A set that's way more than just a "best of" from Anthony David – as it opens with his great recent cut "Heaven", a sublime duet with Algebra Blesset, and a stunning acoustic remake of a classic Womack tune from way back! The warmth of David's vocals has only deepened over the years – and it's great to trace the evolution from the already-great early cuts to some of the really wonderful recent ones – as Anthony works both solo, and in duets with other artists who include India Arie, Kiesha Jackson, and Giovanca. Titles include the original version of "Heaven", and "Heaven (amapiano mix)" – and Blessett returns on "Need You Now" – next to other tunes that include "Words", "Something About You", "Yes", "Smoke One", "Everything Is Everything", "Need You Now", "Lady", "4Evermore", "Livin It Up", "Rule The World", "Cheatin Man", and "The Further We Go". CD

A book that documents a compelling intersection of creative activity – the ephemeral light sculptures of Anthony McCall, and a set of improvising soloists who accompanied their exhibition – all presented here in a well-done volume that may well be the only physical trace of the project! The book is filled with photos like the image on the cover – examples of the way that Anthony McCall will shape light in a space, in order to create a semblance of structure, but in ways that are impermanent and uncontainable – as is the music created for the installations, performed by artists who include David Grubbs, Susan Alcorn, Ben Vida, Tomeka Reid, Nat Wooley, Yoshi Wada, and others. All musicians are interviewed in the book, and Grubbs and McCall have a long conversation about their own creative relationship and years of working together. Book

A trio of albums from the great David Murray! Ming is beautifully arranged work from David Murray – an important early large group recording, one that really helped point the way to some of his later genius! The session features Murray leading an all-star octet that includes Henry Threadgill on alto, Olu Dara on trumpet, Butch Morris on cornet, George Lewis on trombone, Anthony Davis on piano, Wilbur Morris on bass, and Steve McCall on percussion. Tracks are a very hip set of original compositions that display an incredible range of soulful feeling and expression – and which open a door to a whole new chapter of Murray's career. Titles include "Ming", "Dewey's Circle", "Jasvan", "The Fast Life", and "The Hill". Sacred Ground is a beautifully spiritual set that really reminds us of the promise we first heard in his music decades ago! Murray's working here with a lean, soulful ensemble that includes Lafayette Gilchrist on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and Andrew Cyrille on drums – all in a groove that has plenty of sharp edges, but which is also nicely inside – very focused, and with a sense of depth that's really wonderful! All tracks are originals by Murray – penned with the sensitivity of an older soul jazz recording – and two numbers feature lyrics by Ishmael Reed, sung by Cassandra Wilson on guest vocals. Titles include "Sacred Ground", "Transitions", "Family Reunion", "The Prophet Of Doom", "Believe In Love", and "Banished". Lucky Four is a gentler set than some of David Murray's other US dates from the time – but in a really great way that nicely gets at the more sensitive side of his work on tenor and bass clarinet! There's a bit of a hardbop groove to the album, but also a bit more freedom too – a style that never goes that far out, but which reminds us through subtle cues that most of these players have a longer legacy in more avant-oriented work. The group features Dave Burrell on piano, Wilbur Morris on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums – and Burrell especially echoes a range of influences here – almost pulling from older eras of jazz in the way that Jaki Byard used to – an approach that's often echoed by Murray in his horn. Titles include "Valley Talk", "Chazz", "As I Woke", "Abel's Blissed Out Blues", "Sharing", and "As I Woke". CD

Personnel include Dwight Andrews on flute, piccolo, clarinet, and soprano sax; Leo Smith on trumpet, steelophone, and percussion; George Lewis on trombone, Shem Giubbory on violin, Eugene Friesen on cello, Rick Rozie on bass, David Samuels on vibraphone, JD Parran on clarinet, and Pheeron AkLaff on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Tenor sax and bass clarinet player's excellent series of Octet efforts for Black Saint in the 80s – a run of brilliant albums with lineups featuring Henry Threadgill, Olu Dara, Butch Morris, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Bobby Bradford, Hugh Ragin, James Spaulding and other great players – 5 albums in a CD box set in the Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note series! It includes the Ming album from 1980, Home from '82, Murray's Steps (released in '83), New Life from '87 and Hope Scope from '91 – each in a cardboard sleeve with the original album art and each remastered. CD

Beautifully arranged work from David Murray – an important early large group recording, one that really helped point the way to some of his later genius! The session features Murray leading an all-star octet that includes Henry Threadgill on alto, Olu Dara on trumpet, Butch Morris on cornet, George Lewis on trombone, Anthony Davis on piano, Wilbur Morris on bass, and Steve McCall on percussion. Tracks are a very hip set of original compositions that display an incredible range of soulful feeling and expression – and which open a door to a whole new chapter of Murray's career. Titles include "Ming", "Dewey's Circle", "Jasvan", "The Fast Life", and "The Hill". LP, Vinyl record album

A great leap forward for David Murray – an album recorded at the start of the 80s, and one that showed he really had some great new directions going on in his music! The album's got all the warm tones and complicated sentiments you might expect from a title like "Home" – brilliantly put together not only as a showcase for Murray's writing, but also for his arranging style as well – a key octet recording that shows Murray's talents as a leader as great as his role as a player. David plays tenor and bass clarinet – and other players include Henry Threadgill on alto and flute, Olu Dara on trumpet, Butch Morris on cornet, George Lewis on trombone, Anthony Davis on piano, Wilber Morris on bass, and Steve McCall on percussion. Titles include "Home", "Santa Barbara & Crenshaw Follies", "3D Family", "Choctaw Blues", and "Last of the Hipmen". LP, Vinyl record album

A great pairing – the tenor of David Murray and trombone of Ray Anderson – alongside Anthony Davis on piano, Kenny Davis on bass, and Tommy Campbell on drums! CD

An overlooked gem from the Detroit scene of the early 80s – played by a group who came after the generation of Tribe and Strata Records, but who went on to have some really slow-burning influence in their own sort of way! The music definitely has echoes of the loft and spiritual jazz scenes of the 70s – but the quintet also really open things up with some of the more flexible rhythms that were coming out of New York during the same period, and working with a slight touch of more ambitious structures – of the sort you might have heard on overseas labels recording American jazz musicians during the 80s. Reeds are at the core of the set – playec by the trio of Faruq Z Bey on tenor and alto, Anthony Holland on alto and soprano, and David McMurray on tenor, alto, soprano, and flute – given very creative energy by Tani Tabbal on drums, and Jaribu Shahid on both acoustic and electric bass. Titles include "Xy-Moch", "Zycron", "Zenelog Aintro", "Androgeny", "Kins", and "Xy Moch". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Miklos Rosza, Max Steiner, Adolph Deutsch, David Raksin, Roy Webb, George Bassman, Andre Previn, Paul Sawtell, Anthony Collins, and more – plus loads of great dialogue from the films! CD

A set that features music from three different sessions recorded by trumpeter Bill Dixon in the mid 60s – all pretty groundbreaking work, even all these many years later! First up is a quartet co-led by Archie Shepp and Bill Dixon – easily one of the greatest modern jazz pairings of the 60s! If you only know Shepp from his later work, you'll hear something very different here – as his tenor's often brought into tight focus with the trumpet of Dixon – in a blend of arrangement and freedom that's like that of Ted Curson and Bill Barron, but a lot more powerful overall! The tunes still have a sense of structure – and get great help from the bass of Don Moore and drums of Paul Cohen – but there's also some tremendously unbridled energy from the leaders, especially Dixon, who might not have sounded this great ever again. Titles include "Quartet" and "Trio". Next up is one side of an album that Dixon split with Shepp for Savoy – and Dixon's material here features a septet, with a great lineup that includes Ken McIntyre on alto and oboe, George Barrow on tenor, and both Hal Dodson and David Izenzon on basses. Titles include "Winter Song 1964" and "The 12th December". Last up is the seminal Intents & Purposes record – one of the few rare records cut by Bill Dixon during the 60s, and a perfect example of "new thing" jazz in action. Trumpeter Dixon plays in 3 different ensembles – a nonet, a quintet, and a duet – with players like Byard Lancaster, Reggie Workman, Robert Pozar, and Jimmy Garrison. The tracks are long, with an approach that begins with compositional structures, but which also showcases the avant solo talents of the players – in a manner that's similar to some of the Blue Note work by Anthony Williams or Grachan Moncur III. A darn tough record to find – and with the tracks "Voices", "Nightfall Pieces I & II", and "Metamorphosis". CD

Music from Charlie Hunter Quartet, Anthony Coleman's Sephardic Tinge, Clusone Trio, Mario Pavone Sextet, Matt Darriau Paradox Trio, Horace Tapscott Trio, Matthew Shipp, Myra Melford The Same River Twice, Thomas Chapin Trio, and David S. Ware Quartet. CD

Music from Steve Hackett, Giles, Giles & Fripp, Anthony Phillips, Atomic Rooster, Rick Wakeman, GTR, Dave Greenslade, Stackridge, Robert Wyatt, Gong, Van Der Graaf Generator, Fission Trip, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Audience, David Bedford, Third Ear Band, Ginger Baker, Slapp Happy, Hawkwind, Birth Control, Atlantis, Embryo, Cosmic Jockers, Mogul Thrash, Anima, Blonde On Blonde, and more! CD

Everybody's getting in on the funky sound library action! This set of rare funky gems was selected by Luke Vibert – who's confessed to a love of the odder and more obscure side of the 70s Brit sound library scene. The set's way better than you might think – as Luke really knows his stuff – and the tracks on here have a very different sound than the regular sound library funky instrumentals, with a lot more electronics, lots of keyboards, moog, bleeps, blonks, and plenty of funky beats! Luke's dug through the Southern, IM, and Chappell catalogs, and has come up with a blinding batch of tunes that are almost like 70s equivalents of the sort of music he's making today – only funkier! Titles include "Electronic Track 12" by Cecil Luter, "Soft Bossa" by Nino Nardini, "Xylo Spleen" by Eddie Warner, "Electrostalactites" by Anthony King, "Cleopatra" by Georges Teperino, "The Bungler" by Boneschi Electronic Combo, "Intimations" by Midas Touch, "On The Air" by Eddie Warner, "Pots & Pans" by Anthony King, "Zouche Drums 3" by David Holland, and "Strange Love Action" by Johanna Group. 27 tracks in all! LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal work from the New York avant scene of the mid 70s – an important series of recordings done by Alan Douglas, and sides that initially broke the creative spirit of the scene to a much wider audience! There's a loose, openly creative spirit to these recordings that's a marked change from the intensity of the New York avant recordings of the 70s – a maturity, and confidence, that's come from some of the players' previous work in avant scenes in Chicago, St Louis, and elsewhere – coming together in New York's limelight with some really amazing energy! This 3CD set brings together tracks from all 5 volumes of the original LPs – over 3 hours' of music, with work by players who include Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and David Murray on tenors; Ken McIntyre, Marion Brown, Oliver Lake, Jimmy Lyons, and Byard Lancaster on alto saxes; Randy Weston, Anthony Davis, and Sonelius Smith on piano; Ted Daniel, Leo Smith, and Olu Dara on trumpet; Khan Jamal on vibes, George Lewis on trombone, Jerome cooper on percussion, and many others too! CD

Tracks by Billy Harper, Andrew Hill, Don Cherry, Max Roach, Anthony Braxton, Roswell Rudd, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Adams, David Murray and more. CD