A very different entry in this always-great series – one that doesn't focus on a specific artist, or just the instrumentation of the two leaders – but instead has this great range of artists coming together in a very jazz-based style! Things here are even more organic and flowing than on some of the other volumes – as there's a very cool array of players that shift nicely from track to track, while still giving the record a unified vibe – work from Jeff Parker on guitar, Lonnie Liston Smith on piano, Tony Allen on drums, Henry Franklin on bass, Phil Ranelin on trombone, Wendell Harrison on bass clarinet, Jaman Laws on tenor, Phillip Wack on alto, and Scott Mayo on flute – all players who work with Younge and Muhammad to create soulful and funky elements that bring us back to the spirit of the Black Jazz label in the 70s Even if you've heard other titles in the series, this one still really advances the concept even further – and with more live, spontaneous energy in the studio – on titles that include "Running With The Tribe", "Phoenix", "Come As You Are", "Ebun", "El Cambio Es Necesario", "The Avenues", and "The Griot". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

A record with maybe the sharpest edge of any of the titles in this excellent series – a set that's certainly more jazz-based than most, thanks in part to the presence of the legendary Henry Franklin on bass, and some superb work on guitar from the great Jeff Parker! Although Franklin is best known for his famous 70s albums on the Black Jazz label, he's continued to be a strong force on the west coast scene for decades, and has issued some sublime records on his own label – and this time around, it's almost as if the team of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have stepped back a bit, and let Franklin act more as a leader than some of the other artists on previous Jazz Is Dead recordings. Tracks are long, and filled with a sense of exploration that's nicely different than some of Franklin's own records, but equally inspired – with work from other players who include Clinton Patterson on trumpet, David Urquidi on alto, Scott Mayo on tenor and flute, and Nicholas Baker on percussion. Titles include "African Sun", "Feedback", "Cafe Negro", "People's Revolution", "Karibu", "The Griot", and "Memories Lost". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

The Jazz Is Dead series goes mighty deep with this gem of a record – opening the door for two legendary Tribe Records talents from the Detroit scene of the 70s – reedman Wendell Harrison and trombonist Phil Ranelin – both of whom sound superb throughout! As with other volumes in the JID series, the production pair really adapt their sound and strategy to fit the best modes of the guest – so that this time around, Ali Shaheed Muhammad's just adding some strong basslines to the tunes, and Adrian Younge plays a variety of keyboards and guitar – yet neither get in the way of the vision that's clearly coming from both Harrison and Ranelin! Tracks almost feel like an update of older Tribe Records modes – and drummer Greg Paul provides a nice crisp crackle at the bottom. Tunes include "Running With The Tribe", "Ursa Major", "Black Census", "Open Eye", "Genesis", and "Fire In Detroit". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

Spiritual keyboard giant Lonnie Liston Smith joins the duo of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad – and the result is maybe one of the deepest records in this wonderful series! As you can imagine, Lonnie is on keyboards, and delivers some wonderful solos throughout – very much in the spirit of his classic Flying Dutchman albums of the 70s – at a level that even seems to bring out some deeper vibes from Younge and Muhammad as well! Vocalist Loren Oden joins the group on four tracks, recalling the great vocal style used on Lonnie's classic records, in this beautiful mix of jazz and soul that really shapes the tunes – in a set that that includes "A New Spring", "Love Brings Happiness", "Cosmic Changes", "Dawn", "Gratitude", "What May Come", and "Love Can Be". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

One of the most ambitious recordings in the excellent Jazz Is Dead series – and one that marks a long-overdue return for Garrett Sarracho – an artist who gave the world the excellent En Medio album for Impulse Records in the early 70s – but who has mostly kept his talents underground for the past few decades! Here, Saracho is really majestic on piano – and brings in all sorts of currents from Latin jazz, which makes for a very different sound than some of the leaner records in this series – heavy percussion, soaring horns, and all sorts of other wonderful elements – served up next to the core contributions of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The duo have definitely let Sarracho loose to explore his own musical vision, and the record is very much his own – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Trucha", "The Gardens", "Altitude", "White Buffalo", "Sabor Del Ritmo", "El Cambio Es Neccesario", "73", and "Calo". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

Saxophonist Gary Bartz joins the duo of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad – bringing a warm sense of soul to their soulful backings – which range from funky to spacey, and do a nice job of capturing the mid 70s feel of Gary on record! The sound isn't the Larry Mizell or Ntu Group version of Bartz – but a warm, spiritual take on alto sax – with strong solo that really soar out over the proceedings, even when the Young/Muhammad rhythms might not be as dynamic – but that's maybe no surprise, given that Gary Bartz always made the best of any situation – and really shines here amidst the Fender Rhodes, Hammond, guitars, and vibes that make up the rest of the music. Titles include "Soulsea", "The Message", "Day By Day", "Blue Jungles", "Spiritual Ideation", and "Black & Brown". (Deep Funk, Jazz) CD

A fantastic lost legacy in European free improvisation – the complete works of a group who were first known as Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe, then later as Fourmenonly – presented here in a beautiful 3CD set! First up is the album Trees – issued on a small label in 1968, but a set that matches the groundbreaking energy of the early work on FMP – played by a group that features Helmuth Zimmer on piano, Wilfreid Eichorn on tenor and soprano sax, Claus Buhler on bass, Rudi Thielmann on drums, and Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, Mellophon, piston, and percussion! The group have a melodic vibe at the core – often feeling out the initial space as a unit, then exploding with sound and color – and really making especially great work of the talents of Joos and Eichorn – players who work together with great power, driven on by the others. Titles include "Lonely Time", "Trees", "Schnee Verbrennt", "Change Of Beauty", and "The Devil Is Green Blue Yellow". CD also features a bonus unreleased improvisation too! Next is Position 2000 – a record of even longer improvisations, and one that shows the quintet really developing their sound – strongly aware of the farther reaches, but always beginning in some more colorful passages that almost have a melody, before exploding out with very vibrant energy! The lineup is the same as on the debut – with Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, mellophone, Indian flute, and percussion – and Wilfried Eichorn on tenor, soprano sax, bass clarinet, flute, and percussion – alongside Helmuth Zimmer on piano, Klaus Buhler on bass, and Rudi Thielmann on drums. Titles include "The Sun Is Coming Over", "Position 2000", and "Where Love Forever Shines". CD also features an unreleased improvisation. For the next album, bassist Buhler has departed the group – who are renamed Fourmenonly! Their first record is a brilliant set of free jazz from the German scene of the 70s – very different than other work of the time, in that there's maybe more of a future-thinking balance between sounds and silence, frenzy and fragility – all served up by a quartet that features Herbert Joos on trumpet and flugelhorn, Wilfried Eichhorn on tenor and soprano sax, Helmuth Zimmer on piano and percussion, and Rudi Theilmann on drums and percussion. Titles include "Viridiana/Ich Und Meine Bruder/Compulsion" and "Count Down/Excess". On the album Eight Science Fiction Stories, the Fourmenonly lineup is expanded by trombonist Wolfgang Czelusta – and perform some fantastic work billed as "science fiction stories", all composed by Herbert Joos. The sound is as revolutionary as on the group's earliest material, but also maybe more compact as well – nicely focused, with especially strong emphasis on the interplay between Czelusta on trombone, Wilifried Eichorn on bass clarinet, flute, and oboe, and Herbert Joos on flugelhorn, trumpet, and mellophone. The piano of Helmuth Zimmer is amazing – almost Cecil Taylor-like in intensity at times – and drummer Rudi Theilmann does a great job of moving from passages of full-on power to more spacious percussion. Titles include "Lucifer Is Marching On", "Dead Season", "The Beauty Without A Face", "Departure", "Plastic Happiness", and "Space Wall". CD

Mindblowing jazz from Japan – a tremendous introduction to the 70s scene in Tokyo if you've never heard this music at all – and a package that also includes a fair bit of rare tracks, even if you're not a newcomer! The Japanese love of American jazz is no secret – and the music was spread widely there by American forces after WWII – but during the 70s, something really special happened, and the scene found a voice that was all its own – exploding with new energy to create sounds that were soulful, spiritual, and powerfully poetic! By the end of the 70s, Japanese fusion would get more global exposure – but most of the tracks here are acoustic, save for Fender Rhodes lines – and feature completely inventive, imaginative sounds – often set to grooves that are modal and spiritual too. A fantastic collection throughout – with tracks that include "Blind Man" by Shintaro Quintet, "White Fire" by Takao Uematsu, "Aya's Samba" by Eiji Nakayama, "Earth Mother" by Koichi Matsukaze, "Dead Letter" by Tohru Aizawa, "Kaze" by Takeo Moriyama, "Long Neal" by Kiyoshi Sugimoto, "Unknown Point" by Mitsuaki Katayama, and "Little Island" by Fumio Karashima. (Funky Compilations, Jazz) CD

Maybe the moodiest record we've ever heard from trumpeter Theo Croker – a set that blends together his earthy Afrofuturist experiments with other electric horn-based modes – maybe currents of 70s Miles or Jon Hassell, but served up in much more soul-based territory overall! Many cuts have vocals – from singers who include Jamila Woods, Jill Scott, and Teedra Moses – which are often muted, and folded into the electric mix – so that the lyrics are just one more shimmering texture of sound, amidst the blend of keyboards, organ, alto, and other instrumentation on the set. There's also plenty of guests along the way – including Gary Bartz and Kassa Overall – on titles that include "Jazz Is Dead", "Royal Conversation", "To Be We", "She's Bad", "Humanity", "Divinity", and "Cosmic Intercourse (part 2)". CD

A pair of classics from Deodato – back to back on a single high-quality CD! First up is Prelude – a legendary album from the 70s funk scene – and one of the crowning achievements of keyboard maestro Eumir Deodato! Deodato got his start during the bossa years of the 60s – where his sophisticated charts were already enough to make his career a landmark – but in the following decade he picked up the Fender Rhodes, and really took off in a great new direction with classic records like this! The set's a wonderful blend of larger charts and jazzy soloing – with sublime Rhodes lines from the leader, plus a mix of acoustic and electric instrumentation in the best CTI mode – underscored by percussion from both Ray Barretto and Airto. The features Deodato's remake of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" into the funky "2001" – soaring with Fender Rhodes lines that set a new standard for the instrument, with a funky undercurrent that few would have expected for the tune. Other tracks are nice too – and include a great bossa-y version of "Baubles Bangles & Beads", plus "Spirit Of Summer", "September 13", and "Carly & Carole". Deodato 2 is filled with funky keyboards galore – and one of the greatest records ever from this legendary Brazilian jazz talent! The album follows nicely off Deodato's Prelude classic for CTI – and like that one, this set's built on long-flowing tunes that rise and fall with a wonderful sense of rhythm – a sublime electric piano groove that's quite different than anything Deodato recorded before – and possibly never realized this perfectly again after his CTI years. Other players include Stanley Clarke on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, and Hubert Laws on flute – and titles include the massive Latin funk track "Super Strut", plus the tunes "Pavane For A Dead Princess", "Skyscrapers", and a great version of "Nights In White Satin". Plus, this CD reissue features 3 bonus tracks – "Venus", "Do It Again", and "Latin Flute"! CD

Two jazz rock classics – back to back as a 2CD set! Solar Plexus was a pivotal album in the career of British jazzman Ian Carr – one that had him really opening up into some trippy, spacey grooves – adding in a lot of keyboards, kicking up the grooves, yet still never losing the strong jazzy finish that was the best part of his earlier work. Players on the set include trumpeters Harry Beckett and Kenny Wheeler, guitarist Chris Spedding, and keyboardist Karl Jekins, who really throws in some groovy lines on the set! Titles include "Elements 1 & 2", "Snakehips Dream", "Torso", "Spirit Level", and "Bedrock Deadlock". Belladonna is one of the heaviest electric sets from UK trumpeter Ian Carr – and that's really saying a lot, given how much heavy work he cut with his group Nucleus! The sound here is a groundbreaking mix of acoustic horns and keyboards – trumpet from Carr, and a mix of tenor, soprano, alto, and flute from Brian Smith – coming into contact with the Fender Rhodes of Dave MacRae and the Hohner electric of Gordon Beck! The pairing of keys is wonderful – and the whole thing is sewn together by the guitar of a young Allan Holdsworth, who's very much in the sway of Carr's sound here, instead of the later directions he'd take as a leader. The set might be worth it alone for the massive "Summer Rain" – a slow funk track that trips along beautifully – but the whole thing's great, and other titles include "Belladonna", "Mayday", "Suspension", and "Hector's House". CD

Fantastic work from EABS – a combo who continue to amaze us with the diversity of sounds they create, and the depth of feeling they can get from a mix of acoustic and electric instruments! There's maybe an even deeper spiritual vibe going on here than previous records – music that's not afraid to borrow some currents from the world of contemporary soul, yet still stays strongly in jazz territory overall – electric rhythms at some points, acoustic at others – blended with a range of wonderful keyboards from Marek Latarnik Pedziwiatr, next to trumpet from Jakub Kurek, and tenor and soprano sax from Olaf Wegier. The great tenorist Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski guests on the track "A Farewell To Mother Earth" – and other tracks include "Lucifer", "Dead Silence", "Mystery Of Monolith", "Global Warning", "Ain't No Mercy", and "The Odyssey Of Dr Heywood Floyd". CD

A much-needed look at an overlooked side of the genius of Quincy Jones – not his jazz work, not his productions for famous soul artists, but instead his huge legacy of soundtrack material – a part of Q's career that really took off in the 60s! By the time he started working in films, Jones had already had a decade under his belt as one of the hippest arrangers, leaders, and composers in jazz – and the film business really respected those talents, and allowed Quincy to bring some really fresh styles into play – modes that really opened up the vibe of American cinema, and also paved the way for the funky styles of the 70s! As that decade approached, Jones left behind the cinema to take on some more higher-profile records of his own – but all the charms of those great albums can be found here at their roots – in this stunning collection of soundtrack material, some of which has never been on CD. The package is way more than just a sampler – and includes an album's worth of material from the films The Pawnbroker, Slender Thread, Mirage, The Deadly Affair, In The Heat Of The Night, In Cold Blood, Walk Don't Run, The Italian Job, Lost Man, and John & Mary – plus two versions of the love theme from The Getaway, and a bonus CD with 18 tracks – titled Q's highlights, and featuring tracks from his Mercury records – plus more by Billy Preston, Arthur Prysock, Bill Cosby, Shirley Horn, Letta Mbulu, Toots Thielemans, and others. Even features the "Sanford & Son" and "Ironside" themes! (Soundtracks, Jazz) CD