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Two excellent early albums from Shirley Horn – back to back on a single CD! Travelin Light is one of the greatest jazz vocal albums of the 60s, and probably the greatest album ever by Shirley Horn! The session's got a beautiful lively sound, with extremely interesting arrangements by Johnny Pate, and a flute/piano/guitar sound that works perfectly with Shirley's lovely voice. The material is a great mix of lesser-known songs, sung with a maturity and honesty that will make your heart break. We love this one way better than any of Shirley's recent albums, and we can't recommend it highly enough! Titles include "Sunday In New York", "Yes, I Know When I've Had It", "Someone You've Loved", "I Could Have Told You", "Travelin Light", and "Don't Be On The Outside". Horn Of Plenty is hip stuff from Shirley Horn – very mature and swinging jazz! The set features the sharp early vocals of Shirley Horn nicely set up with some larger backings – hip arrangements handled by Quincy Jones, Thad Jones, and Billy Byers – with all the groovy 60s punch you can imagine from a lineup like that! And although Horn later became well known for some gentler, mellower cuts, we're huge fans of her singing like this – which has a righteous power that really tops some of the vocalists from the previous generation. Titles include "Wee Small Hours", "That Old Black Magic", "The Great City", "On The Street Where You Live", and "Let Me Love You".

Far more than just a full album from keyboard wiz and producer Mark De Clive-Lowe – a much-needed collection of his various remixes, small label recordings, and small projects from the past few years – pulled from a variety of labels around the globe, and packaged into one overstuffed set! The tunes all have different lives and histories, but they're linked together here by Mark's wonderfully spacey sound and cosmic musical vision – a key force in 21st century soul, heard to positive effect on every tune on the collection. Titles include "Pan Africa (Melodious rmx)" by Danilo Perez, "Life Mirrors" by Beatless, "Africa (Restless Soul mix)" by Meitz, "No Fusion Generation (rmx)" by Til Bronner, "Return To Paradise (rmx)" by Shirley Horn, and the tracks "Relax Unwind", "Move On Up (Opaque rmx)", "The Way It Goes", "Day By Day (DJ Spinna rmx)", and "Nites Like These" – all by Mark.

Searing early work from tenorist Eddie Lockjaw Davis – and a record that really shows the way that Lock was crucial in helping bring the Hammond organ into jazz! The sides were all cut in the mid 50s, right around the time of Jimmy Smith's rise at Blue Note – and feature Hammond from either Shirley Scott or Doc Bagby – both players with just the right sort of rough edge and bluesy tones to work perfectly with Davis' mighty horn – lines on the keyboard that push harder than any piano ever could! The tracks are all nice and short – probably mostly cut for the 45 market – and pack even more punch than any of the later work from the Davis/Scott team. Ray Barretto swings in some hip congas on a few cuts – and titles include "Eddie's Function", "People Will Say We're In Love", "I Wanna Be Loved", "Satin Doll", "You Are Too Beautiful", "Lady Bird", "Scotty Boo", "Ebb Tide", "Tiajuana", "Out Of Nowhere", "All Of You", and "All The Things You Are".

A really great later Blue Note session from Stanley Turrentine – a small combo set that's almost a return to the format of earlier years! The group's a strong one – and features Shirley Scott on organ, Jimmy Ponder on guitar, and Idris Muhammad on drums – playing in a style that's subtler and more laidback than his work with Lou Donaldson, but which still has a nice funk undercurrent. Stan's horn is in wonderful form on the record – really taking advantage of the longer tracks to open up with a mellow and exploratory tone – and the team of Scott and Ponder especially sounds great next to each other on the album. Tracks include "Boogaloo", "Buster Brown", and "Common Touch". CD also features a bonus 11 minute version of Carolyn Franklin's fiesty cut "Ain't No Way"!