Away", "I've Had A Lot", and "Bright Light A Joyous Celebration". CD

Brilliant work from Tim Hardin – two albums recorded for Columbia after his years on Verve, showing him still growing tremendously as an artist, moving past the short folksy style of early hits, into a broadly-expressed singer/songwriter mode, one that shows traces of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and other folk rock luminaries of the time. Suite For Susan Moore is especially great – a full suite of tracks dedicated to wife Susan (aka The Lady Came From Baltimore) and Hardin's new son Damion. The piece has a shaky brilliance – as Hardin unsurely expresses his joy and insecurity at the thought of having a family. There's a pain in the work that runs deeper than that in most of Hardin's earlier work – possibly because of his own personal trouble at the time, possibly because the depth of his emotions runs greater than in earlier love songs. Whatever the case, the album's a tremendous one – and it's well-matched here with Bird On A Wire, a record that features shorter tracks, a few covers, and others that show Hardin still capable of proudly expressed tunes in a more conventional mode. Titles include "First Love Song", "Everything Good Become More True", "Loneliness She Knows", "Magician", "Susan", "Love Hymn", "Andre Johray", "If I Knew", and "Soft Summer Breeze". CD

The first new studio recording by tenorist Fred Anderson since 1980 – and a set that shows just how much he'd grown in the intervening years! Here, Fred's newly alive with a younger Chicago group – a great quartet with Jim Baker on piano, Harrison Baker on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums – all players openly fluid to move with Anderson from swinging passages to freer ones – a beautiful balance of soul and experimentation, captured in a way that maybe links Fred more closely to Von Freeman than any other record in his career – yet which still captures all the AACM vitality in his music too. Titles include "Birdhouse", "Bernice", "Like Sonny", and "Waiting For Me". CD

A great set from AACM legend – tenorist Fred Anderson – cut in the very familiar home territory of his Velvet Lounge in Chicago! Anderson had been tending bar and leading jam sessions at the tavern since his return from Europe in the early 80s – but ended up purchasing the venue towards the end of the next decade – and quickly turned it into one of the real hotspots for the rising Chicago avant garde! This classic live set features Anderson caught in his home turf, in the company of bassist Peter Kowald and drummer Hamid Drake – prime example of the kind of local/international crossover sets that were really shaking the Chicago scene in the 90s. The set features 3 long tracks – "Straight, But Not Straight", "To Those Who Know", and "Multidimensional Reality". CD

Way more than just a James Bond cash-in record – and instead an ultra-hip jazz session from the west coast scene of the 60s! The James Bond at the helm of the record is actually Jimmy Bond – the great bassist who worked on some key sessions of the late 50s and early 60s as a sideman, and who turns out to be a surprisingly great leader on this rare mid 60s date! The record is more jazz than anything else – played with a crime/spy bent, to be sure – but also flowing with really great solos and a fair bit of a bossa influence in the rhythms! The group here is more than hip enough to make the record work – with Harold Land on tenor sax, Bobby Bryant on trumpet, and Buddy Colette on flute and tenor – all working in a sextet led by Bond, with plenty of round, warm, almost modal lines on his bass – punctuated nicely by piano from Joe Parnello and drums by Joh Guarin. Arrangements are by Dick Groove – who keeps things very groovy – and many of the tracks here are actually original numbers written by Bond and Warren Baker, titled after Ian Fleming books that had not yet been made into movies at the time of this album! Titles include "Casino Royale", "Moonraker", "For Your Eyes Only", "007 Theme From Dr No", "Man With The Golden Gun", "Diamonds Are Forever", and "Live & Let Die". CD

When tenor player Ken Vandermark moved to Chicago in the early 90s, his presence began a set of ripples that ran through the city's jazz scene, and left traces that continue to transform the city to this day! One of those ripples became the DKV trio – a brilliant ensemble featuring Vandermark, bassist Kent Kessler, and percussionist Hamid Drake – a crack avant trio, with no end of imagination and creativity – stepping out here on a flagship recording for the Okka Disk label, maybe the most important force to document Vandermark's mighty talents during these early years! The recording features 5 tracks of varying length, from the 35 minute "Baraka" to the 8 minute "Soft Gamma Ray Repeater" – plus the titles "Figure It Out", "Consequence", and "Double Holiday". CD

Back in the 90s, the DKV trio were one of the strongest forces in the Chicago improvising scene – a great group that featured Ken Vandermark on reeds, Kent Kessler on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums – working together with a really boundless sense of energy! This set has the group making a great appearance at the Wels Music Festival in 1998 – stepping out in a way that's a bit different than some of their previous recordings. At the festival, the trio played their incredibly haunting version of Don Cherry's "Complete Communion", drawn out into an extended suite, with the addition of the group's "Memory Sketch", in homage to Cherry. That set is paired here with some material captured on the group's home turf in Chicago – featuring 3 long improvised tracks recorded at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge. The Chicago material comprises a second disc in this 2CD set, and it includes the titles "Blues For Tomorrow", "Open Door", and "Burning Sky". CD

Excellent work from the trio of Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Kent Kessler! The 2CD set features tracks from two different live shows – one recorded in Rochester, the other in Kalamazoo, both during the group's 2001 tour of the US. Vandermark is ever-brilliant – still growing mightily as a player, and in a perfect power trio format here, working with Kessler's strong bass lines, and Drake's assorted percussion techniques. Includes a huge amount of Don Cherry tunes – such as "Brown Rice", "Awake Nu", "The Thing", and "Elephantasy" – plus readings of Sonny Rollins' "East Broadway Rundown", Joe McPhee's "Goodbye Tom B", and Ayler's "Love Cry". CD

The McCoys really let their hair down and freak flag fly for this ultra-cool set at the end of the 60s – coming across in all sorts of really great ways that are light years beyond their early material! The set moves effortlessly between material that's groovy, bluesy, and sometimes warmly harmonic – all with the same sense of experimentation the group brought to their great Infinite album, but a bit more compact in terms of arrangements and expression! The group produced the set themselves, and there's some cool surprises along the way – like steel guitar from Pete Drake – on titles that include "Clergy Lies", "Daybreak", "Only Human", "Human Ball Blues", and "It Really Doesn't Matter". CD

Natural Information Society have been a key force on the Chicago underground for a number of years – and here, they go back even further, to open the door to the legendary saxophonist Ari Brown – who joins the group on tenor! You might know Brown's music as a member of 70s spiritual group The Awakening, or his later solo albums – and his time-schooled spirit is a perfect match for the ensemble led by bassist Joshua Abrams, who also plays some guimbri on the set. Other players include Ben Lamar Gay and Josh Berman on cornets, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Kara Bershad on harp, Nick Mazzarella on alto, and Hamid Drake on congas and tablas – a group who work together with the richly organic vibe we always love in projects from Abrams. Titles include "Moontide Chorus", "Is", "Murmuration", "Wane", "Wax", "Immemorial", and "Stigmergy". CD

Bassist William Parker in two different settings, but both served up here with a very unified feel! The material was all recorded on a single day, with a core trio that features Parker on bass, Hamid Drake on drums, and Rob Brown on alto – a group whose energy you can really feel building up right from the core, especially in the interplay between Parker and Drake, a pair who only seem to get better together over the years! The first half features trumpeter Jalalu Kalvert Nelson – whose soaring sense of pride really adds a new dimension to the music – this righteous quality that opens up new channels of beauty when he steps in. The second half features pianist Cooper-Moore, instead of the trumpeter – and his tones are maybe more introspective, and produce a similar shift in the music, especially in the way Parker shapes his notes. This change really deepens our understanding of the trio on both sides – and shows just how adaptive they are to each other. Titles include "Horace Silver Part 2", "Things Falling Apart", "Give Me Back My Drum", "Rodney's Resurrection", "Urban Disruption", and "Orange Winter Flower". CD

A wonderful package – four full albums by one of the most unique groups of their time! First up is These Things Too – the first Reprise album from Pearls Before Swine – a bit more straight ahead and folksy than their work for ESP – but in a really great way, one that lets you hear the best of Tom Rapp's amazing songs and vocals! The album follows in a tradition that includes Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Leonard Cohen, and Fred Neil – but it's also got a really unique style that's the unique province of Tom Rapp – the main force behind the group, and the voice on all of the tunes. Rapp's vision was quite unique for the time – not nearly as revolutionary or personally preoccupied – more sad at the fading world, and granted with a unique ability to paint any subject in shades of blue. Titles include "Wizard Of Is", "Frog In The Window", "Footnote", "Look Into Her Eyes", "These Things Too", and "Mon Amour". Use Of Ashes is an incredibly beautiful album from Pearls Before Swine – one that uses light orchestrations to create a baroquely folksy sort of feel – easily elevating the album past previous efforts, into classic territory we'd rank with the best from Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen! The whole album's great – with fragile and haunting songs from Tom Rapp, all supported by sparsely arranged instrumentation that includes harpsichord, flute, oboe, cello, and dobro. Genius throughout – and a clear inspiration for music still being made 30 years later – with classic tracks that include "The Jeweler", "Rocket Man", "Song About A Rose", "The Old Man", "When The War Began", and "From The Movie Of The Same Name". Next is Beautiful Lies You Could Live In – one of the most perfectly formed albums ever recorded by Tom Rapp's enigmatic group Pearls Before Swine – a record that does an incredible job of skirting between Rapp's earthy sense of the planet's passing, and his ambitions for larger forums of expression. The core group is lightly folksy – with strong use of acoustic guitar that goes far beyond any folk rock cliches – plus some additional arrangements that feature contributions from the team of Bob Dorough and Stu Scharf, who seem to have a habit of appearing on under-discovered gems like this one, and making them sound all that more hip! The whole thing's great – filled with beautiful songs that should have been as over-recorded as the best by Tim Hardin or Leonard Cohen – with titles that are even better, too! Tracks include "Snow Queen", "A Life", "Butterflies", "Simple Things", "Freedom", "She's Gone", and "Island Lady". Last up is City Of Gold – a return to folksier forms for Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine – working here in territory that's very different than some of the baroque light arrangements used on previous records. Rapp's emerging as a more confident singer/songwriter – recording in an almost Dylan-like setting, but with more of the irony of Leonard Cohen, and as always, working in a timeless idiom that's still beginning to be understood more than 30 years after its inception. Beautiful work throughout – as earthy as it is majestic – and with titles that include "My Father", "The Man", "Once Upon A Time", "City Of Gold", "Nancy", and "Wedding". CD

A true revolution in Cuban music – not the familiar cha cha and pachanga modes of the pre-Castro years, but instead the huge wave of fresh styles and combinations that sprung up in the years to come! The tracks here aren't the kind of Cuban sounds that are locked in time by the all-star representations of the scene that circle widely – and instead, this music represents the younger, more experimental side of the scene – continually creating new styles and hybrids during the 70s and 80s, even at a time when most of the records weren't making it out to the world at large! Make no mistake, there's certainly elements of older Afro Latin rhythms, and Latin jazz instrumentation – but those are blended with new approaches to rhythm, instrumentation, and the overall role of the musicians and singers – on tracks that will really open up your ears. Gilles Peterson helped put the package together for Soul Jazz – and the whole thing's got the same hybrid hallmarks as his more recent recording forays in Havana – with cuts that include "Cancion Con Todos" by Grupo De Experimentacion Sonora Del Icaic, "Hast Las Cuantas" by Grupo Monumental, "Luna Wanestain" by Emiliano Salvador, "Te Quiero Porque Te Quiero" by Pablo Milanes, "Un Lamento Heco Cancion" by Los Reyes 73, "Dacapo" by Raul Gomez, "La Patica" by Paquito D'Rivera, "Rompe Cocorioco" by Juan Pablo Torres, "Mi Ritmo Caliente" by Juan Formell & Los Van Van, "Chequere Son" by Grupo Irakere, "El Son Del Campeon" by Conjunto Rubavana, and "Con Cadencia Y Con Dulzura" by Las D'Aida. CD

Fantastic funk from the Belgian scene of the 70s – a really mad mix of sounds and styles, and a really revelatory set overall! Few people might use the words "Belgium" and "funk" in the same sentence – but that may well change after this sweet set gets a few spins – as the whole thing's a stunning array of groovers that not only match the best jazz, funk, and sound library tracks from other European scenes in the 70s – they also do a great job of taking on the best America had to offer too! Belgium was no stranger to soul and funk – given its fervent 60s soul collectors scene, and the nation's role as a crossroads in Europe – which left it open to plenty of influence from visiting musicians, including American artists as well. You can definitely hear all that coming into play here – as the work is nicely fresh, and very free of overdone cliches or easy references – as these guys all take the best bits that might have influenced them, and jumbled them up into something really new. The scope of sounds is wonderful – and titles include "Funky Tramway" by Mad Unity, "Sunshine Star" by Open Sky Unit, "Gimme Some More Of That" by Plus, "Funky" by Andre Brasseur, "Avenue Louise" by Black Blood, "Music & Co" by Les Helions, "Balek" by Placebo, "Librium" by Chicken Curry & His Pop Percussion Orchestra, "Top Less" by Alex Scorier, "Stories" by Chakachas, "Ostinato Bass" by Rene Costy, "Memories" by Amadeo, "Viva Boma" by Cos, "Pop In Three" by The Rapture, "Smoke" by Leo Cavallo, "Marakesh" by Hein Huysmans Kwintet, "One For You" by Doug Lucas, "Put Everything Together" by Plus, "Lord Funk" by Super Funk Special, and "Humpty Dumpty" by Placebo. CD

Very long, very spiritual improvisations from a really wonderful group – the Fire Into Music quartet of trombonist Steve Swell, a group with superb work from Hamid Drake on drums, William Parker on bass, and the late Jemeel Moondoc on alto saxophone! As you'd guess from the title, the album is something of a tribute to Moondoc, who left the planet in 2021 – and who was really one of the standard bearers of more spiritual jazz expression at the time of these recordings, when the style had fallen out of favor with some of the underground. Yet the rest of the group is equally amazing – and the pairing of Parker and Drake is completely sublime on its own, especially given the open space they are allowed in the very long tracks that make up the set. Swell is great too – both as a leader and a very sly sound-shaper on trombone – and the set features a full 55 minute improvised performance from the El Dorado Ballroom in Houston – plus six more slightly shorter tracks recorded in Marfa and Guelph – on titles that include "Box Set", "Junka Nu", "Space Cowboys", and "Swimming In A Galaxy Of Goodwill & Sorrow". CD

One of the most unique compilations we've ever heard – a set that gets at the really unique way that soul music came across on the British scene of the 60s – as American influences were mixed with local interpretations, which themselves drew plenty of influences from related scenes in the West Indies and South Africa at the time! The scope of expression here is hugely different than any American soul collections from the time – and while there's definitely a few Americans in the mix from time to time, they're mostly represented by recordings done in England, amidst a huge amount of artists who never get reissued on our side of the Atlantic! Usually, a set like this would be put together to show that Northern Soul created some upbeat music on the British scene – but with this gem of a collection, the scope is much wider, and really open to the influences that were running through black communities in England during these key post-colonial years. The package has a massive amount of music – 115 tracks in all, with a very cool book-styled package that's got superb notes and plenty of images – to support work by Lorraine Child, Peter Straker, Maxine Nightingale, Cy Grant, Cab Kaye, Dimples & Eddie, Ronnie Jones, Ernest Ranglin, Norma Lee, Jimmy Tomas, Jackie Edwards, Madeline Bell, Oliver Norman, The Fantastics, Root & Jenny Jackson, Ram John Holder, Simon K & The Meantimers, Caleb, The Foundations, The Soul Brothers, Blue Beaters, Seven Letters, Joe's All Stars, Sonny & The Daffodils, Tony Washington & The DCs, Davy Jones, Geoff Love, Ray Ellington, Emile Ford & The Big Six, Millie, Rico, Black Velvet, and many others! CD