From the end of the 70s onward, the Italian Black Saint record label offered up some of the most high quality spiritual and avant jazz of the time – really taking over where American record companies had dropped the ball, and allowing a huge wave of new energy from both older musicians and a younger generation who might never have gotten the right level of exposure, had Black Saint (and related Soul Note imprint) stepped into the scene! This package offers up some of the coolest cuts from Black Saint – and has an especially strong focus on the work that the label did to carry forward older spiritual sounds, especially those first unlocked on Impulse Records – a legacy that really comes through strongly here. Titles include "Love On A Far Away Planet" and "Mayan Temples" by Sun Ra, "Song For Mozambique/Sea Of Faces" by Archie Shepp, "Guitar Vibes" by Karl Berger, "Tap Dancer" by Oliver Lake, "Ode To The Flower Maiden" by John Carter, "Mama Marimba" by Joseph Jarman and Donh Moye, "Sixth Sense" by Don Pullen, "Hattie Wall" by World Saxophone Quartet, "Laja" by Muhal Richard Abrams, and "Metamusician's Stomp" by Andrew Cyrille & Maono. LP, Vinyl record album

Sun Ra, Parliament, and other soul and jazz acts famously took us into space back in the day – and in the wake of their journeys, countless other artists elected to take the trip too – soaring to the cosmos on a blend of beats, basslines, keyboards, and vocals – all elements that are given an especially electro-tuned vibe in this great second volume of the series! The space age journeys are maybe more akin to the world of Newcleus than Earth Wind & Fire – lots of processing on the vocals, sweet riffing on the keyboards, and basslines that are tightly tied to the rhythms of the grooves – served up here in a way that references sounds of the street, west coast funk, and even earlier hip hop – all brought together in a very well-chosen array of tracks! As always with Soul Jazz, the presentation is as great as the music within – a set list that includes "More Ounce Rap" by Bobby Deemo, "Master Groove (inst)" by Chance, "Shine Your Light" by The Grainers, "Get Right" by Mid City Crew, "Summer Times" by Frank James & Shadow, "Year 2001 Boogie" by Rich Cason & The Galactic Orchestra, "Smurf Trek" by Chapter Three, "Let's Ride" by Junei, "Breakdance" by Command Performance, and "Computer Pop" by Maggotron. CD

Revolutionary jazz from the era of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond – soulful and spiritual jazz as important as any of the era – an impeccably well chosen compilation of Freedom, Rhythm & Sound from Soul Jazz Records! The set is a tie-in with Soul Jazz's essential Freedom, Rhythm & Sound book – documenting the sounds and providing an aural portrait of a fertile creative period in African American music and cultural history – when the societal struggles were a counterpart to the heretofore unseen depth of creativity and empowerment in jazz music. Includes a nice booklet of notes, and songs from both the independent underground, and some that made it onto established labels like Verve and others, and material by Joe Henderson, Archie Shepp, Errol Parker, Mary Lou Williams, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Horace Tapscott, Sun Ra and many more. 23 pivotal tracks on 2CDs, many running on the longer side, for a straight up incredible set of spiritual soul jazz: includes "Africa" by Oliver Lake/NTU, "Space A Nova" by Stanton Davis' Ghetto/Mysticism, "Miss DD" by Mary Lou Williams, "Old Time Religion" by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, "Drinking Song" by Gary Bartz NTU Troop, "Attica Blues" by Archie Shepp, "Peyote Song No III" by Horace Tapscott & Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, "Freedom Time" by Pharoahs, "Black Survival" by Roy Brooks & Artistic Truth and more. CD

Sun Ra, Parliament, and other soul and jazz acts famously took us into space back in the day – and in the wake of their journeys, countless other artists elected to take the trip too – soaring to the cosmos on a blend of beats, basslines, keyboards, and vocals – all elements that are given an especially electro-tuned vibe in this great second volume of the series! The space age journeys are maybe more akin to the world of Newcleus than Earth Wind & Fire – lots of processing on the vocals, sweet riffing on the keyboards, and basslines that are tightly tied to the rhythms of the grooves – served up here in a way that references sounds of the street, west coast funk, and even earlier hip hop – all brought together in a very well-chosen array of tracks! As always with Soul Jazz, the presentation is as great as the music within – a set list that includes "More Ounce Rap" by Bobby Deemo, "Master Groove (inst)" by Chance, "Shine Your Light" by The Grainers, "Get Right" by Mid City Crew, "Summer Times" by Frank James & Shadow, "Year 2001 Boogie" by Rich Cason & The Galactic Orchestra, "Smurf Trek" by Chapter Three, "Let's Ride" by Junei, "Breakdance" by Command Performance, and "Computer Pop" by Maggotron. LP, Vinyl record album

A great look at the bright world of female soul in Japan during the 80s – a time when the nation was hitting some of its greatest heights of the postwar years – and was coming up with a magical musical groove to follow! While disco reigned in American clubs in the late 70s, the style really took off in Tokyo during the following decade – maybe mixed a bit with European and 80s club styles, but still unabashedly as upbeat and bubbling as American work of previous years – all to showcase a range of female singers whose style really matches the groove! The music takes off a bit from that shift into soul by Japanese jazz singers in the 70s – but is much farther than that mode overall, especially once the beats and keyboards get going. The package does a great job of being faithful to this legacy – and includes notes on each song and artist, along with album covers too. Titles include "Wanna Kiss" by Hitomi Tohyama, "Dancin" by Junko Ohashi, "Dress Down" by Kaoru Akimoto, "I'm In Love" by Aru Takamura, "Broken Eyes" by Mariko Tone, "TNT" by Rie Murakami, "Love Is A Work Of Mind" by Ra Mu, "Mystical Composer" by Kikuchi Momoko, and "Sky Restaurant" by Yumi Seino. (Japanese, Funky Compilations) CD

A really great collection of work from the legendary BYG/Actuel label – home not just to the famous avant jazz recordings that have made the company a legend, but also a host of other unusual sounds that don't often get the exposure they deserve! This collection finally gives that full range of BYG sounds their due – as it mixes some of the avant classics from Paris at the end of the 60s with other freely creative work from the French scene – including some great contributions from British artists who were as unbridled at BYG as the American musicians were with their jazz material! The set features tracks from the key years of the catalog – titles that include "Le Nouveau Monde" by Alice, "Terrestrial Beings" by Don Cherry, "Ancient Ethiopia" by Sun Ra, "Ragalia" by Areski & Brigitte Fontaine, "Le Cocotier (part 2)" by Coeur Magique, "Dexterity" by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, "Time Of Your Life" by Daevid Allen, "Change The World" by Gong, and "Willing To Fight" by Aynsley Dunbar. LP, Vinyl record album

A wild and wonderful collection that mixes together music from Roland Kirk, The Pop Group, Sun Ra, Norman Connors, Gil Melle, 23 Skidoo, Alice Coltrane, Tony Williams, and many others! (Jazz, Funky Compilations) CD

A much-needed look at the really magical world of music in France – a scene that's always seemed to exist in its own sort of space, especially during the late 70s/early 80s years when most of these tracks were recorded! The French scene had some famous free jazz at the start of the 70s, but there was also another strain of unique sounds that were beyond categorization or comparison – music that took some of the creative inspiration of jazz and turned it towards global sources, acoustic instruments, analogue electronics, and even French vocal styles – creating work that was not only years ahead of its time, but which also was often missed on the global market, because it was so hard to label and categorize! This set brings together some of the best of those moments – music that's maybe a great second step if you've already dug sounds on labels like Saravah or Futura/Marge – and the whole package is wonderful throughout – filled with titles that even we might have missed otherwise. Tracks include "Gaal" by Noco Music, "Les Crocodiles" by Catherine Derain, "Reve De Voyage" by Remy Couvez, "Sokoto" by Structures Sonores Lasry Baschet, "Loreley" by Pan Ra, "Mahabaratha Kali" by Adjenar Sidhar Khan, "Bujumbura Lyon" by Workshop De Lyon, "Arabia" by Dynamo, "Love Always" by Jef Gilson, and "Moving Waves" by Andre Fertier & Clivage. CD

A legendary compilation from the Soul Jazz label – one of their early important records that helped give new exposure to a whole generation of spiritual jazz from the American scene! Titles include "Space 1" by David Durrah, "Space Is The Place" by Sun Ra, "Theme De Yo Yo" by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, "Lions Of Judah" by Steve Reid, "Space Odyssey" by Marcus Belgrave, "Kitty Bey" by Byron Morris & Unity, "Empty Streets" by New Life Trio, and "Astral Travelling" by Pharoah Sanders. LP, Vinyl record album