Easily one of the most powerful albums ever cut by Don Cherry – a searing set of tracks done for Blue Note in the late 60s – and featuring some tremendous tenor work by Pharoah Sanders! There's a tightness and level of energy here that surpasses even Cherry's other excellent Blue Note sessions – a rawness that recalls the style forged often on key ESP albums of the 60s, but honed here into a slightly tighter mode. Sanders' horn is especially well-placed in the set – and pushes Cherry past the spacier notes of other recordings, in a way that unlocks fire from the years with Ornette – but which opens up into a much freer groove. The rest of the group includes Henry Grimes on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums – both a perfect match for the quartet – and titles include the 17 minute "Unite", plus "There Is A Bomb", "Awake Nu", "Taste Maker", and "The Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most beautiful, most sophisticated, and most fully-realized sessions from trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson – and a record that features some incredible larger backings from David Amram! The set's a haunting suite dedicated to the children of Vietnam – one that starts out in a darkly brooding mode, but which opens up with some extremely redemptive moments as the set moves on – done in a very spiritual approach to soul jazz that's strongly in the Alice Coltrane tradition! Instrumentation includes a small string group, plus added percussion – and musicians on the set include Art Webb on flute, Richard Davis on bass, Billy Hart on drums, Michael Cochran on piano, and Hannibal himself on both trumpet and koto. The lovely Alpha Johnson sings on a few of the album's tracks, and the whole thing is very warm and deep, and has a lot of variance in tempo and mood, with a strong spiritual feel similar to that of some of the more ambitious Strata East recordings from the time! Titles include "Forest Sunrise", "The Bombing", "Prayer", "Aftermath", and "Finale". LP, Vinyl record album

Arguably the most classic Alice Coltrane album on Impulse – and a strong group effort that features some great work from Pharoah Sanders! Coltrane leads two different small combos on the record – both with Sanders on saxes, plus either Cecil McBee or Charlie Haden on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums – plus assorted percussion from Tulsi and Majid Shabazz, and some really enigmatic work on oud by Vishnu Wood! Tracks are long and drawn out, and open with the beauty of a field of flowers meeting the dawn – as Alice plays with a sound that's gentle and poetic, but which also has some wonderfully dark undertones. Titles include "Stopover Bombay", "Isis & Osiris", "Shiva-Loka", and "Journey In Satchidananda". LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from Colombian music legend Fruko, and a very different style than some of his later material – as you might guess from the album's cover image of a junkie shooting up in a graveyard! The sound here is more than dark enough to match that image – heavily percussion, with fast-snapping rhythms wrapped around deep basslines and lots of hard-edge piano – all at a level that feels more like early 60s Cuban descarga than some of the other Discos Fuentes material from the 70s! The horns are great when they step forward – and the vocals are wrapped perfectly around the excellent grooves – on titles that include "Descarga Fruko", "Bomba Africana", "Baho Kende", "Rumbo A La Cuidad", "Mi Verdadero Son", "A La Memoria Del Muerto", "Tihuanaco", and "La Fruta Bomba". LP, Vinyl record album

The record's definitely a nostalgia blitz, but one that has a very strong grounding in the 80s! Benjamin Herman plays saxophone throughout – but in a setting that's very new wave, post-punk, and no wave as well – lots of sharp reed lines colliding with frenetic work on bass, guitar, and keyboards – all with a vibe that makes you feel like you maybe stumbled onto some hip performance spot on the New York downtown scene in 1982! Yet despite the bombast and other instrumentation, Herman is actually pretty amazing on his solos – coming up with all these great sounds that really push the boundaries of the instrument – on titles that include "Chancelot", "One For Deelder", "Captain Zorg", "Zaat", "Hornin Out", and "Asman Graves". LP, Vinyl record album