Argentine rock, recorded in Paris during the early 70s – a really unusual expatriate album that comes off with a sound that's pretty unique! Miguel Abuelo clearly draws inspiration from the heavier rock that was showing up in South America at the time – yet the overall execution of the record also shares some of the warmer, more optimistic qualities that marked some of the French groups during the period – occasional folksy elements, and a post-68 positivity that holds on even when things get somewhat trippy and jammy. Instrumentation is heavy on guitars – both acoustic and electric – and the longer tracks really take off with some wild sounds, especially when bits of moog or electronics are dropped into the mix. Titles include "Senor Carnicero", "El Muelle", "Estoy Aqui Parado Sentado Y Acostado", "El Largo Dia De Vivir", and "Tirando Piedras Al Rio". CD

A batch of eclectic postmodern soul that's as original and instantly gratifying as anything we've heard on Stones Throw! Aloe Blacc more than lives up to the expectations we had for him after hearing his first couple of Stones Throw singles. His previous work in the adventurous hip hop outfit Emanon really only hints at his solo work – and it's even more bold in its idiosyncratic approach to an appealing groove! The almost entirely self-produced Shine Through (Oh No and Madlib produce one track each) is rife with an electronic sheen, touching on a bubbling psychedelic soul vibe we've never really heard before. A couple of tracks have guitar, bass, and keys that bring a more organic, but still kind of otherworldly groove – even touching on a cosmic Latin vibe on a couple of tunes! Tracks include "Whole World", a totally re-imagined take on Sam Cooke's "Long Time Coming" (produced by Oh No), "Are You Ready", "Busking", "Bailar", "Nascimento", "Dance For Life", "Patria Mia", "Shine Through", "Caged Birdsong", "Arrive", "Want Me", "One Inna" (produced by Madlib) and "I'm Beautiful". CD

One of Anthony Braxton's great records for BYG, and like the other one, a very cool session that has Braxton playing in a vibe that shows his AACM roots much more clearly than a lot of other sessions! He's playing here with a number of other Chicago expatriates – including Leo Smith on trumpet, Steve McCall on percussion, and Leroy Jenkins on violin – and between them, the four players handle a huge amount of string, reed, percussion, and keyboard instruments, switching off and on in a warmly experimental sound that characterizes the best work of the Chicago avant garde from the time. Tracks include "The Light On the Dalta", "Simple Like", and one of Braxton's weird symbol compositions. Ironically, this French session from the late 60s still stands as one of the best ways to witness the budding Chicago genius of the AACM! CD

Plenty of sides to choose from here – as Pat plays with Mike Stern, Joe Satriani, Kevin Eubanks, Michael Hedges, Les Paul, vocalist Cassandra Wilson, and others. CD

The new sound of the European scene at the end of the 70s – music that carries plenty of inspiration from post-punk modes, but which also carries forth some key elements of prog as well – all at a level that's quite a surprise if you only know more iconic material of the time! The artists here aren't all British or European, but the sound within definitely showcases the way that later electronic experiments of the 70s were thinning down in the work of underground UK and German labels – and also showing the way that the instrumental excesses of the earlier part of the decade were being packed down into more economical packages, but all without losing any sense of freshness or experimentation! The set takes its title from a song on the last Bowie Berlin album – a great reference for the music – and titles include "Tight As A Drum" by Thomas Leer, "Silent Command" by Cabaret Voltaire, "Theme For Great Cities" by Simple Minds, "White Car In Germany" by The Associates, "Nite Flights" by The Walker Brothers, "3,000,000 Synths" by Chaz Jankel, "Nightcrawler" by Patrick Cowley, "Riot In Lagos" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Silicon Chip" by Basil Kirchin, "Ode To Perfume" by Holger Czukay, "Do Weit So Gut" by Harald Grosskopft, "The Farther Away I Am" by Daryl Hall (with Robert Fripp), and "Patriarcat" by Areski & Brigitte Fontaine. CD

Wonderfully righteous work from Burnt Sugar Arkestra – a group who've been giving us great records for years, but who are maybe even more important to the scene than ever before! The core of the record is the long title track – a very jazzy tune that builds up over loops set down by composer Greg Tate, with a flowing, snakey vibe that allows for plenty of long trumpet, tenor, flute, and alto solos over the guitars and Fender Rhodes that work the rhythms – maybe almost in electric Miles territory, but more laidback. That tune is then reworked on a number of variations that are very different – mostly instrumental, as the main track – but finishing up with a bit of vocals near the end of the record – a great contribution from singer Lisala Beatty! Titles include "Angels Over Oakanda", "Repatriation Of The Midnight Moores", "Oakanda Overdrive", and "Lisala Oer Inna Oakanda". CD

A beautiful session that was Lester Young's last-ever recording! The session was cut in Paris in 1959, and features the rhythm section of the famous Blue Note club, home to many American expatriates in France at the time – a great setting for Young to really sparkle in these later years of his life. Kenny Clarke plays drums, Jamil Nasser plays bass, Rene Utreger is on piano, and Jimmy Gourley plays guitar – a group who are tight, but easygoing and laidback enough to really let Lester open up on tenor. Young's tone is amazing – and has touches of his classic sound, but is also filled with a somber sense that's really great – a sense of melancholy that really deepens the album. Titles include "New DB Blues", "Lullaby Of Birdland", "Three Little Words", and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". CD

Overlooked genius from reedman Nathan Davis – a later session that's a bit more straight ahead than some of his 70s work, and a date that really gets back to some of the best soulful energy of his records from the 60s! Davis is recorded here in very sympathetic company – players who share some of the best energies he picked up on the expatriate scene during his famous time overseas – Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Al Leavitt on drums! There's an easygoing soul jazz groove to the whole set, with a slight touch of modernism – and in addition to tenor, Davis also plays some wonderful soprano sax – handling the horn with stretched-out soulfulness that makes him one of the undisputed masters of the instrument. Titles include "Noite Em Leblon", "Rio De Janeiro", "Dr Bu", "London By Night", and "Shades". CD

Funky grooves, floating vocals, mellow keyboards, and a whole lot more – easily one of the greatest soundtracks ever from the legendary Armando Trovajoli – and certainly one of the grooviest too! There's a sublime quality to this score that's well made Sessomatto one of the best-remembered albums from the glory years of the Italian soundtracks – a sense of space, pacing, and timing that are simply breathtaking – and which are the perfect summation of Trovajoli's earlier experiments in music. As with his score to La Matriarca, the instrumentation here varies often – sometimes a bit of horns, nicely compressed; sometimes a floating harmonica line; sometimes keyboards; and sometimes a funky rhythm topped with vocals – all woven together in a rich pastiche of styles that makes the album one of the deepest soundtracks you'll hope to own from the time. The remastering here is wonderful – way better than the previous Japanese reissues, and done in a way that really isolates the best elements of the music – letting the simple balance of sound and space resonate beautifully, and exposing even more of Trovajoli's genius with a wealth of bonus tracks. These added numbers really open the whole thing up – taking the album way past the familiar "Sessomatto" theme (reworked and remixed for the dancefloor often in later years), and almost creating a mini-movie in sound – with all the requisite scene shifts and drama to match! CD features a whopping 41 tracks in all – with titles that include "Sessomatto", "Signora Sono Le Otto", "Two Happy People", "Ammuri Ammuri", "D'Amore Si Muore", "Un Amore Difficile", "Due Cuori E Una Birra", "Bravo Balli bene", "Scappa Gilda", "Vorrei Che Fosse Amore", "Searching For Something", and "L'Ospite". CD

A long-overdue look at one of the most important groups to grace the British jazz scene of the 60s and 70s – the legendary Blue Notes, a group of South African expatriates with an undeniably huge influence on the music of their new homeland! The ensemble featured key players who went onto do some amazing work on their own, but first came together in this group – trumpeter Mongezi Feza, saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, pianist Chris McGregor, bassist Johnny Dyani, and drummer Louis Moholo – all players as dynamic together and important on their own as the members of the Art Emsemble of Chicago from the US. The set finally brings out all of the group's key albums for the Ogun label, plus some great bonus material too – a rich tapestry of work that shows the combo's evolution from African-tinged jazz of the 60s to some much more farther-reaching sounds in the 70s – all beautifully packaged, with each album presented on its own inside a larger slipcase! The set features The Blue Notes Legacy, a live date in South Africa from 1964; Blue Notes For Mongezi, a double-length set recorded after the passing of group trumpeter Mongezi Feza; Blue Notes For Johnny, a date recorded after the passing of bassist Johnny Dyani; and Blue Notes In Concert, a great live date recorded in 1977. There's a wealth of wonderful music here – and along with the bonus tracks, the set also features a great booklet of remembrances and vintage photos! CD

A pair of albums from the legendary Johnny Dyani – packaged here in one great little set! Rejoice features searing live work from Johnny Dyani – a set that has the bassist opening up strongly in a trio with Mongezi Feza on trumpet and Okey Temiz on drums and percussion! Feza sounds even better here than usual – blowing these long, inventive solo lines that match the work of Ted Curson for 70s fire – really spurred on by Okey's creative changes, into a soulful space that may well be some of Mongezi's most spiritually expressive of the 70s! Dyani's bass is strong, and ever-present – never needing to dominate, but always felt as this rich pulse – and powerful melodic element at just the right moments. Titles include "Mad High", "Makaya Makaya", "Pukwana" and "Imbomgolo". CD also features an unreleased track from the same performance – the 20 minute "Mad High Revisited". Together is a record that really gets back to Johnny Dyani's roots in South African jazz! Although Dyani and his expatriates in the Blue Notes helped give London a new sound of avant jazz expression in the 70s, the music here returns to the warmer melodic style of their early 60s days – with loping rhythms that draw on regional tradition, and soulful interplay between the alto of Dudu Pukwana, tenor of Peter Shimmy Radise, and keyboards from Dyani – who shifts his instrument for this special recording! The group also features use of guitar, congas, whistles, and a South American harp – used in rhythmic ways that pulsate warmly – on titles that include "Kalahari", "Tula Tula", "High Priest", "Johnny's Kwela", and "Together". CD

With Joe Satriani, Les Paul, Mike Stern, Pat Martino & Tuck Andress guitars, Kevin Eubanks on accoustic guitar, Paul Nowinski & Scott Colley on bass, Ben Perowsky, Scott Amendola & Michael Hedges on drums & Cassandra Wilson on vocals. CD

Two very groovy soundtracks from Armando Trovajoli – an artist who can be one of the grooviest Italian film composers when he hits territory this great! Vedo Nudo has some really cool use of organ and rolling rhythms – a bit like Trovajoli's classic La Matriarca, but with a different flavor that includes nice use of jazzy instrumentation and some cool wordless vocals at points too – nicely varied, but also unified over the course of the 20 tracks that are presented on the CD! Dove Vai Tutta Nuda is presented here in a shorter range – just 6 tracks in all, but with a very nice sexy Italian groove – including a really cool vocal theme that mixes a breathy female lead with some great chorus vocals! CD

Mary J Blige broke through well over a decade ago, but Breakthrough is an apt title for her eighth album – as it not only busts up the morass of mid 00s urban radio fodder – it also breaks through MJB's own creative doldrums – adding up her best work in years! It's certainly not a flawless listen (we could have lived without the U2 appearance) but the production is crisp and sparkling, leaning towards the seamless hip hop soul feel that Mary built her name upon – and remarkably consistent given the long list of contributors – including 9th Wonder, Will I Am, Raphael Saadiq, JUSTICE League, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and others. Tracks include "No One Will Do", Enough Cryin'" feat Brook, "About You" feat Will I Am, "Be Without You", "Can't Hide From Luv" feat Jay-Z, "MJB Da MVP", "I Found My Everything" feat Raphael Saadiq, "Father In You", "Alone" and more. CD

Wonderfully righteous work from Burnt Sugar Arkestra – a group who've been giving us great records for years, but who are maybe even more important to the scene than ever before! The core of the record is the long title track – a very jazzy tune that builds up over loops set down by composer Greg Tate, with a flowing, snakey vibe that allows for plenty of long trumpet, tenor, flute, and alto solos over the guitars and Fender Rhodes that work the rhythms – maybe almost in electric Miles territory, but more laidback. That tune is then reworked on a number of variations that are very different – mostly instrumental, as the main track – but finishing up with a bit of vocals near the end of the record – a great contribution from singer Lisala Beatty! Titles include "Angels Over Oakanda", "Repatriation Of The Midnight Moores", "Oakanda Overdrive", and "Lisala Oer Inna Oakanda". CD

Tempting sounds from the great Piero Piccioni – two late 60s horror scores on a single CD! First up is Temptation – a soundtrack that's got some wonderful organ lines and slow-moving grooves – of the sort that were covered by the Easy Tempo series years back, when we first fell in love with Piccioni's music! There's a slow swell and soft step to the music that's mighty nice – almost a perfect distillation of the Italian bossa influences that made for some of the best film scores of the time! The CD features 13 numbers from the film – all of them great, and the kind of variations on a single groovy theme you might find in Armando Trovajoli's La Matriarca. La Figlia Del Capitano is a bit richer, with more strings in the music, and a few more dramatic spots too – yet overall, the mood nicely fits that of Temptation – with a sense of holding back, then running forward – which suits the music very well. CD features 10 tracks from La Figlia – for a total of 23 in all. CD

12 tracks from Grupo Afrocuba De Matanzas, Gupo Changui De Guantanamo, and Cuarteto Patria Y Compay Segundo. CD