One of the most righteous albums to ever bear the name of King Britt – a selection of spiritual jazz tracks from the 70s, all of which show a definite inspiration for Britt's recent work in the 21st Century! There's no remixes or remakes here – and the collection features all original gems from a few decades back – stretched out and cosmic grooves from some of the leading lights of the soul jazz underground in the post-Coltrane years! Most numbers are obscure tracks licensed from smaller indie labels – brought together beautifully with a sense of depth and darkness that goes way beyond the usual King Britt groove. Titles include "Space Spy" by Grachan Moncur III, "Beyond Yourself" by Brother Ahh, "Scorpio Libra" by Eddie Henderson, "Kawaida" by Herbie Hancock, "Ekim" by Michal Urbaniak, "Yebo" by Mtume, "Conviction" by Dane Belany, "Naima" by Doug & Jean Carn, "The Time Now For Change" by Phil Ranelin, "Moving Pictures 4 The Ear" by Don Cherry, and "Encounter" by Flora Purim. CD

The reach of Miles Davis is plenty wide – as right from the start, the trumpeter was associating himself with some of the hippest young talent on the scene! Yet the apex of those associations may have come in the late 60s and early 70s, when the newly-electric Miles was experimenting in all sorts of new rhythms and instrumental combinations – and inviting a whole host of soon-to-be-legends to help him with his projects! This set is a great overview of some of those key contemporaries – and the way that they took new directions of their own, when away from Miles – some very much in the spirit of the Bitches Brew generation, others opening up in whole new frontiers of soul and spirit. The set features some really well-chosen tracks – a key who's who to this generation – and titles include "Sweet Pea" by Wayne Shorter, "In A Silent Way" by Joe Zawinul, "Common Mama" by Keith Jarrett, "Song Of The Wind (alt)" by Chick Corea, "In Search Of Truth" by Lonnie Liston Smith, "Arjen's Bag" by John McLaughlin, "Politician Man" by Betty Davis, "Uhuru Sasa" by Gary Bartz, "You'll Know When You Get There" by Herbie Hancock, and "Directions (16 December 1970 – first set)" by Miles Davis himself. CD

A soaring collection of rare jazz from the Tokyo scene – all music originally recorded by the Japanese branch of Columbia Records – the same imprint that put out some exclusive and very hip Japanese-only albums from Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, and Herbie Hancock! The musicians here are all Japanese, and play with a vibe that definitely lives up to the label's legacy with American artists – mixing spiritual jazz, funky styles, and other soulful modes in a really great way – with a sense of variety that not only makes the collection a stellar listen throughout, but also really opens up your ears to the wealth of excellent Japanese jazz recordings that were never issued in the US! Titles include "Trial Road" by Tomoki Takahashi, "A Muddy Muffin" by Masahiko Sato, "Toppu" by Shigeharu Mukai, "Scramble" by Hiromasa Suzuki, "Samba De Negrito" by Takashi Mizuhashi & Herbie Hancock, "Ogi Denju Shiki" by Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd, "The Ground For Peace" by Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media, "Chakkiri Bushi" by Nobuo Hara with Hozan Yamamoto, "Mickey's Samba" by Mikio Masuda, and "Jones Street" by Kiyoshi Sugimoto. CD

A soaring collection of rare jazz from the Tokyo scene – all music originally recorded by the Japanese branch of Columbia Records – the same imprint that put out some exclusive and very hip Japanese-only albums from Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, and Herbie Hancock! The musicians here are all Japanese, and play with a vibe that definitely lives up to the label's legacy with American artists – mixing spiritual jazz, funky styles, and other soulful modes in a really great way – with a sense of variety that not only makes the collection a stellar listen throughout, but also really opens up your ears to the wealth of excellent Japanese jazz recordings that were never issued in the US! Titles include "Trial Road" by Tomoki Takahashi, "A Muddy Muffin" by Masahiko Sato, "Toppu" by Shigeharu Mukai, "Scramble" by Hiromasa Suzuki, "Samba De Negrito" by Takashi Mizuhashi & Herbie Hancock, "Ogi Denju Shiki" by Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd, "The Ground For Peace" by Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media, "Chakkiri Bushi" by Nobuo Hara with Hozan Yamamoto, "Mickey's Samba" by Mikio Masuda, and "Jones Street" by Kiyoshi Sugimoto. LP, Vinyl record album

We couldn't think of a better name for this collection of futuristic grooves, compiled by Kirk Degiorgio and Ian O'Brien, two modern groove scientists who've always managed to infect their beat making machines with more than a little bit of soul. Spanning the spectrum from the classic fusion of Lonnie Liston Smith's "Love Beams" and Herbie Hancock's lost soundtrack number "The Spook Who Sat By The Door" to Syreeta's spacey soul take on Stevie's "I Love Every Little Thing About You" and Shuggie Otis' "XL30" to modern electronics and NuJazz like Seiji's "Into The Now" and Super-A-Loof's "Patience", plus tracks by David Axelrod, George Duke, Dunn Pearson Jr and more, 13 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album