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Late life brilliance from the legendary Charles Lloyd – a reed player who seems to have given the world more great music in the past 20 years than he had in the previous 60s! Lloyd keeps on moving forward with all these new ideas and fresh conceptions – and here, he blows tenor, alto, and flutes in a great quartet that features Jason Moran on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass, and Brian Blade on drums – all excellent players on their own, but musicians who also put their egos aside to fold into the richness of Lloyd's music. The set's got a subtle spiritual current throughout – nicely understated, but very pure – on titles that include "The Water Is Rising", "Defiant Tender Warrior", "Beyond Darkness", "Sky Valley Spirit Of The Forest", "Balm In Gilead", "Cape To Cairo", and "Ghost Of Lady Day". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful album from this very hip trio – and like the first, a set that's got a vibe that's very different than most other work of its nature! Sure, it's a guitar trio album – Oren Ambarchi on guitar, Johan Berthling on bass, and Andreas Werliin on drums – but the way the instruments relate is often very different – especially the use of guitar from Ambarchi, which often has this sort of subtle sonic energy rather than tautly plucked notes – qualities that get a lot of resonance next to the always-fantastic basswork of Berthling, a player we've really come to love for fresh ideas in music! Titles include "Tre", "TVA","Fyra", and "En". LP, Vinyl record album

Guitarist Oren Ambarchi is joined here by two players we know and love from the Swedish jazz scene – bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin – both coming here along with Oren's guitar lines in a session that's got a very unique vibe! The album's not entirely jazz, but it's also not like some of the more introspective guitar sessions from the acoustic underground – as there's a very strong rhythmic pulse to the record, even when mellow – pushed forward by those wonderfully round, full bass notes that we've always dug in Berthling's playing – wonderful in a jazz setting, and equally great here! Tracks are all nice and long – and the album features four different selections, numbered 1 to 4. LP, Vinyl record album

Chef Raekwon cooks up one of finest hip hop albums in history – a standout moment in the Wu Tang canon and the 90s in general! Given Ghostface's presence throughout, the prime RZA production and other top shelf guests, you could almost call this one a Wu Tang Clan album, if not for Raekwon's incredible leadership behind the mic. Guests include Nas, Method Man, Inspektah Deck and more from the Wu Tang family. An absolute standard-bearer! Titles include "Spot Rusherz", "Can It Be All So Simple", "Knuckleheadz", "Criminology", "Ice Water", "Wisdom Body", and "Wu-Gambinos". This beautiful Get On Down 2LP pressing includes the bonus track "North Star (Jewels)". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic work from a real golden period in the career of improvising reedman Akira Sakata – that 80s moment when he stepped out even more strongly on his own than he did in previous years – sometimes using more space between his notes, and coming up with a sound that can be incredibly seductive, and surprisingly soulful at times! Sakata blows tenor here next to the drums of Takeo Moriyama – and he moves between moments of intensity and others of contemplation – as does Moriyama on the drums, which sometimes have a quality that's very low, or even brooding – before exploding again into new fireworks! The interplay between the pair is tremendous – very different than European free jazz of the time, on titles that include "Chiasma", "Ghosts", "Satsuki", "Archezoa", "Hachi", "Dance", "Tsui Oku", and "Mitochondria". LP, Vinyl record album

If you never went to Skippy White's record store in Boston, you really missed a hell of a shop – a surprisingly great outlet for rare and underground soul, located way up in New England – and a place that was giving the world wonderful music over the course of many decades! Back in the early days of the store, Skippy really had his ear to the scene – and managed to capture all sorts of great artists who were working very underground on the Boston scene – mostly soul acts, but a bit of blues and gospel too – all featured here in the first-ever collection to look at White's work at this level. The package was put together by Eli Paperboy Reed, and has notes from Boston contemporaries Peter Guaralnick and Peter Wolf – yet it's far hipper than any of those references might imply – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Do The Thing" by Earl Lett, "I Love What I Found In You" by The Precisions, "I've Been Lifted Out Of Sin" by Sons Of David, "Evil Woman Blues" by Guitar Nubbit, "Treason" by The Precisions, "Holy Ghost & Fire" by The Lord's Messengers, "Skippy White (parts 1 & 2)" by Junior Washington, "I Was Standing" by Lynn Harmonizers, and "Now Is The Time" by Earl Lett. LP, Vinyl record album