One of our favorite records of all time from trumpeter Donald Byrd – a sometimes-overlooked gem from the late 60s, and one that has Byrd really playing with a slightly different edge than before! The set's recorded with a group that Byrd maintained for two years – a stunning lineup ... LP, Vinyl record album
A seminal 70s set from the legendary Air trio – and one of their wonderful non-American dates from the early years – material recorded overseas, where this famous AACM trio was maybe getting more attention than in the US! The album was originally a Japanese-only album, and it's easily ... CD
An incredible pairing of talents – and a record that proves once again that the vibes of Roy Ayers are maybe one of the most powerfully soulful forces in the universe! It's no surprise that Roy's old records have formed the building blocks of key hip hop tracks over the years – and ... LP, Vinyl record album
Really beautiful work from Som Imaginario – a progressive Brazilian group of the 70s, and one who also had strong ties to the world of Milton Nascimento as well! Milton's keyboard player Wagner Tiso is a key part of the record here – playing organ and electric piano – and the set ... CD
Maybe the most jazz-based record we've ever heard from Misha Panfilov – a set that still has all the great funky and spacey elements of his other records, yet which uses an expanded lineup to really deepen the soul of the album! The tracks are long, and have a soulful vibe that's wonderful ... LP, Vinyl record album
Probably the greatest album ever by the Art Ensemble of Chicago – and also one of their rarest! The album was cut for Pathe Marconi in Paris in 1970, and was the soundtrack to a film that was as obscure as the album. The group's never been finer – and plays with a creative tightness ... LP, Vinyl record album
Brilliant work from groundbreaking pianist McCoy Tyner – an album that has him firmly stepping out of the shadow of his old boss John Coltrane – and really taking off with a new level of spiritual jazz expression that Tyner's scene helped to foster in the 70s! The group on the set is a ... LP, Vinyl record album
Back in the first decade of this century, Build An Ark were one of the few groups to really carry forward the spiritual jazz legacy of the 70s – part of the same LA underground that rose up on Nimbus Records back in the day, and guided by the unstoppable power of Carlos Nino – who ... LP, Vinyl record album
A rare set from vibist Walt Dickerson – one of the most compelling jazz musicians to ever lay hold of a set of vibes! The album was originally issued as a Japanese-only session by the Why Not label in the mid 70s, and it features Dickerson playing on 5 tunes that have a slightly different ... CD
A really cool collection of cuts with an unlikely history – as most of these numbers originally came out on dance instruction records, but stand alone very nicely on their own! Frank Hatchett's records were issued in small amounts to an equally small and focused audience – but as with ... LP, Vinyl record album
The legendary Pharoah Sanders is on the cover this time around – and gets a beautifully-done tribute inside, in a long article filled with fantastic images and covers of key recordings – next to a special feature on his Impulse Records classic Thembi album as well! And the issue's also ... Magazine
Quite possibly our favorite album ever from Chico Freeman – a beautiful set that was originally issued only in Japan, and which has Chico hitting some of his strongest, most spiritual modes on record! The album features Freeman's reeds in the company of other Chicagoans – AACM players ... CD
Heavenly harmony soul – the fantastic third album by The Whatnauts – maybe our favorite group of the early 70s east coast scene, and that's saying a lot, given that these guys were contemporaries of The Stylistics, Delfonics, and other super-important acts! Yet despite the greatness of ... LP, Vinyl record album
A really cool package, and one that goes past the easy old school hits from the early years of hip hop – and which instead brings together all these unusual strands of sound that really show how creative things were, right at the start! There's a number of tracks here that are a great ... LP, Vinyl record album
A wild little record, as you might expect from a group who named themselves after the place where Abraham Lincoln was shot! There's a lot of organ in the mix, next to the expected fuzzy guitar – and the group even uses a string quartet at points, to great effect – all with an ambitious ... 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 ... LP, Vinyl record album
The record's got a cover that's very different than the lush, stylish imagery used on so many of the Thievery Corporation records that Eric Hilton crafted over the years – and the sound here is nicely different too – maybe stripped down to some core elements, with a focus on the ... CD
Mark Fry was just a young lad when he recorded this album – as you might guess from the cover – a Brit staying in Italy, where he cut this rare gem that's gone onto legendary status over the years – a set that's maybe circulated in far more unofficial copies than its original ... LP, Vinyl record album
A really fantastic record from one of the coolest groups to emerge from the Texas psych scene at the end of the 60s – a combo who here maybe reach their height in a style that uses conventional instrumentation, but with a way of pushing them out in all sorts of fantastic and ambitious ... CD
A haunting set of solo tracks by cellist Abdul Wadud – an important, and oft-overlooked, figure in the 70s loft jazz scene! Wadud plays cello throughout, but in a style that's extremely inventive – and much more in the vein of bass improvisation by players in a tradition that includes ... LP, Vinyl record album