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Includes "Holy Smoke & Gee Whiz", "Let Me Know", "Thinking Of You", "Top Notch", "Let's Get Down", "Lovin You", "Don't Fall In Love", and "Still A Man". Excellent harmonies, and a warm classic soul sound!

A tough title to live up to – but Raphael makes it happen! The album's as wonderful as you might think – all the deeply soulful styles Saadiq worked out with Tony Toni Tone, taken back through a historical range of soul music – firmly planted in a legacy that begins with Stevie Wonder, runs through Maxwell and D'Angelo, and which points the way towards the future of urban soul. Backings are very much in the beats-n-keyboards mode, but Raphael works out such a wide range of moods and modes that the album avoids any of the shortcomings of other albums in such a style. Includes guest performances by Angie Stone, Leslie Wilson, T-Boz, Calvin Richardson, and D'Angelo – and titles that include "Doing What I Can", "Be Here", "Still Pay", "You're The One That I Like", "Excuse Me", "Tick Tock", "People", "Faithful", "Make My Day", "Blind Man", "Different Times", "What's Life Like", and "Skyy, Can You Feel Me".

Soul Jazz takes an open-eyed and open-minded look at swampy, funky, freewheeling southern rock – southern-by-nature or southern-by-inspiration grooves from the end of the 60s and well into the 70s! What we love most about the set, besides that it features one great song after another, is the Soul Jazz perspective. They don't simply put together Delta Swamp Rock from a purist's standpoint regionally, or as a sound – it's loosely-defined, which you could complain about if you want, but we love all of this stuff so it works for us! There's early phase southern rock, blue-eyed soul, soulful country and homey, swaggering pop. Tracks include "The Seasons" by Lynryd Skynryd, "Smokies" by Barefoot Jerry", "Papa, Won't You Let Me Go To Town With You" by Bobbie Gentrie, "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615, "Be What You Want To" by Link Wray", "I'll Be Long Gone" by Boz Scaggs, "God Rest His Soul" by Duane And Gregg Allman"Out In The Woods" by Leon Russell, "Polk Salad Annie" by Tony Joe White, "Come To Me Tonight" by Barefoot Jerry, "I Won't Be Hangin' Round" by Linda Rondstadt, "Big D" by Waylon Jennings, "Mississippi Delta" by Bobbie Gentry", "If I Were A Carpenter" by Johnny Cash" and more. 25 tracks on 2CDs.

Overlooked early genius from the great Zoot Sims – material recorded between his time at Prestige and Dawn Records, but done for the mostly-trad Jump Records label! The material here was originally issued under the name of trumpeter Hall Daniels, who led the group – and in addition to Sims on tenor, the set features a decidedly modern lineup , with Bob Gordon on baritone sax, Dick Nash on trombone, and Tony Rizzi on guitar! Tunes are all more than a few minutes long, and give Sims some great room to solo – as well as some of the other players too – and the CD brings together tracks from the original 10" release, plus additional tracks from a 1977 Zim Records release, and three more unreleased tracks too. There's a few alternate versions on the set – and titles include "Compatability", "The Way You Look Tonight", "You Don't Know What Love Is", "Nash-Ville", and even a bit of studio patter too!

Late great work from Ben Webster – blowing here in the UK with superb backing from the trio of pianist Stan Tracey! Tracey's a player with a much more modern edge than you're likely to hear with Webster in these later years – and although Stan's toning things down a bit from his own groundbreaking sides of the time, the style's still sharp enough to make the album more than a standout in Ben's under-recorded years of the 60s – pushed on by bass from Kenny Baldock and drums from a young Tony Oxley. And although live, the recording quality is excellent – a great example of the superb tone and sense of timing that Webster could have, especially in a live setting like this. Tracks on this first volume include "My Romance", "Sunday", "In A Mellow Tone", "How Long Has This Been Going On", and "Our Love Is Here To Stay". Note that although Ronnie Scott is listed on the title, he doesn't show up until volume two!

Late great work from Ben Webster – blowing here in the UK with superb backing from the trio of pianist Stan Tracey! Tracey's a player with a much more modern edge than you're likely to hear with Webster in these later years – and although Stan's toning things down a bit from his own groundbreaking sides of the time, the style's still sharp enough to make the album more than a standout in Ben's under-recorded years of the 60s – pushed on by bass from Kenny Baldock and drums from a young Tony Oxley. And although live, the recording quality is excellent – a great example of the superb tone and sense of timing that Webster could have, especially in a live setting like this. Ronnie Scott joins Webster for twin tenor blowing on the tracks "Night In Tunisia", "C Jam Blues", and "Honeysuckle Rose" – and Webster blows alone on "Perdido", "Ballad", and "Theme Song".