A killer set of hardbop from the legendary Hank Mobley – recorded during the initial Mobley run at Blue Note, and a keen document of his amazing power on the tenor sax! The album's got a tightness that's almost impossible to believe – a summation of all the best bop trends of the 50s, rolled into a freewheeling and soulful expression, guided by Mobley's always-sharp ear for a groove. The group's great too – and Art Blakey is on drums, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and a young young Freddie Hubbard plays trumpet. All tracks are nice and long, with a firey hardbop sound, deeply held in place by Mobley's soulful tone on the tenor! Titles include "My Groove Your Move", "Baptist Beat", and "The Breakdown". CD

An incredibly spiritual session from percussionist Louis Moholo and his ensemble Viva La Black – recorded on the occasion of a series of concerts in Moholo's homeland of South Africa – and done in a way that's as much a document of the group's trip as it is a recording of the music in the concerts. Many of the tracks are shorter passages that flow together with longer ones – piecing together the warm spirit and soulful expression allowed to the group during the tour. And the music itself shares in a heritage that runs back through the 60s work of Mingus and Roland Kirk, the 70s experiments of the AACM, and the rich jazz-in-exile work of Moholo himself! Instrumentation includes percussion, trumpet, saxes, piano, and bass – plus vocals from all the members of the group – and titles include "Use Less Sugar & Stir Like Hell", "Volunteered Slavery", "Woza", "Nikosi", "End Of Man", "Dudu P", "I'll Look All Over Afrika For You", "Drum Choir", and "Joyful Noise". CD

Trumpeter Fats Navarro was one of the true giants of the early bop years, but he passed away at a young age just as the music was taking off – leaving behind just a handful of killer recordings to document his legacy! This set was put together by Blue Note as a great reminder of his genius – a style on the trumpet that was different than that of Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis – and which really set the tone for some of the more expressive players who would follow him on the instrument. Navarro is incredibly deft, yet never in a way that calls attention to itself too much – truly organic, and set up here in groups led by pianists Tadd Dameron and Bud Powell, plus some recordings in a group he co-led with trumpeter Howard McGhee. Titles on this first volume include "Wail", "The Chase", "The Squirrel", "Our Delight", and "Dameronia". LP, Vinyl record album

Trumpeter Fats Navarro was one of the true giants of the early bop years, but he passed away at a young age just as the music was taking off – leaving behind just a handful of killer recordings to document his legacy! This set was put together by Blue Note as a great reminder of his genius – a style on the trumpet that was different than that of Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis – and which really set the tone for some of the more expressive players who would follow him on the instrument. Navarro is incredibly deft, yet never in a way that calls attention to itself too much – truly organic, and set up here in groups led by pianists Tadd Dameron and Bud Powell, plus some recordings in a group he co-led with trumpeter Howard McGhee. Titles on this second volume include "Lady Bird", "Jahbero", "Symphonette", "Double Talk", and "The Skunk". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Don Pullen's best-known albums, and for good reason too – a well-recorded document of a Montreux performance that helped put Don's piano talents in the spotlight for the rest of the 70s! The record's got a sense of freedom that's quite unusual for Atlantic Records at the time – as each side features one long track, played at a level that's very spontaneous, and often quite outside – at least at some points. Side one features an extended version of Muhal Richard Abrams' "Richard's Tune", done with a trio that features electric bass by Jeff Berlin and drums by Steve Jordan – and side two features the even more beautiful Pullen original, "Dialogue Between Malcolm & Betty" – which adds in some great Latin percussion to the trio! LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary overview of jazz on the Italian scene at the start of the 60s – a great document of the new modes that was really setting the work of Italian jazz musicians apart from those in other parts of Europe – working with fresh ideas and a new conception that's completely sublime! The work here often has a great balance between structure and individual voice – and many numbers feature strong soloists who'd go on to great fame in a variety of settings – already graced here with talents that seem greater than their young years. Trumpeter Enrico Rava leads things off in a quartet with pianist Maurizio Lama, on a version of the tune "Line For Lyons" – and Lama follows with a trio reading of his own "Tema For Franco". Trumpeter Sergio Fanni is joined by the great Eraldo Volante on tenor and baritone on the tunes "Duo" and "Circeo". Later soundtrack artist Piero Umiliani serves up his "Picolla Suite Americana" – followed by the Modern Jazz Gang of saxophonist Sandro Brugnolini (with later sound library giants Enzo Scoppa and Cicci Santucci), on the tracks "The Drum Is A Tramp" and "Blue Mirria". Trombonist Dino Piana delivers the tune "Tempo Di Febbraio" with help from the great Gianni Basso on tenor – and the set also features a reading of "Bag's Groove" with Giorgio Azzolini on bass, Piano on trombone, and Attilio Donadio on alto. LP, Vinyl record album

A rare soundtrack session from Japanese jazz legend Hideo Shiraki – maybe one of the earliest recordings we've ever seen from the drummer – and one that also features work from pianist Takeshi Inomata and saxophonist Hidehiko "Sleepy" Matsumoto as well! The cover's somewhat unassuming, but the music inside is quite vivid and rich – jazz tracks used as a film score, often with a quality that's like the best jazz soundtracks coming out of French and Italian cinema at the end of the 50s – with a very different vibe than some of Shiraki's later albums as a leader! There's a nicely moody, late nite quality to many of the tracks – and instrumentation shifts throughout, but includes vibes, tenor, guitar, and piano – all elements used without as much heavy drum work from Hideo as you might expect. The set features dozens of short tunes, and runs for over 70 minutes in length – a huge document of this rare Japanese jazz material from the postwar years. CD

A beautiful document of some of the most laidback jazz ever recorded – the sublime 50s recordings of the Johnny Smith quintet, done at a time when the lineup included Stan Getz! The tunes on the set feature Johnny's mellow electric guitar setting the pace, alongside wonderfully-blown early solos from Stan. The tunes are mostly standards, but done in a great style that's not exactly cool jazz, but which has a groundbreakingly easy groove that's simply sublime! Titles include "Tenderly", "Vilia", "A Ghost Of A Chance", "Jaguar", "Moonlight In Vermont", "Tabu", and "Where Or When". LP, Vinyl record album

A hell of a document of what Cecil Taylor could do when he was at his best – just one man and one piano, but a universe of sonic exploration and non-stop energy throughout! The set features a rare 1968 live performance in Poland – done at the nation's famous Jazz Jamboree festival – and Taylor is completely unbound during the 43 minute "Respiration" which takes up the entire album – even more so than on some of his better-known records from a few years before – and solo, without even having to pay attention to other group members on the stage – so that he can just focus his frenzied attack on the piano, which must have been reduced to splinters by the time the set was over! Yet this isn't just bombast, as the whole thing has that intrinsic logic that makes a Taylor solo set like this so brilliant – a complete understanding of all the possibilities of the instrument, really pushing them to the limits, but also with a cohesive mission that makes the whole thing come together in a fantastic way. CD

A beautiful set of modal jazz tracks – recorded by the great LA pianist Jack Wilson with a young Roy Ayers! The set is amazing, and features haunting piano and vibes interplay between Ayers and Wilson – in a style that could best be summed up as LA modern modal, but which is also embellished by lots warm, lyrical twists by both of the soloists. The title cut is a totally groovy workout on Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin", and the rest of the set includes Coltrane's "Impressions", Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments", Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder", and a great 3-part reading of "The Sandpiper". One of our favorite albums from the 60's, and a beautiful document of one of the lesser-known streams of jazz that was coming out of the west coast during the time – and it's key proof that Ayers was an incredible jazz player in his years before moving to soul music! LP, Vinyl record album

Rare live material from Lester Young – one of the first albums to offer up Pres in such a setting, although without some of the details and notes of other records of this nature! The vibe is definitely "live", and like some of the other Charlie Parker label releases, the record's a good document of a side of a key soloist in a setting that's different from his studio material – as the tunes are all quite long, and with a freer, looser sense of improvisation than on some of his studio sides. There's a trumpeter who gets in a lot of licks on the set (Roy Eldridge?) – and titles include "Destination Moon", "I Cover The Waterfront", "Sunday", "Lester Leaps In", and "Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A trio of Charlie Parker label releases from Lester Young – all served up in a single package! First up is Pres – rare live material from Lester Young – one of the first albums to offer up Pres in such a setting, although without some of the details and notes of other records of this nature! The vibe is definitely "live", and like some of the other Charlie Parker label releases, the record's a good document of a side of a key soloist in a setting that's different from his studio material – as the tunes are all quite long, and with a freer, looser sense of improvisation than on some of his studio sides. There's a trumpeter who gets in a lot of licks on the set (Roy Eldridge?) – and titles include "Destination Moon", "I Cover The Waterfront", "Sunday", "Lester Leaps In", and "Blues". Pres Is Blue is a 60s album, but one that features early 50s material recorded at the Savoy in New York – a live date that features tenor genius Lester Young blowing with an unusual combo that includes Kenny Drew on piano, Aaron Bell on bass, and Jo Jones on drums – plus the lesser-known Jesse Drake on trumpet! The tunes are standards, but opened up by Lester with a heck of a lot of warmth – on titles that include "Stardust", "Mean To Me", "Pennies From Heaven", and "Three Little Words". Just You Just Me is late 40s live work from Lester Young, recorded right on the scene in New York, likely at the Royal Roost – and presented as one of those key bebop documents that came out on the Charlie Parker label in the 60s! As the rest of those, the approach here isn't that of Verve or Norgran, but is a great illustration of the artist at work on the scene – on titles that include "DB Blues", "Be Bop Boogie", "Just You Just Me", "I Cover The Waterfront", "Sunday", and "These Foolish Things". CD

An incredible document of a key genre in 50s jazz on record – the jam session tradition, recorded beautifully for Verve records by the legendary Norman Granz! The idea of a jam session was nothing new at the time, of course, but it was mostly a live phenomenon – known to players from concerts and club dates, or presented on vinyl by Granz, in his celebrated Jazz At The Philharmonic sessions. These dates mark a move into the studio by Granz – one that captures the same sort of energy and unique pairings of musicians that went down in the live sessions, with the added benefit of studio technology to make the work sound even clearer, and more intimate. The 5CD set brings together all 9 Jam Session albums – packaged beautifully in a slipcase with original album cover art, and a full 72 page booklet on the musicians, sessions, and titles included. Players include nearly everyone who might have worked for Verve in the 50s – Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Buddy DeFranco, and countless others – and titles include "Jam Blues", "Funky Blues", "Apple Jam", "Blues For The Count", "Jamming For Clef", "Rose Room", "Blue Lou", and "Lullaby In Rhythm" – all in very long versions! CD

A wonderful collection of obscure singers and musicians from the earliest years of Atlantic Records – recorded here as a surprisingly great document of the scene at the time! The package brings together recordings that might not have otherwise come back out of the vaults of Atlantic – and presents most artists in discrete packages of selections. Includes recordings by Mae Barnes, Greta Keller, Sylvia Syms, Goldie Hawkins, Cy Walter, Ted Straeter, Joe Mooney, Billy Taylor, Joe Bushkin, Jimmy Lyon, Hugh Shannon, and Chris Connor. CD

A fantastic package that explores the full range of genius on the legendary avant label BYG/Actuel – one of the most important European imprints at the end of the 60s! Actuel was home to some of the best avant garde jazz coming out of Paris in the late 60s and early 70s – an especially important document of the post-68 revolution in European music – at a time when so many American players where showing up in France, and finding great opportunities in the new freedoms of the scene! The package features seminal sides from US avant musicians – like Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry, Jimmy Lyons, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray, Grachan Moncur III, and The Art Ensemble Of Chicago – and it also features work by European musicians like Claude Delcloo and Jacques Coursil, plus genre-busting work by MEV and Gong as well. The 3CD box features a 48 page book – with lots of great illustrations, and notes from Thurston Moore and Byron Coley – and the set features 26 long tracks in all! CD

All-star jazz from the Japanese scene of the early 60s – 2 albums' worth of material from some of the greatest players in Japan at the time! The first album in the set is done in a style that almost recalls the Jazz At The Philharmonic mode on Verve – with 2 very long tunes ("Moanin" and "Walkin), each done in side-long takes with plenty of room for solo contributions from players that include Sadao Watanabe, Norio Maeda, Takeashi Inomata, Keitaro Miho, Akira Nakano, and Shungo Sawada – all trading lines with a really spontaneous sense of energy! The second album is tighter and a bit more controlled – with live performances by combos led by Shungo Sawada, Masao Yagi, Norio Maeda, and others – all jamming in hardbop formation on numbers that include "What's Now", "Del Sasser", "Like Someone In Love", "Easy Talking", "Four On Six", and "Alone Together". Together, the records are a great document of the growing energy of the Japanese scene at the time – and beautifully portray the talents of these players in a live setting! CD

A long-overdue second dive into the tapes of Fred Anderson's searing performance in Milwaukee in 1980 – a brilliant document of a group that was not recorded often, and who shine here in a way that really illuminates the genius that Anderson was capable of in the decade before the world began to give him greater recognition! There's a quality here that's almost a lost chapter in the development of avant jazz, especially the Chicago scene – earlier AACM energies given a bit more focus, and a bit bolder expression – by a quartet that also includes Billy Brimfield on trumpet, Larry Hayrod on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums – players who have a taught, urgent approach to the music that makes for completely captivating listening all the way through! The material is a key addition to Anderson's catalog, and a record that may well stand at the top of it as well – with titles that include "He Who Walks Alone", "Another Place", "Bernice", "3 On 2", and "Our Theme". CD

A great set – cut when Curson was at the height of his youthful powers, and inspired by modernist ideas he'd picked up from Mingus and other contemporary jazz outsiders – including tenorist Bill Barron, who also plays on the LP! The recording is a perfect document of a time when the hard bop was folding into the new thing – in modes that were experimentally, yet never too far out – and always remembering to swing when needed, as in the case of some of Jackie McLean's best Blue Note work of the early 60s! The album's quite an obscure one – given to its original issue on the mostly-pop Old Town label – but it's a real gem in Curson's catalog, and includes the tracks "Antibes", "Nosruc", "Ahma (See Ya)", and "Flatted Fifth", a composition that went on to become one of Curson's classics! CD

Rare work from funky Lou – unreleased for years! This is an excellent live set that was recorded in 1970, when Lou was at the height of his Blue Note powers, and working with a group that included Idris Muhammad (drums), Melvin Sparks (guitar), and Leon Spencer (organ). Recorded live at the Cadillac Club in Newark, New Jersey, this set's a perfect document of what a funky lounge gig was like in the era of the organ/tenor combos. The group swings hard and funky, with a sound that's like their best Blue Note recordings, and the track list includes "Peepin", "The Scorpion", "Alligator Boogaloo", and "Footpattin' Time". CD

An incredible document of late 60s America – composed and conducted by Gary McFarland, in a style that's much more ambitious than any of his other work! The album's fully titled "America The Beautiful: An Account Of Its Disappearance" – and features "movements" with very telling subtitles that include "On This Site Shall Be Erected", "80 Miles An Hour Through Beer Can Country", "Suburbia: Two Poodles And A Plastic Jesus", and our personal favorite, "Due To A Lack Of Interest, Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled". Gary's really wearing his politics on his sleeve here – picturing a late 60s America that's without hope, without revolution, and clearly in danger of falling prey to its own plasticization. The whole thing's a wonderful antidote to the "revolution is coming" side of the 60s that is more popularly pushed – and Gary was one of the few musicians at the time with an eye that was clear enough to see that in the 60s, you could sing "The Times Are A-Changing" – but in reality, the corporations were a-growing! Musically, the album features a larger group of jazz players working in a full, rich style that has lots of soundtrack touches. There's a real Axelrod-like feel to the set – with string passages one minute, funky rhythms the next – and some breakout jazz soloing that really colors the tunes nicely! Players include Jerome Richardson, Eric Gale, Bernard Purdie, and Chuck Rainey – and Gary's mostly doing the conducting on the set. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set of hardbop from the legendary Hank Mobley – recorded during the initial Mobley run at Blue Note, and a keen document of his amazing power on the tenor sax! The album's got a tightness that's almost impossible to believe – a summation of all the best bop trends of the 50s, rolled into a freewheeling and soulful expression, guided by Mobley's always-sharp ear for a groove. The group's great too – and Art Blakey is on drums, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and a young young Freddie Hubbard plays trumpet. All tracks are nice and long, with a firey hardbop sound, deeply held in place by Mobley's soulful tone on the tenor! Titles include "My Groove Your Move", "Baptist Beat", and "The Breakdown". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful set of modal jazz tracks – recorded by the great LA pianist Jack Wilson with a young Roy Ayers! The set is amazing, and features haunting piano and vibes interplay between Ayers and Wilson – in a style that could best be summed up as LA modern modal, but which is also embellished by lots warm, lyrical twists by both of the soloists. The title cut is a totally groovy workout on Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin", and the rest of the set includes Coltrane's "Impressions", Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments", Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder", and a great 3-part reading of "The Sandpiper". One of our favorite albums from the 60's, and a beautiful document of one of the lesser-known streams of jazz that was coming out of the west coast during the time – and it's key proof that Ayers was an incredible jazz player in his years before moving to soul music! LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful document of a magical musical moment – one of the few live performances ever of the work of David Axelrod – a concert that's presented here in a special CD & DVD package! Axelrod's 60s albums are the stuff of legend – orchestral efforts with a funky undercurrent, and longtime favorites of beatheads around the globe. And while his best-known efforts have always been the product of careful studio work, he demonstrates here that the Axelrod sound is equally at home in a live setting – played brilliantly by a host of younger British players, with a sense of crispness and sophisticated funk that easily matches his recent album on Mo Wax! The DVD features wonderful footage of the entire show – and the CD captures the music with a clarity that's as great as anything that Axlerod ever did in the studio. Titles include "Holy Are You", "Urizen", "Holy Thursday", "The Edge", "Song Of Innocence", "Smile", "The Human Abstract", and great covers of "Norwegian Wood" and "Paint It Black". CD

An amazing document of a unique musical moment – an entire jazz festival, virtually dedicated to Peter Brotzmann himself! The legendary Brotzmann not only curated the festival – filling it with some of his key collaborators and musical contemporaries – but he also plays on a fair bit of the titles here, too – in different groupings that reflect not only his long history in the European avant scene, but also his ties to Chicago, and his work with Japanese improvisers too! The package is wonderful – the next best thing to being at this exclusive event in person – and the set features 5CDs worth of music from the festival, with performances by Sonore (with Brotzmann, Ken Vandermark, & Mats Gustafsson), Chicago Tentet with John Tchicai, solo work by Jeiji Haino, the Hairy Bones quartet with Brotzmann and Toshinori Kondo, the Full Blast Trio, the DKV Trio, Caspar Brotzmann Massaker, and various other groupings with players who include Jeb Bishop, Joe McPhee, Mars Williams, Jason Adasiewicz, Nasheet Waits, Masahiko Satoh, Bill Laswell, and many others. CD

An incredible document of the live genius of John Coltrane – early 60s recordings done under the supervision of Norman Granz – all of which really show Coltrane and the group stretching out a lot! Includes many unissued tracks, too. CD

When tenor player Ken Vandermark moved to Chicago in the early 90s, his presence began a set of ripples that ran through the city's jazz scene, and left traces that continue to transform the city to this day! One of those ripples became the DKV trio – a brilliant ensemble featuring Vandermark, bassist Kent Kessler, and percussionist Hamid Drake – a crack avant trio, with no end of imagination and creativity – stepping out here on a flagship recording for the Okka Disk label, maybe the most important force to document Vandermark's mighty talents during these early years! The recording features 5 tracks of varying length, from the 35 minute "Baraka" to the 8 minute "Soft Gamma Ray Repeater" – plus the titles "Figure It Out", "Consequence", and "Double Holiday". CD

A fantastic document of a very cool group – one that we're not sure recorded any albums at the time, but who played on Dutch radio, with a lineup that featured some of the hippest cats on the scene at the time! The vibe is a bit like the work of Ruud Bos or Boy's Big Band – a very modern take on large ensemble material – full of life, color, and inventive phrasing – carried off by key soloists who include Ferdinand Povel on tenor, Frans Elsen on piano, Piet Noordijk on alto, Eddie Engels on trumpet, Frans Elsen on guitar, and Herman Schoonderwalt on alto and clarinet! The work is superbly recorded, and the set resonates strongly with the hippest large group material on Saba/MPS at the end of the 60s – very different than the sound of such a group just a few years before, with original material throughout, penned by members of the ensemble. Titles include "Last Moment", "Bluesy Joe", "Hobby Music", "Our Time", "Perka", "Bright Moment", "The Challenger", and "Twenty Four & More". CD

Sublime work from trumpeter Art Farmer – and a key document of the way that he continued to develop his sound in the 70s! Farmer's at the height of his powers here – working in a soulful quartet with Cedar Walton, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins – just setting up these beautiful little solos that seem to float out effortlessly from his golden horn. The gentle emotion and light swing of the album give it the surprisingly emotional pull of a sad San Francisco afternoon – as the sun shines brightly, but a strange chill interrupts any easy dreaming that might take place. Includes sublime versions of "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life", "How Insensitive", "Firm Roots", and Benny Golson's "Yesterday's Thoughts". CD

An excellent document of two key players on the west coast scene of the late 50s – both of whom passed away at too far young an age! Trumpeter Joe Gordon was one of the most soulful players on the LA scene of the period – almost a Lee Morgan in his sense of timing and space – and Scott LaFaro was hailed by many as one of the most revolutionary talents on the bass at the time, and had a huge influence on the scenes on both coasts, despite his few short years in the jazz business. The set features LaFaro working with Shelly Manne's group that included Joe Gordon, Richie Kamuca, and Russ Freeman – in a long, open, and exploratory approach to jazz – one that's very similar to the excellent live recordings made by the Manne group at The Blackhawk. Kamuca's tenor work is extremely imaginative on the album's longer tracks – at a level that's far far different than most of his LA work of the 50s – and Gordon's solos are a delight throughout, with a voice that is heard here as strongly as on any of his few recordings. The set features 3 long tracks – "Summertime", "Poinciana", and "Our Delight", which is offered in an incomplete take. Plus, the session also features a quartet recording of "It Could Happen To You" by a group with Kamuca, LaFaro, Victor Feldman, and Stan Levey – from 1958. CD

An incredible collection – the best document you'll ever find of the undeniable genius of Fletcher Henderson! LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set of hardbop from the legendary Hank Mobley – recorded during the initial Mobley run at Blue Note, and a keen document of his amazing power on the tenor sax! The album's got a tightness that's almost impossible to believe – a summation of all the best bop trends of the 50s, rolled into a freewheeling and soulful expression, guided by Mobley's always-sharp ear for a groove. The group's great too – and Art Blakey is on drums, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and a young young Freddie Hubbard plays trumpet. All tracks are nice and long, with a firey hardbop sound, deeply held in place by Mobley's soulful tone on the tenor! Titles include "My Groove Your Move", "Baptist Beat", and "The Breakdown". CD features one more bonus track! CD

All of Prima's sides for Capitol from the late 50s and early 60s, plus wife and colleague Keely Smith and band leader Sam Butera's solo work from the era in an incredible 8 CD box! We often think of Louis as kinda of a loungey, Vegas cool cat, but what is so awesome about the material you'll find here is how furiously manic so much of it is. The first 3 discs document Prima at his wild, hard-swinging studio best – and could give Tito Puente a run for his money in the sweaty big-beat department! Tracks include "Buona Sera", "Just A Gigolo/I A'int Got Nobody ", "Jump, Jive, And Wail", "The Closer To The Bone", "Pennies From Heaven", "Pump Song", "Fee Fio Foo", "Lazy River", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and tons more. Discs 4 covers live sets at the Harrah's Club and the Sahara, and includes "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", "A Foggy Day", "Robin Hood", "Judy", and "Greenback Dollar Bill". Discs 5 & 6 cover Keely's sweeter but nearly as great sides, with Nelson Riddle and others, and tracks include "I Wish You Love", "It's Magic", and "Nothing In Common" and "How Are Ya' Fixed For Love?" with Frank Sinatra. Finally, Sam Butera's solo work is collected on the last 2 discs, returning things to Prima-style rockin' jazz, and including "Bim Bam", "Twinkle In Your Eye", "Bugs", "Tennessee Waltz", "Better Twist Now Baby", and "I'll Feel Good All Over". Great stuff from one of the tightest working units from the era, and a real treat to have in one place! (Vocalists, Jazz) CD

A beautiful document of some of the most laidback jazz ever recorded – the sublime 50s recordings of the Johnny Smith quintet, done at a time when the lineup included Stan Getz! The tunes on the set feature Johnny's mellow electric guitar setting the pace, alongside wonderfully-blown early solos from Stan. The tunes are mostly standards, but done in a great style that's not exactly cool jazz, but which has a groundbreakingly easy groove that's simply sublime! Titles include "Tenderly", "Vilia", "A Ghost Of A Chance", "Jaguar", "Moonlight In Vermont", "Tabu", and "Where Or When". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful document of some of the most laidback jazz ever recorded – the sublime 50s recordings of the Johnny Smith group, done at a time when the lineup included Stan Getz! The tunes on the set feature Johnny's mellow electric guitar setting the pace, alongside wonderfully-blown early solos from Stan, plus some other tenor work from Zoot Sims and Paul Quinichette, who also sit in the tenor chair on a few of these recordings. The tunes are mostly standards, but done in a great style that's not exactly cool jazz, but which has a groundbreakingly easy groove that's simply sublime! Titles include "Yesterdays", "Vilia", "Ghost Of A Chance", "Jaguar", "Moonlight In Vermont", "Tabu", and "Where Or When". CD

A beautiful set of modal jazz tracks – recorded by the great LA pianist Jack Wilson with a young Roy Ayers! The set is amazing, and features haunting piano and vibes interplay between Ayers and Wilson – in a style that could best be summed up as LA modern modal, but which is also embellished by lots warm, lyrical twists by both of the soloists. The title cut is a totally groovy workout on Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin", and the rest of the set includes Coltrane's "Impressions", Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments", Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder", and a great 3-part reading of "The Sandpiper". One of our favorite albums from the 60's, and a beautiful document of one of the lesser-known streams of jazz that was coming out of the west coast during the time – and it's key proof that Ayers was an incredible jazz player in his years before moving to soul music! CD

A rare slice of the career of this famous and short-lived jazz duo – tapes that were recorded in 1955 at the legendary Bee Hive niteclub in Chicago, but not issued until the end of the 70s, in this smashing 2CD set that was produced by Max himself! The material offers a strong contrast to the sometimes more staid work the pair recorded for Mercury before Brown's untimely death – as it features unbridled playing in a rougher environment than usual – and a break from the original format of the famous group, with only Roach, Brown, and bassist George Morrow intact – plus appearances from Chicagoans Nicky Hill on tenor, Billy Wallace on piano, and Leo Blevins on guitar. Sonny Rollins makes an early appearance on tenor – and titles include long versions of "Walkin", "Cherokee", "I'll Remember April", and "Woody N You". If you've ever wondered what hard bop sounded like to the average crowd at the time of its popularity, this is the record to dig – and even though the recording quality is sometimes a bit "live", it's still a great document! The 2CD package expands on the original 2LP set – and also features work from Basin Street performances from 1956, and a Copenhagen gig from 1953 – making for a total of 12 tracks in all! CD

An amazing bit of music – and an incredible document of generations of creative jazz energy as well! The legendary Phil Cohran teams up here with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – a collective made up of Cohran's sons, who follow strongly in the rich legacy of his own Artistic Heritage group – yet in a very different way! Hypnotic Brass have caught the ear of many during their bright rise to fame – with a fluid, horn-heavy groove that's really amazing – echoes of Sun Ra and other Chicago creative legends – yet played almost entirely on brass instruments, which gives them an even bolder vibe. Here, working with their progenitor brings the group even more depth than before – an excellent sound that really spins things out wonderfully – percussion layered underneath the horns, solos taking jazzy flight, and an overall righteous vibe that holds things together beautifully. The album's way more than the sum of its parts – and those parts are already rich indeed – and titles include "Stateville", "Cuernavaca", "Ancestral", "Spin", "Zincali", "Apsara", and "Frankincense & Myrrh". CD

A great set – cut when Curson was at the height of his youthful powers, and inspired by modernist ideas he'd picked up from Mingus and other contemporary jazz outsiders – including tenorist Bill Barron, who also plays on the LP! The recording is a perfect document of a time when the hard bop was folding into the new thing – in modes that were experimentally, yet never too far out – and always remembering to swing when needed, as in the case of some of Jackie McLean's best Blue Note work of the early 60s! The album's quite an obscure one – given to its original issue on the mostly-pop Old Town label – but it's a real gem in Curson's catalog, and includes the tracks "Antibes", "Nosruc", "Ahma (See Ya)", and "Flatted Fifth", a composition that went on to become one of Curson's classics! CD

When tenor player Ken Vandermark moved to Chicago in the early 90s, his presence began a set of ripples that ran through the city's jazz scene, and left traces that continue to transform the city to this day! One of those ripples became the DKV trio – a brilliant ensemble featuring Vandermark, bassist Kent Kessler, and percussionist Hamid Drake – a crack avant trio, with no end of imagination and creativity – stepping out here on a flagship recording for the Okka Disk label, maybe the most important force to document Vandermark's mighty talents during these early years! The recording features 5 tracks of varying length, from the 35 minute "Baraka" to the 8 minute "Soft Gamma Ray Repeater" – plus the titles "Figure It Out", "Consequence", and "Double Holiday". CD

Bassist Dezron Douglas can be one hell of a leader – especially when he's working with a group and setting as great as this! The album's got that solid punch we love in the Smalls Live series – a way of allowing players to really open up and be themselves, yet also find a cohesiveness as a group that you don't often get in studio sessions – that brilliant magic that can make live jazz performance so wonderful, when it's captured this well – a great document of a musical moment and local expression that might have been missed otherwise. Dezron's bass is very upfront in the performance – and the quintet also features tight trumpet from Josh Evans, bold tenor from Stacy Dillard, sharp piano from David Bryant, and smoking drums from Willie Jones III. Titles include "Nita", "Let's Ride", "The Puppet", "Bish Bash Bop", and "Power Of One". CD

Amazing music from Jimmy Giuffre – and a much-needed document of this under-recorded time in his career! The 2CD set brings together two different live performances – each done two years after his groundbreaking Free Fall album for Columbia, and with a sound that's even more far-reaching than that classic set! The Giuffre heard here is extremely free on his reeds – especially clarinet, which is blown at a level that prefaces countless European free jazz work to come – with an incredible range of sounds, colors, and tones. Giuffre also plays tenor – with more bite and soul than ever before – almost at an ESP sort of level – and the accompaniment on both sessions is very loose and free, too – with Joe Chambers on drums on both concerts – working with Richard Davis on bass on a trio set, and with a quartet that includes Don Friedman on piano and Barre Phillips on bass. The whole thing is mindblowing – a chapter of this amazing musician's career that demands to be heard – and stands as even more of a revelation than other Giuffre releases in recent years. Titles include "Cry Want", "Syncopate", "Drive", "Angles", "Quadrangle", "Crossroads", and "Three Bars In One". CD

A brilliant testament not just to the bass work of Barry Guy, but to so many other factors as well – the open spirit of the contemporary Polish avant scene, the strength of key improvisers in each others' company, and even the much-lauded efforts of the Not Two label to present material of this nature in the sort of richness it deserves! The first four of the CDs in the package document different performances done over the space of two nights at the Alchemia Club in Krakow – a performance space you'll recognize from other important recordings, and a perfect showcase here for al the greatness that unfolds over the course of the CDs. Guy initially steps in as the bassist in the Aurora Trio, with Agusti Fernandez on piano and Ramon Lopez on drums and percussion – but the performances soon open up into a range of other pairings and groupings that really stretch out. The set has two tracks with Guy in duos with Ken Vandermark on tenor; two more with Guy and Vandermark joined by Paul Lytton on percussion, and Percy Pursglove on trumpet; three trio tracks with Guy on bass, Lopez on drums, and Rafal Mazur on electric bass; three more with Vandermark next to Torben Snekkstad on saxes and reed trumpet, and Mette Rasmussen on saxes; two trio tracks with Lopez, Mazur, and Pursglove; and other pairings that include the above players in different groups! CD5 features a full 57 minute performance recorded for Polish Radio, with Guy leading a large improvising group made up of the other players through a reading of the composition "For To End Yet Again" – in a style that's very similar to his material with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. CD

An excellent set of material from the Bay Area bassist James Leary – a package that brings together one rare album, and a whole host of unreleased recordings as well! The core album is Legacy – originally issued on the tiny Blue Collar label at the start of the 80s, and a wonderful set that features plenty of tenor work from Joe Henderson – a really much-needed document of Joe's tremendous sound during this under-recorded period of his career – and very heavy in those sharp, dark tones he used on the Mirror Mirror album! The rest of the group is great – a core combo with George Cables on piano, Eddie Marshall on drums, and Kenneth Nash on percussion – augmented by some larger backings at times, but always in a relatively subtle way that preserves the energy of the core. Titles from that session include "Twenty Five/Mister X", "Remember To Smile", "Today's Song", "So Far So Good", "Legacy", and "Wajumbe". CD also then features 90s recordings made by Leary with some mighty hip players in the southern Cali scene – a shifting lineup that features vocals from Dwight Trible on two numbers, plus trumpet from James Smith, tenor from George Harper, and piano from Eric Reed. Titles include "Song For My Mother", "Little Birds", "Come & Talk", "Together", and "Expose". CD

We're not sure what "congliptious" means – but to us, it's always been the title of this excellent early session from reedman Roscoe Mitchell! The sessions here were recorded in 1968, at the Ter-Mar (Chess) Studios in Chicago – and they document a key coming-together of Chicago avant jazz talents – one that captures Mitchell with Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors in the years before better-known dates by the Art Ensemble of Chicago! The style here is somewhat similar to some of the best Delmark AACM sessions of the time – in that there's a hell of a lot of room for each player to open up individually – almost a recording style that takes off even more strongly from the individualist mode of the New York "new thing" generation – showing that Chicago could go one better by allowing each player completely unbridled space to express themselves. Malachi Favors solos on "Tutankhamen", Mitchell does an alto solo on "Thke", and Bowie plays alone on "Jazz Death" – while the trio of players comes together with percussionist Robert Crowder on the long number "Congliptious/Old" – a cool cut that almost links a Sun Ra aesthetic to the AACM. CD also features 4 bonus tracks – 3 takes of "Carefree", plus "Tatas-Matoes" – all cuts that originally appeared on the Art Ensemble 1967/1968 box set. CD

One of the greatest albums on ESP – and a darkly-tinged document that points strongly towards the future of jazz at the end of the 60s! The album's one of the most focused of the early ESP years – and it features drummer Sunny Murray stepping out strongly as a leader – working with players who include Jacques Coursil on trumpet, Byard Lancaster and Jack Graham on alto saxes, and Alan Silva on bass – all with an intensity that prefaces some of the players' later freedoms on the French scene at the end of the decade, and modes to come during the loft jazz years of the 70s! The horns are never too free, and they come together in a flurry of sharp edges that reminds us a bit of sound structures in Archie Shepp's work at the time – but almost more organic and open overall. Titles include "Phase 1234", "Hilariously", "Angels & Devils", and "Giblet". Plus, the CD also features over 30 minutes of bonus interview material! CD

Amazing archival recordings of Charlie Parker in the late 40s – presented in a wonderfully complete package! The set features live material in a variety of settings – with west coast players like Howard McGhee on trumpet, Hampton Hawes on piano, and Roy Porter on drums – plus more familiar New York sidemen who include Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, and Max Roach. There's over 250 tracks on the set – an amazing document of Bird at this early moment of genius! CD

A deeply personal project by William Parker in honor of his own Uncle Joe and Aunt Lee – his Bronx dwelling family, paid tribute to with an excellent, timeless soul jazz organ set – we should all by so treasured by uber-talented, passionate kin! Parker holds down the on bass with stellar Cooper-Moore organ grooves, Darryl Foster on tenor and Gerald Cleaver on drums. Titles include "Uncle Joe's Spirit House", "Jacques Groove, "Ennio's Tag", "Document For LJ", "The Struggle", "Oasis" and more. CD

One of Don Pullen's best-known albums, and for good reason too – a well-recorded document of a Montreux performance that helped put Don's piano talents in the spotlight for the rest of the 70s! The record's got a sense of freedom that's quite unusual for Atlantic Records at the time – as each side features one long track, played at a level that's very spontaneous, and often quite outside – at least at some points. Side one features an extended version of Muhal Richard Abrams' "Richard's Tune", done with a trio that features electric bass by Jeff Berlin and drums by Steve Jordan – and side two features the even more beautiful Pullen original, "Dialogue Between Malcolm & Betty" – which adds in some great Latin percussion to the trio! CD

An excellent document of an under-recorded part of Buddy Rich's career – a late 50s group that featured Sonny Criss on alto sax! The quintet is an especially sharp ensemble – graced not only with well-blown solos from Criss, done in the best sharp-edged mode of his Imperial years, but also with great piano from Kenny Drew, and trombone by Ole Hansen, a player we know little about, but who we've heard rumored to actually be Melba Liston! The set's got a similar feel to Sonny's album At The Crossroads – which was also recorded with Hansen – although this session is recorded live at Birdland, as part of a well-done radio broadcast in 1958. One track features a guest appearance by the Dave Lambert Singers on "Every Day" – and other tracks include "Four", "If I Were A Bell", "In A Prescribed Manner", "Our Delight", and "The Cinch". CD

A wonderful document of one of the best musical pairings on the west coast scene of the 50s – Bud Shank and Bob Cooper! The set features some of the pair's best recordings for the Pacific Jazz label in the 50s – material that was recorded for the albums Bud Shank & 3 Trombones, Bud Shank & Bob Brookmeyer, Jazz At Cal Tech, Flute N Oboe, Blowin Country, and The Swing's To TV. Some of the sessions feature Shank as the main instrumentalist, with Cooper doing arrangements – and others feature the pair playing together, in wonderful multi-reed settings that include work on alto, tenor, flute, oboe, and bass clarinet! Together, the pair had a well-crafted sound that showed the best elements of the west coast at the time – a tight sense of arrangements and execution, but also a solfulness to the solo work that made even the shortest tunes bristle with life and energy! The set features a huge amount of material – 50 titles in all, on 3CDs, with great notes on the material – and the quality of the package is tremendous! CD

A tremendous document of a legendary group – one that was even better in a live setting than they were on record – and that's saying a hell of a lot, given the great records they left behind! The quintet here features trumpeter Woody Shaw at his most righteous – working alongside co-leader Louis Hayes on drums – at the head of a brilliant lineup that features Junior Cook on tenor, Ronnie Mathews on piano, and Stafford James on bass! At some level, the vibe here is a hipper 70s extension of ideas that Cook and Hayes worked on with Horace Silver in the 60s – but there's also a lot more of the spiritual fire that Woody was bringing to his groundbreaking albums for Muse Records – which is underscored both by James' ultra-heavy work on bass, and the skyward-reaching sounds of Mathews on piano. Cook has a brilliant edge on his tenor – sometimes missing from other records – and titles on this second volume include "Some Other Blues", "Invitation", "Round Midnight", "What's New", and "All The Things You Are". Rene McLean is featured on tenor on one track that doesn't include Cook – and all tracks are nice and long! CD

A tremendous document of a legendary group – one that was even better in a live setting than they were on record – and that's saying a hell of a lot, given the great records they left behind! The quintet here features trumpeter Woody Shaw at his most righteous – working alongside co-leader Louis Hayes on drums – at the head of a brilliant lineup that features Junior Cook on tenor, Ronnie Mathews on piano, and Stafford James on bass! At some level, the vibe here is a hipper 70s extension of ideas that Cook and Hayes worked on with Horace Silver in the 60s – but there's also a lot more of the spiritual fire that Woody was bringing to his groundbreaking albums for Muse Records – which is underscored both by James' ultra-heavy work on bass, and the skyward-reaching sounds of Mathews on piano. Cook has a brilliant edge on his tenor – sometimes missing from other records – and titles on this first volume include long takes on "Sun Bath", "Ichi-Ban", "Book's Bossa", "Obsequious", and "Invitation" – plus the requisite "Moontrane". CD

A beautiful document of some of the most laidback jazz ever recorded – the sublime 50s recordings of the Johnny Smith group, done at a time when the lineup included Stan Getz! The tunes on the set feature Johnny's mellow electric guitar setting the pace, alongside wonderfully-blown early solos from Stan, plus some other tenor work from Zoot Sims and Paul Quinichette, who also sit in the tenor chair on a few of these recordings. The tunes are mostly standards, but done in a great style that's not exactly cool jazz, but which has a groundbreakingly easy groove that's simply sublime! CD features a number of bonus and unreleased cuts, with 19 tracks that include "What's New", "Yesterdays", "Vilia", "Ghost Of A Chance", "Jaguar", "Moonlight In Vermont", "Tabu", and "Where Or When". CD

Expanded CD reissue of a famous session that Cecil recorded at the Cafe Monmartre in Copenhagen in 1962 – and which was originally issued on Debut Records. Cecil's playing with Jimmy Lyons and Arthur "Sunny" Murray, and the recording's a great document of a key transitional period in his career – as tracks are really getting out there, with a lot more freedom than on earlier American sessions, but still with a bit of a jazz-based pulse. All tracks are long, and titles include "Trance", "Call", "Lena", and "D Trad, That's What". CD also features a 2nd version of "Call". CD

A beautifully bold statement from the Stan Tracey Quartet – one of the group's key recordings of the 60s, and a wonderful document of the talents of tenorist Bobby Wellins! During the 60s, Tracey and Wellins worked together like the team of Monk and Charlie Rouse – crafting a groove that was as soulful as it was angular – filled with feeling and life, and at once willing to explore the outer reaches of jazz, yet never going too far as to lose its humanity. Yet Wellins and Tracey were no simple Monkish pair – as heard on this set from 1967, a suite of tracks composed by Stan, and featuring him on celeste and vibes as well as his usual piano. The rhythms are increasingly complex as the set moves on – taking the angularities of Tracey's 50s work, and inflecting them with a sense of exploratory energy that really moves the style into a whole new level – one that's wonderfully dynamic, and filled with a freshness that still resonates strongly today. Titles include "Three Times Loser Three Times Bluser", "Undercover Lover", "Amoroso Only Moreso", "Two Part Intention", "Sweet Used To Be", and "Love Now Weep Later" – all of which sound much better than their hokey titles! CD

A fantastic look at the righteous current of energy that swept through American music at the end of the 60s – that huge wave of knowledge and political inspiration that still stands as one of our favorite moments in jazz and soul! The Civil Rights generation had gotten some things accomplished, but not everything – and a new wave of action arose in various scenes of the underground – not just pushing the musical formats past anything that had happened before, but also doing so with a strong message of pride and empowerment! This collection surveys some of the best tracks of that moment – and also provides a great batch of historical notes to put the whole thing in context – done in collaboration with the book of the same name, but equally great as a soundtrack and document on its own. The package is overflowing with Dusty Groove classics – and titles include "Sweet Songs" by Sarah Webster Fabio, "Surtal Ihklas" by Doug Carn, "Vibes From The Tribe" by Phil Ranelin, "Desert Fairy Princess" by Horace Tapscott & The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, "Sounds From The Bush" by The Mandingo Griot Society with Don Cherry, "Is It Too Late" by Duke Edwards & The Young Ones, "Strong Men" by David McKnight, "Black Narcissus" by Joe Henderson, "Malcolm X" by Phil Cohran & The Artistic Heritage Ensemble, "Mother Of The Future" by Carlos Garnett, "Red Black & Green" by Roy Ayers, "African Rhythms" by Oneness Of Juju, and "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron. (Funky Compilations, Jazz) CD

An amazing bit of music – and an incredible document of generations of creative jazz energy as well! The legendary Phil Cohran teams up here with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – a collective made up of Cohran's sons, who follow strongly in the rich legacy of his own Artistic Heritage group – yet in a very different way! Hypnotic Brass have caught the ear of many during their bright rise to fame – with a fluid, horn-heavy groove that's really amazing – echoes of Sun Ra and other Chicago creative legends – yet played almost entirely on brass instruments, which gives them an even bolder vibe. Here, working with their progenitor brings the group even more depth than before – an excellent sound that really spins things out wonderfully – percussion layered underneath the horns, solos taking jazzy flight, and an overall righteous vibe that holds things together beautifully. The album's way more than the sum of its parts – and those parts are already rich indeed – and titles include "Stateville", "Cuernavaca", "Ancestral", "Spin", "Zincali", "Apsara", and "Frankincense & Myrrh". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever album of studio duets between Joe McPhee and Mats Gustafsson – quite a surprise, given how often their paths have crossed over the years! The set was recorded in 2007, but only issued many years later – and it's a key document of the power that both improvisers have at this point in their career – each receiving strong global attention and facing new discovery by audiences nobody would have expected to be there for free jazz in the new millennium – but also able to completely put aside their egos and work together with the kind of sensitive interplay that only comes when you've got two masters in a rare moment like this. Sonically, the whole thing is very textural – maybe initially informed by that style that Gustafsson has of exploring all the outer reaches of a saxophone, from the tip of the reed right down to the surface of the pads – as he blows baritone, slide sax, and alto fluteophone – and McPhee works on pocket trumpet, alto, and alto clarinet. Titles include "Suicide Chicken Wings Over Nickelsdorf", "Bat Cave Feast", "Just Blue", "Just Green", "Race Matters", and "Blame Game". CD

We're not sure what "congliptious" means – but to us, it's always been the title of this excellent early session from reedman Roscoe Mitchell! The sessions here were recorded in 1968, at the Ter-Mar (Chess) Studios in Chicago – and they document a key coming-together of Chicago avant jazz talents – one that captures Mitchell with Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors in the years before better-known dates by the Art Ensemble of Chicago! The style here is somewhat similar to some of the best Delmark AACM sessions of the time – in that there's a hell of a lot of room for each player to open up individually – almost a recording style that takes off even more strongly from the individualist mode of the New York "new thing" generation – showing that Chicago could go one better by allowing each player completely unbridled space to express themselves. Malachi Favors solos on "Tutankhamen", Mitchell does an alto solo on "Thke", and Bowie plays alone on "Jazz Death" – while the trio of players comes together with percussionist Robert Crowder on the long number "Congliptious/Old" – a cool cut that almost links a Sun Ra aesthetic to the AACM. CD also features 4 bonus tracks – 3 takes of "Carefree", plus "Tatas-Matoes" – all cuts that originally appeared on the Art Ensemble 1967/1968 box set. CD

An incredibly spiritual session from percussionist Louis Moholo and his ensemble Viva La Black – recorded on the occasion of a series of concerts in Moholo's homeland of South Africa – and done in a way that's as much a document of the group's trip as it is a recording of the music in the concerts. Many of the tracks are shorter passages that flow together with longer ones – piecing together the warm spirit and soulful expression allowed to the group during the tour. And the music itself shares in a heritage that runs back through the 60s work of Mingus and Roland Kirk, the 70s experiments of the AACM, and the rich jazz-in-exile work of Moholo himself! Instrumentation includes percussion, trumpet, saxes, piano, and bass – plus vocals from all the members of the group – and titles include "Use Less Sugar & Stir Like Hell", "Volunteered Slavery", "Woza", "Nikosi", "End Of Man", "Dudu P", "I'll Look All Over Afrika For You", "Drum Choir", and "Joyful Noise". CD

Trumpeter Fats Navarro was one of the true giants of the early bop years, but he passed away at a young age just as the music was taking off – leaving behind just a handful of killer recordings to document his legacy! This set was put together by Blue Note as a great reminder of his genius – a style on the trumpet that was different than that of Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis – and which really set the tone for some of the more expressive players who would follow him on the instrument. Navarro is incredibly deft, yet never in a way that calls attention to itself too much – truly organic, and set up here in groups led by pianists Tadd Dameron and Bud Powell, plus some recordings in a group he co-led with trumpeter Howard McGhee. Titles on this first volume include "Wail", "The Chase", "The Squirrel", "Our Delight", and "Dameronia". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful free-flowing work by Cecil Taylor – and a key album to document his solo piano genius in the 70s! The album's an extended live performance, recorded at Montreux in 1974 – in an open, unbridled style that really shows the open spirit in Taylor's work at the time. The set includes one long piece, divided into 5 movements that include "Abyss", "Petals & Filaments", and "Crossing" – plus 2 shorter tracks "Jitney No 2" and "After All No 2". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great document of a unique musical moment – one that happened overseas, but which started a wave of protest that's continued to this day! In the late 50s, London was a hotbed of nuclear protest – one of the first cities to express a strong resistance to the arms race that was building up at a global level – in a movement that not only drew political forces, but artists and musicians as well! This well-done set looks at some of the latter – a mix of folk and jazz singers and musicians who joined together to protest atomic weapons – some with songs that outwardly anti-nuclear, some a bit more subtle – brought together here in a massive 54 track collection! The range of material varies, and maybe the most surprising are some of the trad jazz artists who we might not have expected to be working next to more political folkies – in a lineup that features material from Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Fred & Betty Dallas, Margaret McKeown, Kenny Ball, Humphrey Lyttleton, Sheila Hancock, Sydney Carter, Chris Barber, George Melly, Kenny Ball, and The Alberts. (Folk/Country, Jazz) CD

A great later Norman Granz live production – with work by Ella Fitzgerald, Flip Phillips, Illinois Jacquet, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and others! The original album is a landmark historic document, as it was the first ever live jazz album recorded at the legendary LA venue. The set opens with with the Norman Granz intro that leads to the Jam Session portion with Harry Edison, Roy Eldridge, Illinois Jacquet, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, rolling nicely into material led by Art Tatum on piano, including "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Begin The Beguine", "Willow Weep For Me" and "Humoresque". From there, Ella Fitzgerald and her group dig into "Love For Sale", "Little Girl Blue", and more. The set also features a couple of great numbers by the Oscar Peterson Trio: "9:20 Special" and "How 'Bout You" – and closes with a pair of numbers featuring Ella out front of Louie Armstrong and his group. LP, Vinyl record album