Features Wallace Roney on trumpet, Bill Pierce on tenor and soprano saxophones, Mulgrew Miller on piano, and Ira Coleman on bass. CD

Beautiful post-Coltrane playing by the two Grubbs brothers (who get top recommendations from Pharoah Sanders and Naima Coltrane on the back cover!). The album's filled with spiritual spiralling intertwining alto and soprano sax lines, underpinned by soulful backing on piano, bass, drums, and percussion. The quality of the writing on the album is excellent – and we'd easily rank this one up there with the best work on Strata East from the time, or with Gary Bartz's first two albums for Milestone. Includes the long title cut, plus "Reflections (On New York City)", "Pisces", and a beautiful cover of "Naima". Really wonderful stuff! LP, Vinyl record album

Dexter Gordon soars on tenor in this great 1964 date with Tete Montoliu on piano, Benny Nielsen on bass, and Alex Riel on drums – and he also vocalizes a bit on a version of the Benny Green tune "I Want To Blow Now" – next to other tunes that include long takes on "Body & Soul", "Satin Doll", and "King Neptune". Dex also introduces the set with a bit of patter too! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Bobby Hutcherson's greatest records ever – and a session that never got released at the time! The album's an excellent quartet session, one that's very much in the best spirit of Bobby's great Happenings album on Blue Note – and it features a similar group that includes Hutcherson on vibes, Herbie Hancock on piano, Albert Stinson on bass, and Joe Chambers, one of Hutcherson's best accompanists from the 60s, on drums. The format's a bit more modal than Happenings – and the set features 6 wonderful little tracks that mix together the "new thing" sound of earlier Hutcherson Blue Notes, with some of the nascent soulfulness that started creeping into his work at the end of the 60s. The album was recorded in 1967, but only first issued in Japan in at the end of the 70s – and then later in the US, and even then only briefly – but we'd still rank the set as one of Bobby's best for Blue Note! Titles include "Til Then", "Mr Joy", "Subtle Neptune", and "Theme From Blow Up". CD

The last recording session by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago with Malachi Favors – done shortly before his death in early 2004, and a record that's certainly touched by his gentle soul! There's a poise here that's really great – a kind of careful and thoughtful presentation of the material that's often extremely tuneful, and which features some especially nice reed work from Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman. Titles include "Sirius Calling", "Two Twenty", "He Took A Cab To Neptune", "Till Autumn", "Dance Of Circles", "You Can't Get Away", and "Taiko". CD

One of Sun Ra's greatest albums of the 70s – recording during the same sessions that yielded the famous Space Is The Place record for Blue Thumb, and done with a very similar feel – an expansive configuration of the Arkestra in peak form! The range of expression is really incredible – from the spiritual soul jazz of "Pan Afro", to the lightly grooving June Tyson vocals of "Neptune", to the extended suite "Discipline 27-II", a stretched-out spacey number with vocal "dramatizing" by Ra, Tyson, Ruth Wright, and Judith Holton. That track's a particularly great one, with the kind of spiritual resonance behind the spacey approach that rarely comes through as strongly on other albums – but the whole set is wonderful, and judging how reminscient of it some of the best, similarly-minded underground jazz is decades later – the whole thing is an amazing testament to how strong Ra's influence is today. LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderfully-done collection of work from the legendary Sun Ra – put together by longtime musical partner Marshall Allen, and way way different than the typical mish-mash of tracks you'd find on some of the budget or public domain titles on the market! First off, the track selection is really thoughtful – music that definitely defines the Arkestra in the 60s and 70s, but which also highlights some of its overlooked corners too – pulled together from recordings that appeared on the Saturn, Impulse, and other labels – all curated and remastered by Art Yard, who've done their share of great Ra reissues over the years. Plus, the package features a few unreleased performances as well – and although it would serve as a great introduction to the music of Sun Ra, it's also really perfectly put together for longtime Ra fans as well – given the focus, track selection, and overall quality of the whole thing. The sounds are sublime – maybe one of the best summations of the righteous, cosmic genius of the Arkestra at its best – and titles include "Reflects Motion", "Island In The Sun (extended)", "Somewhere In Space", "The Lady With The Golden Stockings", "Somebody Else's World", "Ancient Aethiopia", "Astro Black", "Have You Heard The Latest News From Neptune", "We Travel The Spaceways", and "Plutonian Nights". LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderfully-done collection of work from the legendary Sun Ra – put together by longtime musical partner Marshall Allen, and way way different than the typical mish-mash of tracks you'd find on some of the budget or public domain titles on the market! First off, the track selection is really thoughtful – music that definitely defines the Arkestra in the 60s and 70s, but which also highlights some of its overlooked corners too – pulled together from recordings that appeared on the Saturn, Impulse, and other labels – all curated and remastered by Art Yard, who've done their share of great Ra reissues over the years. Plus, the package features a few unreleased performances as well – and although it would serve as a great introduction to the music of Sun Ra, it's also really perfectly put together for longtime Ra fans as well – given the focus, track selection, and overall quality of the whole thing. The sounds are sublime – maybe one of the best summations of the righteous, cosmic genius of the Arkestra at its best – and titles include "Reflects Motion", "Island In The Sun (extended)", "Somewhere In Space", "The Lady With The Golden Stockings", "Somebody Else's World", "Ancient Aethiopia", "Astro Black", "Have You Heard The Latest News From Neptune", "We Travel The Spaceways", and "Plutonian Nights". 2CD version also includes the never-heard "Trying To Put The Blame On Me". CD

One of the most compelling modern groups in jazz does it again – taking the simple piano trio format and giving it a spin that's sure to catch even the most wary of ears! These guys aren't exactly funky, but they play in a freely rhythmic style that brings new life to anything they touch – and honestly, they're one of the few groups in jazz who could cover recent pop material and actually make us like it! There's an approach here that's almost in the mode of Medeski Martin & Wood – with open and experimental, yet still rhythmic and swinging – and always a fresh delight overall. Titles include "1979 Semi-Finalist", "Street Woman", "Frog & Toad", "Velouria", "Iron Man", "Neptune", and "Dirty Blonde". CD

Bob Berg's always been a heck of a great tenor player, but he sounds especially great on this early album as a leader – a tight and soulful session cut with Cedar Walton on keyboards, Al Foster on drums, and Tom Harrell on trumpet! The groove here is freewheeling but straightforward – a bit like the Art Blakey style of the Prestige years – in which the band pulsates with a highly rhythmic approach, but the soloists soar on even farther with their own sense of life and energy. The group also features electric bass and a bit of congas, which brings a slightly Latin flavor to a few cuts – and overall, the album's an extremely soulful set that really deserves greater mention. Titles include "Pauletta", "Neptune", "This Masquerade", "Magic Carpet", and "Shapes". CD also features the bonus track "I'll Let You Know". CD

A wealth of rare European grooves – most recorded in the late 60s and early 70s, all making their debut on CD! The package brings together previous vinyl-only reissues from the Sonorama label – 7" singles that feature material dug from German sound library recordings of many years back – all in a great blend of jazz, funk, soul, and bossa! Given the strength of the material, the collection may be the best release so far on Sonorama – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the already-great titles the label has brought to the market. CD features two tracks appearing here for the first time ever – "Woe's All Over Me" by Jazz Orchestra Rob Pronk and "By The Help Of You & Me" by Ray Christoph's New Sound – plus "Happy Samba", "Summertime", "The Lady Is A Tramp", and "Windmills Of Your Mind" by Mark Murphy & Louis Van Dyke; "Baby I Love You", "Fever", "Cold Sweat", "I Got A Feeling" by Kadri Six; "Love Cage", "Hard Work", "Neptune's Walk", and "Scotch & Soda" by Orchestre Pete Jacques; and "Wordless Blues", "Soul Organ", and "The Very First Day" by Ray Christoph's New Sound. (Funky Compilations, Jazz) CD

A wonderful blend of spoken word and jazz – contemporary, but put together with the strength of similar records from the 70s – those secret texts of knowledge that often used to be sold as much in bookstores as in the record racks! AK Toney and Jasik provide the spoken passages, set to avant spiritual backings from players who include Jamael Dean on piano and keyboards, Carlos Nino on percussion, Aaron Shaw on saxes, and Mekala Shaw Session on drums – musicians who shift their presence depending on the needs of the tracks – as Toney and Jasik weave a wonderfully blend of poetic language and deeper ideas. Sharada Shashidar sings on a few tracks too – and titles include "Amun", "Neptune", "Our Greatness", "Major & Minor Aspects", "House Of Good Spirit", "We Wear The Mask", and "Afronauts". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet mix of jazzy flute and other rhythms from Tenderlonious – a player who's definitely earned his chops as one of the key members of the London scene in recent years, but one who's also always willing to step out and try something new on solo projects of his own! This set has plenty of strong flute solos in the lead, but also goes for some more contemporary rhythms aimed at the clubs – a bit as if Tenderlonious were trying to turn out some sort of 21st century version of the mix of soul, funk, and jazz that Bobbi Humphrey did with Larry Mizell back in the day! Titles include "Journey To Thra", "Hold Tight", "Song For My Mother", "Isaac's Theme", "One For The Rhodes", "Neptune's Mood", and "Seti Khola". LP, Vinyl record album