Very hip work from the Boston modern scene of the mid 50s! The album's one of Serge Chaloff's few as a leader – and is much harder to find than his more widely-issued work for Capitol – an obscure date for the Storyville label, and one that originally only circulated as a 10" LP! The set's also unusual in that it features Serge at the head of a nonet – with strong players that include Charlie Mariano on alto, Herb Pomeroy on trumpet, and Dick Twardzik on piano – all working wonderfully with Chaloff in a groove that's sharply modern, but also plenty darn swinging! There's a strong dose of Boston soul in the mix here, thanks to contributions from the horn players – and the album's got a freshness that's a nice contrast to Serge's more familiar work at Capitol. Titles include originals like "Sherry", "Slam", "A Salute To Tiny", and "Ennie Meenie Minor Mode" – written by group members Mariano and Twardzik! Includes 5 alternate takes. CD

Solo piano from Thelonious Monk – ten tracks recorded in London in 1971! CD

A tremendous recording from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – done during the same Paris stretch as their Great Black Music classics on the BYG/Actuel label – and a set that easily matches, if not tops, those classics! You can really hear the group finding their own space here – taking some of the free jazz explorations of the Chicago scene in the late 60s, and forging them with an even earthier use of both percussion, and the more offbeat sonic possibilities of their own instruments – often with a sense of surprise that you don't always get from some of their later albums. Titles include the side-long "The Spiritual" – plus "Toro", "Lori Song", and "That The Evening Sky Fell Through the Glass Wall and We Stood Alone Somewhere?" (And they wondered why they never got their songs on the radio!) CD

Fantastic material from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – tracks recorded during their same crucial Paris trip of 1969 that also gave the world the better-known BYG/Actual albums – but delivered in a style that's slightly different overall! There's maybe more of the cerebral side of the group at play here – that great love of small shifts, textures, and instrumental interplay – similar, maybe, to their People Of Sorrow album at times – but with a lot more force, especially in the freer moments. In addition to bass, Malachi Favors plays electric bass, sitar, and banjo – all worth the price of admission alone – and Lester Bowie plays trumpet, flugelhorn, and other instruments, while Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman handle a variety of reeds and percussion. Titles include "Tutankhamun", "The Ninth Room" and "Tthinitthedalen". CD

Pre-ESP Records work from the legendary Albert Ayler – and a really special set that definitely shows his strong ties to a previous legacy of African-American music! Ayler always clamed blues and other roots in his sound, but didn't always show them as clearly – given his free-thinking, forward-moving approach – yet this set has Albert really reworking an older influence, by taking older songs from gospel and secular sources, and using them as a completely compelling springboard for his new ideas on tenor and soprano sax! The album's the sort that David Murray might have cut in the mid 80s – but conceived by Ayler two decades before – and sadly unissued for years after its recording, possibly because it's a very sensitive, soulful set that's different than the frenetic power of later albums on ESP. A real treasure throughout – with work from Call Cobbs Jr on piano, Henry Grimes on bass, and Sonny Murray on drums – on titles that include "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", "Deep River", "Goin Home", "Ol Man River", "Down By The Riverside", and "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen". CD

A seminal early moment from the legendary Albert Ayler – an important session recorded overseas in Copenhagen – where enthusiasm for Ayler's music caught fire more strongly than in the US! The group's got an edge that's maybe even sharper than some of Ayler's ESP material, but no less powerful – with Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on bass, and Sunny Murray on drums – working through tremendous readings of six Ayler classics that include "Ghosts", "Children", "Holy Spirit", "Vibrations" and "Mothers". A wonderful precursor to the ESP years – and equally great! CD

With Graham Burbridge on drums. CD

With Dr John, Freddie Kohlman, and the New Orleans Brass Band. LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Crazy Rhythm", "C Jam Blues", "Basin Street Blues", "Jazz Me Blues", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "Oh! Lady Be Good". CD

A rare early date as a leader from pianist Walter Bishop Jr – cut for a tiny east coast label that folded almost as soon as the record was issued – but a date that's gone onto great fame over the years, thanks to circulation in a few different formats! Bishop's got a really maturing approach here – as sharp as his work from the bop years, but with a deeper sense of tone and color too – occasional lyrical moments that get great shading from the bass of Jimmy Garrison and drums of GT Hogan – both players who make the album really something special – a real cut above the usual trio session. In that manner, the record features two tunes that run for nearly 10 minutes each – opening up in that reflectively soulful mode that Bish would be known much more for in later years – and titles include "Speak Low", "Milestones", "Green Dolphin Street", and "Blues In The Closet". CD features 4 bonus alternate takes! CD

Trio session with Clint Houston on bass and Billy Hart on drums. CD

One of the better Ruby Braff albums of the 50s – recorded for the Storyville label, with help from players who include Vic Dickenson, Jo Jones, Edmond Hall, Milt Hinton, and Sam Margolis! CD

Jack Lesberg on bass, Ruby Braff on cornet, Don Lamond on drums, George Wein on piano and Buddy Tate on tenor sax. CD

Early recordings by Dollar Brand – recorded in London in 1965, playing solo on a batch of tunes dedicated to two big influences – Duke Ellington and Randy Weston – and also featuring a number of his own compositions. Titles include "Pye R Squared", "Knights Night", "Mood Indigo", "On The Banks Of Allen Waters", "Little Niles", and "Resolution". LP, Vinyl record album

With Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, William Schiopffe on drums, and Bent Axen on piano. LP, Vinyl record album

A nicely priced reissue of the rare Duke Pearson album Hush – originally issued on the tiny Jazztime label, very briefly during the early 60s! The rare early session by Pearson is one of the few he cut away from Blue Note – and it's musical delight throughout – with twin trumpet work from Donald Byrd and Johnny Coles, piano by Duke, bass by Bob Cranshaw, and drums by the great Walter Perkins – all coming together in a crack style that rivals the best of Blue Note from the time! The two-trumpet frontline is really something to hear, and the interplay between Coles' warm sound and Byrd's hard one opens up the two different sides of Pearson's playing. Titles include "Hush", "Sudel", "Friday's Child", "Smoothie", and "Groovin' For Nat" – and CD features 3 bonus alternate takes. CD

A rich testament to the strength of the Parisian traditional jazz scene in the early 70s – as key players Coleman and Lafitte work here with a quintet live at the Montreux jazz fest in 1973. Lafitte's tenor is always a treasure, warm and rich, but moody and edgey at the same time – like the best late work of Coleman Hawkins. The longish tracks on the set give him plenty of space to solo – and titles include "Sur Les Quais Du Vieux Paris", "L and L Blues", "Tour De Force", and "Montreux Jump". CD

A rich testament to the strength of the Parisian traditional jazz scene in the early 70s – as key players Coleman and Lafitte work here with a quintet live at the Montreux jazz fest in 1973. Lafitte's tenor is always a treasure, warm and rich, but moody and edgey at the same time – like the best late work of Coleman Hawkins. The longish tracks on the set give him plenty of space to solo – and titles include "Sur Les Quais Du Vieux Paris", "L and L Blues", "Tour De Force", and "Montreux Jump". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal work from trumpeter Ted Curson – a set that's issued under his own name, but which continues a string of key early 60s performances with tenorist Bill Barron – who's work together here with Ted is fantastic! The group has no piano – just Herb Bushler on bass and Dick Berk on drums – both players with a fluid, open sense of rhythm – one that allows for plenty of horn interplay, at a level that almost has Curson borrowing some of the lessons he learned from Mingus, then taking them into small group formation and really opening things up! Curson also blows a bit of pocket trumpet, and Barron handles some clarinet – on a set of all original material that includes a great version of Curson's "Quicksand", plus the tracks "Kassim", "East 6th Street", "Tears For Dolphy", "7/4 Funny Time", and "Desolation". LP, Vinyl record album

Kenny Dorham on trumpet – with Curtis Fuller on trombone, Frank Haynes on tenor sax, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Ben Tucker on bass, and Dave Bailey on drums. CD

A Kenny Dorham-billed version of the only full album ever issued by tenor player Rocky Boyd – but a set so great, it's definitely made a name for him over the years! Boyd's got a wonderful tone on the set – sharp and soulful, with an approach to the tenor that almost reminds us of early 60s Jackie McLean – particularly in the way that Jackie could hit dark corners with raspy, personal tone. The rest of the group's no slouch either – and features Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Walter Bishop Jr on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Pete LaRoca on drums – a lineup so great, they give the album a real Blue Note sort of polish – and the album's definitely one that would have been a better-known date, if it hadn't died quickly on the short-lived Jazztime label. The whole thing's wonderful – and titles include "West 42nd Street", "Avars", "Ease It", "Samba De Orfeu", and "Why Not". CD features bonus tracks too – alternates of 4 tracks on the album! CD

Dexter Gordon at his European best – working at his very familiar haunt, the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen – a city that welcome Dexter Gordon with welcome arms in the 60s, as Dex left America to take care of himself and renew his energy overseas – expanding his sound and styles in ways that made him a much more revolutionary tenorist than during his earlier time on the US scene! The group features Kenny Drew on piano, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson on bass, and Albert Tootie Heath on drums – and tracks are all nice and long. LP, Vinyl record album

A nice small group set of Ellington sidemen – with Paul Gonsalves on tenor, Ray Nance on trumpet and violin, Norris Turney on alto, and Hank Jones on piano! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful mid 80s effort from the Don Pullen Quintet – a group that features young lion Donald Harrison on alto sax – recording in a setting that's nicely fresh, compared to some of his other work! Other players include the under-recorded trumpeter Olu Dara, and a wonderful elastic rhythm section of Fred Hopkins on bass and Bobby Battle on drums – all working with Pullen's piano in a groove that's angular at times, but never loses its sense of swing – that wonderful balance that always made Pullen a real standout amongst the jazz communities in which he worked. Titles include "The Sixth Sense", "In The Beginning", "Tales From The Bright Side", "Gratitude", and "All Is Well". CD

A wonderful mid 80s effort from the Don Pullen Quintet – a group that features young lion Donald Harrison on alto sax – recording in a setting that's nicely fresh, compared to some of his other work! Other players include the under-recorded trumpeter Olu Dara, and a wonderful elastic rhythm section of Fred Hopkins on bass and Bobby Battle on drums – all working with Pullen's piano in a groove that's angular at times, but never loses its sense of swing – that wonderful balance that always made Pullen a real standout amongst the jazz communities in which he worked. Titles include "The Sixth Sense", "In The Beginning", "Tales From The Bright Side", "Gratitude", and "All Is Well". LP, Vinyl record album

A great new showcase for the legendary keyboard work of Doug Carn – and a set that's very different both from his famous albums for the Black Jazz label, and some of his organ jazz records in more recent years too! The set's maybe got a more pronounced influence from Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad than some of the others in this series – as Carn's Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes still get center stage, but the grooves are very much in the heavy funk style of Younge's legacy of recent recordings – sharp drums, strong basslines, and horns that are sometimes jazzy, sometimes seemingly touched by currents of Ethiopian work from the past. All tracks are originals, and titles include "Processions", "Dimensions", "Windfall", "Down Deep", "Freedom At Sunset", "Nunca Um Malandro", and "Lion's Walk". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

A great new showcase for the legendary keyboard work of Doug Carn – and a set that's very different both from his famous albums for the Black Jazz label, and some of his organ jazz records in more recent years too! The set's maybe got a more pronounced influence from Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad than some of the others in this series – as Carn's Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes still get center stage, but the grooves are very much in the heavy funk style of Younge's legacy of recent recordings – sharp drums, strong basslines, and horns that are sometimes jazzy, sometimes seemingly touched by currents of Ethiopian work from the past. All tracks are originals, and titles include "Processions", "Dimensions", "Windfall", "Down Deep", "Freedom At Sunset", "Nunca Um Malandro", and "Lion's Walk". (Deep Funk, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

That's Band X, not Brand X – and they're a damn funky jazz combo from the 70s – one whose work is filled with plenty of sharp changes and wonderfully chromatic moments! Rhythms are at the core of the set – lots of choppy drum parts that are mighty nice, bumped along by sweet compressed basslines too – and other instrumentation includes lots of vibes, reeds, and a bit of keyboards from time to time – used in really creative ways! If we had to come up with a comparison, we might say these guys sound a bit like some of the best work by Steve Grossman and the PM Records crew in the 70s – but they've definitely got their own vibe too. Titles include "Home", "Black Hole", "Rip Van Winkle", "Red Cloud", "Trullion Alastor", "Afterthought", and "Picking Mushrooms With Rabbit". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent hard bop side from the late 80s, an era when the new "young lions" were getting a lot of press, and some nice recordings were being made with any eye on the future while their feet were firmly planted in tradition. This set features two players of Cindy's generation in the front line: Wallace Roney and Kenny Garrett, with some older masters filling out the rest of the group: Joe Henderson, Buster Williams and Larry Willis. The recordings are filled with energy and imaginative playing as they run through originals like "Arcane", "Late Autumn", "Dual Force" and "Mirrored Glances". CD

A landmark album – Donald Byrd's first session with producer Larry Mizell, the man who went onto forever change the face of jazz funk! After rumbling around for a few years attempting electric styles that really didn't fit his mode, Donald wisely hooked up with Larry, and hit a groove here that would carry him for many many years. The album's a masterpiece of soul – heavy production with great keyboards, creating a nice set of grooves that let Byrd solo over the top, sounding better than he had in years! Great all the way through, and with tracks that include "Flight Time", "Sky High", "Black Byrd", "Slop Jar Blues", "Mr Thomas", and the prophetically-titled "Where Are We Going?" CD

A landmark album by Donald Byrd – the first one where he really started to click with jazz-funk producer Larry Mizell! Mizell and Byrd had worked together previously on the Black Byrd album – a soaring bit of futuristic jazz funk that took Byrd's career to a whole new level – but this album's the one where they really began to make the formula cook, blending together tight funky rhythms, spacey keyboards, soulful vocals, and some of Donald's best solo work of the 70s! The whole thing's a masterpiece, and all tracks sparkle – including "Lansana's Priestess", "Witch Hunt", and "Street Lady", one of the funkiest tracks ever on Blue Note. A haunting record with a beautiful spacey groove, and one of the best-ever albums on Blue Note! CD

A beautiful record of light, lyrical piano jazz – and one of the best-selling jazz albums ever on Fantasy Records! Vince Guaraldi started the set as a tribute to the film Black Orpheus – and some of the album features his nice renditions of Jobim/Bonfa tunes like "Manha De Carnaval" and "Samba De Orpheus". However, Guaraldi also managed to pen his own amazing track – "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" – a lyrical romping piano instrumental that went onto become a huge charting instrumental hit during the 60s. The track's been heard a million times over the years, but it's still pretty darn great – and it's surrounded in a nice set with other tunes that have the same feel – including "O Nosso Amour", "Alma-Ville", "Since I Fell For You", and "Moon River". CD

A beautiful record of light, lyrical piano jazz – and one of the best-selling jazz albums ever on Fantasy Records! Vince Guaraldi started the set as a tribute to the film Black Orpheus – and some of the album features his nice renditions of Jobim/Bonfa tunes like "Manha De Carnaval" and "Samba De Orpheus". However, Guaraldi also managed to pen his own amazing track – "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" – a lyrical romping piano instrumental that went onto become a huge charting instrumental hit during the 60s. The track's been heard a million times over the years, but it's still pretty darn great – and it's surrounded in a nice set with other tunes that have the same feel – including "O Nosso Amour", "Alma-Ville", "Since I Fell For You", and "Moon River". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful record of light, lyrical piano jazz – and one of the best-selling jazz albums ever on Fantasy Records! Vince Guaraldi started the set as a tribute to the film Black Orpheus – and some of the album features his nice renditions of Jobim/Bonfa tunes like "Manha De Carnaval" and "Samba De Orpheus". However, Guaraldi also managed to pen his own amazing track – "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" – a lyrical romping piano instrumental that went onto become a huge charting instrumental hit during the 60s. The track's been heard a million times over the years, but it's still pretty darn great – and it's surrounded in a nice set with other tunes that have the same feel – including "O Nosso Amour", "Alma-Ville", "Since I Fell For You", and "Moon River". Great expanded edition – with 16 more tracks added to the original album – alternate versions of album titles from the sessions, plus a few takes on "Jitterbug Waltz" as well! LP, Vinyl record album

Perhaps THE greatest Quincy Jones album of the 60s – a hard-swinging batch of big band bossa tunes – and one of the greatest American takes on the bossa sound ever! Quincy really brings a lot of soul to the set – syncopating the bottom end of the tunes to really bring out the rhythms, and working with a jazzy flourish of horns that creates all these quick and clever little turns in the tunes! The sound's been heard most famously on the incredible track "Soul Bossa Nova" – an original by Quincy for the set, which has gone onto much greater fame through its use in the film Austin Powers, and a bazillion TV commercials! But the whole album's great too – and other tracks include "Serenata", "Lalo Bossa Nova", "Boogie Bossa Nova", and "Chega De Saudade". LP, Vinyl record album

An underground soul jazz classic – massive grooves from drummer Steve Reid, and exactly the kind of set that's gotten him so much attention in recent years! There's a mixture of freedom and tightness here that's really wonderful – some of the looser elements of the loft jazz generation, mixed with an inherent sense of rhythm that always set Reid's records apart from the rest – a groove that comes not just from his own pulsations on the drum kit, but also from the elliptical basslines of Richard Williams on electric and Luis Angel Falcon on acoustic, and the mixed organ and piano lines of keyboardist Les Walker. Joe Rigby brings some really sharp-edged sax work to the record, alongside the trumpet of Ahmed Abdullah, who really sounds wonderful here – bringing a spirituality to the album that's clearly borrowed from his time with Sun Ra. The album includes the great groover "Lions of Judah" – which has a very Ra-like quality – plus other great cuts "Long Time Black", "Sixth House", "Nova", and "Free Spirits Unknown". CD

An excellent overview of the early Wallace Roney work for Muse Records – brilliant sessions that helped Roney redefine the sound of the trumpet for a whole new generation! Roney's sound was one of the boldest, brightest on the label – and on records like this he really shines – working with an array of like-minded young lions who include Ravi Coltrane, Donald Brown, Antoine Roney, Christian McBride, and Cindy Blackman – on titles that include "Blue In Green", "Obsession", "Daahoud", "Lost", "For Duke", "Donna Lee", and "Love For Sale". CD

A great set of tracks that features Wayne's early work as a leader – all recorded for the Vee Jay label, either under his name, or with the Young Lions group. The material is fantastic, and is proof that even as a youngster, Wayne was one of jazz's best writers and players. Titles include "Seeds Of Sin", "Powder Keg", "Black Diamond", "Dead End", "Wayning Moments", "Down In The Depths", and "Moon Of Manakoora". Great stuff that we never see on vinyl anymore! LP, Vinyl record album