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A fantastic live set from 1968 – recorded after Blakey's classic Blue Note years, but with a group of fantastic players that includes a young Billy Harper on tenor, Ronnie Matthews on piano, and Julian Priester on trombone. Harper alone is worth the price of the CD – as his firey solos... read more

A budget-looking CD – but an essential slice in the career of the great Slide Hampton! Hampton was one of the great American players who departed for Europe during the 60s – and his work on the continent was some of his most fruitful ever, breaking him out of his harbop origins, and... read more

Funky funky Groove Holmes – one of his tightest albums ever! The set's a monumental batch of organ jazz groovers – recorded with some larger backings from Manny Albam, and a super-dope, super-funk sort of 70s feel that's really outta site! The tracks are lean and very rhythmically... read more

An obscure date from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and tenorist Benny Golson – but some really great work from both players! The format here is relaxed and very open – long tunes that allow both players to really stretch out on their solos with tremendous grace and imagination. And... read more

Great work from the legendary big band of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis – a live performance recorded in Switzerland at the same time as the group's classic recordings for the Solid State label! Given that the date was recorded by Solid State producer Sonny Lester, the feel here is quite similar... read more

A killer electric piano jam from the great Mike Longo – stone funky, and one of his best albums ever! The whole thing's done in a really laidback style that's simply amazing – a lot like the best CTI work of the time, but somehow rougher, and with a darker edge. Longo riffs out on the... read more

A nice bit of funky organ work from Jimmy McGriff! The record's recorded with a slightly larger than usual band – but that's a good thing here, as players like Horace Ott, Cliff Davis, Richard Evans, and Everett Barksdale provide a strong bouncy groove, which Jimmy uses to solo over the top... read more

One of the grooviest albums ever from Jimmy McGriff – a hard-wailing session that's filled with plenty of cooking lines on the organ, and a few especially funky tracks! The groove here is tight, short, and very sharp – strongly in the mode of other post-Sue sessions by McGriff –... read more

Twin organs back to back – and a heck of a hard-wailing set from Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff! The album cooks from the very first note – and features long tunes that open up with the same sort of solo-heavy approach that you'd get on Holmes' Prestige albums of the 60s – very... read more

Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff go head to head in this double-organ extravaganza! The set was recorded live in Boston in 1973, and it features some of the most furiously funky live organ grooving you'll find this side of Root Down – and a whole lot of super tight jazz jamming! The group's... read more

A great little CD – not only for the very nice price, but for the fact that the double-length set brings together two albums' worth of work that Carmen McRae recorded for the Groove Merchant label in the early 70s! The style here is strongly jazzy, but with a firm dose of soul too –... read more

Pretty darn great stuff from Buddy Rich! The album's got Buddy working in a tight funky mode – with strong players like Steve Marcus on soprano and tenor, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Ray Armando on congas, Greg Kogan on piano, and Lloyd Michaels on trumpet – all of whom come together in... read more

One of the funkiest Buddy Rich albums of the 70s – a mad screaming affair that's overflowing with great tunes! The band on the set is very full – with a heck of a lot of trumpets in the brass section, set next to searing sax work by the great Pat LaBarbera. But even better is the... read more

A confusing one from the Lester Corporation – but a great CD nonetheless! The title and cover make you think that the album's the same as Lonnie Smith's Afro-Desia album – but it actually contains little material from that set, and features more grooves from the even rarer When The... read more

Sweet clubby grooving from Joe Thomas – a set that has the Ebony Godfather smoothing his groove a bit for the disco years of the late 70s, but still keeping things plenty soulful throughout! Brad Baker (of B Baker Chocolate Company fame) arranged and conducted the album, and he brings in... read more

Great 70s live work from Sarah Vaughan – material that easily stands alongside her best for the Pablo label at the same time, but which is far more obscure overall! The notes on the CD aren't much – and obviously help enforce the obscurity of the sessions – but we can say that... read more

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