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

Guitarist Jeff Parker left our fair city of Chicago a number of years ago, headed out to the sunny climes of LA – where he's not only really opened up his music, but also helped contribute a heck of a lot to the local scene as well! Both of those aspects of Parker's development are showcased here – on material from a regular gig at the Enfield Tennis Academy, presented here on four different selections that have Parker's guitar alongside the alto of Josh Johnson, drums and percussion of Jay Bellerose, and bass of Anna Butteress – all nicely unfamiliar players compared to Parker's Chicago and global regulars – working with Jeff on these open tunes that build with a style that's open and organic, yet surprisingly melodic too! Both Parker and Johnson use some pedals alongside their instruments, but never in a way that's overfly forced – and the difference in sound and feeling on the four long tracks from three different dates is really wonderful to hear. LP, Vinyl record album