A well-done collection of grooves from the legendary CTI Records – home to some of the most important jazz funk of the 70s! The set does a good job of getting past the familiar hits from the label, and moves into territory that showed the complexity of the grooves being laid down – a depth that's sometimes overlooked, given the success of CTI. The nicely-priced set features 10 tracks in all – including "Hard To Face The Music" by Idris Muhammad, "September 13" by Deodato, "Canned Funk" by Joe Farrell, "Rock Steady" by Johnny Hammond, "I'm Not So Sure" by Milt Jackson, "Hurtin House" by Esther Phillips, "Sugar Free" by Hank Crawford, "Shoogie Wanna Boogie" by Dave Matthews, "I Remember Wes" by George Benson, and "Storm" by Stanley Turrentine. CD

It's taken the folks at Blue Note a few more years to get together this volume 2, but it's a great companion to the classic volume 1 set of bossa nova grooves from the Blue Note catalog's classic years. The set's got 15 tracks in all, including great stuff like "Swinging The Samba" by Horace Silver, "Mama Inez" by Grant Green, "Blue Bossa" by Joe Henderson, "La Fiesta" by Stanley Turrentine, "Book's Bossa" by Donald Byrd, "Girl From Ipanema" by Lou Rawls, "La Malaga" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Heading South" by Horace Parlan, and lots more goodies! CD

A special package of soul jazz put together by Blue Note for Tower Records – and a set that's not to be confused with the more familiar Blue Funk compilation! This one's less "funk" than you might expect from the title – and instead serves up a quintet of hard-grooving numbers from the best 60s years of the Blue Note label – upbeat and catchy jazz numbers, all of them extended and with plenty of room for solos! Titles include "Adams Apple" by Wayne Shorter, "The Rumproller" by Lee Morgan, "The Yodel" by John Patton, "The Turnaround" by Hank Mobley, and "Trouble No 2" by Stanley Turrentine. CD

Easily our favorite in the Blue Note Plays series – mostly because it's filled with great Blue Note and Capitol jazz tracks from the 60s – all written by the greatest living composer of our time! The tracks offer a nice take on Burt's original tunes – and are often done in soul jazz versions that expand nicely upon the melodies with some very tasty solo work. There's a few tracks of more recent vintage here, but mostly, the set's got a nice 60s feel overall – with titles that include "Walk On By" and "What The World Needs Now Is Love" by Stanley Turrentine, "Wives & Lovers" and "Alfie" by Nancy Wilson, "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" by Grant Green, "Promises Promises" by Jazz Crusaders, "Any Day Now" by Lou Ralws, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" by Groove Holmes, and "Knowing When To Leave" by Ernie Watts. CD

With music from Jimmy McGriff, Reuben Wilson, Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, John Patton, Eddie Gale, Elvin Jones, and more – 13 tracks in all! (Jazz, Funky Compilations) CD

Tracks include "Expressway To Your Heart" by Margo Thunders, "Greasy" by Jackie McLean, "Midnight Cowboy" by Lee Morgan, "This Guy's In Love" by Stanley Turrentine, "Howling For Judy" by Jeremy Steig, "I Ain't Drunk" by Jimmy & Joe Liggins, and "Fat Judy" by Big John Patton. CD

A great introduction to the legendary CTI Records label from the 70s – a groundbreaking imprint for both jazz and soul, and a company who helped a whole generation of musicians find a new way forward! The set's got a really great balance – with both some of the funky jazz and soulful vocal cuts recorded by the label and it's partner imprint, Kudu – and over the course of the 25 tracks on the extended collection, you'll not only hear a great evolution in grooves for the 70s generation – but also a fair bit of tracks that have gone onto new lives as sample cuts too! Titles include "Mama Wailer" by Lonnie Smith, "Say You Love Me" by Patti Austin, "2001 – Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Deodato, "Jaws" by Lalo Schifrin, "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" by Idris Muhammad, "Supership" by George Benson, "Baltimore" by Nina Simone, "Polar AC" by Freddie Hubbard, "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" by Esther Phillips, "It's Going To Take Some Time" by Gabor Szabo, "Flute Song" by George Benson & Joe Farrell, "Forecast" by Eric Gale, "Baretta's Theme" by Ron Carter, "Breakout" by Johnny Hammond, "Wildflower" by Hank Crawford, "Westchester Lady" by Bob James, "Grand Prix" by Fuse One, "Shoogie Wanna Boogie" by Dave Matthews, "Be Yourself" by Kenny Burrell, "Sugar" by Stanley Turrentine, "Red Clay" by Freddie Hubbard, "Super Strut" by Deodato, and "Follow Your Heart" by Joe Farrell. CD

The great second volume in this excellent series of jazz, soul, Brazil, Latin, and more! With "Mi Vida" by Jon Lucien, "Garra" by Marcos Valle, "East" by Billy Paul, "Vera Cruz" by Stanley Turrentine, "Ye Me Le" by Luiz Carlos Vinhas, "Lies" by Asha Puthli, "Pastime Paradise" by Ray Barretto, and lots more stuff that's woven together in a great tapestry of funky grooves that shows just how much the international groove scene has grown in the past 5 years. LP, Vinyl record album

Hard, heavy, and funky jazz – a wealth of great numbers pulled from the Blue Note catalog, plus a few tasty soul tunes thrown into the mix to liven things up! Many of these tunes will be standard fare to the average crate-digger – but that doesn't stop the set from being an excellent package of grooves overall, featuring some late 60s/early 70s jazz gems that are quickly dropping out of the reissue catalogs! Titles include "Groovin For Mr G" by Groove Holmes, "The Beat Goes On" by Buddy Rich, "Walking In My Sleep" by Monk Higgins, "Zulu" by Gene Harris, "It's Your Thing" by The Jazz Crusaders, "Wack Wack" by Buddy Rich, "Trouble" by Stanley Turrentine, "Walk Tall" by Howard Roberts, "Listen Here" by Gene Harris, "Ummh (edit)" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Windy C" by 100% Pure Poison, "Move Your Hand" by Lonnie Smith, and "Back In Stride" by Maze. 15 tracks in all! CD

Now out of print, and a heck of a great little set of rare and unissued tracks from the glory days of the Blue Note funk scene! For most of the 80s and early 90s, Blue Note US used to bad mouth the stuff from this period – but by the mid 90s, demand for the funky stuff from collectors and DJs led Blue Note to dig back in the vaults, and come up with this tasty batch of goodies! Titles include "It's Your Thing" by Grant Green, "Brother Soul (alternate)" by Lou Donaldson, "You Want Me To Stop Loving You" by Stanley Turrentine, "Dancin In An Easy Groove" by Lonnie Smith, "Village Lee (alternate)" by John Patton, "The Scorpion (alternate)" by Lou Donaldson, and "Hold On, I'm Comin" by Reuben Wilson. CD

The Soul Party here is a soul jazz one – pulled from Blue Note albums of the late 60s and early 70s, most of them surprisingly funky! The set's got some very tight little numbers that are heavy on the Hammond and electric guitar – that great sound that started to show up on the Blue Note label as the 60s drew to a close. Titles include "Never Can Say Goodbye" by Grant Green, "Soul Limbo" by Candido, "Hold On I'm Coming" by Reuben Wilson, "Shake" by Stanley Turrentine, "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky" by Lou Donaldson, "Think" by Lonnie Smith, and "Ain't That Peculiar" by John Patton. CD