(Brazil, Jazz) CD

The last-ever album from this legendary duo – and a set that's maybe their funkiest record too! Of course, that's probably no surprise, given that they're playing the Curtis Mayfield tunes from Superfly here – great tracks that make for a really wonderful setting for the pair's highly rhythmic style – Eldee Young on bass and Isaac Redd Holt on drums – plus great Fender Rhodes lines from pianist Ken Chaney! The set also features a bit of congas from Derf Reklaw, and organ and guitar as well – and the whole thing's a long overdue follow up to the funky electric jazz style of their earlier album Oh Girl, on Atlantic. Titles include great takes on "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly" – plus a few of the group's own numbers, like "Hey Pancho" and "Mystical Man" – as well as a super-dope cover of "People Make the World Go Round". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

The last-ever album from this legendary duo – and a set that's maybe their funkiest record too! Of course, that's probably no surprise, given that they're playing the Curtis Mayfield tunes from Superfly here – great tracks that make for a really wonderful setting for the pair's highly rhythmic style – Eldee Young on bass and Isaac Redd Holt on drums – plus great Fender Rhodes lines from pianist Ken Chaney! The set also features a bit of congas from Derf Reklaw, and organ and guitar as well – and the whole thing's a long overdue follow up to the funky electric jazz style of their earlier album Oh Girl, on Atlantic. Titles include great takes on "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly" – plus a few of the group's own numbers, like "Hey Pancho" and "Mystical Man" – as well as a super-dope cover of "People Make the World Go Round". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet set of electric funk from James Moody – and a great little record to match the grooves he was laying down at the Perception label in the early 70s – with a very unique sound! Moody's working here alongside some sweet work on electric piano by either Jodie Christian or Tennyson Stephens – and with some sly and soulful arrangements by Chicago soul maestro Richard Evans, who also plays bass on the record and gives it a style that's almost an extension of the later Cadet kind of groove. The album features an excellent funky instrumental version of " First Thing I Do In the Morning", originally a funky vocal 45 by Chicago singer Joyce Williams – and other cuts include "Trilby", "Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "World Is A Ghetto", "Good Sense Humor Man", and "Country City Country". CD

An unusual chapter in the career of the Art Ensemble – yet a set that's also a key recording in their legendary time in Paris at the start of the 70s! The set was recorded in that city in 1970, and not issued in France and the US until a few years later – with less fanfare (and less reissue history) than their Nessa, Freedom, and BYG records from the same time – even though the quality here is every bit as great, if not better! The tracks are long, open, and have that wonderfully fluid sense of shifting instrumentation that the group virtually pioneered at the time – with Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell on saxes, Lester Bowie on trumpet, Malachi Favors on bass, and Don Moye on drums – and all players picking up lots of different percussion along the way. Titles include "Chi Congo", "Enlorfe", and "Hippparippp". LP, Vinyl record album

Jim DeJulio on bass, Eddie Daniels on clarinet, Bill Watrous on trombone, Glen Zotola on trumpet, David Benoit, Paul Smith, and Wally Minko on piano, Jim DeJulio Jr and Roy McCurdy on drums, and Chris Trujillo and Jim DeJulio Jr on percussion. CD

An overlooked 70s gem from the legendary saxophonist Sonny Stitt – recorded in Chicago, and with a hip vibe that ties things very much to the best spirit of the Chess/Cadet world of the time! There's two different approaches used on the record – and on the first four, the group is a bit on the larger side – with Chess/Cadet touches from Richard Evans on bass, Morris Jennings on drums, Tennyson Stephens on piano, a bit of strings, and vocalizing by "Kitty Hayward" – who is likely Kitty Heywood, of Kitty & The Heywoods! The remaining tracks are done in a smaller setting – and they feature a rare appearance by AACM avant legend Muhal Richard Abrams on piano, who plays straight ahead here – in a quartet with Wilbur Campell on drums and Cleveland Eaton on bass. Titles include "Got To Get Over", "Soul Girl", "Jeep Blues", and "I Know That You Know" with the larger group – plus the quartet pieces "I Should Care", "Eight Track Blues",and "Gone With The Wind". CD

A beautiful little solo session from the late Mal Waldron – recorded in Paris in 1972, and featuring (as you'd guess from the title) Mal stretching out wonderfully on a well-tuned Steinway! The mood of the set is softer and more introspective than some of Waldron's other work from the time – no less inventive, but with a quality that's warmly lyrical and extremely tuneful throughout – a great demonstration of Waldron's growing confidence as a solo artist at the time – yet expressed with a thoughtfulness that makes the album one of his real standouts in this mode. Tracks are all originals – and titles include "Paris Reunited", "For Eric Satie", "One For Bud", and "Portrait Of A Bullfighter". CD

A beautiful little solo session from the late Mal Waldron – recorded in Paris in 1972, and featuring (as you'd guess from the title) Mal stretching out wonderfully on a well-tuned Steinway! The mood of the set is softer and more introspective than some of Waldron's other work from the time – no less inventive, but with a quality that's warmly lyrical and extremely tuneful throughout – a great demonstration of Waldron's growing confidence as a solo artist at the time – yet expressed with a thoughtfulness that makes the album one of his real standouts in this mode. Tracks are all originals – and titles include "Paris Reunited", "For Eric Satie", "One For Bud", and "Portrait Of A Bullfighter". CD

A beautiful little solo session from the late Mal Waldron – recorded in Paris in 1972, and featuring (as you'd guess from the title) Mal stretching out wonderfully on a well-tuned Steinway! The mood of the set is softer and more introspective than some of Waldron's other work from the time – no less inventive, but with a quality that's warmly lyrical and extremely tuneful throughout – a great demonstration of Waldron's growing confidence as a solo artist at the time – yet expressed with a thoughtfulness that makes the album one of his real standouts in this mode. Tracks are all originals – and titles include "Paris Reunited", "For Eric Satie", "One For Bud", and "Portrait Of A Bullfighter". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet set of electric funk from James Moody – and a great little record to match the grooves he was laying down at the Perception label in the early 70s – with a very unique sound! Moody's working here alongside some sweet work on electric piano by either Jodie Christian or Tennyson Stephens – and with some sly and soulful arrangements by Chicago soul maestro Richard Evans, who also plays bass on the record and gives it a style that's almost an extension of the later Cadet kind of groove. The album features an excellent funky instrumental version of " First Thing I Do In the Morning", originally a funky vocal 45 by Chicago singer Joyce Williams – and other cuts include "Trilby", "Don't Let Me Be Lonely", "World Is A Ghetto", "Good Sense Humor Man", and "Country City Country". CD

An excellent album by Isaac Redd Holt – one half of the incredible Young-Holt rhythm team, bursting out nicely here on his own! This is Redd's second album – first for Paula, as the other one was a jazz effort on Argo back in the 60s – and it's a wild blend of jazz, funk, and a lot of other weird sounds. The introduction's totally cool, and features Redd running through a list of hip little clubs in American cities, then the album launches into the great "Listen to the Drums", which has a tight pounding groove, and moves on to a whole bunch of other jazzy cuts like "Flo", "Slow Funk", and "Let the Spirit In". Redd sings a bit, which isn't too bad (mostly), but it's the grooves that will keep you coming back. Very much in the spirit of Roy Porter's legendary funk albums – but probably a bit tighter! (Soul, Jazz) CD

A crazy bit of funk from drummer Roy Porter – a player who first rose to fame during the LA bop years of the late 40s, but who sounds even hipper here in the 70s! The album's got a madly skittish approach to funk – one that's highly rhythmic, but often in unconventional ways – somewhat similar to Redd Holt's excellent albums for the Paula label. Roy plays drums, percussion, and sings a bit – and the grooves run from break-heavy instrumentals to even cooler numbers that bring in more of a sense of flow and soul – really opening things up beyond any simple 70s jazz funk cliches, and hitting some really wicked new territory! Instrumentation includes plenty of great horns, electric piano, guitar, and even a bit of Arp – all used in really inventive and creative ways. Titles include the classic crate-digging favorites "Panama" and "Party Time", plus a vocal version of "Jessica", a cover of Jobim's "Waver-ing", and another nice original called "Funny Feelin'"! Tremendous stuff all the way through – and comes with a very cool 7" single – with the rare vocal version of "Panama", and a DJ Muro edit of the track too! LP, Vinyl record album

A really great look at some of the coolest material issued by Motown in the early days of the label – tracks from a brief foray into jazz, from a time when the company was testing the waters with some very hip material from the Detroit scene! The cuts here have a nice sort of grit – very much in the best soul jazz styles that bigger labels that Prestige or Argo/Chess were doing at the time – and the tracks also include some great work by artists caught in the very early days of their careers. Titles include "See You Later" and "I Did" by Johnny Griffith, "El Rig" and "Bobbie" by George Bohannon, "I Did" and "Falling In Love With Love" by Paula Greer, "Exodus" and "I Remember You" by Hank & Carol Diamond, "Opus No 3" and "March Lightly" by Earl Washington, and "Late Freight" and "Mellow In Cali" by Dave Hamilton. LP, Vinyl record album