One of the Direct Cutting audiophile recordings made during the 70's, pressed up on Japanese vinyl, and pressed so that it needs to be played at 45 rpm for maximum fidelity. Apart from that geeky sort of information, though, the set's a nice quartet session featuring Lew Tabackin on tenor and flute, Toshiko Akioshi on piano, Bob Daugherty on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. The set's a rare opportunity to hear Tabackin and Akioshi from the time without their big band, and the group plays nicely on 4 extended tracks. The best of these is a Tabackin original called "Trackin", but there's also a nice rendering of "Summertime". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful 70s work from the great Frank Foster – material from that time when he'd split with the Count Basie group to go into a completely different direction – cutting spiritual records like this, and his better-known Loud Minority album for Mainstream records! The session was only ever issued in Japan – and it's got Foster really hitting new heights – picking up some of the spiritualism of his experience with Elvin Jones, but working his own sort of magic – with a personal charm that's echoed by the image on the cover. Frank blows saxes and arranged the set with a warmly angular group – in a larger group that also includes Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, Thad Jones on flugelhorn, Jerry Dodgion on alto and flute, Walter Norris on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums. Titles include "Shitsu Mon", "Tan Kyu", "Cecilia Is Love", and "Now That She's Away". LP, Vinyl record album

Unreleased live work from Les McCann – recorded at a time when the soulful giant was really breaking it up in clubs around the country, and just about to unleash a whole new righteous side of his talents! The tracks here resonate strongly with some of the earlier Pacific Jazz live work that Les was cutting earlier in the decade – but also show a new evolution that's partly the confidence he had as one of the key soulful musicians on the west coast, but also a shift in his style past some of the more standard soul jazz modes that others were taking from his bag – leaving McCann to keep on growing in new directions of his own. All tracks here are trio titles – recorded in Seattle or at the Village Vanguard – and players include Stanley Gilbert and Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Frank Severino and Paul Humphrey on drums. Titles include "The Grabber", "Could Be", "I Can Dig It", "Doin That Thing", "Sunny", "The Shampoo", "Blues 5", "Out In The Outhouse", "Lavande", "Da Da", "Yours Is My Heart Alone", and "Wait For It". LP, Vinyl record album