... LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy vibes from the great Jack Brokensha, and vocals by Guy Durrell and Shirley Bolt! LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful sounds from Joanna Brouk – an artist who was sometimes lost amidst the new age scene of the 80s, but one who's got a much deeper, more intellectual approach overall! True, Brouk's music does have a certain meditative spirit – but she also was a student of Terry Riley and Robert Ashley, and drank deep of the new compositional spirit of the time – especially in the work of Riley, which is often reflected here, but in a more contemplative way than his own recordings. Music sometimes features a core line on flute, opening up and unfolding slowly – and there's also some nice piano, and even a bit of conch shell and Orca sounds too. Double-length set features the usual strong Numero Group level of notes and history – and contains 22 tracks in all, some of which were only ever issued on cassette! CD

A collection of classic work by Dave's group with Paul Desmond – featuring 5 tunes from West Side Story, inlcuding "Tonight", "Somewhere", "Maria", and "I Feel Pretty", plus others from shows and standards. The group, as usual, really opens up the tunes – and Desmond's icily skating alto really makes the best of the material. Other titles include "What Is This Thing Called Love", "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World", and "Night & Day". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Steve Wilson on alto, Uri Craine on piano, David Gilmore on guitar, and Pheeroan akLaff, Billy Hart, and Joey Baron taking turns on drums. CD

One of the strangest albums to come out of the late 60s spoken word record boom – a collection of Bob Dylan tunes, read with a heavy English accent by actor Sebastian Cabot! Cabot's probably best known for his roles in the shows Checkmate and Family Affair – and he uses that familiar growly voice to great effect here on Dylan's tunes – spitting them out with a slightly bitter quality that's a fair bit different than Bob's original versions, but still very much in the same spirit! The backings are relatively spare – bits of strings, guitar, and other instrumentation – all handled by Irving Spice – and tunes include "It Ain't Me Babe", "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", "Like A Rolling Stone", and "Blowin In The Wind". One of the best examples of "establishment hip" we can think of – and it's records like this that took more steam out of the left than Barry Goldwater ever did! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the strangest albums ever from John Cage – but one of the most compelling too – and a record that really gets at the larger person behind his incredible music! The album has a very spare format – and features John Cage reading 90 stories – all short, spoken bits that are woven with Cage's theories on art, music, chance, and existence – backed by music from David Tudor, who plays piano passages from Cage's "Concert For Piano & Orchestra" and tape sections from the classic "Fontana Mix". Cage's voice alone is worth the price of admission – especially on some of the more autobiographical sections! CD

The first release of a groundbreaking performance – David Tudor's 1956 recording of "Music Of Changes" – one of John Cage's first experiments of writing based around the I Ching! The work is based heavily on chance – following charts of possibilities put together by Cage, and extrapolated dramatically by Tudor – who was, at the time, one of the few pianists who really understood Cage's impulses – and could bring them to fruition with a performance like this! CD

Rootsy soundtrack that features lots of rock bluesy tracks – like "Hard Workin Man" by Captain Beefheart, "Wang Dang Doodle" by Howlin Wolf, "Goodbye, So Long" by Ike & Tina Turner, "Saturday Night Special" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Satin Sheets" by Jeanne Pruett. The other half of the score features some nice work by Jack Nitzsche, fairly straight stuff – but still from his best 70s soundtrack period. Titles from him include "Coke Machine", "FBI", "Party", and "Easy Listening". CD

Michael Carvin on drums – with Marcus Strickland on saxophone, Carlton Holmes on piano, and Dezron Douglas on bass. CD

With Sun Araw, Butchy Fuego, M Geddes Gendras, and Tony Lowe. LP, Vinyl record album

A classic! What seemed a silly idea at the time was true proof of Ray's genius, and the result was the most successful album of his career – and a bona-fide number one hit that rode the charts for years and years! Ray's voice works perfectly with the material, and thanks to soulful arrangements by Gil Fuller, Marty Paich, and Gerald Wilson, the whole thing comes off to perfection. Titles include "You Don't Know Me", "I Can't Stop Lovin You", "Careless Love", "You Win Again", and "Worried Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

Two side-long ragas – with tablas from Faiyaz Khan and sitar from Debabrata Chaudhuri! LP, Vinyl record album

The music of Richard Rodgers – swung beautifully by tenorist George Coleman – blowing in that clear, strong, soulful style we love so much! The rhythm section is great – a cooking lineup that features Harold Mabern on piano, Jamil Nasser on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums – the three of whom really help keep things right on the money throughout! George opens up with some beautifully-blown solos – and titles include "Bewitched", "Falling In Love With Love", "My Funny Valentine", "Thou Swell", and "I Could Write A Book". CD

A landmark in modern jazz – from the stark stares of the band on the cover, to the starkly haunting music in the grooves! The record makes a bold statement right from the outset – and more than lives up to its promise in the sound within – an amazing approach to modern jazz that's still quite powerful, even all these many years later! The group features Ornette Coleman on alto, Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums – moving at a fast, highly rhythmic pace that still leaves us breathless – filled with angles, but wrapped up in soul. The group make severe statements about the future of modern music in tracks like "Humpty Dumpty", "Beauty Is a Rare Thing", and "Kaleidoscope" – bouncing the efforts of the whole group off the beat, in a way that's both challenging and groove-heavy at the same time, a key summation of the genius of Ornette's early vision! LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Chloe", "Yellow Roses", "Smack Dab In The Middle", "The Bourgeois Blues", "I Got Mine", and "He'll Have To Go". CD

... CD

A great ECM trio date – tracks include "Open, To Love", "Touching", "Albert's Love Theme", "Cartoon", "Blood", and the title track "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway". CD

A boldly strutting debut from Crow – a group who are maybe a bit forgotten in terms of the pop music history books, but who were really up-and-comers on the American hard rock scene at the end of the 60s! The lead off cut on the album is their great "Evil Woman" – a bassy, fuzzy track that's got some very catchy lead vocals – of the sort that would have sounded great coming out of an AM radio through that tiny speaker that graced the dashboards of most cars in 1970. And the rest of the record is equally nice – with cuts that include "Gonna Leave A Mark", "Busy Day", "Rollin", "White Eyes", "Thoughts", "Da Da Song", and "Sleepy Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Extra material from the 1961 date at Carnegie Hall, an astounding live set that featured Miles in a transitional quintet with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, and also with the Gil Evans Orchestra. The performance is rendered with a subtle grace, an excellent portrait of Miles at a pivotal point in his career, moving on from his early command of bop and explorations of the cool, but not yet exploding his sound altogether with the modal approach that he would soon adopt. Side one features "Concierto De Anranjuez", and side two features "Teo", 'Walkin" and "I Thought About You". LP, Vinyl record album

Freestyle classic by the one and only Debbie Deb, with an instantly recognizable melody. A guaranteed sure shot! 12-inch, Vinyl record

OG Fat Boys. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Tracks include "Fantastic Rhythm" and "Let Nature Take Its Course", unabridged versions of "Chelsea Bridge" and "Pretty Girl", and Strayhorn's 1942 arrangements of "Something To Live For". CD

A beautiful tribute to the historic pairing of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman – delivered here by one of our favorite jazz singers working today! The album's way more than just a simple rehash of a classic – as Kurt Elling expands upon the Coltrane/Hartman vibe tremendously, taking the music into even loftier territory with his own wonderful vocals, and creative presentation of the music that includes a few medley moments, and some great spoken bits to link the whole thing together! Musical arrangements are by Laurence Hobgood, who's been with Elling for years – and Hobgood really stretches out with his own energy here, to break the set past any easy cliches, and make it a really Elling-centrist effort that stands as one of Kurt's best records in years. The whole thing was recorded live, and titles include "Say It", "They Say It's Wonderful", "It's Easy To Remember", "Dedicated To You", "All Or Nothing At All", "You Are Too Beautiful", and a medley of "What's New/Lush Life/Autumn Serenade". CD

With Brock Peters, Esther Marrow, Jimmy McPhail, Bunny Bridges, and the Herman McCoy Choir. LP, Vinyl record album

A great LP issue of material that originally appeared on 78s during the Duke's first big rise to fame! LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Gil plays Jimi? Sounds like a gimmick, but it comes off pretty darn great – and it helps you forgive him for trying to convince the kids that he's not as old as his grey hair might make you think! As always with Evans, the key to the album is a beautiful balance between the strength of the players and vision of the arrangements – a hip mix of musicians who include Billy Harper on tenor and flute, Marvin Hannibal Peterson on trumpet, and both Ryo Kawasaki and John Abercrombie on guitars! Arrangements are great too – handled by Tom Malone, Warren Smith, and Howard Johnson – all of whom make the album way more than just an instrumental reading of Jimi Hendrix tunes – and instead a great platform for improvisation that uses tunes that include "Up From The Skies", "Foxy Lady", "Gypsy Eyes", "Voodoo Chile", "Angel", "Crosstown Traffic", and "Castles Made of Sand". Plus, the CD features 4 bonus alternate tracks – not on the original album! CD

One of the few albums as a leader from trumpeter Don Fagerquist – a player who's best known for his work in larger groups, but who steps out here leading a tight octet of his own! The set's certainly got traces of Don's work within larger west coast groups of the time – but also shares some of the more open and spontaneous styles of his labelmates' work on the Mode label at the time – kind of an opening of the west coast approach of the 50s, still with a focus on arrangements and the overall feel of the work – but also in a way that swings easily and openly! Members of the group include Herb Geller, Bob Enevoldson, Marty Paich, and Mel Lewis – and tracks include "The Song Is You", "Easy Living", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", and "All The Things You Are". Great cover, too! LP, Vinyl record album

A US album, but with work by Brit jazz greats like Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott on tenor, Dizzy Reece on trumpet, and Phil Seamen on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

19 tracks in all – including some classic Roxy Music work from the 70s, plus both solo Ferry and revival Roxy from the early 80s! CD

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A classic 70s soul soundtrack – and a dream of a combination! Curtis Mayfield wrote the soundtrack and produced the album – and the result is a killer batch of 70s soul tracks that matches Aretha's strong vocals with the hip Curtom sound of Chicago! Aretha was still doing pretty well at this point, but the album really gave her a push – and the super-hip setting let her record some of her best work of the 70s. If you own only one Aretha Franklin album from the 70s, it should probably be this one – as the mixture of soul, funk, and soundtrack grooves is great, and a refreshing change from some of the cliches that could show up on other records. Features the sublime "Something He Can Feel", plus "Loving You Baby", "Look Into Your Heart", "Sparkle", and Jump". CD

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A tribute to Herbie Hancock's most freewheeling group – with Billy Hart on drums and Eddie Henderson on trumpet! CD

Features Don Byron, Greg Tardy, and Miguel Zenon on reeds. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Mostly mellow numbers, but not without some charm – featuring tracks written by Rod McKuen for a variety of films and TV shows, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, and Joanna. Greenslade was McKuen's prime interpreter at the time –and he's recording here on Rod's own label. Titles in clude "Lonesome Cities", "Listen To The Warm", "Mr Kelly/Kelly & Me", "Jean", "Pastures Green", and "The Loner". LP, Vinyl record album

7 cuts: "Intro", which is actually a 3 minute instrumental track, "Sound, Noise, Music", "These Moments" feat. Bfap, "Mind Over Matter" feat. PSC, 'Dop What You Can", "Streetwalking" in vocal and instrumental versions. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Spare duets between Charlie Haden and Hampton Hawes – just bass and piano, with nothing else to hold them up – presented here as a wonderful illustration of the mature, sophisticated talents both artists had developed by the 70s! Hawes had really learned how to spin out a special kind of longform magic as the 60s turned into the new decade – and here, it's great to hear that approach without any drum in the group at all – as the tracks are long and wonderfully introspective, and offer up some beautifully moody work from Haden on bass. Titles include "As Long As There's Music", "This Is Called Love", "Hello Goodbye", "Irene", and "Rain Forest". CD

Our favorite side of Charlie Haden – one that we love from classic recordings on Impulse and ECM – and heard for the first time in years on this new album of gentle protestations against the current state of the US! The album features wonderfully evocative arrangements from Carla Bley – who also plays piano on the sessions, and co-leads the group of younger players with Haden. Tunes are a tapestry of themes designed to offer a different vision of America than the one that's currently getting dragged through the mud in a host of foreign relations disasters and poorly-planned military outings – and Haden and Bley draw from a surprising range of sources for the material in the set. Titles include Haden's "Not In Our Name", Bley's "Blue Anthem", Pat Metheney's "This Is Not America", Ornette Coleman's "Skies Of America", and versions of "Amazing Grace", "Adagio", "Lift Every Voice & Sing", "America The Beautiful", and "Goin Home". CD

A lost chapter in the all too short history of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra – an album recorded shortly after the group's better-known album for ECM in the 80s! Like other Liberation Music outings, Carla Bley is a very strong presence on this set – penning original tunes for the album, handling arrangements, and sharing Charlie Haden's love of rhythms and inspirations from Latin and African sources – inspirations that are brought in subtly, and shaped to fit the overall spirit of the group. Players include Tom Harrell, Ken McIntyre, Joe Lovano, Dewey Redman, and Ray Anderson – and titles include "Dream Keeper", "Rabo De Nube", "Nkosi Sikelel'I Afrika", and "Sandino". CD

Hardly any ragtime here – despite the title – and instead, the album's one of the greatest ever from drummer Beaver Harris – cut with his ultra-hip 360 Degree Music Experience group! The title is somewhat accurate in that the record brings together a long history of jazz-based expression – almost a century's worth of music, served up by Harris and the group members with the same fluid sensibility as Jaki Byard in his best work, although Byard was never this ambitious! The ensemble is somewhat large, but really comes together well – with an impressive range of artists who include Doc Cheatham on trumpet, Marshall Brown on trombone, Dave Burrell on piano, Keith Marks on flute, Cecil McBee and Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Maxine Sullivan and Bill Willingham on vocals. The album's sort of a mini-history of jazz, but one that's hardly hokey at all – and which usually veers towards Harris' more righteous modes of the 70s, even when hitting older styles. Sullivan is especially great – singing here as a sophisticated soul jazz diva of the 70s, and hardly the older-styled singer we might expect. A few moments are stripped down and percussive – and other odd instrumentation includes a bit of sitar and steel drums. Titles include "It's Hard To But We Do", "I Wish I Knew", "Can There Be Peace?", "Down In Brazil", "African Drums", and "Round Trip". LP, Vinyl record album

Weird, wonderful sounds from George Harrison – with lots of Indian music in the mix! Titles include "Greasy Legs", "Guru Vandana", "Microbes", "On The Bed", "Glass Box", "Singing Om", and "Love Scene". LP, Vinyl record album

You probably know the music – as the record got a lot of press when it came out – but in case you don't, some tracks feature Herbie Hancock and Christian McBride backing Joe up, and others have Eliane Elias and Oscar Castro-Neves. Titles include "Boto", "Felicidade", "Passarim", and "Photograph". CD

Amazing sounds from Joe Henderson's later years – a completely sublime take on the music of Billy Strayhorn, and a wonderful demonstration of Henderson's mature talents on the tenor! There's a fantastic balance here between darkness and light, grit and clarity, heard in Joe's very first notes on the set – and holding on strong through some of the bolder moments in the set – with work by a shifting lineup, from solo to quintet, that features Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, Stephen Scott on piano, Christian McBride on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums. Yet although Marsalis might be a draw for some folks, we really love it best when Henderson gets to do his own thing – stretching out in these marvelous laidback solos that are heavy on those rich tones he developed in his early years, yet turned towards Strayhorn's brilliant ear for space between the sounds. Titles include "Blood Count", "Isfahan", "Rain Check", "Lotus Blossom", "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing", and "Upper Manhattan Medical Group". CD

Features music from Citizen Kane, Snows Of Kilimanjaro, Jane Eyre, and Devil & Daniel Webster – all conducted by Bernard Herrmann! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly our favorite album ever from pianist Andrew Hill – a really unique outing that features the vibes of Bobby Hutcherson and a rare non-Sun Ra appearance by tenorist John Gilmore! The presence of Hutcherson brings a real "new thing" energy to the album – a feel that's similar to Bobby's classic Dialogue album, of which Hill was such an important part. But the searching tenor of Gilmore also brings a striking new level to the session as well – and his solos open up with a raw, earthy quality that really shades in the album with a great deal of feeling. Gilmore's role here is a bit like that of Joe Henderson on his freer Blue Note material – but his sound still undeniably unique, at a level that really makes us wish he'd recorded more albums like this at the time. The tracks are all originals by Hill, and include the titles "Duplicity", "Black Monday", "The Griots", and "Le Serpent Qui Danse". CD features 2 bonus alternate takes too! CD

An excellent album that features loads of material from Benny Hills' early days – when he was tighter and fresher, and before he worked too many years for ITV! You may recognize a number of these titles from later recordings, but these early ones are just great, and feature a much more lively reading of the material than other ones – full of sharp-witted lines, and a good sense of timing – all of the sort that have made Hill one of our favorites for wordplay over the years. Songs include "Ernie", "Broken-Hearted Lover's Stew", "Fad Eyed Fal", "The Beach At San Tropez", "Ting A Ling A Loo", "The Dustbins Of Your Mind", and "Rachel" – and spoken comedy includes "Ted", "Tour Guide", "Interview", and "The Birds & The Bees". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

About as classic as you can get for Billie Holiday on Verve – a wonderfully intimate small group session, recorded with top-shelf players and a smokey torchy mood! Billie's in her later years by the time of the set, but somehow singing with even more emotion and life – working with a group that includes Benny Carter, Jimmy Rowles, Harry Edison, Larry Bunker, and John Simmons – on tracks that include "It Had To Be You", "A Fine Romance", "Gone With The Wind", "Isn't It A Lovely Day", "Ghost Of A Chance", and "Come Rain Or Come Shine". LP, Vinyl record album

Landmark improvisations from two of the most important bassists in avant garde jazz – Dave Holland and Barre Phillips – two players each coming from two different scenes and styles, but working together here perfectly in a groundbreaking session of all-bass work! Holland plays a bit of cello on the album, and the interplay of the instruments is wonderful – open and flowing in the space of a young ECM, but with a lot more bite than other work for the label too. Side one features two longer improvised works – while side two features shorter tracks that include "Song For Clare", "Beans", "Maybe I Can Sing It For You", and "Just A Whisper". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful work from Jamal's early Chicago years – and a perfectly titled set that really gets at the differences he made in modern jazz! The tunes are wonderfully fluid, soulful, and swinging – but not in the gutbuckety style of other trios of the time, more in a lightly modern style that features almost equal interplay between Jamal's piano, the bass of Israel Crosby, and the guitar of the wonderful Ray Crawford – who really ads an amazing touch to the record. Tracks include the great original "New Rhumba", plus cool versions of "Jeff", "Darn That Dream", "Spring Is Here", and "All Of You". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Large group of improvisational musicians performing works by Mike Nock including " Earthbound", "Floating Cloud", "Flowing Water", and others. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Recorded live on tour. Cassette

Very cool – a Japanese-only collection of unissued material from the 40s! LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool – a Japanese-only collection of unissued material from the 40s! LP, Vinyl record album

A really goofy little record – one that has the great Spike Jones taking on the hi-fi generation – demonstrating the qualities of your system with a huge amount of sound effects mixed with music! LP, Vinyl record album

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With Richard Sussman on piano. CD

... CD

Lee Konitz on alto saxophone, Catherine Bent on cello, Judith Insell on viola, and Meg Okura and Rob Thomas on violin. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Features Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, Cory Smythe on piano and quarter-tone keyboard, Sam Pluta on electronics, Zeena Parkins on electric harp, Adam Matlock on accordion, Josh Modney on violin, Robert Landfermann on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. CD

Andy LaVerne on piano, Rick Margitza on tenor and soprano saxophone, Marc Johnson on bass, and Danny Gottlieb on drums. CD

Features Tony Coe on tenor, Ray Crane on trumpet, Bruce Turner on alto, and Brian Lemon on piano. LP, Vinyl record album

Yoko shows her Fluxus roots on this album of trippy experimental stuff. Side one is a live piece called "Cambridge 1969", which is performed by John and Yoko, with the help of avant jazzmen John Tchicai and John Stevens. Lots of noisy guitar on that one. Side 2 features a number of spare tracks recorded on a cassette at Queen Charlotte Hospital, in 1968. Cuts include "No Bed For Beatle John" (as pictured on the cover), "Baby's Heartbeat", and "Two Minutes Silence". LP, Vinyl record album

Symphonic ballet produced by John Lewis, following up his work on The Modern Jazz Quartet & Orchestra album. LP, Vinyl record album