A fantastic look at the great range of portable turntables that have been created over the years – the sorts of lightweight record players that you can use to play vinyl on the go – all without the need to plug into any sort of larger stereo system! The book focuses on quality players – those that have a proper stylus and decent output – not the many toys and other models that might do more harm to a record than good – and the huge oversized volume has a whopping 222 turntables within, each presented in gorgeous full color photographs, with accompanying text on the models from Dan Epstein, the turntable expert who created the book with photographer Eilon Paz, who you'll know from Dust & Grooves projects (no relation to Dusty Groove, Inc). There's also a section at the front about collectors of vintage portables – including the cat pictured on the front – and the massive hardcover book is 462 pages, very heavy, and full color throughout! Book

A rare glimpse of the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane – recorded in Monk's home turf of The Five Spot by Coltrane's wife at the time! The recording was done on a portable tape recorder, but the overall quality is surprisingly strong – not in stereo, but with more than enough depth to capture the interplay between Monk and Coltrane in the more relaxed, open setting of the club. 3 of the tracks on the set are quite long – "Trinkle Trinkle", "In Walked Bud", and "I Mean You" – and they're complemented by 2 shorter tunes – "Epistrophy" and "Crepuscule With Nellie". Group features Roy Haynes on drums and Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass. CD

Beautiful solo recordings from saxophone genius Ken Vandermark – music that we don't normally hear in such a setting from Ken, given what a strong collaborator he is – and a set that's just a further reminder of the endless depths of his talents! The material was recorded at Vandermark's apartment during the pandemic, but hardly feels like one of those beat-down sessions from that time – as while solo, it's clear that the reedman was driven by a new sense of creativity – as you'll hear these selections of varying length, on a variety of horns, dedicated to some of Vandermark's key inspirations – a long list of heavyweights that includes William S Burroughs and Willem De Kooning. Titles include "Portable Nowhere", "Shared Testament", "Looking Back At Looking Forward", "End The Giraffe Lottery", "Feet On Main", and "Imagine The Paper". CD