A mid-70s classic from Ian Carr's Nucleus – a set that has the group still going strong, and still turning out one of the most amazing blends of jazz and progressive elements of their scene at the time! Carr's at the helm on both trumpet and flugelhorn, but also plays piano and moog as well – and Bob Bertles serves up killer reed lines on alto, soprano, baritone, and flute – while Ken Shaw rips through the whole proceedings with work on both electric and 12 string guitar. Geoff Castle adds in lots more keyboards, and Moog – and the rhythm's driven by the bass of Roger Sutton and drums of Roger Sellers. Tracks are longish, and just about every group member adds in percussion too – on titles that include "Rat's Bag", "Rachel's Tune", "Snakehips Etcetera", "Pussyfoot", and "Heyday". LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy hitting jazz rock from the UK underground of the early 70s! We'll Talk About It Later is a great early album from Ian Carr's legendary Nucleus group – playing here in a version that includes Karl Jenkins and Brian Smith on reeds, and Chris Spedding on guitar. The band had a landmark sound that mixed progressive jazz and tight full-on rock fusion into a style that was sometimes funky, sometimes avant, and often pretty darn exciting! This album has lots of nice electric piano lines, and plenty of choppy sax parts that hit a nice groove in the manner that would later be taken up by a lot of European reed players, with nice long songs with plenty of room for improvisation – and grooves that are still nice and jazzy. Titles include "Song for The Bearded Lady", "Oasis", "Ballad of Joe Pimp", "Easter 1916", and "Lullaby For A Lonely Child". LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic album from trumpeter Ian Carr and his legendary Nucleus group – a combo who are really right on the money here, finding their own sort of space at a level that's very different than some of the other rock/jazz projects on the UK scene at the time! There's often a lot more space between the notes going on here than on more jamming, more progressive records – a laidback groove that's wonderfully soulful, and which ties this Nucleus set a bit more strongly to American jazz funk that was rising up at the time – or maybe like some of the better Euro work by groups like Cortex or Placebo! Ian Carr leads the group on trumpet, Dave MacRae plays a lot of great keyboards, and Brian Smith blows strong solos on tenor, soprano, and flute – on titles that include "Southern Roots & Celebration", "Capricorn", "Images", "Caliban", "Roots", and "Whapatiti". LP, Vinyl record album

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

A seminal early album from Ian Carr's legendary Nucleus group – playing here in a version that includes Karl Jenkins and Brian Smith on reeds, and Chris Spedding on guitar! The band has a landmark sound that mixes progressive jazz and tight full-on rock fusion into a style that's sometimes funky, sometimes avant, and often pretty darn exciting! This album has lots of nice electric piano lines, and plenty of choppy sax parts that hit a nice groove in the manner that would later be taken up by a lot of European reed players. Tracks include "Torrid Zone", "Stonescape", "Striation", "1916 – The Battle Of Boogaloo", "Persephones Jive", and "Earth Mother". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal sounds from trumpeter Ian Carr and his Nucleus group of the early 70s – maybe one of the few jazz rock groups that was ever able to work with a fair bit of jazz in their sound! Unlike his contemporaries, who often started in rock first, then added some horns – Carr was already coming off an important 60s legacy, co-leading a group with tenorist Don Rendell – so the vibe here is like an extension of that very rhythmic, very tonal modern work – but with the addition of electrified instrumentation – thanks to the guitar work of Chris Spedding and keyboards of Karl Jenkins – who plays some fantastic electric lines throughout! The vibe is maybe a bit in the territory of early 70s electric work by Miles Davis and Donald Byrd (pre-Mizell for the latter) – but there's maybe a farther-reaching concept at play on many of the records, at a level that always helped the group cross over to the prog crowd, and move beyond just a straight jazz audience. Other key players include Brian Smith on tenor and soprano saxes – a really fantastic part of the lineup – plus Jeff Clyne on bass and John Marshall on drums – and as the albums move along a bit, the lineup shifts slightly, and also opens up to guests who include Kenny Wheeler and Harry Beckett on trumpets, Tony Levin on drums, and Norma Winstone on voice. And although some of the albums have been reissued before, this is the first set to really dive in completely – and bring together material from the Vertigo Records releases that include Elastic Rock, We'll Talk About It Later, Solar Plexus, Belladonna, Labyrinth, Roots, Under The Sun, Snakehips Etcetera, and Alley Cat. CD

A crucial album from that moment when British jazz was colliding with progressive rock – in key ways that were really elevated past their roots on records like this! By the time of the record, trumpeter Ian Carr already had a great run on the left side of the UK jazz spectrum – and here, with his group Nucleus, he embraces all sorts of amazing sounds and styles – using plenty of electric piano from Soft Machine's Karl Jenkins, guitar from Chris Spedding, and a VCS3 synth from Keith Winter – alongside more familiar jazz elements on tenor from Tony Roberts, soprano and flute from Brian Smith, and additional trumpets from Kenny Wheeler and Harry Beckett! The great John Marshall plays drums next to bass from Jeff Clyne and Ron Matthewson – and the album's got a mighty sense of experimentation and power, on titles that include "Torso", "Snakehips' Dream", "Changing Time", "Spirit Level", and "Bedrock Deadlock". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer progressive jazz session from Britain's Ian Carr – the legendary trumpeter who began as a bop player, then made the move to progressive jazz rock during the late 60s, along with about half of the country's other jazz musicians – but at a level that's still very much better than most of the rest of the pack! This album's one of the best by Carr's Nucleus group – and it's filled with excellent work by some of the scene's finest luminaries – a great lineup that includes Gordon Beck on electric piano, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, and Brian Smith and Tony Coe on a variety of reeds – all players who add a strong jazz sensibility to the proceedings! The lovely Norma Winstone sings wordless vocals on a number of tracks – and the overall sound moves from hard and "out", to tight and groovy – on titles that include "Origins", "Bull Dance", "Arena", "Naxos", and "Exultation". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare live date from Ian Carr's Nucleus – the jamming jazz-rock combo we mostly only know from their studio sides! The sound here is a lot more freewheeling than the group's work on Vertigo from the same period – a bit more outside at times, with plenty of room for the combo to not only jam, but also open up into some more exploratory ideas. A few moments are surprisingly gentle, while others are full-on and extremely powerful – a heady fusion of Carr's trumpet and flugelhorn with the keyboards of Karl Jenkins, saxes of Brian Smith, guitar of Ray Russell, bass of Roy Babbington, and drums of John Marshall. 2CD set features a well-recorded performance originally captured by Radio Bremen – with 12 tracks that include "Zoom Out", "Torrid Zone", "Song For The Bearded Lady", "By The Pool", "A Bit For Vic", "Persephone's Jive", and "Elastic Rock". CD

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

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". LP, Vinyl record album

Never-issued work from this legendary fusion group – a 1971 live performance recorded in Rotterdam, and a set of tracks that's a perfect complement to the legendary Nucleus albums issued by Vertigo at the time! Leader Ian Carr is upfront on trumpet – but as with the best Nucleus recordings, this is definitely an all-out group affair – driven by very strong work from John Marshall on drums and Roy Babbington on bass – and filled with work from two different simultaneous electric pianos, handled by both Hywel Thomas and Karl Jenkins, the latter of whom also blows a bit of oboe. Other reeds are from Brian Smith on tenor, soprano sax, and flute – and all tracks are nice and long, and often quite funky – with titles that include "Snakehips Dream", "We'll Talk About It Later", "Song For The Bearded Lady", "Exit Interlude 1", "Persephone's Jive", "Exit Interlude 2", and "Oasis". LP, Vinyl record album

Slightly later work from the legendary jazz/rock combo Nucleus, and one of their most obscure records too – sweet mid 70s set that has the band really tightening up – going for a heavy funk approach that has all instruments grooving on the rhythm, stretching out on long tracks that are all pretty darn great! The trumpet of Ian Carr is superb, as always, and Carr also adds in a bit of electronics – next to a lot more keyboards from the great Geoff Castle, in a lineup that also features Ken Shaw on guitar, Roger Sutton on bass, Roger Sellers on drums, and Bob Bertles on alto, soprano, baritone, and flute. Titles include "Alleycat", "Splat", "Nosegay", "Phaideaux Corner", and "You Can't Be Sure". LP, Vinyl record album

Soaring sounds from Nucleus – one of the few UK jazz/rock combos from the start of the 70s who really found a way to keep growing and changing as the years moved on! Here, the lineup is nice and large – the mighty trumpet of Ian Carr in the lead, next to keyboards from both Gordon Beck and Geoff Castle, both of whom bring plenty of Fender Rhodes into play – with more work from Jocelyn Pitchen and Ken Shaw on guitars, and Bob Bertles on alto, baritone, bass clarinet, and flute – really great reedwork that's always a great match for Carr's energy. There's some really great drums on the set from Bryan Spring, which make the best tracks quite funky – and titles include "In Procession", "The Addison Trip", "Pastoral Graffiti", "New Life", and "A Taste Of Sasparilla". LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy hitting jazz rock from the UK underground of the early 70s! Elastic Rock is seminal early album from Ian Carr's legendary Nucleus group – playing here in a version that includes Karl Jenkins and Brian Smith on reeds, and Chris Spedding on guitar. The band had a landmark sound that mixed progressive jazz and tight full-on rock fusion into a style that was sometimes funky, sometimes avant, and often pretty darn exciting! This album has lots of nice electric piano lines, and plenty of choppy sax parts that hit a nice groove in the manner that would later be taken up by a lot of European reed players. Tracks include "Torrid Zone", "Stonescape", "Striation", "1916 – The Battle Of Boogaloo", "Persephones Jive", and "Earth Mother". We'll Talk About It Later follows in a similar vein, with slightly longer songs that offer a bit more room for improvisation – and grooves that are still nice and jazzy. Titles include "Song for The Bearded Lady", "Oasis", "Ballad of Joe Pimp", "Easter 1916", and "Lullaby For A Lonely Child". CD

A sweet electric set from Sonny Rollins – and maybe the closest he ever came to cutting a funk record! The set's got that mellow electric funk approach that Prestige was using often in the mid 70s – Sonny's tenor lines getting some great Bay Area studio support from George Duke on keyboards, Bennie Maupin on reeds, Raul De Souza on trombone, Bob Cranshaw on electric bass, and even Mtume on congas – players who work together to create a tight ensemble sound that moves the album nicely along! Titles include the great cut "Newkleus", a space funk jammer that has a nice Headhunters-ish kind of sound – and other tracks include "Gwaligo", "Azalea", and "Cosmet". LP, Vinyl record album

Mad funk from the great Galt MacDermot – a wonderful selection of obscure tunes from some of his best funky soundtracks! Galt's work on Hair has been sampled heavily by a variety of hip hop producers over the years – but even better is his work for less famous soundtracks, a good variety of which are sampled here in a wonderfully-done set that focuses on the truly funky tracks that Galt wrote for these films – and which gets past the sometimes-off tracks that can occasionally get in the way of his lesser soundtracks. The package is a total jam throughout – filled with tunes that have weird rhythms, moody keyboards, and the kind of offbeat approach to funk that's always made his work so great. There's only a few tracks from previously reissued soundtracks like Woman Is Sweeter and Cotton Comes To Harlem – plus lots lots more from weirder films that include American Express, Nucleus, Fortune & Men's Eyes, Moon Over The Alley, and Rhinoceros! In true Galt MacDermot funky fashion, there's lots of great drum work on the set from Bernard Purdie – and titles include "Golden Apples", "Coffin Ed", "Dead End", "Fragments II", "Tango", "Ed & Digger", "Duffer", "Bedroom", "Queenie's Theme", "Fortune & Men's Eyes", "Rhinoceros Theme", and "Never Die Desire Not". CD

A trio of albums from John Stevens' Away – all packaged together in a single CD set! First up is the initial outing from the group – a surprising little set from drummer John Stevens – quite different work than his more outside, freewheeling material in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble! This group hits that second chapter of British jazz rock that the Vertigo label did so well – a style that's much more mature than most American variants of the mode – neither stock rock fusion, nor smooth soul – and instead this approach that's still quite complicated and challenging at times, even though the music can have a nicely tight focus! The group features some excellent alto from Trevor Watts – who brings in lots of sharp edges – and the set also features Peter Cowling on bass and Steve Hayton on guitar. Titles include "Tumble", "It Will Never Be The Same", and "Anni". On Somewhere In Between, drummer John Stevens hits a lot of bases on a great second album with his Away group – almost funky at points, almost outside at others, and always working with the group in a searing, searching mode that's a cut above the usual fusion of the time! There's a bit more electricity on the set this time – electric bass from Nick Stephens and guitar from David Cole – but the energy of the set is still very spontaneous, and driven by Stevens' creative work on drums – and given plenty of bite from the soprano and tenor sax of Robert Calvert. The set's got a plenty fresh vibe – very much like labelmates Nucleus at this point, with lots of sharp edges and complicated patterns – but a sound that's still very down to earth. Titles include "Spirit Of Peace", "Chick Boom", "Can't Explain", and "Now". Mazin Ennit is definitely as amazing as the title proclaims – a bit leaner than before, with this wonderful use of two basses alongside the drums of John Stevens – all in a groove that refines older Brit jazz rock modes, but without losing any sort of edge! There's a complexity here that still lives up to Stevens' rich legacy in music – and the group features lots of sweet reedwork from Robert Calvert, who blows both soprano and tenor. Titles include "Away", "Sunshine Sunshine", "Whoops A Daisy", "Light Relief", and "Temple Music". CD features bonus tracks – "Anni (parts 1 & 2)" featuring John Martyn, and "Can't Explain (parts 1 & 2)" featuringt Terri Quaye. CD

Blistering work from the British jazz scene of the mid 70s – a moment when there was still plenty of exciting music going on, if you just knew where to look! Pianist John Taylor works here with a fair bit of Fender Rhodes – using the instrument in these long blocks of sound that are superbly bumped forward by the bass of Chris Laurence and drums of Tony Levin – then given all these fantastic flourishes by Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Chris Pyne on trombone, and Stan Sulzman on tenor, soprano, and flute – all players who bring a stunning amount of color into the music – opening up the tunes with these really strong currents of soul! The vibe is a bit like some of the electric work by Nucleus – but more jazz, less prog – on titles that include "The Other One/1", "Interfusion", "Fragment", "For Chris", "Irene", "Room For Improvement", and "Happy Landing/Easter Eve". CD

A really wonderful step for UK jazzman Mike Gibbs – a musician who was part of the same big wave of late 60s creative talent that included Mike Westbrook and John Surman – but who really finds his own voice here on this album for the Bronze label! For years, there was a real dancing between UK avant jazz musicians, and some of the more jazz-oriented prog rockers – a mode heard especially on some of the Vertigo albums, such as work by Nucleus. But Gibbs sidesteps that moment beautifully, but really keeping things in a jazz perspective, but allowing in musicians who'd also drunk heavily of some of the electric brew – a core group here that includes Cahrlie Mariano on reeds, Philip Catherine on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, Bob Moses on drums, Jumma Santos on percussion, and Gibbs himself on keyboards. Mariano and Catherine have an especially great sound here – more focus than on some other records, thanks to Gibbs' great writing and arrangements – and there's also a larger group of like-minded musicians on deck, including Derek Watkins and Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, Chris Pyne on trombone, Henry Lowther on flugelhorn, Ray Warleigh on alto, Alan Skidmore on tenor, and Tony Cole on tenor and bass clarinet – almost enough talent to make for one of those famous Lansdowne Studios sessions. The tunes are awash in color – some of Mike's best writing ever – and include "Tunnel Of Love", "Antique", "Undergrowth", and "Blackgang". CD

Change is certainly in the air for the famous group of tenorist Don Rendell and trumpeter Ian Carr – partly because this final set has some slight shifts in personnel, and partly because a few elements point the way towards new directions that Carr would take in the 70s! The core energy of the group is still beautifully intact – and most tunes still feature strong piano work from Michael Garrick, alongside the fantastic drums of Trevor Tompkins and bass of Dave Green – but there's also a point when Jeff Clyne comes in for a second bass, Guy Warren adds some percussion, and Stan Robinson brings in both added tenor and clarinet! None of the music is as electric as Carr's later Nucleus group, but you can definitely hear the door opening for new ideas – while the duo still continue that fantastic blend of modern moments and soulful swing that mark their seminal late 60s albums in the Lansdowne Series. Titles include "Elastic Dream", "Boy Dog & Carrot", "One Green Eye", "Cold Mountain", and "Black Hair". CD