Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks on this first volume include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", and "The Realm Of Lightning". LP, Vinyl record album

A jazz group at the core, but one with lots of nicely warm touches around the edges – a mix of percussion and vibes from group leader Cory Champion, who also brings in plenty of Fender Rhodes, guitar, and other keyboards as well! At times, there's a nicely cosmic vibe to the music – almost an evolution of the 70s sound of Lonnie Liston Smith – but there's also a lot more going on too, including cool use of bass clarinet, cello, harp, and other elements from other players to complicate the sound – plus occasional Buchla electronics from Champion, which creates a nicely spooky vibe – a bit like when Pat Gleeson might drop in a few sounds on a 70s jazz funk album. Titles include "Sunrise Motif", "Absolvo", "Revolutions", "Kihi", "Drumatix", "Plazma Plaza", and "Talking To Water". LP, Vinyl record album

After working for years in the Crusaders, then honing his production skills with excellent work for Fantasy and Mercury, Wayne Henderson put out this album of his own, which drew on a lot of the work he'd been doing during the mid 70s. The album's a showcase for his At Home productions team, and it features work by Bobby Lyle, Roland Bautista, Ronnie Laws, and others. Henderson plays trombone, but he also gets in the way a bit with some hipster vocalizing that doesn't quite work. Titles include "Lady Bug", "Foot Stompin Music", "I'm Staying Forever", and a version of the great stepper "Keep On Keepin On". (Soul, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the fiercest work we've ever heard from this legendary Czech fusion outfit – a previously-unreleased live performance from 1980, and one that may well blow away some of their classic studio records from the 70s! The tunes are long, and have a sense of darkness that we're not sure we've heard this strongly before – as keyboardist Martin Kratochvil plays Fender Rhodes and moog to really set the stage for most tunes at the start – then opening the door to bolder work on guitar from Frantisek Francl. There's as much prog going on here as jazz – and the lean quartet setting allows for plenty of longspun work from keys and guitar – on titles that include "Pecet", "Pralesni Pisen", "Trhanec", "Az Se Ucho Utrhne", and "Madona". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic early record by Sahib Shihab – a motherlode of modal jazz grooves, cut during the early days of the Clarke-Boland Big Band! The record features a core group of players from that ensemble – including Shihab on alto, baritone, and flute, plus Francy Boland on piano, Jimmy Woode on bass, Ake Persson on trombone, Francy Boland on piano, Joe Harris on bongos, and Kenny Clarke on drums – all coming together here with a groove that's really groundbreaking – a style that's sweet and soulful, but rhythmically revolutionary too! The tracks are all long and grooving – with the kind of dancing jazz tone that you'd expect from the Saba/MPS label during the mid 60s – a big change from the Argo label that originally issued the record. But that's no surprise, either, as the session was actually recorded in Europe by Gigi Campi – the man behind the CBBB albums on MPS – with a feel that's quite similar to other Shihab classics, like Companionship or Seeds. The whole thing's great – one of Shihab's most wonderful records, and totally worth owning – and titles include "Lillemor", "Please Don't Leave Me", "Waltz For Seth", and "Herr Fixit". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most amazing jazz vocalists of our generation returns here with an incredible group – a majestic combo to match all the spiritual inclinations in his music – with work from Kamasi Washington on tenor, Mark De Clive-Lowe on piano, Miguel Atwood Ferguson on viola, and both Carlos Nino and Derf Reklaw on percussion! Dwight Trible on his own is already more than enough to get us to run out and buy a record – but here, the combination of his unique voice with these musicians makes for an album that's an instant masterpiece – and one that even has lots of new colors and styles compared to some of Dwight's previous work! Songs include numbers by older west coast spiritual jazz heavyweights – like Horace Tapscott, Linda Hill, Nate Morgan, James Leary, and Jesse Sharps – mixed with some of Trible's own songs, and versions of work by Carmen Lundy, Oscar Brown Jr, and Donny Hathaway. From top to bottom, start to stop, the album's a treasure – with tracks that include "It's All About Love", "Thank You Master", "Song For My Mother", "Brother Where Are You", "Some Other Time", "These Things You Are To Me", "Desert Fairy Princess", and "Mothership". (Vocalists, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A hell of a record of Latin Jazz – recorded in the UK, but with a vibe that puts the whole thing right up there with some of the most inventive American albums of a few years before – such as Latin jazz classics by Sabu Martinez, Cal Tjader, or Eddie Palmieri! Robin Jones is the leader, and plays drums and timbales here – and the group are a tight sextet who work with no vocals at all – just flutes and saxes from Olaf Vas, a great talent who really shades in the sound – plus piano and Rhodes from Ian Henry, bass from Percy Borthwick, and percussion from Simon Morton and Tony Uter. Given the lack of other instrumentation, there's a fantastic focus on the percussion, reeds, and piano – and the whole thing's a cracker through and through, with titles that include "Africa Revisited", "Urubu", "Con Fuego", "Denga", and "Sucio Mambo". (Latin, Jazz) LP, Vinyl record album

A great one – and the kind of European jazz album that kicks like a Clarke/Boland Big Band album! Hans Koller directs a large-scale swinging big band of some of the best European and American expatriot players of the time – like Sahib Shihab, Benny Bailey, Donald Byrd, Johnny Griffin, and Albert Mangelsdorff – and the set screams with intense solos, and a tight groove that pushes past any of the cliches you could imagine for a set like this. One of the things that makes the session great is some groovy organ, played by Infried Hoffman, the German player who was in Klaus Doldinger's early group. Doldinger's also on here, and his sound is way better than on his 70's work. Titles include "Hip Hit", "Revelation", "Conversation", "Knodel-Waltzer", and "Blazy Bones Revisited". LP, Vinyl record album

US issue of some of Gerry's classic Vogue recordings, done in Paris in 1954 with a quartet that featured Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, Red Mitchell on bass, and Frank Isola on drums. This is Gerry at the height of his powers, and playing classic piano-less material with supberb accompaniment by Brookmeyer. Tracks include a number of originals, including "Utter Chaos", "Five Brothers", and "Walkin' Shoes", plus others like "Bernies Tune", "Come Out Wherever You Are", and "Laura". LP, Vinyl record album

There's nothing wooden about this music at all – as the album's one of the loosest, freest, liveliest sessions to ever come from the legendary trumpeter Tomasz Stanko – a performance that was originally done for Radio Bremen in 1972, and which is very different than most of his other albums from the time! The music here is all freely improvised, with a vibe that's at the headiest of the FMP generation – as Stanko's trumpet interacts with the tenor and flute of Janusz Muniak, bass of Bronislaw Suchanek, violin of Zbigniew Seifert, and drums of Janusz Stefanski – all players who are completely unbridled all the way through! If you only know Seifert from his mellower albums later in the 70s, he'll blow you away here – as, like a few other key musicians at the time, he's got a way of improvising on his instrument that matches the energy of a reedman – and which really adds a lot to the group. The set features six pieces, all improvised – issued here commercially for the first time ever, and a real revelation! LP, Vinyl record album

US issue of some of Gerry's classic Vogue recordings, done in Paris in 1954 with a quartet that featured Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, Red Mitchell on bass, and Frank Isola on drums. This is Gerry at the height of his powers, and playing classic piano-less material with supberb accompaniment by Brookmeyer. Tracks include a number of originals, including "Utter Chaos", "Five Brothers", and "Walkin' Shoes", plus others like "Bernies Tune", "Come Out Wherever You Are", and "Laura". LP, Vinyl record album