Head to head blowing from Sonny Sitt and Paul Gonsalves – just the kind of twin-horn performance that Stitt was famous for in his live battle days, and one that also reminds us that Gonsalves can be a very loose swinger when he wants to be! The tracks are all long, and played with the sort of feel you'd hear if you caught these guys live at some small southside club – and the solos also show the kind of inventiveness and imagination you'd catch in that sort of setting – backed by a swinging rhythm combo that features Hank Jones on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums. Titles include a version of "Perdido" that's nearly 13 minutes long – plus "Stardust", "Sposin", "Salt & Pepper", and "Theme From Lord Of The Flies". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare studio set from Kazi and Madlib – recorded way back in the mid 90s, but with the kind of crispy intensity that would make Madlib so influential for years to come! The title and the occasional skits on the set refer to a search for a "blackmarket seminar" – an underground source for music this great, which Madlib especially helped bring to a wider audience in years to come. Yet back in 1996, the sound was plenty fresh, and nice and raw – and still sounds tremendously so all these years later. The set features guest work from Wildchild, MED, and Oh No – and titles include "Called Your Bluff", "Sleep If You Want", "Corrections", "Snake Eyes", "Friendly Fire", "Tha Unstoppable", "Down 4 The Kaz", "OX Veterans", "Put Your Title To Waste", "Make Yo Ears Bleed", "Battle Drills (rmx)", and "Mind State". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Queen, and a record that definitely has some ties to the prog and hard rock generation from which they emerged – but also a set that clearly has the group really coming into their own! There's a few thematic moments on here that are maybe more fantasy-based than fans of the group's later hits might expect – but they're also delivered with the sort of searing intensity that Brian May can bring to the group, and really driven far past familiar modes by Freddie Mercury's amazing vocals. Titles include the hit vocal version of "Seven Seas Of Rhye" – plus "Ogre Battle", "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke", "White Queen", "Father To Son", "Some Day One Day", "The Loser In The End", "Funny How Love Is", "The March Of The Black Queen", and "Never More". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic to end all classics – and the record that showed the world that the kung fu genre could be every bit as funky as American crime and action films! Lalo Schifrin's at the height of his powers on this set – working in a blend of raw guitars, rolling bass, and choppy rhythms that groove about as fast as Bruce Lee's hands move on the screen in the film – and the album's a real standout in the 70s soundtrack scene, well worth all the hype and attention that's been given to it over the years! The record's one you'll dig if you're a fan of funk, or a student of Schifrin – and even after the passage of decades, it's still a tough soundtrack to beat. Titles include the classic "Theme From Enter The Dragon", plus "Bamboo Bird Cage", "The Monk", "Han's Island", "The Big Battle", and "The Human Fly". LP, Vinyl record album

The stand-out cut here is the break dance track "Son of Beat Street" with lots of cutting by Jazzy Jay. Also includes Treacherous Three "Santa's Rap" with beatboxing by Dougie Fresh, Rockers Revenge "Battle Cry" produced by Arthur Baker, and some club cuts by Juicy, Tina B and others. LP, Vinyl record album

24 tracks that perfectly illustrate all that was great about Gene Ammons in his early days – a set of singles and 78s recorded for Chess in the late 40s and early 50s, featuring players that include Tom Archia, Matthew Gee, Junior Mance, Sonny Stitt, and Bill Massey. Titles include "Do You Really Mean It", "Swingin For Xmas", "The Battle", "Jam For Boppers", "Bless You", "Cha Bootie", "Goodbye", " Tenor Eleven", "Don't Do Me Wrong", "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe", and "Can Anyone Explain". LP, Vinyl record album

A postwar sci fi soundtrack, but one that also marks a really important step in electronic music too – as the film features a whole host of amazing constructions from the duo of Louis and Bebe Barron! The pair built a lot of their own early instruments, and it sounds like they're using some theremin here too – all very primitive, but in the best way possible – as there's a stark quality to the analogue sounds here that still holds up all these many years later – every bit as great as creations to come from Tom Dissevelt, Kid Baltan, and all those other giants to come! tracks range from less than a minute to a few minutes each – and titles include "Flurry of Dust", "The Landing", "Invisible Monster Approaches", "Deceleration", "Battle With Invisible Monster", "The Homecoming", and "Ancient Krell Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful moment in which the loft jazz generation really got a chance to shine in the mainstream – and mostly without any sense of overdone attempts at commercialization! The album's a great summation of all the ideas that reedman Arthur Blythe was cooking up in the 70s underground – performed here with a hip group that includes Blythe on alto, Kelvyn Bell on guitar, Abdul Wadud on cello, Bobby Battle on drums, Bob Stewart on tuba, Wilbur Morris on bass, and Mohammad Abdullah on congas – some of them players who you might never have expected to be recording for Columbia Records! And yet the setting of the record doesn't interfere with their creativity at all – and instead, really seems to give Blythe and the group the sort of focus that only makes their ideas even better – on titles that include "Elaborations", "Metamorphosis", "Sister Daisy", "Shadows", and "The Lower Nile". LP, Vinyl record album

A rarity from the bop era – hard-blowing tracks that run for a duration that's way longer than the standard three minutes of most 78rpm singles. Here, Gordon and Gray blow head to head in some of their famous "battle" sessions – working with players like Sonny Criss, Howard McGhee, Hampton Hawes, and Barney Kessel in a format that was very popular on the LA bop scene. Each side of the 2LP set features one long track – and titles include "Disorder At The Border", "Cherokee", "Byas A Drink", and "The Hunt". Great 70s package – with notes on all the material the material. LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent lost funky soundtrack on Blue Note – their only one for years, and Grant Green's entry into the blacksploitation genre! The whole thing bristles with the kind of chunky, thumping percussive feel as the best funky soundtracks of the era – informed by the work of Curtis Mayfield and Isaac Hayes, but with the deeper jazz feel that Green brings from his other Blue Note sides of the time! Some cuts are quite funky, particularly the opener, "Past, Present, and Future" with it's crisp trap, chicken scratch guitar and bongo driven beat. Others have more of a stripped-down dope instrumental feel – there's some sweet funky flute work on "Fathers Lament", and even a slight bossa groove creeps into the title track! The whole album's very nice, and it's very different than any of Grant Green's other work! Other titles include "Afro Party", Luana's Theme", "Slight Fear And Terror", and "Battle Scene". LP, Vinyl record album

Features work by Gene Krupa, Oscar Peterson, a trumpet battle with Roy Eldridge and Charlie Shavers, and the classic "Jam Session Blues" – all packaged in a box with a David Stone Martin cover! LP, Vinyl record album

The cover's a bit spare, but the grooves are plenty darn full – a very cool version of funk with some psychedelic touches – all served up as the debut set by The Oscillators! There's a gentle current of distortion on the record, used in all the right ways – sometimes making the basslines a bit fuzzy, sometimes the guitars – and always giving the music a sinister vibe that's mighty nice – as if these guys are a bit more badass than your usual funky combo, and maybe not one that you'd want to run in backstage after a battle of the bands! Titles include "Let's Get There", "Track Suit", "Spanish Monster", "Packet O Cheese", "Intersextion", "Spinning Species", and "Flip Flap". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful mid 80s effort from the Don Pullen Quintet – a group that features young lion Donald Harrison on alto sax – recording in a setting that's nicely fresh, compared to some of his other work! Other players include the under-recorded trumpeter Olu Dara, and a wonderful elastic rhythm section of Fred Hopkins on bass and Bobby Battle on drums – all working with Pullen's piano in a groove that's angular at times, but never loses its sense of swing – that wonderful balance that always made Pullen a real standout amongst the jazz communities in which he worked. Titles include "The Sixth Sense", "In The Beginning", "Tales From The Bright Side", "Gratitude", and "All Is Well". LP, Vinyl record album

The early 70s mix of medieval themes and more 70s rooted jams – Argus by Wishbone Ash! If you haven't heard this one, and you're expecting battle axes, swords and early metal bombast. . .well, there's some of that. But Wishbone Ash were restless cats, and there's longwinded acoustic passages and all kinds of early 70s rock going on here! Dig that Hipgnosis cover art, too. Titles include "Time Was", "Sometime World", "Warrior", "Throw Down The Sword", "Blowin Free" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

You might know the trumpet of Antoine Berjeaut from his work with Makaya McCraven – but here, as a leader, he's a very different force overall – working in territory that's mostly his own, and which blends his trumpet and flugelhorn solos with a nice array of electric elements! The approach is almost a 21st Century evolution of older Miles electric modes – but more stripped-down, intimate, and compressed – save for the few moments when Berjeaut opens the door to invite other guests into the proceedings – something that doesn't happen much until the end of the record. Instead, Antoine handles all instruments and sounds himself – soloing over the top on all tracks – in a mix of titles that include "Walk", "Meeting Point", "Mind's Eyes", "Photism", "PPDQ", "Horns & Battle", "Chromatism", and "Life In Ocre". LP, Vinyl record album

The alto sax of Arthur Blythe finds a great way to stretch out in this classic album from the mid 80s – a set that mixes some of the sharper edges of Blythe's earlier records with a few more contemporary touches – but always at a level that still has the reedman standing far from the mainstream! The core group here features Olu Dara on trumpet, Cecil McBee on bass, John Hicks on piano, and Bobby Battle on drums – and on the acoustic tracks, there's some great energy between them that soars with a soulful spirit birthed in the loft jazz years, maybe swung a bit straighter than before. A few other tunes add in some extra elements – an electric bass on one number, some light strings on another – but the core of the album still has a magnificent focus on that tone that Blythe had only perfected even more on records like this, especially on the more laidback numbers, which come as a real surprise, and reflect a ballad style we might not have guessed in the early days. Titles include "Odessa", "Esquinas", "After Paris", "Crescent", and "Break Time". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Ring Of Fire", "I'd Still Be There", "What Do I Care", "I Still Miss Someone", "Forty Shades Of Green", "Were You There", "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma", "Bonanza!", "The Big Battle", "Remember The Alamo", "Tennessee Flat-Top Box", and "Peace In The Valley". LP, Vinyl record album

Maceo Pinkard wrote plenty of classic tunes in the pre-War years – and here, they're performed by drummer Sticks Evans & The Broadway Recording Orchestra and featuring such vocalists as Delores Andrews (who we learn on the back cover "likes big men and tiny dogs"), Daisy Banks, Vic Carlo, and The Edgar Battle Singers! Titles include plenty of classics – including "Sugar", "Them There Eyes", "Gimme A Little Kiss Will Ya Huh", "Why Do You Torture Me?", "Mammy O Mine", and "Let's Have A Show Down". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful meeting of two of the biggest 50s talents on the drums – and a session that's great not only for the expected firey percussion, but also for the horn work by other members on the set! Given the "drum battle" style of the record, the tracks are long and very open – done in a studio mode that recalls some of the Krupa/Rich meetings at JATP, and like the JATP sides, featuring plenty of space for players to take longer solos. Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, and Roy Eldridge get in some nice licks on the set – and other players include Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, and Ray Brown. Titles include "Gene's Blues", "Bernie's Tune", "Buddy's Blues", and "I Never Knew". LP, Vinyl record album

Original mono recordings, remastered and presented in chronological order, with 21 titles in total – includes "Calling You", "Wealth Won't Save Your Soul", "Cool Water", "Honky Tonkin", "I Saw The Light", "Battle Of Armageddon", "Tennessee Border", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Bang the box – a classic battle cry from the glory days of Chicago house – summed up here perfectly with a stack of tracks from the short-lived AKA Music label! The package follows strongly in the mode of Still Music's Kill Yourself Dancing set – and like that one, it offers up a really great look at a tiny label from the Windy City club scene – an imprint who cut some key tracks that barely made it out of the midwest, but which really helped to shape the house-heavy rhythms that went onto inspire countless artists in years to come! AKA only issued records for two short years in the mid 80s – but they really helped push some of the leaner, cleaner Chicago house modes that were bursting into the limelight in the acid years – those cool keyboards and dark beats that still stand out as some of the best elements from the classic years. The notes do a great job of telling the story from the perspective of the clubs and the streets – and titles include "Rock It" by Matt Warren & Michaelangelo, "Bang The Box (bang the house mix)" by Matt Warren, "Take Me Higher (ultimate acid mix" by Nexus 6, "Lost In The World" by Michaelangelo, "The Music's Got Me (club mix)" by Team, "Pleasure Dome (house mix)" by Modern Mechanical Music, "Don't Bring Back Memories" by Matt Warren & Michaelangelo, and "Alternative House" by Michaelangelo. LP, Vinyl record album

A really great collection of work from De-Lite Records – one that goes way way past the bigger hits on the label from Kool & The Gang and the Kay-Gees! Instead, this one really digs deep – and comes up with rare 45s for a host of artists that we didn't even know recorded for De-Lite – obscure but great material that shows just how tied to the east coast scene the label was before it starting hitting the charts and the clubs! There's lots here you'll be hard-pressed to track down otherwise – and titles include "The Story Of Our Love" and "It Really Hurts Me Girl" by The Carstairs, "Super Soul Music" and "I Got To Get Close To You" by Yvonne Daniels, "Darling Baby" and "I Wish It Would Rain" by Beverly Hammonds, "I Need You" and "I'll Always Love You" by Felton Burks, "I Smell Trouble" by Johnny De'Vigne, "Love Making" and "When A Woman Loves A Man" by Jean Battle, and "I Saw You There" and "Keep Away" by The Appointments. LP, Vinyl record album