One of the more new wave-oriented moments from Ava Cherry – a singer we know best from her solo work in soul, but who also has a pretty strong pedigree on the rock side of the spectrum as well! The instrumentation is heavy on keyboards – played by Mark Isham, in a way that sometimes echoes his best soundtrack work of the decade, but more focused too – at a level that brings a deeper sound to the music than you might expect! Tunes are upbeat and catchy, yet trying for a bit of an edge at times – and Ava serves up the lyrics with a subtle sense of drama in her voice. Titles include "Fast Lover", "Love To Be Touched", "Techno Love", "Having Been Far", "I Guess It's Love", "Awkward Situation", and "Streetcar Named Desire". CD features two bonus tracks – 12" remixes of "Awkward Situation" and "Streetcar Named Desire". CD

A stunning set of punk jazz, and one that maybe hearkens back to key experiments of this nature from the 80s scene – particularly some of the more groundbreaking work on the New York downtown scene! Ava Mendoza plays electric guitar and Devi Hoff play electric bass – but the pair also work here with excellent tenor from James Brandon Lewis, whose presence really balances out the fuzzier electric energy in a great way – different lines, different sounds, and a balance that never has Lewis trying to match the guitars for ferocity, which is a real plus. The quartet also features great drums from Ches Smith – and titles include "The Stumble", "Interwhining", "Dyscalculia", "Babel 17", "New Ghosts", and "Ten Forward". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning set of punk jazz, and one that maybe hearkens back to key experiments of this nature from the 80s scene – particularly some of the more groundbreaking work on the New York downtown scene! Ava Mendoza plays electric guitar and Devi Hoff play electric bass – but the pair also work here with excellent tenor from James Brandon Lewis, whose presence really balances out the fuzzier electric energy in a great way – different lines, different sounds, and a balance that never has Lewis trying to match the guitars for ferocity, which is a real plus. The quartet also features great drums from Ches Smith – and titles include "The Stumble", "Interwhining", "Dyscalculia", "Babel 17", "New Ghosts", and "Ten Forward". CD

A stunning set of punk jazz, and one that maybe hearkens back to key experiments of this nature from the 80s scene – particularly some of the more groundbreaking work on the New York downtown scene! Ava Mendoza plays electric guitar and Devi Hoff play electric bass – but the pair also work here with excellent tenor from James Brandon Lewis, whose presence really balances out the fuzzier electric energy in a great way – different lines, different sounds, and a balance that never has Lewis trying to match the guitars for ferocity, which is a real plus. The quartet also features great drums from Ches Smith – and titles include "The Stumble", "Interwhining", "Dyscalculia", "Babel 17", "New Ghosts", and "Ten Forward". CD

Great work by a great singer – the far under-recorded Irene Kral, a lovely lady who really bridges a number of different camps in the vocal jazz world! At one level, Irene's got the coolness of a Christy or Connor, but at another, she's got a more open, swinging, and soulful style – one that comes off with none of the hoke of Anita O'Day, and which is a perfect balance between class, cool, and easy going honesty. The trio of Junior Mance provides the backings, and titles include "Better Than Anything", "The Meaning Of The Blues", "Passing By", "No More", "Nobody Else But Me", "This Is Always", and "It's A Wonderful World". LP, Vinyl record album

Ruth Price is definitely live and beautiful – stretching out here on a small combo date recorded in Hollywood – with a groove that's maybe a little hipper than some of her previous records too! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Elmer Bernstein's best soundtracks of the 60s – written for this film set in the brothels of New Orleans in the 30s, with a mix of jazz and dramatic themes. The best cuts are the jazz-based ones – tunes that come across with more of a 60s groove than you'd expect, given the setting of the film, and which are played by a small combo. Other tracks are more serious – and titles include "Juke For Teresina", "Exit Kitty", "Hallie's Jazz", "Iron Rings", "Doll House", and "Walk On The Wild Side". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records ever cut by pianist Pete Jolly! Little Bird is a sweet set of instrumentals featuring a trio of Chuck Berghofer on bass and Larry Bunker on drums, plus Howard Roberts on guitar and Kenny Hume on added percussion. The centerpiece here is Jolly's groovy hit version of "Little Bird", a jaunty little soul jazz number – but the whole album swells in an easily swinging groove that holds up throughout. Titles include "My Favorite Things", "To Kill A Mockingbird", "Never Never Land", and "Three Four Five". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from one of the grooviest pianists of the 60s – a player who could always keep things lively and swinging, even in a small combo session! The album's one of Pete Jolly's gems for the Ava label – a follow-up to his semi-hit Little Bird, and like that one, a record done with some slight additional help from Howard Roberts on a few tracks. But this time around, Roberts' work is only on a few of the titles – leaving Pete's core trio to take over most of the grooves themselves, building strongly from warmly rolling rhythms by Chuck Berghofer on bass and Larry Bunker on drums, topped by Jolly's surprisingly soulful lines on piano – all in a blend that reminds us of the great balance between lyricism and groove we always find in the best work of Vince Guaraldi. Titles include "Sweet September", "Can't We Be Friends", "Any Number Can Win", "Soft Winds", "Oleo", "Yours Is My Heart Alone", "I'm Beginning To See The Light", and "Kiss Me Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

Annita Ray's vocals are certainly the main attraction here – but we're as equally in love with the backings from Harry Betts! The album's got a great sense of balance between the singer and the band going on – one that takes Ray's mix of breathy and warbling vocals, and focuses it nicely through Betts' blend of woodwinds, light strings, and gentle rhythms – a mode that has lots of bright notes that sparkle out and help illuminate the music, almost creating a sense of counterpoint with the vocals. Annita's the kind of singer who might falter in some other kind of setting, but she really sounds great here – with just a slight undercurrent of the blue-toned modes of Brenda Lee, yet not nearly as overdone. Titles include "I'll Be Around", "Oh You Crazy Moon", "A Sunday Kind Of Love", "For All We Know", "This Time The Dream's On Me", and "Slow Glow". CD

Classic early work from Tony Scott – a set of clarinet tracks performed with a quartet – featuring Dick Katz on piano, Earl May or Milt Hinton on bass, and Philly Joe Jones or Ossie Johnson on drums. The style's a great mix of bop and swing – in that mode that Tony always brought to his best work of the time, and which pushed an understanding of the clarinet in jazz long past the swing years. Titles include the long original "Blues for Ava", in two parts, plus "Goodbye", and "Swootie Patootie". LP, Vinyl record album

A follow up to Tompkins Square's excellent Berkeley Guitars compilation – featuring some of the best solo acoustic folk guitar players in the Bay Area, and simply an excellent set of timeless music by wonderful modern players – including Aaron Sheppard, Richard Osborn, Trevor Healy, Chuck Johnson, Sean Smith, Lucas Boilon and Ava Mendoza. Includes "The Transmigration Of The Old West" by Aaron Sheppard, "A Dream Of Distant Summer" by Richard Osborn, "Wrapped In Water" by Trevor Healy, "A Struggle, Not A Thought" by Chuck Johnson, "Ourselves When We Are Real" by Sean Smith, "Studies Of The Oak As Pertaining To Druidic Rites Of Passage" by Lucas Boilon and "Redwood Regional Park Blues: Between Hay And Grass" by Ava Mendoza. CD

This album's got a really fitting title – as the whole thing feels like it's ready to take off into the heavens, right from the very first note – driven on strongly by the drums of Gerald Cleaver, who's a perfect match for the bold basswork of William Parker – as the pair work together with the searing tones of Ava Mendoza on guitar! Most tracks have a very fast-moving, dynamic sensibility – Parker and Cleaver moving together as if they're joined at the waist – so that even some of the freer flights of fuzz from Mendoza don't get in the way of the highly rhythmic energy of the record. A stunning new setting for the genius of Parker – which never seems to end at all! Titles include "Tabasco", "Mayan Space Station", "Domingo", and "Canyons Of Light". CD features the bonus tracks "Rocas Rojas" and "The Wall Tumbles Down". CD

Includes the tracks "Havana/New York", "Para Los Papines", "Broadway Reunion (Recorded Live At Broadway And 44th Streets NYC)", and "En Memoria De Chano Pozo". CD

A folk rock set from Eric Anderson, recorded with a bit more bite than some of his earlier work – on titles that include "Foolish Like The Flowers", "For What Was Gained", "Good To Be With You", "Avalanche", "Think About It", "So Hard To Fall", and "It's Comin & It Won't Be Long". LP, Vinyl record album

6 tracks by Frankie Avalon and 3 tracks by Fabian. CD

Genius work from Les Baxter – two of his best albums for Capitol, back to back on one CD! Ritual Of The Savage is one of those must-have albums from the 50s – a super-huge record upon its initial release, and an album that pushed the genre of exotica far further than most others at the time! Before this record, most attempts at exotica were simple instrumental pop, colored with slight worldly instrumentation – or too-dreamy recordings, putting over a sleepy version of life on the islands. Enter Les Baxter, who had an amazing ear for sounds, rhythms, and arrangements – one that was the first to record this sort of music in a way that was sonically evocative, and could stand on its own without other referents. Instrumentation is often conventional, but used oddly here – and Baxter's original compositions are all pretty darn great – playful without being goofy, and nicely mixing Latin and Pacific rhythms at the bottom. Titles include "Busy Port", "The Ritual", "Coronation", "Jungle Jalopy", and Les' original version of "Quiet Village". Heck, even the cover is gorgeous – with a brilliant blue illustration of some guy putting the moves on a woman amidst spooky tribal relics! The Passions is a really obscure box set recording – done as Les Baxter's classic exploitation of "a woman's passions", using vocalist Bas Sheva in the role of the tormented female! Shiva's got a bold, evocative style that's not unlike Yma Sumac – and she sings here wordlessly, as an added instrument on top of Baxter's orchestrations – playing the role of the inner psyche of woman, on titles that include "Lust", "Terror", "Joy", "Hate", "Ecstasy", and "Despair"! The whole thing's a mini docu-drama in sound – beautifully recorded in a flurry of red, blue, and other chromatic hues – not as exotic as Baxter's other work from the 50s, but equally great as a modern sonic psychoanalytic text! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the best non-Blue Note sessions from Art Blakey in the 60s – a really searing set that features the sextet lineup of the Jazz Messengers – a group that's filled with legends who include Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Reggie Workman on bass, and Cedar Walton on piano! The sextet format really pushes the energy of the group – and allows for even more wonderful horn interplay than before – while still allowing for lots of solo space for individual voices. Tracks are long and open, with a bouncing lyrical groove that's more soaring than some of the heavy-hitting earlier albums from Blakey, but no less pleasing – and possibly even a bit more soulful! Titles include "Sweet N Sour", "This Is For Albert", "Skylark", and "Thermo". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best non-Blue Note sessions from Art Blakey in the 60s – a really searing set that features the sextet lineup of the Jazz Messengers – a group that's filled with legends who include Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Reggie Workman on bass, and Cedar Walton on piano! The sextet format really pushes the energy of the group – and allows for even more wonderful horn interplay than before – while still allowing for lots of solo space for individual voices. Tracks are long and open, with a bouncing lyrical groove that's more soaring than some of the heavy-hitting earlier albums from Blakey, but no less pleasing – and possibly even a bit more soulful! Titles include "Sweet N Sour", "This Is For Albert", "Skylark", and "Thermo". LP, Vinyl record album

A smoker from Art Blakey's later years – a killer session that features a reunion of past Jazz Messengers, with a cast that includes Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Benny Golson on tenor, and Walter Davis Jr on piano! Buster Williams is on bass, and he brings a nice degree of soul to the set – rounding and warming things to give the album a progressive soul jazz approach that we really love – a dose of the slightly more righteous side that Blakey hit during his early 70s Prestige Records years. The group comes together with a magical flourish – moving past simple "here's my solo" styles, into a unified ensemble that really sounds special here. Titles include the excellent "Dana's Dance" – penned by Davis, and a really fresh choice for a date like this – plus "Uranus", "Ala Mode", and "Just By Myself". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Live In Denver, Colorado, USA, 1974. CD

Maybe the greatest moment ever from Caravan – one of the greatest groups to emerge from the jazzy Canterbury scene in the late 60s! The album's a wonderful blend of jazz roots and more focused rock impulses – and has some subtle funky elements that's given it a wider sort of audience over the years – that special sound you'd find in a rare few Deram gems by artists like Mike Westbrook or Colosseum too. The drums are especially great – snapping out in a way that really holds things together, even when the instrumental solos really step out strongly – especially the organ, flute, and tenor – all of which retain a jazzy appeal. The vocals from Richard Sinclair are nice, too – never overdone, with almost a Robert Wyatt sort of reserve – and titles include "Golf Girl", "Love To Love You", "In The Land Of Grey & Pink", and the extended "Nine Feet Underground", which takes up all of side two. CD features bonus tracks – the unreleased "I Don't Know Its Name", "Aristocracy", "Group Girl", and "It's Likely To Have A Name Next Week" – and a new mix of "Disassociation/100% Proof". CD

... CD

... CD

One of two rare albums recorded by organist Jimmy Caravan in the 60s – a really great talent on the Hammond, and a player with a really clean, lean, and groovy sound! Jimmy's style here borrows a lot from the Capitol jazz scene of players like Howard Roberts or Henry Cain – an approach to organ jazz that's a bit more stripped down and less gritty than that of labels like Blue Note or Prestige – and one that uses the cleaner sound to bring even more rhythm into the mix, letting the organ leap around the tunes in a groovily playful way! Caravan's got a great sound throughout, and although the other players aren't listed, the album's got a nice small combo sound all the way through. Titles include "Off A Brass Monkey", "Equinox", "UFO", "Cyclops", and a groovy version of "Hey Jude". CD

Excellent live material from one of the greatest gospel groups on Vee Jay Records – a legendary lineup that includes the voices of Albertina Walker, Shirley Ceasar, and Cassietta George! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album