A wonderfully laidback album from Barney Kessel – gentle guitar stepping around familiar standards, but all with a hip sort of west coast 50s flavor! The main group on the album features Bob Cooper on oboe and tenor, Claude Williamson on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums – but a few extra tunes, added to expand the full LP from the original 10" session, feature Hampton Hawes on piano and Red Mitchell on bass – plus the rest of the other group. Titles include "Speak Low", "Love Is Here To Stay", "How Long Has This Been Going On", "On A Slow Boat To China", "Barney's Blues", "A Foggy Day", "Prelude To A Kiss" and "64 Bars On Wilshire" – obviously not a standard! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful laid back LP from Barney Kessel, with a mellow west coast feel throughout. Kessel's got a nice sympathetic quintet supporting him on this date, with Bob Cooper, Claude Williamson, Monty Budwig and Shelly Manne. 8 numbers in all, including "Speak Low", "Love Is Here To Stay", "How Long Has This Been Going On", "On A Slow Boat To China", "Barney's Blues", "A Foggy Day", "Prelude To A Kiss" and "64 Bars On Wilshire". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that definitely lives up to the poetry promised in its title – with none of the too-clean sounds you might guess from its hand-washing reference either! The album's one of the freest, most organic sessions we've heard from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – almost improvised at points, but with a poetic cohesion in the piano lines that's really great – kind of an offbeat sense of lyricism that points in the same directions that Steve Kuhn or Keith Jarrett were heading in the late 60s. Drummer Masahiko Togashi plays lots of cool percussion and even a bit of gong – and Gary Peacock's bass here is as great as on any of his other excellent Japanese recordings. Titles include "Dreams", "The Trap", "The Milky Way", "Apple", "Get Magic Again", and "End". CD

Supposedly one of the first records of Dr King's speeches to be recorded – put together by Dootsie Williams in LA, and the forebearer of what would become a very popular genre in the 60s! The album was issued after King's death, but was recorded years before – and themes include the poverty and political situation in India and The American Dream. LP, Vinyl record album

A completely hip little record from Morgana King – one that takes her amazing voice, and sets it amidst some expansive arrangements that push past jazz to include some trippier 70s styles! The whole session's got a nice mix of the mellow and baroque – with a subtle funky undercurrent at points, and definitely a fair bit more soul than we're used to hearing from Morgana! Arrangements are by Torrie Zito and Bob James – and the production often compresses the vocals in a really cool way – sliding them amidst the instrumentation with a haunting quality that's hard to describe in words, but which makes the album one of King's most breathtaking ever! The back cover has Morgana getting props from Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Paul Williams, and Kenny Rankin – all names we can certainly trust – and titles include a great version of "We Could Be Flying", "All In All", "A Song For You", "Like A Seed", and "The Sands Of Time & Changes". LP, Vinyl record album