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A smoking live set from the Butterfield Blues Band – and like all the group's work, as much of a jazz and soul album as a blues one! Butterfield drew his inspiration from the Chicago bluesmen, it's true – but his style also has plenty of echoes of New Orleans soul, Memphis R&B, and... read more

Massive lost work from the Butterfield Blues Band – recorded in 1964, quite early in the group's career – but a set that already has them hitting hard with a really powerful sound! The recording quality and overall sound is nice and rough – a gritty groove that's more closely... read more

A post-Blue Note effort, and Donald's changing things up a bit with his 125th Street Orchestra and Uptown Singers – funking along in a way you'd expect from the longwinded title! Byrd loostens up the smoother backgrounds of his recent Larry Mizell helmed work, and in their place are grooves... read more

Funky electric groove from Donald Byrd – a post Mizell effort that's still burning in a crisp groove similar to his classic 70s Blue Note work – one that's absolutely dripping with keys! Isaac Hayes produced this one, and also played a lot of those keyboards on the session with Byrd's... read more

A seminal set in the rebirth of straight jazz in the early 80s – a wonderful record with a much warmer, more traditional feel than you'd expect from some of the players involved! Bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Chick Corea really return to their roots here – Stanley with some of the... read more

Titles include "Black Roses", "With All In Mind", "The Ballad Of Freddie & Larry", "Sand", and "Night Sounds Loud".... read more

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The awesome follow up to I Wish My Brother George Was Here, impossible to find in it's original pressing, reissued here in the same double LP format. A little harder hitting than the first LP – but still with the jazzy Hiero beats you've come to know and love! There are days when we feel... read more

An overlooked gem from keyboardist Joao Donato – cut in a mid 80s stretch when he was hardly doing any recording at all! The set's almost more of a jazz record than some of Donato's previous work – recorded with a warm vibe that's right up there with the best Brazilian fusion of the... read more

The classic debut – with "Break On Through", "Soul Kitchen", "Crystal Ship", "Light My Fire", "Back Door Man", and "The End".... read more

The classic debut – with "Break On Through", "Soul Kitchen", "Crystal Ship", "Light My Fire", "Back Door Man", and "The End".... read more

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Sublime late live work from Bill Evans – a well-recorded performance for French radio, and one that really stands out from some of the scratchier late 70s concerts on the market! Bill's working here with a sound as sensitive and picturesque as the cover image – never pushing things too... read more

A lovely later recording from Stan – very spare and spacious, and recorded with a casual approach that's quite striking, and really fresh. The album features Stan playing alongside pianist Albert Dailey – with no other rhythm accompaniment, just piano and tenor sax. The tunes are... read more

An unusual later album from Dexter Gordon – and one of his few sessions ever with Hammond organ! Shirley Scott handles the keys of the B-3 – and the group also features Grover Washington Jr on soprano sax, Kirk Lightsey on piano, and Eddie Gladden on drums. Titles include "Besame... read more

A really unique album for Chaka Khan – one in which she teams up with a host of jazz artists to craft a classic-styled set of vocals! Given that Chaka was at the height of her 80s groove solo career at the time of this one, the move was a surprising one – but also a great chance for... read more

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The only full length record we've ever seen from singer Suzi Lane – and a catchy batch of late 70s disco produced by Giorgio Moroder, but also featuring arrangements by Harold Faltermeyer – in a tuneful, hook-styled mode that's as sweet as can be! Suzi's vocals are the seductive and... read more

What can we say? This is one of the greatest albums of all time – and it's made even better through the addition of a bunch of previously unissued tracks! The record's got a sound that's completely unique – as crack LA garage punk rock meets Hollywood baroque production, and the... read more

Much more of a hard rock affair than the group's third LP – kind of a return to the heavy guitars of Da Capo after the baroque beauty of Forever Changes – but a stone winner nonetheless! Arthur Lee's genius is still firmly in place, and although there's a back to basics rock feel on... read more

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One of the best records ever from Don Nix – a legendary figure whose work on the Memphis scene of the 60s touched countless of rock and soul artists – recording here with a nicely tight sound at Muscle Shoals! Like some of his contemporaries, Nix made the move from Memphis to Muscle... read more

A great little album from O Terco – a later album from the group, but one that still has them sounding plenty wonderful! As before, there's a progressive vibe to the music – a mixture of jazz and rock that really comes through well in the mature, fusion-based instrumentation of the... read more

Probably one of the most controversial records to be issued on Elektra at the end of the 60s – a rough-edged batch of hippie dippy tracks that shares a fair bit of energy and humor with The Fugs! The tunes here are perhaps a bit more focused than the work of The Fugs, but the group explore... read more

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One of most essential hip hop albums of the 90s – arguably among the best ever – expanded nicely here with a bonus disc featuring the original 12" single versions! The Main Ingredient is a great title for the album, as this one finds Pete & CL working with the core essenses of... read more

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Really beautiful work from the team of Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan – hardly the sort of stuff we might have heard from the players a decade or two before – and a sophisticated batch of tunes that has them stretching out in rich musical directions! There's little of the boppish roots of... read more

A tremendous live performance from the group co-led by Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan – two players who really bring a lot to each other's music! There's a mode here that really blows us away – a careful, sensitive approach that allows each horn player to hit their most lyrical moments... read more

A sweeeeeet groover by Patrice Rushen – her first album for Elektra, and a stunning blend of funky jazz and soul! The record really has Patrice stepping out from her earlier years at Prestige – working in some surprisingly great vocals next to tight lines on Fender Rhodes, synth, and... read more

A real standout set from the 80s years of trumpeter Woody Shaw – a solidly burning live set that blows away most of his studio work from the time! The album's noteworthy first of all for the presence of Bobby Hutcherson on vibes – whose soulful spiritual approach of the period... read more

A brilliant date from the later years of Woody Shaw – an album that equally shows Woody's own talents, and those of his key group of younger players too! Shaw's trumpet is perfect in both modes here – the hard-blown righteous numbers Woody first gave the world from his start, and the... read more

A great back to basics session from organist Jimmy Smith – recorded live in the early 80s, but with a freewheeling small combo sound that takes us back to his Blue Note years! The group on the album's a quartet – with Jimmy on both piano and organ, Kenny Burrell on guitar, and Johnny... read more

A lean little set from Jimmy Smith's back to basics years of the early 80s – an album that's recorded in a relatively old school soul jazz mode! Jimmy's mostly playing Hammond here – but also uses a bit of Arp strings at times – and the rest of the group members include George... read more

A treasure trove of unreleased material from the Stalk Forrest Group – one full album, other bonus tracks, and their only ever single – all compiled together in a sweet set that documents the pre-history of Blue Oyster Cult! These guys aren't as sinister as in their BOC years, but... read more

The fiery debut of the Stooges! It isn't quite the out-there masterpiece that Fun House would be, and it's not quite as aurally blistering as Raw Power (we might be able to blame producer John Cale for this) but it's still one of the most powerful rock records of the era! Iggy & the boys... read more

Swamp Dogg's on the cover, riding a giant rat out of the ghetto – an image that definitely hints at some of the politics on the record! The album's one of Swamp's key classics from the early 70s – recorded at a time when he was still super-sharp – and when the character was a... read more

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One of the best ever records from Twennynine – produced and arranged by Lenny White & Larry Dunn – jazzy modern soul at it's dawn of the decade finest! Twennynine With Lenny White is way at the front of the pack of a lot of the 80s groove elements to follow in its wake –... read more

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A late 80s album that was an attempt (one of many) to bring Caetano's wicked work to a larger audience. In this instance, Caetano is backed and produced by some New York hipsters – all with a commitment to music, and all with names that would help the album sell well in the American hipster... read more

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An overlooked soulful gem from Michael White – one of his smoother albums, but with a tight sound that really makes the whole thing great! The set was produced by George Duke, and it's got the same feel as some of Duke's best work of the time – soaring, soulful, with a style that... read more

Not only a great follow-up to the first Echoes Of An Era session, but also a standout 80s performance from Nancy Wilson – quite possibly her best of the decade! The setting is nice and laidback – a live date with a core combo that features Joe Henderson on tenor, Chick Corea on piano,... read more

The first, and arguably the best, of John Zorn's Naked City albums. The sound is extremely intense, and represents a blinding blend of influences, most of which Zorn had been showcasing in more easy going settings on previous albums. The core group includes Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith... read more