With Houston Person on tenor saxophone, Richard Wyands on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Tracks include "Groovin High", "I Want To Be Happy", "Anthropology", "Squatty", "Taking A Chance On Love", "How High The Moon", and "Get Happy" – all recorded in Paris between 1957 and 1961. LP, Vinyl record album

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, recording in the very familiar territory of the Birdland nightclub – in a format that was handled previously by the Blue Note label, but maybe never with a lineup this great! The performance features the sublime frontline trio of Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all players that are their youthful best, and completely on fire with creative imagination under Blakey's leadership – the start of a great run for all of them as solo stars too. The tracks are long, and even if the tunes are sometimes familiar, the performances are spectacular – that special Jazz Messengers energy that makes records like this so great. This second volume includes the tracks "Night Watch", "The Summit", "High Modes", and "The Things I Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A true orgy in rhythm from Art Blakey – a set that not only features his drums next to the kit of Art Taylor, but which also adds in a bevy of other percussionists – including Sabu Martinez, Patato Valdez, and Jose Valentine! Joe Jones and Specs Wright also bring in additional jazz drums – making for more drummers than you might even find in a high school band – all working together with amazing qualities in sound, sometimes even melodic amidst all of the rhythms. Lighter lyrical touches are provided by Herbie Mann's flute, and Ray Bryant throws in some great lines on piano – underscoring the grooves in a nice way. Titles on this first volume include "Buhaina Chant", "Split Skins", and "Toffi". LP, Vinyl record album

A true orgy in rhythm from Art Blakey – a set that not only features his drums next to the kit of Art Taylor, but which also adds in a bevy of other percussionists – including Sabu Martinez, Patato Valdez, and Jose Valentine! Joe Jones and Specs Wright also bring in additional jazz drums – making for more drummers than you might even find in a high school band – all working together with amazing qualities in sound, sometimes even melodic amidst all of the rhythms. Lighter lyrical touches are provided by Herbie Mann's flute, and Ray Bryant throws in some great lines on piano – underscoring the grooves in a nice way. Titles on this second volume include "Amuck", "Elephant Walk", and "Abdallah's Delight". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album – Donald Byrd's first session with producer Larry Mizell, the man who went on to 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?" LP, Vinyl record album

A tasty collection of goodies that Donald recorded with the great Larry Mizell during the early 70s. Certainly not his all-inclusive best, but some of our favorite material by this legendary soul jazz trumpeter. The tracks have a sparkling electric jazz funk sound, with amazing production that keeps them drifting along with a very soulful vibe. Titles include "Sky High", "Street Lady", "Change", "Stepping Into Tomorrow", "Black Byrd", and "Flight Time". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful dreamy album that's quite different from the classic Getz/Gilberto collaboration – but which also shares much of that set's lyrical beauty! This album was recorded live, in 1964, when Stan Getz was playing with his quartet that included Gary Burton on vibes – an incredible lineup that made for some wonderfully moody sounds! The vibes/tenor approach was a high point in Getz's career – especially as the young Burton could create these beautiful washes of sound that were a perfect counterpoint to Getz's breathy playing. And although Astrud Gilberto is thrown into the mix here to give the album a bit of bossa appeal – vocals on 6 titles that include "Corovado", "Eu E Voce", "It Might As Well Be Spring", "One Note Samba", "Only Trust Your Heart", and "The Telephone Song" – there's also 4 more tracks that are all instrumental, and which show the Getz/Burton union in all of its glory! These tracks include "6 Nix Pix Flix", "The Singing Song", "Here's That Rainy Day", and "Summertime". And for reference, the rest of the group includes Gene Cherico on bass and Joe Hunt on drums – but on 3 tracks, Chuck Israels plays bass instead of Cherico, and on a few others, Helcio Milito plays drums instead of Hunt, and Kenny Burrell joins in on guitar. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the first great pairings of Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan – a trumpet/tenor team that was always a treasure, no matter what the setting! This one's a pretty open-ended blowing date – one that gives both horn players plenty of room to stretch out, in a setting that's filled with sharp-edged, and imaginative lines! The rhythm section is rock solid too – with Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and the great Charlie Persip on drums – kicking things nicely on the kit to get a groove going. Tracks are all quite long, and titles include "Git Go Blues", "Stretchin Out", and "High & Flighty". LP, Vinyl record album

Great Blue Note two-fer which compiles tracks from Randy Weston's fantastic albums recorded for United Aritsts – rare gems at the forefront of late 50s modern jazz, and records that hardly ever see the light of day! The albums are filled with seminal versions of Randy's famous compositions – played by sextet and septet lineups with players that include the cream of New York modern – Ray Copeland, Melba Liston, Johnny Griffin, Kenny Dorham, and Slide Hampton. Great work all around – and material that's really not properly been reissued over the years – making this well-annotated 70s collection as essential as an original copy, and almost as rare! Titles include "Little Niles", "High Fly", "Little Susan", "Babe's Blues", "Nice Ice", "Earth Birth", "Pam's Waltz", and "Spot Five Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the seminal sides cut by Donald Byrd in his partnership with Pepper Adams – a high-up, low-down set that's a smoker all the way through! Byrd's brightness on trumpet is nicely matched by Adams' fluid work on baritone sax – and the pair are wonderfully supported by a rhythm trio that includes Herbie Hancock on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums – all players who can hit a sock-hard groove one minute, then let loose with a lyrical flourish the next. The approach of the record is tightly soulful, with loads of great changes – and some surprising dark edges that really add in a whole new dimension to the Donald Byrd sound of the time. Titles include "Shangri-La", "Jorgies", "Hush", "6 M's", and the moody "Requiem"! LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly the best of the non-Blue Note Blakey sides from the early 60s – and an excellent outing from the sextet version of the Jazz Messengers that included Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, and Reggie Workman! The format here is a big tighter than some of Blakey's quintet sessions – with a bit more focus on the arrangements than before – but a change that's more than welcome to our ears, given the strength of the material and Walton's majestic command of the rhythms! Wellington Blakey joins the group on vocals on the track "Wellington's Blues" – but the best aspect of the album is its long Eastern-tinged jam tracks, very much in the mode of some of Horace Silver's work in a similar vein. Titles include Sadao Watanabe's "Nihon Bash", plus "Kyoto", "The High Priest", and "Never Never Land". LP, Vinyl record album

Killer work from Freddie Hubbard – some key transitional sides for Atlantic Records, and easily some of his most soulful work ever! Freddie started out as a bopper on Blue Note, but then made a great shift at Atlantic – exploring space and sound in a really wonderful way, and opening up towards some of the killer modes you'd know from his classics on CTI. There's just a bit of electricity in the mix here, as most cuts are acoustic – but they already stretch out in some hip, spiritual styles that are really great. Titles include "For BP", "Lonely Soul", "High Blues Pressure", "Midnite Soul", "Black Soldier", Interlude I", "Echoes Of Blue", "Threnody For Sharon Tate Comment", "Spacetrack", "Leap Frog", "Up Jumped Spring", "Latina", and "On The Quee Tee". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing live performance from Sonny Rollins – one we'd rank right up there with his legendary Village Vanguard recordings on Blue Note – thanks to its stripped-down trio presentation, and its ability to let Rollins open up in some wonderfully modern tones! As with the Vanguard sides, these tracks feature a superb trio – Henry Grimes on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – both wonderfully loose players, at the start of a budding legacy of creativity – and well-matched with Rollins, whose really changing his sound and style, and using the open space of the performance to move in directions that nobody would have expected at the start of the decade. Most tracks are standards, but really transformed – and titles include "Paul's Pal", "St Thomas", "There Will Never Be Another You", "Stay As Sweet As You Are", "How High The Moon", "Oleo", and "I've Told Every Little Star". LP, Vinyl record album

A funky jazz treasure – and the band's landmark first album! The Blackbyrds were a legendary 70s combo that were discovered by Donald Byrd while he was teaching at Howard University – and they had a tight style that mixed raw funk influences with smoother jazz playing, creating a sound that was different from many of their contemporaries, and which pushed funk and soul into a whole new level. Byrd's work with the band was as groundbreaking as Larry Mizell's work on his own Blue Note albums – and coincidentally, Larry Mizzell's Sky High Productions handles the studio chores for the set – but in a way that's much more sharply funky than his albums with Byrd! Titles include the tight choppy funk tracks "Do It, Fluid" and "Funky Junkie", plus other nice groovers like "Summer Love", "Gut Level", and "The Runaway". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A completely righteous mix of jazz and African percussion – put together by drummer Art Blakey at a time when he was riding high with the Jazz Messengers, but also was willing to work on great experiments like this! The album's years ahead of its time – and arguably opens the door for countless spiritual jazz projects like this in the 70s, more proof that Blakey was a groundbreaking artist who was always opening doors for others! Blakey's own work on drums is joined by percussion from Montego Joe, Chief Bey, Garvin Masseux, James Ola, Folami, Robert Crowder, and Solomon Ilori – the last of whom would record his own record for Blue Note – and the rest of the group features Yusef Lateef on flute and tenor, Curtis Fuller on trombone, and the great Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass – a great choice for the record, given that he was mixing together similar modes on his own records of the time. Titles include "Tobi Ilu", "Love, The Mystery Of", and "Obirin African". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible record – and one of the real high points in the career of trumpeter Donald Byrd! The album's the third one he cut with producer/arranger Larry Mizell – and of all Byrd's work with Mizell, this one's the funkiest, the tightest, the most soulful, and the most perfectly realized vision of the soaring sound the duo were aiming for! Every track is a winner – and the album glides along with a slippery sinewy groove, never pausing for a weak moment or a misplaced note, shimmering with pride in its own genius. Byrd's trumpet soars over the top, banking gracefully over waves of funky drums, spacey keyboards, and extremely well-placed vocals – all brought together perfectly by Mizell, with a tightly fused style that few people have ever been able to match in the studio since! Tracks include "Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)", "Dominoes", "Wind Parade", "Places & Spaces", and "Night Whistler". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest Yusef Lateef albums on Atlantic Records – and that's saying a lot, given the high level of quality he was hitting at the label! The album's a perfect blend of the newly-funky Lateef style with some hipper, more sophisticated touches – a mode that hints at his bigger-concept recordings to come, but which is still pretty lean and clean overall – and damn funky on most of the best tracks! Yusef plays a host of hip flutes here, plus tenor and oboe – and an almost equal star on the record is Kenny Barron, whose electric piano lines really make the album something special. The album begins with a long take on Barron's "Nubian Lady" which begins the record – and Kenny also contributed the tighter grooving "Jungle Plum". Other tracks include "African Song", "Queen Of The Night", "Poor Fishermen", "Below Yellow Bell", and a strange version of "Hey Jude" that goes on for a long time, and really messes with the volume – listed on the cover with the note "Do not adjust the playback level on your audio equipment – readjust your mind!" LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work by Charlie Parker, recorded at Storyville Nightclub in Boston in 1953 – originally broadcast on radio station WHDH, and featuring Bird in a more open, relaxed style than his studio sessions. The recording quality is a bit dated, but the quality of the playing isn't – with extremely fresh solo work by Parker, and great supporting work by players that include Herb Pomeroy, Red Garland, Roy Haynes, Kenny Clarke, and Sir Charles Thompson. Titles include "Cool Blues", "Dancing On The Ceiling", "Groovin High", "Out Of Nowhere", "Moose The Mooche", and "I'll Walk Alone". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the earliest sets of Jazz At The Philharmonic material – pre-Verve, too – and pressed on 12" 78rpm discs – which allow for longer performances per side. 3 sides each of the songs "Oh Lady Be Good" and "How High The Moon". (78 RPM, Jazz) 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Despite the title of the album, the group's a sharp-edged fusion combo – one that hails from late 70s Japan, and who works here in the best mainstream fusion mode of the time! The tunes are mostly jazz funk with a bit of polish – heavy on guitars from Kazuo Takeda, who also takes off on some pretty nice solos – and also featuring keyboards from Hisao Sakurai and tenor from Mitsuru Kanekuni. The record is never too jamming, nor too smooth – but one number does feature some unfortunate blues vocals from Takeda. Titles include "Spinning Toe Hold No 2", "No Problem", "Wild Cat", "Swamp Boy", and "Fou Fou Gun Gun". LP, Vinyl record album

A wicked post-Blue Note session from Bobby Hutcherson – one that's put together in a different way than his previous work, but still completely sublime throughout! The feel is almost to Hutcherson's earlier work what Woody Shaw's Columbia recordings were to his – tighter, with sharper production – yet still wonderfully soulful and with a strong sense of spirit. Key soloists include Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and Hubert Laws on flute – and the record also features George Cables on acoustic and electric piano, Cedar Walton on acoustic piano, and Eddie Marshall on drums. Includes the lovely "Sweet Rita Suite", plus "Circle", "Secrets Of Love", and "Bouquet". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare 60s meeting of groovy talents from both sides of the Atlantic – and a record that matches the trumpet of Dizzy Gillespie with the hiply swinging vocals of The Double Six Of Paris! The group were a wonderfully groovy precursor to the Swingle Singers – and sung in a scatting approach to jazz vocals that was very much in the tradition of Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross – but also drew inspiration from the earlier work of Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and others. Their sound is great – much more 60s groovy than some other vocal groups – and pairing them with Dizzy gives this record an added punch that some of their other sessions are missing! Backing is small combo throughout – with either Bud Powell or Kenny Barron on piano, Kenny Clarke on drums, and James Moody on tenor – and with the presence of Diz, most of the material here is of bop orientation – taken at a fast and lively clip! Lalo Schifrin arranged the whole session too – and titles include "One Bass Hit", "Blue N Boogie", "Emanon", "Groovin High", "Ow", "The Champ", "Tin Tin Deo", "Hot House", and "Con Alma". LP, Vinyl record album

The title says "57", but the music's from a few years before – yet that's OK with us, because Bud Powell always has a sound that's instantly timeless no matter what the year! The album brings together sides from Verve dates in 1954 and 1955 – one featuring Art Blakey on drums and Lloyd Troutman on bass, the other featuring Max Roach and Percy Heath. Given the presence of the strong drummers, there's a drive here that's a bit harder than on some of the other Verve dates – a highly rhythmic component that often brings a real focus to some of the more upbeat numbers, but which lays back nicely on the mellower ones to let Powell hit some especially dark notes. Titles include "Deep Night", "That Old Black Magic", "Round Midnight", "Thou Swell", and "Tenderly". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful Roost material from Sonny Stitt – solid, mature, and extremely well-placed lines on the alto sax – all caught at a level that's higher than most of his contemporaries were dising out at the time! The boppier side of Stitt's roots is nicely suppressed here – and in its place is a focused and deeply personal approach to the music – one that's wonderfully complemented by the "New Yorkers" combo of Hank Jones on piano, Shadow Wilson on drums, and Wendell Marshall on bass. The record's one of the jewels in the crown of his Roost catalog – and titles include "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "It Might As Well Be Spring", "Engos, The Bloos", and "Bloosey". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer batch of large ensemble numbers – very much in the mode of the Clarke-Boland Big Band, or some of the other groups on MPS at the time! The group's led by Jerry Van Rooyen, the Dutch jazzman and composer who did some excellent funky soundtrack work over the years – a fact that certainly shows up in the tracks on the set – which have a sweetly grooving feel mixed in with the large ensemble jazz – a great approach that would have been right at home in some hip Euro film score from the time! Van Rooyen gives the material a soulful feel that's a lot like some of Quincy Jones' best scoring from the 60s – blending together work on organ, Fender Rhodes, and piano (played by Frans Elsen, Rob Madna, and Rob Franken) – with breakaway horn solos by players like Benny Bailey on trumpet and Rolf Ericson on trumpets, Ake Persson and Jiggs Whigham on trombones, and Herb Geller, Ferdinand Povel, and Tony Coe on reeds – most of whom are players who've sparked great notes previously on sets with the Clarke-Boland Big Band, or other hip MPS ensemble projects. Titles include "Sonlite", "Because I Love You", "Some Blues", "For Nathalie", "The Runners", "JBW", "Green", and "Whirligig". LP, Vinyl record album

Jazzy keyboards from the great Rob Franken – maybe one of the hippest cats on the Dutch scene of the 70s when it came to the Fender Rhodes! Rob's a master of the instrument here – playing it jazzily, but also with this open flow that's really wonderful – and which really makes the best use of the instrument's potential, and doesn't drown it in too much jamming, which could sometimes be the case with other European musicians who handled the instrument! Instead, Franken lets the space between the notes do as much as the notes themselves – which really keeps things soulful throughout – as he works with musicians who include Ferdinand Povel on flute and tenor, Jiggs Whigham on trombone, Joop Scholten on guitar, Jan Huydts on keyboards – plus the great team of John Lee and Gerry Brown on rhythm on one cut – a fantastic remake of their "Her Celestial Body", which they did on one of their 70s albums for Blue Note. Titles include "Por Hermeto", "How'd You Do It Stanley", "Images", "November", "Up The Street Round the Corner Down The Block", "Afro Blue", and "Colours". (Sound Library, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent 70s album from Horace Silver – one that's often overlooked, but which yields of listening joy, once you open it up! The set's got some wonderful modal/spiritual numbers – in a mode that would make the record highly prized if it were issued on Strata East, and which is pretty darn great for Blue Note at the time – easily one of Silver's most righteous moments of the late 70s! The percussion promised in the title really stands out – and helps shape the rhythms with an even more exotic feel than usual – but the set also cooks with some great horn solos too – trumpet by Tom Harrell and tenor by Larry Schneider – both players whose arcing lines really help add a lot of color to the grooves. The whole thing's great – proof that Silver never stopped growing as an artist – and titles include "The Aztec Sun God", "The Mohican & The Great Spirit", "The Gods Of The Yoruba", and "The Spirit Of The Zulu". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful record – one in which Phil Woods blows alto solos over the arrangements of Michel Legrand – handled in the masterful style of Legrand's best jazzy soundtrack work, and in a way that lets Woods hit some of his best solos of the 70s! Legrand's always been great at this sort of album for any jazzman – and here, he unlocks a romantic tone in Woods' style that is a nice counterpart to some of the hippy-dippiness that he'd been showing in other sides from the 70s. The real highlight is the 14 minute title track – "Images" – a cool extended jazzy romp which has Woods' alto running through hard tight changes alongside Legrand's dynamic orchestra – but there's plenty of other nice numbers, including "The Summer Knows", "Windmills Of Your Mind", and "I Was Born In Love With You". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most beautiful albums of the 70s from pianist Richie Beirach – and in saying that, we don't mean to insult the rest of his other great American work! This set was done in Japan, and it's maybe one of Beirach's most obscure of the decade – but it's also a really special session that features the pianist in combination with two different musicians – guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo on side one, and trumpeter Terumasa Hino on side two – each artists whose contributions bring out a slightly different side of Beirach's sound! The guitar on side one highlights some of those spacious, airy notes that Richie brought to his beautiful ECM sides of the period – while Hino's use of both trumpet and flugelhorn emphasizes some of the darker tones of the piano, but in ways that are completely different than Beirach's work with Dave Liebman. One title is also just solo piano – and titles include "Yesterdays", "Mavrodaphne", "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair", "Zal", and "What Is This Thing Called Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A great little album of mid 70s funk from Ramsey Lewis – very much in the mode of his Earth, Wind, & Fire related work – no surprise, since the album's dedicated to Charles Stepney, whose influence was such a key part of the sound of the group, and of some of Ramsey's other Kalimba-produced albums from a few years before! Ramsey plays Fender Rhodes, mini moog, and Arp – and he gets help on keyboards from Stevie Wonder and Derf Reklaw, who also plays saxes and percussion on the set. Features versions of Wonder's "Love Notes" and "Spring High", plus Reklaw's "Chili Today Hot Tamale", "Shining", and "Stash Dash". LP, Vinyl record album

A well-done 70s album that compiles some of Clifford Brown's best moments for Blue Note – including sides that were recorded under the leadership of JJ Johnson and Lou Donaldson, plus a few from sessions under Brown's own name. Titles include "Wail Bait", "Hymn Of The Orient", "Easy Living", and "De Dah". Some of the best work you'll ever find by Brown on record, too! LP, Vinyl record album

Rare material by the legendary Three Sounds – recorded in the early 60s by Gene Harris and combo, but never issued at the time! The work follows very strongly in the best spirit of the Three Sounds' more famous albums from the time – a unique blend of soul jazz piano with some of the more sprightly pianistics that had been showing up on trio records in the 50s – never too over the top, but with enough creativity to make the group a key crowd-pleasing act at the time! Harris' work on the keys is extremely magical, and there's some tunes on the set that give the album a slightly different feel than usual. Highlights include great readings of Randy Weston's "Babe's Blues", Nat Adderley's Work Song", and Frank Rosolino's "Blue Daniel" – plus the originals "Wait A Minute" and "Lazy Cat". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent funky work from Lou Donaldson – and a groundbreaking record that was the first to feature him playing on Blue Note with drummer Idris Muhammad – who is listed on the session under his birth name, Leo Morris! Muhammad gives the album that crackling funky bottom sound that instantly defined Lou's later years at Blue Note – a hard and heavy approach to soul jazz that's had incredible repercussions in the world of hip hop, as well as soul and funk. The rest of the group features soul jazz burners Lonnie Smith on organ, Melvin Lastie on trumpet, and George Benson on guitar – and the album includes the highly successful "Alligator Boogaloo", plus hard groovers "The Thang", "Aw Shucks!", and "One Cylinder". LP, Vinyl record album

A definite head rocker here – a brilliant bit of funky jazz from Japan, and a record that beautifully balances acoustic and electric elements! Jiro Inagaki plays some heavy tenor and soprano sax on the record – working with a combo that includes electric guitar, electric bass, and organ – plus a trumpet joining Jiro in the frontline! The rhythms are tight, hard, and very funky at times – drenched in soul, but also filtered through a bit of a psychedelic influence, as you might guess from the cover on the record – and Jiro's choppy tenor and soprano come off with some of the same sharp notes and changes you might expect from the best European funky fusion of the time. Tracks include "Spoonful", "The Ground For Peace", "Head Rock", "The Vamp", "Back To Back", "High Jack", and "Twenty One". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best of the early 60s comeback albums by the legendary bop trumpeter Howard McGhee – and a record that really has the player finding a whole new groove in his music! At this point, Maggie's got a fantastic tone that was missing from his earlier records, filled with pain and raw emotion – but also measured with a maturity that gives his solos an incredible sense of economy that delivers a whole hell of a lot with just a few simple notes – a balance that comes through beautifully here, maybe even more so than on any other record by Howard from the time! He's playing here in a great group that includes Roland Alexander on tenor, Bennie Green on trombone, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Pepper Adams on baritone – and tracks include "Dusty Blue", "Groovin High", "Cottage For Sale", "Flyin Colors", and "With Malice Towards None". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal, yet unusual 50s Blue Note treasure! The album brings together a number of Horace Silver's great trio recordings from the early 50's, most of them with Art Blakey on drums, showing the fluid, rumbling genius that would later make him such a great leader. But the record also includes 2 tracks that don't even have Horace at all – and which feature duets between Art Blakey on drums and Sabu Martinez on conga, on the titles "Message From Kenya" and "Nothing But The Soul" – both tunes that have a highly percussive feel, and which were penned by Blakey. They're nice little percussion jams, and really take the material beyond typical 50s jazz and into beautiful beat-heavy territory – and they side nicely next to classic trio sides that include "Safari", "Ecaroh", and "Opus De Funk". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the last records ever recorded by the great Sonny Stitt – material that has him blowing both alto and tenor, in a group with Walter Davis on piano, George Duvivier on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums, and trumpet on most of the set from Bill Hardman! LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful work by Dolphy – as essential to his catalog as any of his albums on Prestige from the same time! Although Dolphy broke plenty of musical barriers in the studio, to our ears, it was always in a live setting that he sounded best – freely exploring the kind of space his playing opened up, hitting notes that were more soulful and spiritual than many that he ever recorded on his studio sides. This set is a perfect example of that trend – as Dolphy's working here with a strong straight jazz combo, one that includes the great Benny Bailey on trumpet, in a set that features familiar tunes, turned into haunting explorations of Dolphy's new jazz idiom. One of the highlights is an incredible 15 minute version of Randy Weston's "Hi Fly", with Dolphy doing great work on flute – and other tunes include "Hot House", "Geewee", "When Lights Are Low", "I'll Remember April", and "The Meeting". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge collection of material that Dexter recorded for Savoy in the early bop years – mostly issued as 78 rpm singles, but also including a number of tracks from the album Dexter Rides Again. The set brings together a wealth of alternate takes of the material, including a number of unissued ones – as well as great notes on the material, and a higher level of sound quality than the original vinyl. Titles include "The Lion Roars", "After Hours Bop", "Dexter Digs In", "Settin The Pace", "Blow Mr Dexter", "Long Tall Dexter", and "Dexter Rides Again". LP, Vinyl record album