A long-overdue tribute to the legendary Moondog – one of the true visionaries of American music in the 20th Century! Moondog got his starts as a blind musician working the streets of New York at the end of the 40s, but he did so (as you'll note on the cover photo) with a range of unusual instruments of his own invention, and in a minimal, rhythmic style that linked together primitivism with higher musical ideals. Moondog's often been called "the father of minimalism" – and while his experiments of the 50s prefaced the work of Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and others, his work was also much more personal, and had an earthy intensity that's still tremendously powerful even decades later! This collection is one of the first to dip into the earliest of Moondog's recordings – his recordings for the Mars, SRC, Brunswick, and Moondog labels – which are presented here alongside selected tracks from his albums for Epic and Prestige, also of similar vintage. Nearly all the tracks here offer a very primitive blend of percussion that's sometimes mixed with unusual woodwind or stringed instruments – nearly all of Moondog's own invention – and the package also features some great notes on his long career, plus some photos that are as gripping as the music itself! Titles include "Down Is Up", "Big Cat", "Bumbo", "Rimshot", "Rabbit Hop", "Instrumental Round", "Be A Hobo", "Dog Trot", "Oasis", "2 W 46th Street", and "Why Spend The Dark Night With You". CD

Lovely later work from Moondog – a set of simple instrumental tunes that almost has the same naive charm as his initial recordings in the 50s! There's definitely a bit of avant classical going on at times – use of violin, viola, and oboe – but other instrumentation is spare and often somewhat percussive – recalling the minimal, elliptical rhythms that Moondog first set on fire while living on the streets of New York during the postwar years. There's a bit of vocalization on the record, and some keyboards too – and many of the tunes have a poetic feel that really fits their titles – tunes that include "Cosmic Meditation", "Fujiyama", "Bird Of Paradise", "Marimba Mondo 1 – The Rain Forest", "Suite Equestria", and "Wind River Powwow". CD

One of Jimmy's funkiest albums ever – a sweeeeet batch of short, hard, and funky cuts – and a record that ranks right up there with the mighty Soul Sugar for sheer funkiness! Jimmy takes an upbeat and easygoing approach to the late 60s funk sound, with a nice, rubbery bass and the organ sound just killer – but would expect less from McGriff on that front? Truly funky and totally irresistible stuff, with sinister, measured moments that bigger and heavier pretty quickly - kind of prefiguring 70s blacksploitation soundtrack vibes in spots! The album's great all the way through – tight arrangements by Horace Ott, who also plays electric piano on the set, making for a clean, cool 2-keys kind of groove. Titles include "Spear for Moondog" (parts 1 & 2), "Tight Times", "Funky Junk", "Bird Wave", and "Back on the Track". CD

Great stuff from global funk phenoms Nomo – deftly blending Afro steeped funk with an astral reach – with more of a spiritual jazz influence and off kilter avant touches! Invisible Cities arrives just about a year since their breakthrough Ghost Rock opened so many doors, and although productivity and consistency have never been a problem with Elliot Bergman & co, we're still pretty awestruck – especially given that Ghost Rock set the bar pretty high! Blazing horns, dynamic rhythms and rapturous percussion galore, with the electric kalimba still defining the group's identity nicely, with lots of sweaty funk, more spacious spiritual jazz atmosphere, and a couple of choice covers – Moondog's "Bumba" gets a bit of Caribbean funk treatment with steel drums, plus a reverent take on Tom Ze's "Ma"! Other tracks include "Invisible Cities", "Waiting", "Crescent", "Patterns", "Elijah" and "Nocturne". CD

Includes the songs "Pompton Turnpike", "Nina Never Knew", "Rhapsody In Blue", "The Jitterbug Waltz", "Indian Summer", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "Wailin' For The Moondog", "Theme For "Joe Louis Story"", "I Ain't Felling So Good", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "Laura", "Syncopated Clock", "East Of The Sun", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", "Don't Worry 'Bout Me", "Caravan", "Land Of Dreams", "Trees", "Danny Boy", "Merci", and "Canadian Sunset". CD

Wild and wonderful work by Keith Jarrett – light years away from his records on ECM! The album features a quartet that includes Dewey Redman on tenor, Charlie Haden on bass, and Paul Motian on drums – but it's clearly Keith who's driving the bus here, taking lots of odd twists and turns for playful moments that come as an unexpected surprise. One of the best of these is the short percussion track "Pre Judgement Atmosphere", which almost sounds like a Moondog number – and another is the rollingly funky "Gypsy Moth", a tune that always seems to be careening out of control, but is never "outside", just percussively grooving. Side two features two longer jamming tracks that almost have a loft jazz feel – "El Juicio" and "Piece For Ornette" – and Keith plays alone on the track "Pardon My Rags". CD