Chip Shelton on flutes – with Onaje Allan Gumbs on piano, Ryo Kawasaki on guitar, Lynn Seaton on bass, Greg Buford on drums, and Everald Borwn and Daoud David Williams on percussion. CD

14 compositions by Nurock based on vocal and body noises, with guests Skip LaPlante, Jay Clayton, Michael Meadows, Rebbeca Armstrong, and approximately 100 volunteers! LP, Vinyl record album

Jazz Alchemy "Six Pieces For Trumpet, Drum & Bass" with Charles McGhee on double trumpets, Richard Davis on bass, and Brian Brake on drums. Three Problems "Duo Versions" with Marilyn Crispell on piano and Reggie Workman on bass, and Three Problems "Solo Versions" with Joshua Pierce on piano. CD

With Sonny Fortune on alto, Larry Willis on piano, Walter Booker on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Includes a great version of "Book's Bossa" – plus "Blue Autumn", "Tallahassee Kid", "Fifth Labor Of Hercules", and "For Duke & Cannon". CD

An incredible look at the format of vinyl – put together by a guy who's got one of the hippest record collections we've ever seen! John Corbett's been writing about music, art, and other formats for decades – but his real labor of love is vinyl records – a format he continued to embrace even at the height of the CD era – so much so that he talked Downbeat magazine into letting him write a special column on musical delights that had never made it to the digital format! Corbett helped plenty of music get reissued on CD himself – thanks to countless label projects – but he also always held a special place in his heart for the kinds of records that never got reissued – and those are the sorts of titles featured here – a massive run of music that runs from jazz to funk, American and European, totally obscure to completely common – presented beautifully together in this massive book! The volume doesn't just bring together Corbett's columns, but also offers up full color reproductions of all the record covers, along with a few other details too – to support efforts on dozens of artists – a huge list that includes Melvin Jackson, Bill Leslie, Black Grass, Night Blooming Jazzmen, Phil Seamen, Khan Jamal, Klaus Doldinger, The Mad-Hatters, Tommy Jones, Guy Warren, The Three Souls, United Front, Johnny Lytle, London Experimental Jazz Quartet, Paul Smoker, AK Salim, Noah Howard, Jack Wilson, and many others – a good number of whom have yet to be reissued. The book is wonderful – and Corbett's longtime declaration of being a vinyl freak is more important than ever, given the rebirth of the medium! Book is 250 pages, softcover, with color images. (Books, Jazz) Book

A really great meeting of Finnish jazz generations – in which the legendary reedman Juhani Aaltonen is definitely the father, supported here with work by three younger musicians who might qualify as his musical sons! Aaltonen is amazing – every bit as compelling as on his famous Finnish sides of the 70s – blowing tenor and flute, and matched in spirit and soul by the great Jonas Kullhammar – who's also on tenor, and some baritone – really matching Juhani's approach, and reminding us once again that Kullhammar is not only one of the greatest saxophonists of his generation, he's also one of the most generous, and able to shift into the modes of his collaborators. The rest of the quartet features Christian Meaas Svensen on bass and Ilmarki Heikinheimo on drums and percussion – and the whole thing might be one of the most beautiful, soul-drenched records we've ever heard on the Moserobie label. Titles include "Sorrow Wave", "Refletions", "Il Ju Jo Christ", "The Sun", and "Kiirohige". CD

Some of the greatest albums ever from tenorist George Adams – packaged together here in a sweet set that also features the CDs in tiny LP-styled covers! Much of the music here was done in collaboration with fellow members of Charles Mingus' group – three albums with pianist Don Pullen, and all with drummer Dannie Richmond – players who are very simpatico with Adams' vibe, as they all together find rich new ground after the passing of Mingus. There's a soulful swing to most of the records – that way that Adams and Pullen had of being sharply creative, yet still rooted in straighter jazz modes too – balancing both impulses perfectly, especially over the progression of albums in this set. The package includes tiny LP-styled reproductions of the records Don't Lose Control, Hand To Hand, Gentleman's Agreement, and Live At The Village Vanguard Volumes 1 & 2. CD

Post-Mingus work from reedman George Adams and pianist Don Pullen – three albums in a single set! Decisions is one of those key records that has George Adams and Don Pullen reinventing expectations of jazz for the 80s – both musicians with plenty of ear for the outside, but also coming back home with a well-rounded, deeply-rooted approach that's crucial in taking the American jazz legacy another step forward! Like some of their similar contemporaries, who could also be avant at times, and straight at others – Adams and Pullen have no concern with setting themselves in one camp or another – and not only flesh out the spirit of the record with both of those aspects of their playing, but also have some surprisingly bluesy undercurrents at times. The group features George Adams on tenor, Don Pullen on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums – and titles include "Decisions", "Triple Over Time", "I Could Really For You", "Message Urgent", and "Trees & Grass & Things". Life Line is a strong outing from this key post-Mingus collaboration – and a record that really shows both Don Pullen and George Adams really coming into their own! Pullen's piano can have plenty of edges, as can Adams' tenor – but there's also some warmer, lyrical moments that really round things out – kind of a balance between righteous energy and deeper quietude that the musicians might have learned during their time with Charles Mingus – taken to a logical small group extension here. Adams also plays a bit of flute, which is especially nice – and the group also includes Cameron Brown on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums. Titles include "The Great Escape Or Run John Henry Run", "Seriously Speaking", "Soft Seas", and "Protection". Live At Montmartre is solidly soaring work from tenorist George Adams – recording live here with pianist Don Pullen, one of his best musical partners during the 80s! The album's got a bit more of a bite than some of the pair's studio sessions – a bit straighter overall, but recorded with a nice degree of energy, and some long tracks that really let both players open up nicely – in a combo that also features John Scofield on guitar, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums. The inclusion of Scofield's guitar changes up the group's sound in a nice way – adding in some more chromatic elements that really stand out – and titles include "IJ", "Flame Games", "Song Everlasting", and "Forever Lovers". CD

A strong outing from this key post-Mingus collaboration – and a record that really shows both Don Pullen and George Adams really coming into their own! Pullen's piano can have plenty of edges, as can Adams' tenor – but there's also some warmer, lyrical moments that really round things out – kind of a balance between righteous energy and deeper quietude that the musicians might have learned during their time with Charles Mingus – taken to a logical small group extension here. Adams also plays a bit of flute, which is especially nice – and the group also includes Cameron Brown on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums. Titles include "The Great Escape Or Run John Henry Run", "Seriously Speaking", "Soft Seas", and "Protection". LP, Vinyl record album

A massive live set from Cannonball Adderley – and a record that really shows the growth he'd undergone in just a few short years! The album's done in close collaboration with David Axelrod – who'd handled Cannon's big live dates for Capitol in the 60s – but this record is much more freewheeling, open-ended, fuzz, funky, and electric overall! Tracks are all nice and long, and really trip out in the best way – with keyboards from George Duke in the core group, plus some heavy basslines from Walter Booker, drums from Roy McCurdy, and guitar from Mike Deasy on a number of key tracks. Deasy plays with lots of great wah wah and fuzz – and the album also features guest work from Airto on percussion and Ernie Watts on tenor – plus Cannonball's great alto and the cornet of brother Nat Adderley too. There's a really collaborative feel to the whole thing – as the record steps easily between a lot of heady styles – and titles include "Zanek", "Eye Of The Cosmos", "The Scene", "The Chocolate Nuisance", "The Steam Drill", "Little Benny Hen", and "The Black Messiah". CD

A really beautiful book, and one that's quite different than most other jazz books we can think of – in that it approaches its main subject matter from many different directions, in a way that actually proves to be more illuminating overall! As the title implies, the book looks at the huge run of recordings that avant pianist Matthew Shipp has done for the Rogue Art label – and author Clifford Allen begins with a look at Shipp himself, then his New York setting, then interviews with collaborators who include Whit Dickey, William Parker, Joe Morris, and Rob Brown – before then moving on to look at the Rogue Art label, through an interview with its founder – then ending with page after page of liner notes for Shipp albums on the label – including a few that haven't been released yet! The presentation is very smart, and really opens up Shipp's creative process in a great way – and this softcover edition is 207 pages, with some black and white images. (Books, Jazz) Book

Wonderful work from guitarist Oren Ambarchi – a little more expansive than his preceding effort on Drag City, thanks to larger group and a wider range of instrumentation, while building on what loved about it! The style is tough to pin down in the best kind of way, with strains of improvisational jazz and hypnotic minimalism, but a unique melodic drive that's as compelling as it is tough to cleanly categorize. Collaborators this time include returning Swedish jazz bassist Johan Berthling, drummer Joe Talia, a second guitarist in Julia Reidy, Sam Dunscombe on bass clarinet – and for extra otherworldly, yet melodic atmosphere is some synth by Jim O'Rourke and pedal steel by BJ Cole on a couple of tracks. The whole Shebang is a 4 part set – each track running long, to give it a nice amount of space to build up, settle down, and flow into the next – and numbered 1 to 4. CD

Wonderful work from guitarist Oren Ambarchi – a little more expansive than his preceding effort on Drag City, thanks to larger group and a wider range of instrumentation, while building on what loved about it! The style is tough to pin down in the best kind of way, with strains of improvisational jazz and hypnotic minimalism, but a unique melodic drive that's as compelling as it is tough to cleanly categorize. Collaborators this time include returning Swedish jazz bassist Johan Berthling, drummer Joe Talia, a second guitarist in Julia Reidy, Sam Dunscombe on bass clarinet – and for extra otherworldly, yet melodic atmosphere is some synth by Jim O'Rourke and pedal steel by BJ Cole on a couple of tracks. The whole Shebang is a 4 part set – each track running long, to give it a nice amount of space to build up, settle down, and flow into the next – and numbered 1 to 4. LP, Vinyl record album

Way more than just an album with Gene Ammons as a leader – and instead, a set that truly earns the "all stars" listed on the cover – thanks to a great array of supporting players, and a very loose, open-ended jam session style that lets everyone get in plenty of solo space! Ammons' tenor is tremendous, but he's also a great collaborator here, too – working with Idrees Suliman on trumpet, Pepper Adams on baritone, Mal Waldron on piano, Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and Ray Barretto on conga – in a mode that's maybe slightly tighter than some of the blowing sessions Prestige was doing at the time, but which still has that key longform creative energy that made the hardbop generation so great. Titles include "Blue Gene", "Scamperin", "Blue Greens n Beans", and "Hip Tip" – and all tracks are long, with plenty of focus on solos! CD

Way more than just an album with Gene Ammons as a leader – and instead, a set with a great array of supporting players, and a very loose, open-ended jam session style that lets everyone get in plenty of solo space! Ammons' tenor is tremendous, but he's also a great collaborator here, too – working with Idrees Suliman on trumpet, Pepper Adams on baritone, Mal Waldron on piano, Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and Ray Barretto on conga – in a mode that's maybe slightly tighter than some of the blowing sessions Prestige was doing at the time, but which still has that key longform creative energy that made the hardbop generation so great. Titles include "Blue Gene", "Scamperin", "Blue Greens n Beans", and "Hip Tip" – and all tracks are long, with plenty of focus on solos! LP, Vinyl record album

For years, AACM tenorist Fred Anderson labored in obscurity – playing the better part of the 70s and 80s with little or no recognition of his strong inventive talent, and of his never-ending committment to expanding his horizons as a musician. Fortunately, Anderson's been greatly rediscovered in the past decade – and the past few years has seen the reissue and first-issue of material that was recorded during Anderson's "lost years", but never properly handled before. This session is one of those "first issue" sets – as it was recorded in Milwaukee in 1980, yet lay in the can for years, due to lack of interest. The set's fantastic – and features Anderson playing in a quartet with trumpeter Billy Brimfield, bassist Larry Hayrod, and drummer Hamid Drake. What's most notable about the material is that it has kind of a mellow spiritual quality to it – showing the more soulful sound of the AACM, one that didn't always make an appearance on Anderson's other recordings. The strongest case of this is the fantastic track "Bombay", which features tablas by Drake, and some wonderful extended soloing by Brimfield and Anderson. All tracks are great, though – and titles include "Black Woman", "Ballad For Rita", and "The Bull". CD

A fantastic record – and a really mindblowing mix of spiritual jazz and electronics! The set is an amazing collaboration between trumpeter Don Cherry and pioneering electronic musician Jon Appleton – one of those rare meetings of the minds that goes far deeper than you'd expect! On the set, Cherry's trumpet, flute, and percussion is heavily processed by Appleton – often in ways that are organic enough to keep with Cherry's other experiments of the time, and with the "Human Music" title of the set – but sometimes with the more playful feel of Appleton's other music from the time. The mix of electronics and improvisation is amazing – years ahead of its time, and with a haunting sound that works perfectly against Cherry's style of restrained spiritualism. The LP's got 4 long tracks – "Boa", "Oba", "Abo", and "Bao" – all recorded live in the studio! (Out Sound, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A classic performance from the Axiom years of bassist Bill Laswell – done at a time when he was not only boldly stating his own musical vision, but also opening the door in these really collaborative ways! Here, the core group features Laswell on bass and electronics, and Tony Williams on drums – working at a level that still has some of the moodier Laswell production elements of the decade, but maybe more live energy too – a quality that's echoed by the great guest work from Pharoah Sanders on tenor, Graham Haynes on cornet, Byard Lancaster on alto and bass clarinet, and both Nicky Skopelitis and Buckethead on guitars. Titles include "Black Money", "Illuminator", "Wheeless On A Dark River", "The Earth Below", "Into The Circle", and "Returning". CD

Joe Armon Jones sings and plays lots of cool Wurlitzer electric piano on this gem of an album – but the whole thing is maybe even more of a tribute to the warmly collaborative spirit of the contemporary London scene, as it is to the talents of the man himself! There's a nicely fluid sense of stardom here – as differing artists get their time to shine in the spotlight while others recede a bit from track to track – but not in the kind of "leader with guests" version of older soundsystem albums – and instead maybe more as a cosmic vision for the future. Other singers include Asheber, Big Sharer, Ego Ella May, and Oscar Jerome – and musicians include Dylan Jones on trumpet, Moses Boyd on drums, and Nubya Garcia and James Mollison on tenor. Titles include "Starting Today", "Almost Went Too Far", "London's Face", "Ragify", "Outro", and "Mollison Dub". LP, Vinyl record album

Three really fantastic musicians – working together to turn out one the best records we've ever heard from any of them in years! Make no mistake, we love these guys in all sorts of other settings – but here, there's something really special, and definitely a cut above – this warm sense of spontaneous creation that almost seems to call up an image of the musicians as they work together – Mike Reed on drums, Tomeka Reid on cello, and Nicole Mitchell on flutes and electronics! There's a magic here that really represents the Chicago scene at its finest – the kind of sympathetic, respectful collaboration in which already-strong artists move each other forward together – a magic we hope you'll share on titles that include "AF", "Reflections", "No Side Effects", "JJ", "Soprano Song", "In Response To", and "Blessed". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant pairing of free jazz forces – the Chicago-based School Days group of Ken Vandermark, and the groundbreaking Atomic combo from the Nordic jazz underground! The players here are all very like-minded, and fold together beautifully – in an octet lineup that features reeds from Ken Vandermark and Frekerik Ljungkvist, trumpet from Magnus Broo, trombone from Jeb Bishop, piano from Havard Wiik, vibes from Kjell Nordeson, bass from Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, and drums from Paal-Nilssen Love! Both Flaten and Love would become frequent collaborators in Chicago over the years – but this set captures the meeting of the groups in a very fresh way – a double-length set that's all original material – with titles that include "W Meets A", "Transparent Taylor", "Ink Worm", "Kerosene", "Conjugations" and "Dog Days". CD

An album that definitely lives up to its title – as it's one of those nicely stripped-down sessions that Chet Baker recorded overseas in the last years of his life – done in close collaboration with the great Nicola Stilo, a musician who really helps bring something special out in Baker's music! Nicola plays guitar, flute, and piano – shifting between each to fit the mood of the long, blue performances by Chet – and the pair also get help from bassist Rocky Knauer, who comes in gently to just move things along with a light touch. Tracks are nice and long, and titles include "Arborway", "Margarine", "Zingaro", "You Can't Go Home Again", "DS Dilemma", and "But Not For Me". CD

An assortment of collaborative improvisations – Duck Baker on guitar, and a range of top-flight musicians on the variety of different selections – work recorded over the past few decades, in spaces that includes clubs, homes, and studios around the world! Baker has always been a very versatile player – his albums always have such a different feel, it's often hard to say that there's one sort of style that defines his playing. And that versatility really shows up here – as you'll hear Duck in a series of duets with Michael Moore on alto, Mark Dresser on bass, Derek Bailey on guitar, Steve Beresford on piano, John Butcher on tenor, and Roswell Rudd on trombone – plus a trio with Alex Ward on clarinet and Joe Williamson on bass – and a quartet with Ward on clarinet, John Edwards on bass, and Steve Noble on drums. Titles include "Indie Pen Dance", "Duo For 225 Strings", "Pope Slark", "Signing Off", "The Missing Chandler", and "East River Delta Blues". CD

A fantastic bit of jazz funk fusion – and one of the landmark 70s albums produced by Larry Mizell! This is Gary Bartz's second (and most amazing) collaboration with Larry Mizell – a studio genius who could focus on the best talent of a jazz artist, then expand it using additional keyboards, percussion, and often a sweet bank of chorus vocals to give the tracks an extra soulful sound! By the time of this album, Larry had already worked to great fame with Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, and Johnny Hammond – and the record has him turning his talents towards Gary Bartz to unlock a whole hidden side of soulful expression that would never be matched again! The title cut – "Music Is My Sanctuary" – is a jazz fusion classic in anyone's book, and it features characteristic Mizell keyboards alongside Gary's soulful sax, augmented by a deep vocal chorus that's simply fantastic. Other highlights include "Carnaval De L'Esprit" and "Macaroni" – and the whole album's nice! LP, Vinyl record album

Frank Foster is one of our favorite talents in jazz – an excellent tenorist who spent some of his key years in the Count Basie orchestra, but a player who also had a very rich career on his own as well! This album features Frank's talents really coming to the forefront of the Basie group – in a set of all-original material penned and arranged by Foster – really fresh tunes that are a perfect fit for the soulful spirit of the reedman's collaborators in the group, and which definitely show off the growing talents of Foster as a composer. There's a lot more going on here than you might expect – some surprisingly complicated charts for the horns, yet still with that rock-solid swing you'd expect from Basie – and most tracks are longer than usual for a Roulette album, nicely open numbers that include "Brotherly Shove", "Easin It", "Blues For Daddy-O", "Four Five Six", and "Mama Dev". LP, Vinyl record album