... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few beautiful early albums cut by John Handy for Roulette – and an obscure session that has him playing alto with a quartet that includes a young Walter Bishop Jr. on piano. Handy here is fresh from his work with Mingus – and his alto is filled with fire and emotion, yet also touched by a great deal of warm soufulness. His work with Bishop on the album hearkens towards later directions in 70s soul jazz – but it's also firmly rooted in a modernist hardbop vein. Titles include "Strugglin", "No Smiles Please", "Blues For MF", and "Afternoon Outing". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

All the hits! Includes "Crimson & Clover", "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now", "Sweet Cherry Wine", "Mony Mony", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

We're sure you know the group from their mega-hit oldie title cut – a garagey tune with a very catchy hook – but you might also appreciate them for the soulful finish they put on other tracks on this set, clearly inspired by groups on Atlantic, and going for a blue-eyed soul approach that they're not always known for. Titles include "Soul Searchin Baby", "Lots Of Pretty Girls", "Shake A Tail Feather", "Good Lovin", "The Lover", and "Love Makes The World Go Round". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Here's a nice one – the only album we've ever seen by vocalist Dee Lawson, an icy yet soulful singer with a style that's clearly forged in the June Christy mode! The set features some nice small combo backing that really matches the late night mood of the tunes – more jazz-based overall than some of the vocal sets with larger orchestrations on Roulette – and featuring some of the great little unusual tunes that used to show up on that label's better vocal sides of the time. Highlights include "A Ballad At 5am", "It Was Nice While The Money Rolled In", "You Can't Hardly Get Them No More", "If The Moon Turns Green", and "Lost Within A Dream". Players include Jimmy Cleveland, Doc Severenson, and Eddie Safranski. LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

Two rare sessions originally recorded for a larger collection called The Birdland Story and gathered here under the title Minor Strain. The first set is led by Lee Morgan and features Wayne Shorter on sax, Bobby Timmons on piano, Jimmy Rowser on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. The second half of the record features a septet session with Thad Jones on trumpet, Billy Mitchell and Frank Wess on reeds, Hank Jones on piano, Richard Davis on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums. CD

The cover image of a nude couple running in a field should be more than enough to recommend this one – but the music is equally great, and surprisingly groovy! We know little about Morning Dew (do you?), but they've got a really weird sound that's almost a fuzzed-up and free-thinking take on an earlier east coast rock style of the 60s. The approach isn't really garage rock, although there's plenty of garagey overtones – especially in the way the guitars are recorded – and it's not that psychedelic, either, although it certainly is trippier than most of the more mainstream work of the time. Let's just say that the spirit of this one is very clearly caught up in the forced innocence of the cover image – unbridled joy on the face of things, but with a darker current running underneath. Titles include "Save Me", "Something You Say", "Gypsy", "Cherry Street", "Then Came The Light", and "Crusader's Smile". CD

One side of music from The Peach Thief – the other of music from The Liars, International Detective, The Cheaters, The Spider's Web, and Man From Interpol. LP, Vinyl record album

Features George Duvivier on bass, Art Taylor on drums, and Powell on piano. Tracks include "Billie's Bounce", "Shaw Nuff", "Ko Ko", "Ornithology", "Dewey Square", and "Moose The Mooche". CD

A surprisingly groovy record! Although bossa nova isn't normally Tito's bag, he does a great job here moving into the format – picking up the pace of his usual group with some snapping beats that create a bit of a bossa flourish, even though the overall sound's still firmly in the New York groove of some of his other albums. The approach makes for a nice sound – almost a meeting of the minds at the Palladium, handled with lots of jazzy touches, thanks to the heavy use of vibes on the session! Titles include "O Pato", "Payaso", "Bossa Nova A La Puente", "Braziliandia", and "Loco Bossa Nova", a hard groover with more of an Afro-Cuban feel! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Jimmy Rushing's last truly great albums – a jazz-tinged session of bluesy material, one that gets at his best work of the 50s! The arrangements are by Al Cohn, and have a fluid swing that pushes Jimmy past cliche – working with players that include Zoot Sims, Budd Johnson, Freddie Green, and Gene Quill in a style that's got all the leaner touches of the Basie band at the same time. Titles include "Heartaches", "Please Come Back", "My Bucket's Got a Hole In it", "Did You Ever", and "Just Because". CD

British jazzman Johnny Scott leads a larger orchestra in a set of serious and dramatic pieces for this 60s film that paired Sherlock Holmes and Jack The Ripper (how many of these were made over the years?) The mood of the music is stark and dramatic – mostly going for the sort of string-heavy horror approach that you'd expect, but occasionally hitting some lighter modes. LP, Vinyl record album

Jeri Southern can be a hell of a jazz singer when she wants – and that was definitely the case on this gem of a record – a laidback small combo setting with excellent guitar accompaniment from Johnny Smith! Smith's trademark tones really color the record in a great way – enriching the sound and offsetting some of the more understated vocals from Jeri – but in a way that also lets us really hear her phrasing, too. The setting is spare and simple – and the song choice is great, too – with shifts between standards and a few more obscure numbers that show Jeri working at a deeper range than we know from other records. Titles include "Robins & Roses", "Without A Warning", "Where Or When", "Two Sleepy People", "Isn't It Romantic", and "Until The Real Thing Comes Along". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful portrait of the later Jack Teagarden – that musician who'd matured wonderfully with age, and really brought the best of that experience to bear on his records like this! Jack sings on a handful of tracks, but really spends much of the record on trombone – blown with a style that's quite illuminating, if you only know his more famous earlier material – occasionally with modern currents, in a way that's a bit like Pee Wee Russell when he had his late-life revival too! The album's got a wonderfully understated feel on most numbers – never trying to oversell the listener on Teagarden's charms, even though they're quite abundant – and titles include "Portrait Of Mr T", "Just Friends", "In The Dark", "Handful Of Keys", "Keepin Out Of Mischief Now", and "I Can't Get Started". LP, Vinyl record album

The title's no lie – as Sarah Vaughan sings here in some very soulful company – thanks to arrangements from Gerald Wilson, which make this record one of the standout from her years on Roulette Records! The other players aren't listed, but they're clearly the kind of top-shelf bunch that Wilson would have pulled together – and there's a nice Hammond player who gets a lot of space, and brings the organ to bear with Vaughan's vocals – in a way you don't always hear on other records! There's also a strong trumpet and tenor soloist, who both do a great job of opening up Wilson's charts – and titles include "Taste Of Honey", "Easy Street", "Gravy Waltz", "In Love In Vain", "What Kind Of Fool Am I", "The Good Life", and "Moanin". CD

Sarah Vaughan gets some great backings here from Quincy Jones – who brings a nice sort of punch to the record, and makes it one of her grooviest from the early 60s! The style's still somewhat traditional – not as much in moddish Jones modes from a few years later – but there's already that strong sense of syncopation that really sets Quincy's charts apart, the same sort of rhythms he brought to his Reprise arrangements for Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, although not as Basie-bombastic overall. Vaughan's vocals are still beautifully smooth in the setting, and titles include "I Could Write A Book", "Maria", "Baubles Bangles & Beads", "So Long", "You're Mine You", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Moonglow", and "Invitation". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – "One Mint Julep" and "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean". CD

A collection of immortal standards performed by Vaughan, Washington, and Bailey with titles that include "Perdido", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Stormy Weather", "Summertime", "Moonglow", "Stella By Starlight", and more. Cover features a gorgeous panoramic shot of downtown Chicago in the 60s! LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Some of the most important work ever recorded by Randy Weston – 5 early albums that really pushed the boundaries of modern jazz! First up on the set is Little Niles – a fantastic set that features some of Weston's best early compositions – angular and Monk-ish numbers, but with a profound influence from African rhythms. Next up is Live At The Five Spot – a really compelling live set that features Randy working out Little Niles-ish numbers with a live group that includes Kenny Dorham and Coleman Hawkins. After that is Piano A La Mode – a sublimely simple album of mellow piano tracks – followed by a series of previously unissued tracks done with a quartet that includes Roy Haynes, Cecil Payne, and Ron Carter. Following that are some of Randy's most Afro-centric albums – very unique for the time, and equally powerful today – the records Uhuru Afrika and Highlife – both of which feature larger groups working through some distinctly African ideas in jazz. Nearly every record features arrangements by Melba Liston – and if you've ever wondered where to start with Randy, this is it – because the set encapsulates nearly all of the biggest contributions he ever made to jazz! 40 titles in all – with tunes that include "Little Niles", "Nice Ice", "Earth Birth", "Gingerbread", "Saucer Eyes", "204", "CB Blues", "Where", "Fe Double U Blues", "African Lady", "Bantu", "Kucheza Blues", "Blues To Africa", and "Congolese Children". CD

Incredible work by Randy Weston – light years ahead of his trio material from just a few years before! The album is one of his most progressive from the early years, and features an extended suite dedicated to the newly-won freedoms of the African Nations – with occasional lyrics by Langston Hughes, and arrangements by the great Melba Liston! The material's political, radical, and modernist – but it never fails to groove, and uses its politics to achieve an added emotional punch, as in the best work from the same time by Max Roach and Charles Mingus – and some of their larger progressive projects. The group is much larger than you'd expect from Randy – with Benny Bailey and Richard Williams on trumpets, Slide Hampton on trombone, Sahib Shihab on reeds, and Candido and Olatunji on percussion – which really dominates the record. The whole thing is amazing – one of the purest realizations of the African influence in Weston's music – and movements of the suite are entitled "Uhuru Kwanza", "African Lady", "Bantu", and "Kucheza Blues" CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful live set from Joe Williams – recorded at Birdland, as you'd guess from the title – and done with a raw depth that surpasses much of his studio work from the time! Joe's really moving past cliche here – using his voice with a power that hadn't been heard since his sides for Savoy – and really commanding the audience with a charisma that shines through with incredible clarity. Harry Edison's leading a small group that also includes Jimmy Forrest on tenor and Ike Issacs on bass – and titles include "Teach Me Tonight", "Come Back Baby", "September In The Rain", "Roll Em Pete", and "Have You Met Miss Jones". LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a record from this pair of Basie-ites – one that allows Joe Williams to hit some different modes than on his fuller records with the Count – set up here in a nicely relaxed groove with trumpeter Harry Sweets Edison! Arrangements are by Ernie Wilkins, but are more laidback than some of his fuller charts – and we love hearing Joe at a level when he doesn't have to punch it out of the park, and can just fall back in a sweet groove alongside Harry's trumpet, which then often gets a spot to solo on the tune. Charles Thompson plays piano – again with a style that's more easygoing than Basie – and titles include "Out Of Nowhere", "Together", "Winter Weather", "By The River Saint Marie", "Alone Together", "Deep Purple", and "Lover Come Back To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more obscure albums by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross – a session of Basie tunes, performed with backing by the Count, plus additional lead vocals by Joe Williams, the voice most closely associated with the Basie group at the time! The style is similar to the trio's Sing A Song Of Basie album for ABC, but handled here with a bit more of an edge, and a rougher, more freewheeling groove that's a better fit for the great Basie sound of the late 50s – a great adaptation of the groove by Jon Hendricks, Dave Lambert, and Annie Ross! The record's a nice sometimes-overlooked chapter in the excellent Count Basie run on Roulette – and titles include "Every Tub", "Rusty Dusty Blues", "The King", "Shorty George", and "Let Me See". CD

One of the more obscure albums by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross – a session of Basie tunes, performed with backing by the Count, plus additional lead vocals by Joe Williams, the voice most closely associated with the Basie group at the time! The style is similar to the trio's Sing A Song Of Basie album for ABC, but handled here with a bit more of an edge, and a rougher, more freewheeling groove that's a better fit for the great Basie sound of the late 50s – a great adaptation of the groove by Jon Hendricks, Dave Lambert, and Annie Ross! The record's a nice sometimes-overlooked chapter in the excellent Count Basie run on Roulette – and titles include "Every Tub", "Rusty Dusty Blues", "The King", "Shorty George", and "Let Me See".oss! Titles include "Every Tub", "Rusty Dusty Blues", "The King", "Shorty George", and "Let Me See". CD

One of the more obscure albums by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross – a session of Basie tunes, performed with backing by the Count, plus additional lead vocals by Joe Williams, the voice most closely associated with the Basie group at the time! The style is similar to the trio's Sing A Song Of Basie album for ABC, but handled here with a bit more of an edge, and a rougher, more freewheeling groove that's a better fit for the great Basie sound of the late 50s – a great adaptation of the groove by Jon Hendricks, Dave Lambert, and Annie Ross! The record's a nice sometimes-overlooked chapter in the excellent Count Basie run on Roulette – and titles include "Every Tub", "Rusty Dusty Blues", "The King", "Shorty George", and "Let Me See".oss! Titles include "Every Tub", "Rusty Dusty Blues", "The King", "Shorty George", and "Let Me See". CD

With selections by The Heartbeats, The Angels, The Harptones, The Echoes, Frankie Lymon, The Devotions, Tiny Tim & The Hits, and The Valentines. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by The Dreamlovers, The Valentines, The Five Satins, The Eldorados, The Moonglows, The Pastels, The Chantels, The Four Seasons, The Willows, The Spaniels, and The Channels. LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by The Drifters, The Moonglows, The Flamingos, The Eldorados, The Chantels, Lee Andrews & The Hearts, The Temptations, The Bobettes, The Crests, and The Cadillacs. LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by The Monotones, The Nutmegs, The Dells, The Spaniels, Dion & The Belmonts, The Moonglows, The Pastels, The Cadillacs, The Chanels, The Fiestas, and The Heartbeats. LP, Vinyl record album

Duke joins the combo of Louis Armstrong – playing piano alongside a group that includes Trummy Young on trombone and Barney Bigard on clarinet! CD

A killer set from Count Basie – recorded during the height of his years at Roulette! The back cover of the record proclaims that "Basie Is Back Home" – clearly a bit by Birdland to lay claim to being the Count's home address, which is a bit of a challenge to his KC roots! Whatever the back story, though, the set's a nice one – swinging hard in that completely tight 60s mode, with a great lineup that includes Frank Foster and Budd Johnson on tenor, Thad Jones on trumpet, Bennie Powell on trombone, and Freddie Green on guitar – a really great group who definitely make the record a cooker! Tracks include "Good Time Blues", "Segue In C", "Little Pony", "Discommotion", and "Whirly Bird", which has a vocal by Jon Hendricks! CD features 8 more bonus tracks – recorded at the same time, and first issued on the Mosaic set Complete Roulette Live Recordings – titles that include "Easin It", "Corner Pocket", "Discommotion", "Whirly Bird (inst)", "I Needs To Be Bee'd With", and "A Little Tempo Please". CD

One of the most hard-hitting Count Basie albums from the Roulette Records years – and that's saying a lot, given the power of Basie at the time! The set was recorded in Sweden, with a kind of triple-time energy that really has the whole thing burning right from the start – as the group's driven onward by some bold work on drums from Louis Bellson – who's working here with a lineup that includes Frank Wess and Frank Foster on tenor, Marshall Royal on alto, and Thad Jones on trumpet. There's a slight rawness to the recording – still as clear as other Roulette sessions, but with a bit more "liveness" too – a sense of place that really helps the performances sparkle. The whole thing's great – and titles include "Little Pony", "Plymouth Rock", "Backwater Blues", "Who Me", and "April In Paris". CD

The genius of Basie meets the genius of Quincy Jones – a 60s pairing that's every bit as great as the 50s pairing of Basie and Neal Hefti! Jones and Basie worked together in a number of settings during the 60s – including a very successful album for Frank Sinatra on Reprise – but here, the pair are really going full-on and hard-swinging, in a fresh style that's got all the hipness of Quincy's budding talent in the 60s, played with the deeply soulful manner of the still-great Basie band of the time. Titles include "Rat Race", "For Lena & Lennie", "The Big Walk", "Meet BB", "Jessica's Day", "Muttnik", and "Quince". LP, Vinyl record album

One of THE seminal Basie albums of all time – and a masterful pairing between the Count and arranger Neal Hefti! Hefti has an amazing ear for the Basie groove, and he works here to re-fit the overall sound of the group with a tighter, more fluid approach – one that ensured that they'd be alive and booming well into the 60s. The Hefti touch is one that's slightly lighter than the Basie of before – one that assumes the bump at the bottom, but never overdoes it – and instead almost uses the sound of no sound at all to carry the rhythm – while the horns at the top of the group are vamping around in these majestic charts that break out into fantastically searing solos. Basie's on piano, natch – and other players include Thad Jones, Joe Newman, Henry Coker, Al Grey, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, and Eddie Lockjaw Davis. Titles are all brilliant Hefti originals – and include "After Supper", "Flight Of The Foo Birds", "Teddy The Toad", "Splanky", "Fantail", and "Lil Darlin". CD features 5 bonus tracks too – including "The Late Late Show", "Sleepwalker's Serenade", and "Silks & Satins". CD

Great stuff! This fantastic lost John Handy album for Roulette, like his others, stands as some of the finest unknown jazz of the 60's. These records are always (unfortunately) passed by in the racks, but don't make the same mistake! Handy's alto is honed to a razor sharp point, fresh from his work with Mingus, and the writing and playing is at a level that he (and few other alto players) ever reached again. A young Walter Bishop plays piano, and the cuts include "No Coast", "Boo's Ups & Downs", and "Quote, Unquote". LP, Vinyl record album

Pretty cool and groovy work from Tommy James – with cuts that include "Papa Rolled His Own", "Sweet Cherry Wine", "Cellophane Symphony", "Evergreen", "On Behalf Of The Entire Staff & Management", and "The Love Of A Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

A nice overview of work by Bird and Diz – includes recordings from 1947 in New York City with sidemen that include John Lewis, Mles Davis, Duke Jordan, JJ Johnson, and Max Roach; plus a Gillespie session from 1953 in Paris with Bill Graham on saxophones, Wade Legge on piano, Lou Hackney on bass, Al Jones on drums, and Joe Carroll on vocals. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

An album recorded relatively early in the career of singer Nina Simone – but a set that already shows the very unique approach that would make her a legend by the time the 60s moved on! Even the very first tune is a stunner – a haunting reworking of the favorite "Just In Time", but with Nina grunting instead of singing at the start – as the bass comes across with more power than the drums or piano – really shaping the song in moody tones! That sort of inventiveness follows on every other tune – making the familiar numbers sound very unique, and the unusual ones even more striking – as the set list also features numbers by Oscar Brown Jr, Olatunji, and Simone herself. The recording quality is great – intimate, yet lively – and the set's filled with longish readings of some great tunes that include "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Brown Baby", "Zungo", "Children Go Where I Send You", and "He Was Too Good To Me". CD

The title might sound a bit clinical, but the music within is anything but – and instead is that sort of special, magical work that always makes Sonny Stitt a real cut above most of his contemporaries! The notes try to link Stitt to Charlie Parker – but apart from a postwar sense of invention on alto sax, the sounds within are quite different – more spacious and soulful than Parker, although equally deft in their own sort of way – blown with a confidence that knows how to take its time, in a way that comes through especially strong on the mellow cuts. At the surface, there might not be anything special to the record – but the first listen will definitely let you know you're in they company of something special – on titles that include "Blues For Yard", "Harlem Nocturne", "Windy Ride", and a haunting take of "Because Of You". CD

... CD

Duke joins the combo of Louis Armstrong on piano – a group that includes Trummy Young on trombone and Barney Bigard on clarinet! CD

Duke joins the combo of Louis Armstrong on piano – a group that includes Trummy Young on trombone and Barney Bigard on clarinet! CD

Not as "adult" as you might think – at least given the way the word is used today – but pretty great work by Pearl nonetheless! The tunes themselves are a bit "blue" in terms of subject matter – tales of girls with hot pants, loose love, and the kind of backroom hijinks that weren't always talked about so freely in the torch singer era. But given the time, and the setting, the tunes are still pretty soft on the subjects – and get the themes across through clever turns of phrase, slight innuendo, and just the right intonation at the right time – a style that makes Pearl Bailey perfect for the work! The set features 21 tracks in all, and titles include "I Want A Man", "She Had To Go & Lose It At The Astor", "The Physician", "Westport", "One Man Ain't Quite Enough", "Aggravatin Papa", and "Nobody's Chasing Me". CD

A killer set from Count Basie – recorded during the height of his years at Roulette! The back cover of the record proclaims that "Basie Is Back Home" – clearly a bit by Birdland to lay claim to being the Count's home address, which is a bit of a challenge to his KC roots! Whatever the back story, though, the set's a nice one – swinging hard in that completely tight 60s mode, with a great lineup that includes Frank Foster and Budd Johnson on tenor, Thad Jones on trumpet, Bennie Powell on trombone, and Freddie Green on guitar – a really great group who definitely make the record a cooker! Tracks include "Good Time Blues", "Segue In C", "Little Pony", "Discommotion", and "Whirly Bird", which has a vocal by Jon Hendricks! LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from Basie's Roulette years – a time when the group seemed to be extra snapping and soulful! Players include Frank Foster, Frank Wess, and Billy Mitchell on reeds – plus Snooky Young, Thad Jones, and Joe Newman on trumpets – and Al Grey, Henry Coker, and Benny Powell on trombones! LP, Vinyl record album

A sublime blending of modes – the sound of the excellent Count Basie band during their Roulette Records years, mixed with a bit of strings for a very moody sound! Don't worry about any too-commercial or pop modes going on here – as the arrangements are all super hip, and handled by talents like Quincy Jones and George Williams – who keep things in this dark-tinged style that's just perfect for the key talents in the Basie group, as the album features standout solos on almost every number – including a bit of tenor from guest Ben Webster! Titles include "Song Of The Islands", "Stringing The Blues", "The One I Love", "Blues Bittersweet", "She's Funny That Way", and "Summertime". LP, Vinyl record album

A drum-heavy spectacular – featuring four of the top hardbop drummers of the late 50s, all recorded live at Birdland, soloing back and forth in larger groups that really make the whole thing cook! Although the cover and title might make you think the record's a novelty, it's way more than that – and really fits nicely alongside some of Art Blakey's more experimental, percussion-heavy dates for Blue Note – although with a bit more of a bop feel overall! CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A sweet bit of disco, with a wonderful hook! We've never been sure if this Caress is the same group that went onto record later for P&P Records fame, but the tune's got these sweeping strings, falsetto vocals, and a nicely rhythmic pulse that all share real P&P touches – even if Peter Brown or Patrick Adam's names aren't on the credits! Written by Gregg Diamond, and a really nice little tune! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Mellow but compelling work from Betty Carter – singing here with the Norman Simmons trio in an album of material pulled from 2 different live dates in 1969. There's a few nice numbers where the group really opens up – and Betty pushes the envelope vocally, in a style that she'd explore more fully in her later work on her own label. The tracks are mostly standards, but the album features a great version of Randy Weston's "Ego", plus the tracks "All Through The Day", "Body & Soul", "I Only Have Eyes For You", and "Seems Like Old Times". CD

Excellent work from Betty Carter – much more sophisticated than some of her 60s work! The album features Betty recorded in that hip trio format that she developed to fantastic heights during the decade. Betty sings standards and originals with a warmth an imagination that we can hardly describe accurately – bringing emotion into the songs that we'd hardly heard in earlier recordings, and using a trio in ways that we'd never heard before with a vocalist. Incredible stuff all the way through, very much on a par with any of Betty's later work – and featuring cuts that include a sublime version of "Open The Door", plus "New Blues", "I Was Telling Him About You", "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love", and "Making Dreams Come True". LP, Vinyl record album

A great CD set that features incredible material from John Coltrane – a rare session for Roulette as a split LP with Lee Morgan! The CD features the side of Coltrane's work – which features him playing with an unusual quartet that includes McCoy Tyner, plus bassist Steven Davis and drummer Billy Higgins. Higgins' gives Coltrane a modal groove that's incredible, and Trane hits these riffs that are almost Nathan Davis-ish on tracks like "Exotica", presented in 2 versions, plus "Like Sonny" and "One & Four". The CD also features 5 bonus tracks from another rare Coltrane session from 1958 – one of the only albums ever cut as a leader by Ray Draper, a jazz tuba player, with an approach to the instrument that's a lot better than you might think! Draper plays the tuba like the best baritone saxophonists – using the lower registers of the instrument to groove around in tight step with the basslines, but always still managing to swing – a remarkable feat, given the heaviness of the instrument! Draper's talents were quite respected at the time – both by Jackie McLean, who used him on a record, and by John Coltrane, who makes a rare appearance here as a sideman on the set! The mixture of Coltrane's angularity and Draper's bassiness is sublime – and the album's filled with great tracks that have a fresh late 50s modernist hardbop approach. Titles include "Essii"s Dance", "Yesterdays", "Oleo", and "Doxy". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Maynard swings it surprisingly nicely – in his standard big band mode, but with a lot more of an edge than in later years, thanks no doubt to some of the strong players he had in his group! Maynard's solos still have that blaring quality that marks him as a dominant showman, but he also gives ample room to some of the other soloists, especially on the longer tracks. Titles include "Rock Me To Sleep", "Animated Suspension", "He Can't Swing", "Vignette", "For The Cats", and "New Bag Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Very hiply swinging work from Maynard Ferguson – not as Latin-based as you might think from the title, but great nonetheless! The record features an excellent group that includes Don Rader on trumpet, Lanny Morgan on alto, Rufus Jones on drums, and Don Menza on tenor – all tightly wrapped around Maynard's baton, grooving with a style that's at once impeccably unified, but also very able to make room for the well-blown solo. Titles include "Morgan's Organ", "Si Si MF", "What'll I Do", "Early Hours", "Morgan Point", and "Straight Out". A real groover! LP, Vinyl record album

Early genius from the great saxophonist John Handy – working here at a time when he was fresh from some key experience with Charles Mingus, and ready to try out some of his own great ideas as a leader on his own! The album's a stunner right from the start – a record of subtle power and very deep soul – one that's also different than some of the directions Handy would take in years to come – both in some of his more freewheeling hippy modes, or his slicker jazz funk of the 70s. Instead, this set's a mix of modern ideas and sharper swing – a bit like Jackie McLean during some of his pivotal early 60s years, but with raspier soul too – delivered by a perfect group that also features great work on trumpet from Richard Williams, plus piano from Roland Hanna, bass from George Tucker, and drums from the great Roy Haynes. Titles include "Blues In The Vernacular", "Suggested Line", "First Time", "I'll Close My Eyes Again", "Quote Unquote", and "Dance To The Lady". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary Latin funk album – spearheaded by Eddie Palmieri! The record is a landmark crossover album from the early 70s – cut at the end of the Latin soul era, but featuring that genre's wonderful mix of Puerto Rican soul, Spanish Harlem Latin, and New York funk – which are then given a new sort of push in this era of strong Latin pride and new opportunities for the youthful scene in New York! The grooves are all nice and long – with plenty of hard jamming, Latin rhythms, funky solos, and even soulful lyrics in English – sung with a very righteous, positive message that's kept the album at the top of the stacks for years. Eddie Palmeri plays piano and directs the group – and titles include "Seeds Of Life", "Harlem River Drive", and "Idle Hands". CD

A sublime pop psych classic from Tommy James & The Shondells – a record that's quite different than some of the janglier work the group was issuing a few years before – and a perfect example of the way that just a few slight studio tricks can really transform a record! The tunes are all short and focused, but produced with lots of cool reverb, echo, and fuzzy touches on the sides – never overindulgent, and still plenty tuneful – but with so many weird little edges that they come through with a sound that's still pretty darn fresh after all these years – even if you think you know these guys from their hits. Titles include "Kathleen McArthur", "Do Something To Me", "I Am A Tangerine", "Smokey Roads", and "Breakaway" – plus the classic hits "Sugar On Sunday", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", and "Crimson & Clover". LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record