Arguably the most classic Alice Coltrane album on Impulse – and a strong group effort that features some great work from Pharoah Sanders! Coltrane leads two different small combos on the record – both with Sanders on saxes, plus either Cecil McBee or Charlie Haden on bass, and Rashied ... CD
One of the funkiest records ever from Akira Ishikawa and his Count Buffalos band – a hip little groover that stands head to head with some of the best funky jazz from the US and Europe of the time! Despite Akira's earthy look on the cover, the record's got a relatively electric feel overall ... LP, Vinyl record album
A killer set from a group that may well be the most perfectly realized version of the Exploding Star concept from Rob Mazurek – one who've got some fantastic parts that come together here in a wonderfully visionary record! Rob's still in the lead on trumpets and electronics – but the ... LP, Vinyl record album
Funky nuggets galore – and a fair bit of righteous numbers too – all brought together in celebration of one of the hippest record labels of the early 70s! Flying Dutchman was around for just a bit over five years – yet during that time, the label recorded all sorts of really ... CD
A righteous underground soul classic from Del Jones – message-oriented funk at its best! Jones is working here in the spirit of some of the best locally-crafted indie outings of the time – like work by Mike James Kirkland, Oneness Of Juju, The Pharoahs, and other important righteous ... LP, Vinyl record album
A well-done package that celebrates the key contributions that Savoy Records made to the field of jazz on record – as the New Jersey company was one of the first to record the new wave of bebop in the late 40s, and quickly unleashed the music of Charlie Parker and his contemporaries on a host ... CD
A really fantastic issue of this seminal jazz publication – one that has a great cover feature on our hometown hero, drummer Makaya McCraven! As usual with We Jazz, the whole package is as great as the cover – page after squarebound page of great photographs and images, almost more of ... Magazine
A huge collection – a series of different live performances from Japanese improvising saxophonist Mototeru Takagi, most recorded in the late 80s – plus one more from the following decade too! Takagi is solo throughout most of the set – and he has an amazing ability to rework ... CD
A landmark album by Donald Byrd – the first one where he really started to click with jazz-funk producer Larry Mizell! Mizell and Byrd had worked together previously on the Black Byrd album – a soaring bit of futuristic jazz funk that took Byrd's career to a whole new level – but ... LP, Vinyl record album
A killer second album from the McNeal & Niles duo who gave us the legendary Thrust album – a record that's a lot less-known than that underground classic, and which almost has the group soaring in an even more fully-formed mode overall! There's definitely plenty of Ohio funk elements in ... LP, Vinyl record album
A great collection of soulful rocksteady gems – and one that really hints at its approach with the use of "cover" in the title! Many of the tunes here are reworkings of American soul tracks – most not major hits, which makes them even cooler cover versions – and shows ... LP, Vinyl record album
A trio of solo albums from Phillip Bailey – presented here with bonus material too! First up is Continuation – an 80s soul classic from Philip Bailey – stepping out here from Earth Wind & Fire in a set that has him sparkling strongly as a solo act! The vocals still have that ... CD
Love Cry Want (Larry Young/Joe Gallivan/Stephen Nicholas)
Rare material that was originally recorded in 1972 by organist Larry Young – some of his most outside material ever, and done with a bunch of young musicians who wail on all of these weird electronic instruments! The set's way wilder even than any of Young's albums that were issued at the ... LP, Vinyl record album
A record that nicely combines the two different sound library sides Egisto Macchi – his scene setting ability with a lovely melody, and his deeper darker experiments on the further reaches of sound! The album's got a cover that belies its complexity – and within, you'll definitely hear ... LP, Vinyl record album
Toshiyuki Miyama really makes the New Herd cook with this cool 70s session – a smoker of a large group date, and one with a great mix of funky rhythms and complicated instrumentation! The set's got a feel that's as exotic as its cover, yet comes across with a solid, soulful punch throughout ... LP, Vinyl record album
A wonderful record – one that takes off from the spare sound of earlier albums by guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento, and adds in some smaller group instrumentation that really sends things over the top! Fabiano's still got all the amazing touches on his instrument – played at a level ... LP, Vinyl record album
Incredible work from one of the greatest female southern soul singers ever – a sublime record that mixes together some of Ann Sexton's best Sound Stage Seven singles, plus a few more that we've only ever seen on this set! Given Ann's greatness, and the strong memory of her work that's been ... LP, Vinyl record album
A sweet 80s groover from the South African scene – a set that makes great use of drum machine rhythms and keyboards, but at a level that's nicely warmed up by the group's vocals! There's plenty of elements here that link up with that moment when electric African material was getting wider ... LP, Vinyl record album
Seattle soul combo Teleclere have a mighty lean look on the cover – and the sound within is nice and lean too – served up from that moment when larger funk ensembles had been condensed into much smaller groups, thanks to all the right use of drum machines, keyboards, and electronics! ... LP, Vinyl record album
Jazz and rock, over the top – a sweet blend of funky rhythms, heavy horns, and some nice fuzzy guitar – all served up by the early 70s group of Jiro Inagaki! Jiro's recorded a few times in this mode – a great Japanese version of the headier sounds coming from the US and UK scenes ... LP, Vinyl record album