Sweet funky flute from Art Webb – an overlooked 70s jazz player who's probably best known for his Latin fusion work, but who really shines here in a more soul-based setting! This set shows Art working strongly in a mode that references that part of his career, yet also has him stepping into more of the mainstream of funky jazz, too – working with the rhythm section of John Lee and Gerry Brown, plus guitarists Reggie Lucas and Hiram Bullock, and keyboardists Mike Mandel and Hubert Eaves – both of whom make the record sparkle with a soulful fusion sound that's totally great! Arrangements are by Mike Gibbs and John Lee, and overall the album's got a very solid soulful sound. Titles include "Flute Magic", "Can't Hide Love", "Pyramids", "Love Eyes", "Free", and "Glass Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most beautiful, most sophisticated, and most fully-realized sessions from trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson – and a record that features some incredible larger backings from David Amram! The set's a haunting suite dedicated to the children of Vietnam – one that starts out in a darkly brooding mode, but which opens up with some extremely redemptive moments as the set moves on – done in a very spiritual approach to soul jazz that's strongly in the Alice Coltrane tradition! Instrumentation includes a small string group, plus added percussion – and musicians on the set include Art Webb on flute, Richard Davis on bass, Billy Hart on drums, Michael Cochran on piano, and Hannibal himself on both trumpet and koto. The lovely Alpha Johnson sings on a few of the album's tracks, and the whole thing is very warm and deep, and has a lot of variance in tempo and mood, with a strong spiritual feel similar to that of some of the more ambitious Strata East recordings from the time! Titles include "Forest Sunrise", "The Bombing", "Prayer", "Aftermath", and "Finale". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked gem from Pharoah Sanders' years on Impulse – one that has him breaking the pattern a bit, but in a really great way! The session mixes up more shorter songs than before – still all quite spiritual, but also a bit more focused – in a way that packs an incredible punch, even at more contemplative moments. Players include Sanders regulars – like Norman Connors on drums and Cecil McBee on bass – but also some key newcomers, like Art Webb on flute, Joe Bonner on piano, and Jimmy Hopps on drums – making one of his excellent Impulse appearances for the record. But perhaps even more striking are the vocals on the set – done often by Sedatrius Brown, who sings partially in a Leon Thomas spiritual mode – but also hits notes that are a bit earthier, and which are picked up in added vocalizations by members of the group. Sanders himself plays soprano and tenor sax – and titles include the expanded "Village Of The Pharoahs" suite, plus "Went Like It Came", "Memories Of Lee Morgan", "Myth", and "Mansion Worlds". LP, Vinyl record album

The second volume in one of our favorite compilation series of the past few years! Natural High explores the smoother side of soul – digging around the Warner vaults of the late 70s and early 80s to come up with some really great tracks! The sound here is a mixture of mellow and uptempo grooves – Brazilian beats coming into play with jazzy funk, soulful vocals on most numbers, and a warm finish that will have you coming back to this one again and again and again. 16 tracks in all – most pulled from long out of print LPs, many of which haven't been reissued. Titles include "Call On Me" by Anglo Saxon Brown, "You Can't Hide Love" by Art Webb, "Sideway Shuffle" by Linda Lewis, "Game Of Life" by Chameleon, "Simple & Sweet" by Roy Ayers Presents Ubiquity, "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen, "You're A Star" by Aquarian Dream, "Keep The Fire Burning" by Gwen McCrae, "Very Special" by Debra Laws, "Mysterious Maiden" by Chico Hamilton, "Feeling Something" by Ronn Matlock, and "Toque De Cuica" by Airto. LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent set that brings together Fats Navarro's recordings for Savoy – late 40s sides that were always poorly packaged and annotated on record, which are compiled here wonderfully, with great notes, and a few unissued tracks! Players include Leo Parker, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Ernie Henry, Tadd Dameron, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, and Charlie Rouse – and the set's got a huge amount of titles, including "Boppin A Riff", "Fat Boy", "Everything's Cool", "Webb City", "Fracture", "Calling Dr Jazz", "Red Pepper", "Spinal", "Fat Girl", "Ice Freezes Red", "A Bebop Carol", and "The Tadd Walk". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most fantastic hardbop albums of all time! Tommy Turrentine was the less-famous trumpet-playing brother of Stanley Turrentine – but he was a hell of a player in his early days, and he cut some amazing records with his brother during the younger years of his career. This is the only record we've ever seen that features him as a leader – but the session's a monster, with the kind of razor-sharp hardbop playing we'd stack up there with must-have LPs like Art Blakey's Freedom Rider, Hank Mobley's Caddy For Daddy, or the legendary Young Lions session on Vee Jay. The group features a number of players who were working with Max Roach at the time – including Stanley Turrentine on tenor and Julian Priester on trombone – as well as Roach on drums, Horace Parlan on piano, and Bob Boswell on bass. Titles include "Gunga Din", "Too Clean", "Time's Up", "Long As You're Living", "Blues For JP", and "Webb City". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most fantastic hardbop albums of all time! Tommy Turrentine was the less-famous trumpet-playing brother of Stanley Turrentine – but he was a hell of a player in his early days, and he cut some amazing records with his brother during the younger years of his career. This is the only record we've ever seen that features him as a leader – but the session's a monster, with the kind of razor-sharp hardbop playing we'd stack up there with must-have LPs like Art Blakey's Freedom Rider, Hank Mobley's Caddy For Daddy, or the legendary Young Lions session on Vee Jay. The group features a number of players who were working with Max Roach at the time – including Stanley Turrentine on tenor and Julian Priester on trombone – as well as Roach on drums, Horace Parlan on piano, and Bob Boswell on bass. Titles include "Gunga Din", "Too Clean", "Time's Up", "Long As You're Living", "Blues For JP", and "Webb City". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic early soundtrack from the great Pat Williams – cut around the same 60s stretch that he was doing his wonderful albums for Verve – in the years before he'd break bigger with TV work for The Bob Newhart Show and other 70s programs! The tracks have loads of easy, bossa, and sixties grooves running throughout – more dynamic than the usual mainstream soundtrack of the time, almost as if Pat was composing this music on his own, away from the film! Williams titles include "Villa Sweet Villa", "How Sweet It Is", "A Pair Of Boobie Traps", and "Face Up To It Baby". However, despite the greatness of Pat Williams' music, the real highlight of the whole thing might be the incredible "Montage" sequence – which was put together by a young Jimmy Webb, and which features some very groovy vocal passages, with sort of a Harper's Bizarre-esque strangeness to it – a sublime harmony track with a really heartbreaking vibe. The tune was later covered by others, but sounds wonderful here in the original version – which also includes Webb's vocal version of the title. LP, Vinyl record album

Jimmy Webb's third and final album for Reprise – and a set that's got an even more personal, intimate feel than the first two! Most of the tracks here almost have an "artist at home" sort of quality – as if they were recorded in Jimmy's living room while trying out a few tunes on the piano, with a few friends to help him out. The songs overall are almost a bit bolder this way – not in the arrangements, but in the forcefulness of Webb's persona in this setting – and in the heavy use of piano lines on the best tracks. A few cuts have strongly pronounced country themes, and titles include a remake of "Galveston", his version of "Love Hurts", and the tracks "Song Seller", "When Can Brown Begin", "Piano", "Catharsis", "Once In The Morning", and "Hurt Me Well". LP, Vinyl record album

The songwriting of Jimmy Webb meets the studio genius of producer/arranger George Martin – for this one-off Atlantic album from 1977, a strange little set that almost has Jimmy sounding far older than his young years at the time! Martin's working in a style that follows nicely from Webb's earlier Land's End album – using full backings to color in the tunes with just the right shades and sounds to flesh them past Jimmy's vocals. But the unusual thing is the raspy, almost faltering quality of Jimmy's vocals – sung in a style that moves into his own words tentatively, as if he's rediscovering the lyrics after many years, or making them up on the spot. The mix of Webb's roughness and Martin's warmth makes the album more compelling than it might be otherwise – and titles include a version of Jimmy's classic "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", plus "The Highwayman", "Christiaan No", "Moment In A Shadow", "Sugarbird", "Where The Universes Are", and "Mixed-Up Guy". LP, Vinyl record album

Although Jimmy Webb is best known to the world for the pop hits he gave LA when he was a wee wee lad ("MacArthur Park", "Up Up & Away", etc), he also has a lesser-known recording history, the better part of which is represented by his early recordings for Reprise. This album has a very different sound than you'd expect from Jimmy's hits – and features sort of a hip insider LA kind of semi-singer/songwriter sound, plus some C&W influences, set in wild baroque arrangements. The songwriting is far more complex, and far more far-reaching than Webb's pop writing for other artists – and although it sometimes doesn't always work, the album has an enigmatic pull that keeps us returning to it more than we'd expect. Titles include "P.F. Sloan", "Carless Weed", "Psalm One-Five-O", and "Music For An Unmade Movie", a suite in 3 parts that takes up a big chunk of the album. LP, Vinyl record album

Beautifully lofty work from the great Wes Montgomery – a set that was recorded quite late in his too-short career, and really points the way towards some of the sophisticated sounds that might have followed, had Wes not left this planet all too soon! Don Sebesky is at the head of the charts this time around, and while the vibe echoes some of the other work that Montgomery did with larger backings in the period, there's also a nice current of darkness too – this intensity that can come through, even if the tune is a familiar pop number. The ensemble is filled with great players – Herbie Hancock and Hank Jones on piano, Stan Webb on flute, Grady Tate on drums, and Ray Barretto on percussion – and titles include "I'll Be Back", "Road Song", "Yesterday", "Serene", "Green Leaves Of Summer", and "Fly Me To The Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

An overstuffed double-length set from Donna Summer – one that features some of the live material promised in the title, plus some even better studio work as well! The first 3 sides of the album feature Donna recorded live – putting over tunes with a bit more personality and almost a sense of spontaneity that we wouldn't expect – on titles that include "Fairy Tale High", "Only One Man", "I Remember Yesterday", "I Love You", "Spring Affair", "Mimi's Song", "I Feel Love", and "Last Dance". But even better is the 4th side of the record – which features the extended "MacArthur Park Suite" – Donna's masterful reworking of the Jimmy Webb classic, stretched out to even greater length than the original! LP, Vinyl record album

A return to basics after Sonny Stitt's late 60s Varitone and funk experiments – all-bop and all soul all the way through, and recorded with a tight quartet that features Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums! The style's a bit like Sonny's work of the late 50s, but there's also a fluidity to the rhythm section that makes it a bit different too – a sound that's warm, open, and soulful – creating a space into which Stitt settles nicely and blows like mad. There's no gimmicks at all, just solid classic jazz skills – and titles include "Casbah", "Constellation", "By Accident", "Webb City", and "Topsy". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful early album from soul singer Al Wilson – a well-crafted mix of modes that really stands out in late 60s pop – and which showed that Al was quite different than most of his contemporaries! The album's got some very hip production by Johnny Rivers – who was really stretching out his own sound at the time – and arrangements are by Gene Page and Marty Paich, who create a sublime blend of jazz, soul, and strings – plus a slight undercurrent of more righteous modes from the late 60s post-folk underground! In addition to straighter soul, Wilson sings a mix of hip contemporary compositions by Fred Neil, Jimmy Webb, and others – showing a depth of sound that's really wonderful. Instrumentation's by a small combo that includes Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, and some especially great flute from Jim Horn – whose sound here really brings some dark moments to the record. Titles include a classic version of Oscar Brown Jr's "The Snake" – which has gone onto become something of a dancefloor stormer over the years – plus the cuts "Shake Me Wake Me", "I Stand Accused", "Who Could Be Lovin You", "Brother Where Are You", "Summer Rain", "Do What You Gotta Do", and a groovy cover of Fred Neil's "The Dolphins". LP, Vinyl record album

An extremely strange album from the legendary Jack Webb – best know for his lead work in Dragnet, but an equally compelling talent in the recording studio! The set features Webb reciting lyrics to popular tunes, backed by string arrangements from Billy May. Jack's using that honest, earthy voice that listeners first came to love on radio – a style that makes very different magic of tunes that include "Stranger In Town", "Nancy", "You Are Too Beautiful", "You've Changed", and "When Sunny Gets Blue" – especially in the way that Jack speaks the lyrics! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest records ever from the legendary De Wolfe sound library in the UK – a set that's great not only for the work of Brit maestro Roger Webb, but also for the vocals delivered by Barbara Moore – a legendary session singer with a hell of a jazzy touch! Webb's charts are always full of life and color, and showcase his own roots in jazz – served up here with all sorts of fast-stepping rhythms that really let the vocals of Moore take off in wonderful ways – always without lyrics, as Barbara has this way of singing wordlessly that makes her voice act like another instrument next to the horns and keyboards in the arrangements. Wonderful throughout – with titles that include "Dreamy", "Play Girl", "Autumn Aria", "Up West", "Think Twice", "Flipper", "Sandy", "Gentle Soul", and "Sounds Easy". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes work with The Jungle Band and with Webb's orchestra, with featured soloists that include Benny Carter, Taft Jordan, Sandy Williams, and Elmer Williams. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes Babbitt's "Phonemena For Soprano And Piano" performed by Lynn Webber and Jerry Kuderna, "Phonemena For Soprano And Tape" performed by Lynn Webber, and "Reflections For Piano And Synthesized Tape" and "Post-Partitions" performed by Robert Miller; Bassett's "Music For Saxophone And Piano" performed by Donald Sinta and Ellen Weckler; Smith's "Fancies For Clarinet Alone" performed by the composer; and Wuorinen's "Bassoon Variations" performed by Donald MacCourt, Susan Jolles, and Gordon Gottlieb. LP, Vinyl record album

The only album ever from Broken Glass – a group that features the great Stan Webb from Chicken Shack on guitar – bringing in all the strengths that he added to that well-known group! There's some of the blues rock inspiration of that earlier combo, but refined a bit more with a compressed sort of 70s Brit vibe – great production from Tony Ashton, who makes all the best licks and catchier lines of the songs really stand out – but without ever making the album sound too commercial. Titles include "It's Alright", "Keep Your Love", "It's Evil", "Ain't No Magic", "Broken Glass", "Take The Water", "Standing On The Border", and "Jersey Lightning". LP, Vinyl record album

The fab first album from the 5th Dimension – and as groovy a batch of pop soul harmonies as you'll ever hope to find! Jimmy Webb is already at the helm on this one – arranging and conducting the group with his heavenly 60s pop approach – all produced to perfection by the amazing Bones Howe! The record soars to the top with the hit "Up Up & Away", and features many other great numbers –lesser-known, but really wonderful gems like "California My Way", "Another Day Another Heartache", "Pattern People", "Rosecrans Blvd", "Learn How To Fly", and the group's great cover of Tim Hardin's "Misty Roses"! LP, Vinyl record album

A selection of tunes from the film Pete Kelly's Blues – a 20s tale of jazz and gangsters that starred and was directed by Jack "Dragnet" Webb! Given the setting of the film, the tunes often have a more traditional jazz bent to them – with backing from the orchestra of Harold Mooney that features a fair bit of Kansas City-styled jazz. Peggy and Ella's vocals are pure 50s Decca, though – and if anything, the album's a great chance to hear them singing in a slightly different setting, but with all the strength of their best work of the time. Peggy sings on about 2/3 of the album – on tracks that include "Sugar", "I Never Knew", "Somebody Loves Me", and "I'm Gonna Meet My Sweetie Now". Ella sings on the last third – on tracks that include "Ella Hums The Blues", "Pete Kelly's Blues", and "Hard Hearted Hannah". LP, Vinyl record album

A collection of sides recorded for the Plantation label, with selections by Webb Pierce, Jeannie C Riley, Linda Martell, Sleepy La Beef, James O'Gwynn, Rusty Adams, Jimmy Ellis, Ryan Russell, Rex Allen, Rod Bernard, and The Bluegrass Alliance. LP, Vinyl record album