All Categories — All Formats  

A hard-hitting blowing session, cut very much in the mode of Gene's late 50s sides for Prestige – and with a very accomplished group of soul jazzers that includes Nat Adderley, Frank Foster, Bennie Green, and Frank Wess. The groove has a nice raw late night sound – and tracks are... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

Two soul classics from Jerry Butler! Moon River is an incredible album of sophisticated soul tunes – one that features Jerry's hit single of "Moon River", the first version of the song to chart after Mancini composed it – plus original tunes "I Found A Love" and... read more

... read more

A real lost treasure – and an incredible session that offers a real meeting of minds that's far more than you'd expect from the simple cover and title! The set is a later one for Vee Jay, and it brings together half of the Jazz Messengers with a batch of west coast players – in a... read more

A wonderful album – and unlike anything else the Dells ever recorded! Instead of their usual harmony soul and doo wop work, this album's a swinging jazz vocal workout – with the group harmonizing more in a Four Freshmen mode than a streetcorner one. The approach works wonderfully for... read more

Although this is sort of a cheapo budget issue that looks unofficial, it's a decent compilation of some of The Dells' early doo-wop sides for Vee Jay, just about all of which are pretty tough to find on vinyl in any format. The group's work for Vee Jay was some of their best, and this set includes... read more

... read more

A split LP, but a seminal full length album in the doo wop genre – one that was issued on Vee Jay in the early 60s, but brought together some key earlier work by The Flamingos and The Moonglows! Both groups here are at the height of their early powers – singing in a stripped-down and... read more

... read more

Forget the title – which sounds like a bit of a gimmick – as this is a fine fine Eddie Harris album! After the success that Vee Jay had with Eddie Harris' huge hit version of "Exodus", they cut this album of Eddie playing movie themes – like "Green Dolphin... read more

One of the true hit jazz albums of the 60s, and a record that's still pretty darn incredible today! Who'd have thought that a jazz recording of the theme to the film "Exodus" could have been such a hit? It was, and the way Eddie handled it forever transformed the face of jazz. Eddie... read more

Although Exodus to Jazz was probably the biggest album of Eddie's career, we've always been a bit more partial to this excellent LP, a terrific document of Eddie's work from his early days on the Chicago jazz scene. Featuring Eddie's good early group with Willie Pickens on piano, Jo Dorio on... read more

A landmark LP by Eddie Harris – one that we go back to again and again over the years! The album shows not only the brilliance of the young Eddie Harris (a brilliance that was not easily matched later in his career), but also the brilliant way that the Chicago jazz scene of the 60's could... read more

18 tracks in all!... read more

Early genius from Eddie Higgins – a pianist who was a big thing on the Chicago scene of the 60s, but is probably best known to most folks for his revival records of the past decade or two! The younger Higgins has more of an edge than the later one – and this self-titled debut is a... read more

John Lee Hooker takes a step or two into the bluesy soul sound of the early 60s on this sweet set on Vee Jay – while style flaunting his true blues pedigree really, really well! The grit of his voice is as heavily emotive and unshakable as ever – backed by a crack combo on drums,... read more

Plenty of Burnin from John Lee Hooker, and about as classic as you can get for his Vee Jay years – especially considering that the album starts out with Hooker's killer cut "Boom Boom" – a number that may well have set fire to a whole generation of British and American rockers!... read more

2 great Freddie Hughes numbers from his short-lived Vee Jay days! "You Can't Take It Away" is a Richard Parker number – done in a snapping, stepping sort of groove that has plenty of horns on the top, dark piano on the bottom, and incredible vocals from Freddie all the way through!... read more

... read more

One of Wynton Kelly's greatest albums, and an all-star hardbop session that includes Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. With Philly Joe on drums, and Morgan and Shorter, the LP almost has the feel of a classic Art Blakey session for Blue Note, but Kelly's piano gives... read more

... read more

A Windy City classic – from Vee Jay Records! The MJT grooves like nobody's business, thanks to a core rhythm group that includes Harold Mabern on piano, Walter Perkins on drums, and Bob Cranshaw on bass! Add to the mix a young Frank Strozier on alto, fresh from Memphis (he made the trip to... read more

One of Lee's totally great hard bop sessions for Vee Jay, recorded around the time of his best early work for Blue Note, and with a good hard group that includes Clifford Jordan on tenor, Eddie Higgins on piano, and Art Blakey on drums. The material's a tight set of tracks that includes originals... read more

An excellent early session from a young Lee Morgan – a set that we'd rank right up there with his best Blue Note material of the time! The set's from a time when Lee's trumpet was a key force in the Jazz Messengers – and there's definitely a Messengers vibe going on here, thanks to... read more

Seminal work from the legendary Jimmy Reed – spare and bluesy numbers that were some of the best work coming out of Chicago at the time! There's a snapping quality to the rhythms here that was a keen inspiration to generations of better-known artists – and in a way, it's amazing to go... read more

A stone classic from Jimmy Reed – and one of the first few albums on the Vee Jay label! The sound is spare, rootsy, and bluesy – the kind of tunes that made Jimmy an instant favorite, and which were a key force in the Chicago blues sound of the 50s. The set features material recorded... read more

Not just Jimmy Reed – as the album features work by Phil Upchurch on bass and Al Duncan on drums, plus some great uncredited organ too – but the album's still a great chance to hear the great one at all his stripped-down best! Jimmy really dominates on vocals and guitar, and some... read more

... read more

... read more

... read more

A seminal early recording from one of our favorite reed players ever! In the late 1950s, the young Frank Strozier came up to Chicago from Memphis, along with his longtime friend, pianist Harold Mabern. The two of them both settled nicely in the city's MJT+3 combo, where they proceeded to recorde... read more

In the years after Charlie Parker passed away, tributes to his greatness were a very common thing in local jazz scenes across the US. This is a prime example of that tradition, but way more than that, it's also a killer Chicago jazz session from the old days – featuring trumpeter Ira... read more

A nice mixture of pop and blue eyed soul from singer Vi Velasco – a talent we know mostly from her bossa nova album with Zoot Sims. This set's got a nice New York uptown feel – with arrangements by Charles Calello that combine strings and soul-styled production – almost Bacharach-... read more