The long lost Charizma tapes are unearthed and see the light of day! We're real suckers around here for the salad days of the early 90s, before "underground" became a tag line for savvy promoters and music industry folks, and just meant an emcee straight spitting creative rhymes over tight, spare beats, which is exactly what you'll find here. We're not entirely certain all these tracks were set to be released on the Hollywood Basic album that never saw the light of day, but we are certain they're all dope, and a lost, but very necessary, piece of the West Coast puzzle. Includes "Here's A Smirk", "Methods", "Jack The Mack", "Talk About A Girl", "Tell You Something", "Gatha Round", "Devotion", "My World Premiere", "Ice Cream Truck", "Fair Weathered Friend" and "Soon To Be Large". LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime stuff! Sure, it's easy to sit back and say that you don't really dig Ray Charles albums that mix together country music and soul, and that you prefer his hard raw raunchy Atlantic recordings from the earlier days. But let's be honest, Ray really made his biggest splash with this stuff – and although it became extremely popular over the years, it's also part of a huge country soul tradition that's a very accurate representation of the rich crossover culture going on in southern soul, a tradition that for some reason always gets underplayed by folks who want to carve up the world in easy racial lines. Truth is, Ray was not the only soul artist to embrace country, and we can think of a host of others – including Solomon Burke, Ivory Joe Hunter, Joe Simon, Clarence Carter, Brook Benton, and Bobby Womack who all participated in this rich tradition. This set's essential if you're interested in checking out this side of Ray's career – and the price is pretty nice, considering that you get 4CDs, a great book, and 92 songs in all! Work is pulled from Ray's classic ABC sides in the format, plus others from before and after that generation. Titles include "A Born Loser", "I'm Movin On", "Busted", "Crying Time", "Teardrops In My Heart", "Half As Much", "No Letter Today", "Oh Lonesome Me", "Ring Of Fire", "What Am I Living For", "Let Your Love Flow", "Down In The Valley", and "Take These Chains From My Heart". CD

Ray Charles in a nicely maturing mode – on a record from later in his Atlantic Records years, definitely paving the way forward for his 60s classics on ABC! The tunes are blues, but not in the way that Charles first started recording on earlier singles for Atlantic – as there's a bit more class, care, and a strong current of jazz that Ray was bringing more and more to his music as the years went on. Titles include the Charles originals "Hard Times", "I Believe To My Soul", "Mr Charles Blues", "I Wonder Who", "Some Day Baby", and "Nobody Cares" – plus nice takes on "I'm Movin On" and "The Midnight Hour". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums we've ever heard from Erlon Chaves – a Brazilian arranger who got his start in the bossa generation, later did some more traditional music – but here explodes with this great fusion of European and Brazilian soundtrack styles! The record's credited to the Orquesta St Moritz – most likely a studio group with a European name, for good pedigree – but there's a huge amount of sounds here that rival some of the best modes coming from the EMI/Odeon label at the start of the 70s – particularly the mix of samba and bossa elements with larger funky arrangements, then given a more sophisticated twist – as you'd find in the music of Marcos Valle! Most of these tunes are instrumental, and there's some really wonderful organ work on a number of the titles – on tracks that include "Procura Se Uma Virgem", "Grilo", "Uma Velha Bossa", "Ba Oba Oba", "Vamos Nos", "O Anjo E O Diabo", and "Tema De Amor". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the more new wave-oriented moments from Ava Cherry – a singer we know best from her solo work in soul, but who also has a pretty strong pedigree on the rock side of the spectrum as well! The instrumentation is heavy on keyboards – played by Mark Isham, in a way that sometimes echoes his best soundtrack work of the decade, but more focused too – at a level that brings a deeper sound to the music than you might expect! Tunes are upbeat and catchy, yet trying for a bit of an edge at times – and Ava serves up the lyrics with a subtle sense of drama in her voice. Titles include "Fast Lover", "Love To Be Touched", "Techno Love", "Having Been Far", "I Guess It's Love", "Awkward Situation", and "Streetcar Named Desire". CD features two bonus tracks – 12" remixes of "Awkward Situation" and "Streetcar Named Desire". CD

A creative blend of jazz and other musical styles from David Ornette Cherry – son of Don Cherry, and an artist who really shares a similar sense of boundary crossing as his father! Cherry provides vocals, piano, and "soundscapes" on the record – mixing acoustic and electric modes with other instrumentation from a shifting lineup of musicians all through the set – very much in an Afro-futurist mode, and infused with a nice sense of politics through the lyrics – which are often processed in a way that fit in nicely with David's more electronic elements. There's a lot of acoustic elements in the mix – global percussion and flute elements, plus guitar too – on titles that include "So & So & So & So", "Ancestors Are Calling", "Frame Of Creativity", "Hidden Sounds", "Najour", "Cosmic Nomad", and "Cultural Workers". LP, Vinyl record album

Never-issued work from Don Cherry – and a really key piece of the puzzle in the career of this legendary trumpeter! The recordings were done for Swedish Radio, with great fidelity – more than just live tracks captured in a club, and instead some really thoughtful material that marks an early pairing of Cherry's talents with the Swedish scene that he would soon call home! Don plays cornet, and the music is maybe a bit inside compared to some of his later Swedish experiments – but still pretty amazing, and a great bridge from his work with Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins. Players include Mogens Bollerup on tenor, Atli Bjorn on piano, Benny Nielsen on bass, and Simon Koppel on drums – and titles include the Cherry originals "Priceless", "Nigeria", and "The Ambassador From Greenland" – plus a reading of "You Took Advantage Of Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing music from the great Don Cherry – quite a statement, given how much fantastic sounds Cherry had already given us by this point in his career! In the years before this set, Don had worked in some very free, avant modes – and also explored a fair bit of global styles too – yet this set has this great electric vibe – one that mixes the freedom of Cherry's trumpet with spacey instrumentation and really great production – almost even funky at points! Players include Ricky Cherry on electric and acoustic piano, Charlie Haden on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, and Frank Lowe on tenor – and one cut has Bunchie Fox on electric bongos and Verna Gillis on voice. All tracks are nice and long – and titles include "Degi Degi", "Brown Rice", "Malkauns", and "Chenrezig". LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing music from the great Don Cherry – quite a statement, given how much fantastic sounds Cherry had already given us by this point in his career! In the years before this set, Don had worked in some very free, avant modes – and also explored a fair bit of global styles too – yet this set has this great electric vibe – one that mixes the freedom of Cherry's trumpet with spacey instrumentation and really great production – almost even funky at points! Players include Ricky Cherry on electric and acoustic piano, Charlie Haden on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, and Frank Lowe on tenor – and one cut has Bunchie Fox on electric bongos and Verna Gillis on voice. All tracks are nice and long – and titles include "Degi Degi", "Brown Rice", "Malkauns", and "Chenrezig". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent stuff – and one of Don Cherry's first global jazz experiments on record! The set is a super-hip concert performance recorded at the US Embassy in Turkey, featuring a band of eastern-flavored players that includes Okay Temiz on percussion, Selcuk Sun on bass, and Irfan Sumer on tenor. Tracks are shorter and a bit tighter than some of Cherry's other work from the early 70s – but they also have a strong amount of world influences, and the record is perhaps one of his greatest achievements at cross-breeding musical cultures. Tunes include "Gandalf's Travels", "St John & The Dragon", "Water Boy", "Kara Deniz", "Man On The Moon", and "Two Flutes". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning lost set from Don Cherry – a live performance that marks his bold shift to global-inspired sounds in the 70s – served up here with a pair of musicians who are perfect for the project! The music is based on themes in Turkish music, and Cherry's trumpet interacts in all these amazing ways with the bass of Johnny Dyani and drums of Okay Temiz – both players who are very bold here, as is Cherry – without some of the looser, more laidback qualities of later projects of this nature – almost as if Don is bringing forward some of his bolder free jazz elements from the end of the 60s, while still dipping his foot into the world of global inspirations! The lean sound of the group is amazing – and Cherry also plays piano as well – on two long tracks that include "Okay's Tune" and "Dollar's Tune". LP, Vinyl record album

Important 70s work from Don Cherry – one of the first albums to bring his overseas experiments to a larger US audience! The set builds nicely off of styles that Don forged earlier in France and Scandinavia – a freer style of music than his work with Ornette Coleman, and a richly organic groove that builds up strongly from the bottom, often with elements of world music settled in alongside the jazz – but there's also some funkier moments here too, a bit like the Brown Rice album, but looser overall! The groups on most numbers are relatively large and spiritual – almost like Alice Coltrane at times, but a bit more electric and funky at others – and players include Collin Walcott on sitar, Michael Brecker on saxes, Cliff Carter on keyboards, Lenny White and Tony Williams on drums, Lois Colin on harp, and Raphael Cruz on percussion. Cherry himself plays conch shells, bells, and flute in addition to his usual trumpet – and he even sings a bit on a few numbers, in a soulful, scatting sort of groove. Narada Michael Walden produced, and the whole set's got a very righteous feel – with tracks that include "Universal Mother", "Buddah's Blues", "Eagle Eye", "Mahakali", "Karmapa Chenno", "Surrender Rose", and "Journey Of Milarepa". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare slice of work from trumpeter Don Cherry – music that's every bit as forward-thinking as his three classic 60s albums on Blue Note! The session is a live one, but the sound is quite strong – recorded up-close, and with great focus on Cherry's incredible horn work – as well as the efforts of the rest of the group, which includes Gato Barbieri on tenor, Karl Berger on vibes, Bo Stief on bass, and Aldo Romano on drums. There's a definite "new thing" vibe going on here – a style that's similar to some of Archie Shepp's work of the period, or that of some of Cherry's Blue Note contemporaries. Tracks are all long, and titles include "Complete Communion", "Neopolitan Suite", "Cocktail Piece", and "Free Improvisation Music Now". CD

A fantastic live performance – one that not only lives up to the legacy of Don Cherry mixing together global elements in his music, but also echoing a brief point when pianist George Gruntz was interested in the rhythms of North Africa! The presentation is incredible – really stunning music that stands out from similar projects from both artists – maybe in part because the lineup is filled with all sorts of surprises – including these really incredible reed passages from Sahib Shihab, who also gets into the cross-cultural spirit of the music – blowing flutes and soprano sax with an amazing edge – echoed by work from Salah El Mehdi on ney and flute, Moktar Slama on bendir and soukra, Jelloud Osman on bendire and bagpipe, and Hattab Jouini on tabla and darbouka – four North African musicians who really bring a lot to the set. The rest of the lineup features Daniel Humair on drums and Henri Texier on bass – the latter of whom would experiment in this nature later on – and the whole thing is amazing! LP, Vinyl record album

Don Cherry gave many wonderful musical performances on the European scene in the 70s, including this one – a gem of a record that was thought to be lost for years, and finally gets released to the world at large! The set's a live collaboration with electronic musician Jean Schwarz – whose contributions here are nicely subtle, and never challenge the acoustic energy of the session, but instead augment it in all these really cool, unique ways – very different than most improvised music with electronics at the time. Cherry plays pocket trumpet and some great doussn gouni – in the company of an equally fantastic lineup that features JF Jenny Clark on bass, Nana Vasconcelos on percussion, and Michel Portal on saxes, bass clarinet, and bandoneon. Given all the elements, there's some very unique sounds going on here – a really amazing record that includes the tracks "Bells One", "Doussn Gouni", "Tribute To Ornette", "Bando", and "Berimbau". CD

The third meeting of this world jazz ensemble, with Colin Walcott of Oregon on sitar, tabla and hammered dulcimer, Don Cherry on trumpet, organ and doussn'gouni and Nana Vasconcelos on berimbau and percussion. All three players have always had a very wide reaching approach to playing, even incorporating international elements in their less overtly "world music" projects, and this set finds them once again vibing well off each other. The tunes feature a wide open approach with improvised excursions on traditional and contemporary themes, with 7 tracks in all: "Goshakabuchi", "Hey Da Ba Doom", "Travel By Night", "Lullaby", "Trayra Boia", "Clicky Clacky" and "Inner Organs". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally righteous little record – the only set we've ever seen from Native American vocalist Cheyenne Fowler – and a wicked blend of jazz, soul, and funk – tied together with a really positive spirit! Gene Russell had a hand in putting the set together, and you can definitely hear some echoes of his more spiritual work in the music – and like some of the best underground acts of the 70s, Cheyenne has a way of mixing up all the hippest elements of the left side of the spectrum – then coming up with a sound that's deeply personal, and really unique! The best cuts on the record have a jazz funk approach to soul – with funky keyboard grooving, wah-wah guitar, and tasty horn flourishes over the top – and although Cheyenne's not the greatest vocalist in the world technically, she's got a strong and proud style that really carries the record. Titles include "I Don't Speak With Forked Tongue", "Cheyenne's Coming", "Grooving With You", "It Ain't All About That", "Come Back To Me", "I Love You But I Gotta Go", and "Dream Street". CD

Robert Christgau is one of the coolest music writers of all time – a hugely important force for decades, through his work in the Village Voice – where he helped shape acceptance and understanding of generations of new sounds – and a contributor to other publications and broadcast outlets, where his voice is always one of the smartest in the room! And while we've always dug what Christgau has to say about other folks, it's also pretty great to read his own story, too – a life spent living in New York, where his path crossed countless other cultural figures and moments, apart from the music and musicians you might expect. This volume focuses mostly on his youth, his growth on the New York scene of the 60s, and his role in the 70s – and the book is softcover, 366 pages. Book

The pianist's hip take on the music of Chopin – played by his groovy trio with Peter Witte on bass and Charly Antolini on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

The pianist's hip take on the music of Chopin – played by his groovy trio with Peter Witte on bass and Charly Antolini on drums! LP, Vinyl record album