... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

With Nick Fraser on drums. CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Two long tracks – "Dastgah Shur" and "Avaze Isfahan" – performed solo on setar. CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Classic! Although folks had been saying for years that Prince was funky, "Kiss" was the first tune to really have him going to town on the instruments – in a way that we always expect from a true funk act, but not so much for the pop charts – reason alone to adore this one! The track snaps along with an intensity that makes it an instant classic groover – and flip side "Love Or Money" is a pretty nice track too! 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

4 tracks total. CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Music from Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Sammy Davis Jr. And Laurindo Almeida, John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman, Chet Baker, Jack Jones, Bill Henderson, Bob Manning, Billy Eckstine, Bing Crosby, Jackie Paris, and more. CD

With Tom Jones! 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A fantastic record – one of the best jazz vocal records of the 80s, and a real bright spot in an often dim decade for jazz! The set is Carmen Lundy's debut – and it's a masterful self-produced effort that immediately put her in the ranks of the ultra-hip, ultra-soulful jazz crowd – singers like Betty Carter and Dee Dee Bridgewater, both of whom took a lot longer to sound this good than Carmen! The record is set in a perfect setting – Carmen working closely with musicians headed up by brother Curtis on bass, and including soulful players like Bobby Watson, Rene McLean, Cecil Bridgewater, Jon Faddis, and Harry Whitaker. The whole thing's great – the kind of righteous vocal set that few singer ever seem to make this well – and titles include some great originals like "Good Morning Kiss", "Time is Love", and "Perfect Stranger" – plus excellent versions of "Dindi", "Love For Sale", and "The Lamp Is Low". CD also features 3 bonus alternate takes! CD

Classic! Although folks had been saying for years that Prince was funky, "Kiss" was the first tune to really have him going to town on the instruments – in a way that we always expect from a true funk act, but not so much for the pop charts – reason alone to adore this one! The track snaps along with an intensity that makes it an instant classic groover – and flip side "Love Or Money" is a pretty nice track too! 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

One of the best-ever Mel Torme jazz vocal albums – right up there with his best Bethlehem recordings! The set was recorded with Marty Paich's Dek-tette, who set the tone perfectly for the warmly perfect style of The Velvet Fog – and who, like Mel, manage to be totally polished, yet also still swing with a fair bit of emotion. The result is a swinging batch of standards that lets Mel shine at his best – including titles like "I've Got The World On A String", "I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You", "Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea", and "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart". LP, Vinyl record album

"Do Your Thing" is a great one from Charles Wright and the group! The cut's got that messed-up funky groove they hit so well – with lots of tight funky playing, some great shouted lyrics, and a hook that drives the whole thing home. "A Dance" is more conventional soul – but still pretty nice! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Solo debut from former Fleetwood Mac guitarist, featuring the yacht rock classic "Sentimental Lady". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Wild wild early work from Andre! "Just Because Of A Kiss" has a weird foghorn vocal at the beginning – then slowly steps into one of the strangest piano parts you'll ever hear, augmented by great vocals from Andre and the group. "Bacon Fat" is a wonderful vamping tune – tenor honking out the beat, while the vocal group "wops" their way across the rhythm, and Andre kind of recites the strange lyrics! 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

The legendary debut of Hackamore Brick – a really unique little group who only gave the world this one little record, then disappeared for decades! Although issued on the mostly-pop Kama Sutra imprint, the album's got this earnest, honest quality that's really refreshing for the time – neither too-jamming rock or psych, but also not really singer-songwriter material either – and instead that kind of personal blend of acoustic elements and electric passion that's been rediscovered recently in the farther reaches of the "private" underground of the 70s. Yet here, the group are emerging already full-formed – with songwriting that's sublime, vocals that are transcendent, and mix of modes that was certainly a head-scratcher to the mainstream market of the time – but which has gone onto make the album a real treasure that's gotten some much-needed rediscovery in recent years. Titles include "Got A Gal Named Wilma", "Reachin", "Radio", "Peace Has Come", "Zip Gun Woman", "Someone You Know", and "Oh Those Sweet Bananas". CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A standout classic from Fern Kinney – and a set that not only marked a big moment of evolution for southern soul, but also for the Mississippi scene as well! The set was recorded at the Malaco studios in Jackson, but has a vibe that's much closer to some of the TK Records material from Miami – that maturation of southern soul during the disco era – as warmer, more modern touches came into play with rootsier styles of vocals! Mike Lewis handled the string arrangements – giving the record the same disco vibe as some of his other work of the time, including Anita Ward's big debut – and Fern's vocals have this higher range than usual for a southern singer – almost more innately tuned towards clubby rhythms. Titles include a big hit remake of King Floyd's "Groove Me" – really marking the change from the original version – plus "Baby Let Me Kiss You", "Pillow Talk", "Sun Moon Rain", "Angel On The Ground", and "Under Fire". LP, Vinyl record album

A standout classic from Fern Kinney – and a set that not only marked a big moment of evolution for southern soul, but also for the Mississippi scene as well! The set was recorded at the Malaco studios in Jackson, but has a vibe that's much closer to some of the TK Records material from Miami – that maturation of southern soul during the disco era – as warmer, more modern touches came into play with rootsier styles of vocals! Mike Lewis handled the string arrangements – giving the record the same disco vibe as some of his other work of the time, including Anita Ward's big debut – and Fern's vocals have this higher range than usual for a southern singer – almost more innately tuned towards clubby rhythms. Titles include a big hit remake of King Floyd's "Groove Me" – really marking the change from the original version – plus "Baby Let Me Kiss You", "Pillow Talk", "Sun Moon Rain", "Angel On The Ground", and "Under Fire". CD

Great double album live set with Roland leading a tight group through a long and varied set of material, all of which showcases the odd goofy sound of his music, and his offbeat approach to more familiar tracks. He talks a bit, makes the odd joke about being blind, and never ceases to amaze with his playing. A bit of vocals too, but sung in such a heartfelt way that you've gotta love 'em! Tracks include "Pedal Up", "Clickey Clack", "Prelude To A Kiss", "Bright Moments Song", "If I Loved You", and "Jitterbug waltz". CD

Two great chapters of work from this legendary soul group – one that started out in the late 50s with an R&B vibe, rose to great fame on Motown, then really hit their stride on the material featured on this set! Gladys was always a great singer, but she really seemed to move onto greatness in the 70s – especially on the Buddah Records material that begins this collection – music that has the group moving past familiar group soul modes, to a sophisticated territory that really let Knight become the sort of diva that nobody would have expected a few years before! There's a richness in her voice that's really wonderful – and that continues strongly on the second half, which collects material for Columbia Records – including some great mellow groovers, and even a few hits from later years too. Package features 37 tracks in all – and titles include "The Way We Were/Try To Remember", "On & On", "To Be Invisible", "The Need To Be", "Little Bit Of Love", "The Makings Of You", "Make Yours A Happy Home (alt mix)", "Come Back & Finish What You Started", "Midnight Train To Georgia", "I've Got To Use My Imagination", "Landlord", "Taste Of Bitter Love", "I Will Fight", "Bourgie Bourgie", "Save The Overtime", "Hero", "Kiss Away The Pain", "You're Number One", "Seconds", "Add It Up", "I Will Fight", and "Still Such A Thing". CD

A bit one for Patti Labelle in the 80s – a set that crossed over big at the time, but which still has the lady in very soulful territory! Patti seems to sparkle most here on the mellower cuts – the gentle groovers and laidback ballads that helped open her up to a whole new audience, and which really give her a different sound than her 70s Labelle years. Titles include the Bacharach/Carol Bayer Sager title "On My Own" – sung as a duet with Michael McDonald – plus "Oh People", "There's A Winner In You", "Finally We're Back Together", "Beat My Heart Like A Drum", "Kiss Away The Pain", "Something Special", and "You're Mine Tonight". LP, Vinyl record album

We have to admit, even if this record wasn't a fierce salvo loaded down with tough dancehall tracks, we'd still love it for the great photos of Levy in a red, green and gold Robin hood getup on the cover! Junjo Lawes and Roots Radics may well have robbed from the rich for the mighty blasts of rhythm under Levy's outstanding vocals on this set that keeps up the pressure from start to finish! 10 tracks in all, including "Robin Hood", "Rock And Come In", "Love Sister Carol", "Gonna Tell Your Girlfriend", "You Come To Ask What Is Love", "Why Did You Leave Me", "Na Broke No Fight Over No Woman", "When Friday Comes", "Like How You Kiss & Caress Me" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

More great grooves by this incredible band with a real talent for mixing jazz funk organ with a much freer sensibility – hitting a range of influences that run the gamut from Jimmy Smith to Larry Young, and blending them into something all their own. Titles include "Spy Kiss", "Night Marchers", "Kenny", "Lifeblood", "Henduck", "Think", and "Dracula". LP, Vinyl record album

A further step forward in the career of Joni Mitchell – a record that not only continues the jazzier currents she explored in the 70s, but also brings in a whole bunch of different modes as well – so much so, it's almost as if Joni's daring anyone to still call her a folk singer with the album! The themes are wonderfully sophisticated, as is the songwriting – the king of material that would keep Mitchell strong for decades, while so many of her contemporaries faltered – as you'll hear on the tracks "In France They Kiss On Main Street", "Sweet Bird", "Shadows & Light", "The Boho Dance", "Don't Interrupt The Sorrow", "The Jungle Line", and "Edith & The Kingpin". LP, Vinyl record album

2 albums on 1 CD – and a package that not only features great work from leader Lennie Neihaus, but also some great tenor from Bill Perkins too! On the first album Lennie swings, but he keeps it cool too – as this rare Mercury set steps off of the same octet energy Niehaus brought to his better-known sides for Contemporary in the mid 50s! The players here are a bit lesser known than some of Niehaus' other all-star groups – with Ken Shroyer on trombone, Ed Leddy on trumpet, and Steve Perlow on baritone – alongside some nicely searing tenor from Bill Perkins, whose presence always makes a set like this sparkle! Lou Levy plays piano and Red Kelly is on bass – and titles include "Soon", "Little Girl Blues", "P & L", "Four Eleven West", "He Ain't Got Rhythm", "Kiss Me & Kill Me With Love", and "I See Your Face Before Me". The second half of the CD drops out Lennie Niehaus entirely, and features the album Bill Perkins Live On Stage – originally recorded for Pacific Jazz in 1956, and featuring Niehaus arrangements on 2 tracks. The group includes Perkins on tenor, Bud Shank on alto, Jack Nimitz on baritone, Stu Williamson on trumpet, Carl Fontana on trombone, Russ Freeman on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. The live setting takes nothing away from the perfection of the group's conception, as Perkins' leadership is impeccable, bringing together the horns in a beautiful wash of sound. Titles include "Let Me See", "Zing Zang", "For Dancers Only", "One Hundred Years From Today", "Song Of The Islands", and "As They Reveled". CD

Great lean grooves from vibist Red Norvo – exactly the kind or record that shows why he was such an amazing talent on his instrument in the 50s! The album has Red working without piano or drums – just the guitar of Jimmy Raney and bass of Red Mitchell – both players who are hipper than the usual cats to handle their instruments too, especially Raney, whose sharp tone is a great match for Norvo's vibes. Red's vibes are way up front on most of the tracks, but leave plenty of space for the other players to shine, especially Raney's guitar work on "J9 Hate K9" and "Out Of Nowhere". Other tracks include "Crazy Rhythm", "Puby La Keg", "Just One Of Those Things", "Everything I've Got", and "Prelude To A Kiss". CD

Prince in a grand groove – really hitting a new level of funk with a razor-sharp edge – and even blowing away some of his work on previous records! The record's a soundtrack for a film – Under The Cherry Moon – and although that movie never had the success of Purple Rain, we actually think it left behind an even stronger musical legacy – one that has Prince finding even more of a funky voice than before, with so many wonderfully freaky twists and turns! The music never got the showcase it might have deserved, because of the failure of the film – but it's one of our favorite Prince albums ever, and includes the massively funky "Kiss", the closest Prince ever got to James Brown, The whole album's got some great sweeping, pop psyche orchestral arrangements by Clare Fischer – and titles include "Christopher Tracey's Parade", "I Wonder U", "Under The Cherry Moon", "Girls & Boys", and "Anotherloverholenyohead". CD

Soaring pop from this groovy 60s group – with arrangements by Al Capps, and titles that include "Young Girl", "I'm Losing You", "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife", "Kiss Me Goodbye", and "Wait Till The Sun Shines On You". LP, Vinyl record album

The masterpiece by one of the greatest, most sincere rock bands of all time! Let It Be veers all over the place, or at least as much as jangly rock music can, in the best way possible. Includes the pseudo twangy opener "I Will Dare", with the distinctly midwestern hardcore of the group's earlier years showing up on "We're Coming Out" and "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out", and Westerberg's great heart-on-sleeve, ragged balladry appearing for the closers. Like the Meat Puppets and X, the 'Mats really found themselves after they shed the rigid rules of punk rock, and developed into something every bit as honest and heartfelt. They followed the rock songbook just enough to keep their work warm and familiar, but with way too huge and hard-pounding heart to ever seem even the least bit derivative. Hell, they even make Kiss's "Black Diamond" sound sincere! Other tracks include "Favorite Thing", "Androgynous", "Unsatisfied", "Seen Your Video", "Gary's Got A Boner", "Sixteen Blue" and "Answering Machine". LP, Vinyl record album

Late Sonny Rollins on Milestone, and a record with some really wonderful horn interplay – thanks to a group that includes an added brass lineup on a few cuts! The core combo, a quintet, features wonderful trombone from Clifton Anderson – a player who really made some of Rollins' records from this stretch light up nicely – bringing in a deeper sound on an instrument that Sonny didn't always work with in the past. The titles, as you might expect from the album's name, are "old flames" – standards worked nicely by Sonny, Anderson, and a group that also features Tommy Flanagan on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Tracks include "Prelude To A Kiss", "Darn That Dream", "Where Or When", "My Old Flame", and "Times Slimes". CD

A crackling bit of hardbop from Sonny Rollins – and a session that has Sonny playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown group that included Bud Powell's brother Richie on piano! Sonny had already made a strong name for himself on albums issued under the Roach/Brown tag at the time, and here the group returns the favor by allowing Sonny to lead, and by giving him a good deal of time in the spotlight! Rollins' solo ability is risen to a razor-sharp level for the set – really getting fire, and managing to invent at a speed and sharpness that's simply amazing. Titles include Sonny's classic reading of "Pent-up House", plus "Valse Hot", "Kiss & Run", and "Count Your Blessings". CD

A crackling bit of hardbop from Sonny Rollins – and a session that has Sonny playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown group that included Bud Powell's brother Richie on piano! Sonny had already made a strong name for himself on albums issued under the Roach/Brown tag at the time, and here the group returns the favor by allowing Sonny to lead, and by giving him a good deal of time in the spotlight! Rollins' solo ability is risen to a razor-sharp level for the set – really getting fire, and managing to invent at a speed and sharpness that's simply amazing. Titles include Sonny's classic reading of "Pent-up House", plus "Valse Hot", "Kiss & Run", and "Count Your Blessings". CD

Nice album that contains a mid-50s session recorded by Rollins for Prestige – with a quintet that includes the Clifford Brown-Max Roach ensemble, with Rollins filling in the tenor spot. Richie Powell's on piano, and the whole group has a very tight "roots of hardbop" sort of sound. Includes a classic reading of "Pent-up House", plus "Valse Hot", "Kiss & Run", and "Count Your Blessings". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that will blow your mind – way different than you might expect from the cover! Sure, Pee Wee was a bit of a traditionalist on his instrument – the clarinet – but he's working here in a starkly modern way that almost recalls some of the best 50s work of Jimmy Guiffre, or some of the earlier sides by Steve Lacy. There's still a swing-based approach to the tunes, but they're handled in a spare style that features equal interplay between Russell, trombonist Marshall Brown, bassist Russell George, and drummer Ronnie Bedford – a great player who really makes the album sparkle! The tracks include a couple of Thelonious Monk titles – "Ask Me Now!" and "Hackensack" as well as a couple of Marshall Brown originals – "Licorice Stick" and "Calypso Walk". Other titles are Ornette Coleman's "Turnaround", Coltrane's "Some Other Blues" and Ellington's "Prelude To A Kiss". LP, Vinyl record album

Sade's last LP from the early 90s before she went into her brief recording and performing hiatus. Like the preceding records, the approach is heavy on the jazz side of things, with a crisp, spare touch on the production and a wonderfully soulful feel to the songwriting. At this point she no longer had to work to break into the charts, but that didn't stop her and her band from coming up with a great batch of material that managed to be easily accessible without losing any of the sublime grace that set her apart. Includes "No Ordinary Love", "Cherish The Day", "Feel No Pain", "I Couldn't Love You More", "Like A Tattoo", "Kiss Of Life", "Pearls", "Bullet Proof Soul" and "Mermaid". LP, Vinyl record album

A very different album than you might expect from London reedman Shabaka Hutchings – a set that's got a very peaceful, meditative vibe a times – and one that has Shabaka looking inside for righteous inspiration, then spinning things out in a beautiful way! Hutchings put aside his more familiar tenor for flute on most of the record – although he also blows tenor on one track, plus a bit of shakuhachi and clarinet as well – amidst a shifting array of guests who include Jason Moran and Nduduzo Makhathini on piano, Esperanza Spaulding on bass, Nasheet Waits on drums, Brandee Younger on harp, Carlos Nino on percussion, and Migue Atwood Ferguson on violin – the last two of whom are maybe no surprise, given the vibe of the album. There's vocals on a few tracks – from Saul Williams, Moses Sumney, Elucid, and Laraaji – and Andre 3000 also plays flute on one track too. Titles include "Kiss Me Before I Forget", "Song Of The Motherland", "Breathing", "Insecurities", "End Of Innocence", "As The Planets & Stars Collapse", and "The Wounded Need To Be Replentished". LP, Vinyl record album