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A big breakthrough for Philip Bailey – and a record that was kind of a second-level explosion for the Earth Wind & Fire sound in the 80s! There's a definite crossover feel to the record – a style that takes Bailey's soulful vocals, and mixes them with lots of catchy hooks –... read more

One of the original Dramatics, singer Ron Banks strikes out here on his own – a slept on gem from the early 80s! The set's in a similar modern soul mode to LJ Reynolds, who also worked with him in the group, and was having a bit of a solo career of his own at the time. It's got sort of a D-T... read more

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All By Myself is Regina Belle's debut, a nice mix of dancefloor soul and ballads. The blend of period production touches – keys & synths, in particular – with live instrumentation is excellent, in part thanks to great studio players like Dexter Wansel and Pablo Batista – but... read more

Features very early work with Chris Powell & His Blue Flames – on "Ida Red" and "I Come From Jamaica" – plus 3 longer Philly sides from 1956, with Billy Root on tenor and Sam Dockery on piano – on titles that include "Walkin", "Donna Lee"... read more

Like Dave Brubeck's legendary Time Out set? Try this one – a great record that takes off from the concept of the first, but which goes in some very fresh new directions – using the same great group with Paul Desmond on alto, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums! Dave's... read more

Easily the crowning moment of genius for the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet – the moment when all things came together magically, and the group somehow elevated themselves to a whole new level in jazz! At the time of the set, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and the rest had already been making plenty... read more

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Bright, bubbly soul from Centerfield – the 80s soul duo of Keni Towns and Phil Jones – who both sing and play most of the instrumentation on the set! The sound's not as lean as you might expect for a duo album – thanks to the addition of some studio help too – but the... read more

A strong bit of soul from The Chimes – really the only lasting set they ever recorded, a chunky bit of early 90s soul with that Soul II Soul kind of groove to it. No surprise that Jazzie B's helping the group out on a few tracks, production-wise – but even without his help, they still... read more

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One of just a couple of albums by Leonard Cohen from the 80s – certainly an underappreciated one, in regard to his late 60s and early 70s canon – and that's a shame, because this is pretty brilliant stuff! Stylistically, there's sparse folk pop, some steel guitar twang and then... read more

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Not the same sort of new wave you'd know from the rock mainstream – but a fresh version of soul music for the 80s – very stripped-down, and performed almost entirely by Andre Cymone! The set's got a fullness that goes way past bedroom soul, though – thanks to advances in... read more

It's easy to survive the 80s when you've got an army of future-suit cats behind you – and given the groove here, it's clear that Andre Cymone was doing way more than just surviving back in the day! The set's a super-tight batch of 80s grooves – with a sharp sound that comes from lots... read more

A later effort from James D-Train Williams, but still plenty darn great – and proof that his groove was still one of the strongest in 80s soul music! The style of the set follows from Williams' best earlier work – a bit of bounce at the bottom of most of the tracks, but never too much... read more

James D-Train Williams' first album for a major label – and a really great follow-up to the indie success of his initial recordings for Prelude Records! The style here is very similar to the clubby grooves of D-Train's earlier sides – thanks to strong keyboards, production, and... read more

A seminal 70s side from Miles Davis – originally a Japanese recording, and one that returns to the solid push of the initial electric years! The record's a completely cooking little session – one that mixes the raw, noisier styles of other Davis albums with a focus, funked-up energy... read more

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Miles Davis' last studio session before a few years of seclusion – and a really monumental effort, probably the baddest of the electric period! The album does a great job of capturing the energy of the frenzied live sets from that time, and matching it with Teo Macero's cut and paste editing... read more

A masterful meeting of 2 50s modern jazz talents – the trumpet of Miles Davis balanced with the arrangements of Gil Evans – with results that have made the album one of Miles' greatest ever! The sound here is completely sublime – as Davis gets all chromatic and spooky over Evans'... read more

A masterful meeting of 2 50s modern jazz talents – the trumpet of Miles Davis balanced with the arrangements of Gil Evans – with results that have made the album one of Miles' greatest ever! The sound here is completely sublime – as Davis gets all chromatic and spooky over Evans'... read more

Four sides of long improvised grooves from Miles Davis – a set that's quite similar to the classic studio album Bitches Brew, but which captures the sound in more open live setting! Each track on each side is named "Wednesday Miles", "Thursday Miles", and so on –... read more

Amazing live documents of Miles Davis and his incredible mid-to-late 60s quintet – Wayne Shorter on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums – complete concert recordings from Antwerp, Copenhagen and Paris on 3CDs seeing release for the first time... read more

Moody magic from Miles Davis and Gil Evans – one of the pair's most perfectly poised albums together, and a set with a slight bossa nova undercurrent! Evans' shimmering horn patterns are in fine form here – complicated, but never in cold and too-modern ways – just the right sort... read more

Thelonious Monk wrote the title tune, but Miles Davis makes it almost his own here – blowing with a subtly moody magic that makes the album one of his true treasures from the early Columbia years! John Coltrane's along on tenor sax – helping Davis expand the sound the pair first forged... read more

A key point in the development of the Miles Davis sound of the 60s – his first album to feature work from Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams – augmented by some equally nice work on other tracks from Victor Feldman and Frank Butler! The sound here is beautifully spare –... read more

Sweeter studio Miles Davis from the 80s – a record that takes the 70s electric experiments and fuses them into a sound that's got a lot more R&B influence than before! The style is a bit poppy at times, but never in a way that's too slick – and often, Davis is using his muted... read more

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12 remixes: "No,No, No Part 2 (Wyclef Jean extended version)", "Emotion (Neptunes rmx)", "Bootylicious (Rockwilder rmx)", "Say My Name (Timbaland rmx)", "Bug A Boo (refugee Camp rmx)", "Dot (E-Poppi mix)", "Survivor (rmx feat. Da... read more

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Plenty of early classics and hits – including "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Blowin In The Wind", "Down The Highway", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "I Shall Be Free", "Bob Dylan's Dream", and "Oxford Town".... read more

Genius, pure genius! It was hard for Earth, Wind & Fire to go wrong at this point – and the album's a stellar blend of jazz, funk, and soul, all done in that perfect style they'd hit by the mid 70s. And even though this one was a monster album, of the type that you see in everyone's... read more

Fantastic stuff through and through – and almost a "best of" best of collection from the 70s! The album's a key illustration of the genius of Earth Wind & Fire on Columbia Records – because by the time the set was released in 1978, most of the tracks were already well-know... read more

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Hard to believe it took a few decades in the careers of both players for them to record together – but that's exactly what you've got here – a landmark meeting of Count Basie and Duke Ellington from the early 60s, near the tail end of Duke's classic stretch on Columbia! Teo Macero... read more

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We'll forget about the first Fugees LP, this is the one that really launched the career of Lauryn Hill, both as an MC and a vocalist. And back then, even Wyclef and Pras were kinda dope. 16 tracks in all, including "How Many MC's", "Ready Or Not", "Killing Me Softly"... read more

Surprisingly great work from Full Force – a set that seems to only get better with the passage of time, set apart nicely from most of its 80s soul contemporaries with a good deal of homegrown charm! Sure, there's some pretty heavy beats here – and sure, the sound is a few notches... read more

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Dex's famous return to New York in the mid 70s – recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1977, and featuring some of his best group-heavy playing of the decade! The quintet is fantastic – and includes Woody Shaw, Ronnie Matthews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes. Features versions of Shaw's... read more

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A smoking second album from Rebbie Jackson – a set that has Rebbie working with strong production help from two of the bigger aspects of the Columbia Records soul family in the 80s – Tito Jackson and Reggie Lucas, who each handle a handful of songs along with David Conley and Howie Rice.... read more

JJ Johnson's greatest album – without a doubt! This gem of a session was recorded in 1960 in New York, with an incredibly hip sextet that includes Cedar Walton, Clifford Jordan, and Freddie Hubbard. The tracks are all long, hip, and very much in a Blue Note soul jazz mode – very... read more

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A pair of funky soul sets from the early 80s by Junie – Bread Alone and 5 back-to-back in one set! Bread Alone is a nice batch of slicked up funk – not as crazy has his stoned-out albums on Westbound, but just as great overall! There's plenty of 80s bass pedal whomping in the mix, but... read more

A killer second set from Johnny Kemp – and a great showcase for the talents of a young Teddy Riley too! Teddy helped out with the album's leadoff track – the excellent "Just Got Paid", one of those 80s soul numbers that broke big right of the box – and which has gone... read more

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An older bandleader takes on sounds from two different groovy sources of the 70s – both of them great! Plays Michel Legrand has Andre Kostelanetz serving up some sweet versions of tunes from some of Legrand's famous soundtracks of the 60s and early 70s – most of them done with fairly... read more

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Massive keyboard work from the great Ramsey Lewis – easily one of his best records ever, thanks to some spaciously funky production by Charles Stepney! Stepney plays keyboards here along with Ramsey, and the twin-keys approach makes for a sound that's extra-special – one that sums up... read more

An overlooked gem from Ramsey's 70s years at Columbia – a record that has him grooving over larger arrangements, sweeping along in a great blend of soul and class that makes for some really great numbers! Side one of the album features Ramsey playing keyboards on the extended "Legacy&quo... read more

A tremendous little record, and one of the funky 70s sets that Ramsey Lewis recorded with Earth Wind & Fire! Well, not Earth Wind & Fire entirely – but the Kalimba Productions team of Maurice White and Charles Stepney that gave the group its sound – plus a nice sprinkling of... read more

Massive work from the great Cheryl Lynn – and a key bridge between late 70s disco and the newer grooves of the 80s club scene! The album's a mix of midtempo groovers with a few mellower tracks – and it's got a tight, slightly jazzy sound that was very fresh at the time, and which still... read more

Plenty real soul here – a killer collection of Columbia grooves by Cheryl Lynn – a set that runs right from the clubby start to the more commercial finish of her time at the label! The package is a great illustration of Cheryl's ability to rise to the occasion in just about any setting... read more

Cheryl Lynn follows things up nicely from her famous debut – mostly sticking in the same upbeat territory as her earliest club hits – a groove that's perfect for her bold, soaring vocals! The album sports a few mellower cuts, but it's the groovers that really keep things together... read more

Amazing lost work from the Mahvishnu Orchestra – a previously-unreleased studio session from 1973, one that features John McLaughlin and the group working in some beautifully tripped-out territory! The lineup features McLaughlin on a variety of guitars – plus Jerry Goodman on electric... read more

The Manhattans were one of those groups who knocked around for years in the indie soul world – cutting some fantastic material early on, but then losing direction for a number of years until they sprung forth as a huge act for Columbia during the early 70s. By that time, the band had more... read more

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A nice little take on the "city symphony" mode that was big in American music a few decades back – served up by the Wynton Marsalis Septet of the early 90s, with decidedly modern touches! The double-length album's a three-tiered affair – with part one standing out as Wynton's... read more

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The classic debut of a young Wynton Marsalis – cut after a stretch when Wynton was working with Art Blakey, and had really sharpened his chops! The record's a wonderful return to straight jazz tradition for Columbia – but it also has some modern moments too – proof that the... read more

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A massive return to form for Maxwell – his first album in many years, but definitely well worth the wait! The set's supposedly the start of a trilogy – but hell, we're more than happy to have it all on its own – a wonderful reminder of the deeply soulful sound that first made us... read more

A key change for John McLaughlin – post-Mahavishnu, post-Shakti, and very much the electric guitarist promised in the title! The album's one of McLaughlin's more professional fusion outings of the 70s, but still has some of the earthiness of his roots – and despite a rather large... read more

Mingus live is always a treat – especially in these later years, when the fire seemed to go out of most of his studio recordings. Live, though, he always managed to kick it hard - with the sort of emotion that graced his strong early albums. And despite the fact that this one's conducted by... read more

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Brilliant work by Mingus – recorded right around the same time as his legendary Mingus Ah Um album for Columbia! The group features some of Mingus' best sidemen – like Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, John Handy, and Roland Hanna – and the tracks have that wild mix of emotion, tight... read more

A title and cover that beautifully illustrate the sharp-edged power of the Thelonious Monk quartet on Columbia – and a wonderful place to start if you're just digging Thelonious' music! The record is similar to the best of Monk's Columbia sides – in that it revisits older tunes and... read more

A lost Thelonious Monk treasure from the 60s – a really open-ended live set recorded in LA in 1964, but not issued by Columbia until the early 80s – making the package a wonderful re-discover of Monk's genius during these years! The tunes are much more freewheeling than some of the... read more

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The first Thelonious Monk album for Columbia Records – and one of the best, as well – a beautiful illustration of the way that his shift in labels really set some new fire to his music in the early 60s! The group is Monk's sharp-edged quartet with the amazing Charlie Rouse on tenor,... read more

The first Thelonious Monk album for Columbia Records – and one of the best, as well – a beautiful illustration of the way that his shift in labels really set some new fire to his music in the early 60s! The group is Monk's sharp-edged quartet with the amazing Charlie Rouse on tenor,... read more

Beautiful Columbia work from Thelonious Monk – a record that has as much warmth and charm as it does visionary modernist moments! A number of the tunes are standards, not Monk compositions – and they're done here with a sense of depth and joy of exploration that's really wonderful... read more

Beautiful Columbia work from Thelonious Monk – a record that has as much warmth and charm as it does visionary modernist moments! A number of the tunes are standards, not Monk compositions – and they're done here with a sense of depth and joy of exploration that's really wonderful... read more

Classic 60s work from Thelonious Monk – featuring his incredible quartet with Charlie Rouse on tenor, certainly Monk's best-ever musical soulmate! The album features some newer versions of older tunes, and a few written just for the album – but the source of the material is not... read more

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A surprisingly nice album of straight ahead tenor tracks from David Murray – playing here in a quartet with guitarist Stanley Franks, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and the great Don Pullen, who plays organ on the session! The album's not exactly in the classic soul jazz organ/tenor mode –... read more

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