Some of the greatest albums ever from tenorist George Adams – packaged together here in a sweet set that also features the CDs in tiny LP-styled covers! Much of the music here was done in collaboration with fellow members of Charles Mingus' group – three albums with pianist Don Pullen, and all with drummer Dannie Richmond – players who are very simpatico with Adams' vibe, as they all together find rich new ground after the passing of Mingus. There's a soulful swing to most of the records – that way that Adams and Pullen had of being sharply creative, yet still rooted in straighter jazz modes too – balancing both impulses perfectly, especially over the progression of albums in this set. The package includes tiny LP-styled reproductions of the records Don't Lose Control, Hand To Hand, Gentleman's Agreement, and Live At The Village Vanguard Volumes 1 & 2. CD

George Adams and Don Pullen knock it out of the park on this one – finding great company in each other's presence, and really moving things forward in the process! The set begins with a long track titled "Mingus Metamorphosis", and that really sums up the spirit of the record – an 80s reworking of all the ideas that the players had learned from Mingus, but with an individual, personal sense that's all their own – and very different than some of the more standard modes of the Mingus Dynasty group that continued the legacy in a more direct manner. Adams is bold one minute, lyrical the next – and plays both tenor and flute – alongside Pullen on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums. Titles include "Mingus Metamorphosis", "Samba For Now", "City Gates", "Thank You Very Much Mr Monk", and "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen". LP, Vinyl record album

Post-Mingus work from reedman George Adams and pianist Don Pullen – three albums in a single set! Decisions is one of those key records that has George Adams and Don Pullen reinventing expectations of jazz for the 80s – both musicians with plenty of ear for the outside, but also coming back home with a well-rounded, deeply-rooted approach that's crucial in taking the American jazz legacy another step forward! Like some of their similar contemporaries, who could also be avant at times, and straight at others – Adams and Pullen have no concern with setting themselves in one camp or another – and not only flesh out the spirit of the record with both of those aspects of their playing, but also have some surprisingly bluesy undercurrents at times. The group features George Adams on tenor, Don Pullen on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums – and titles include "Decisions", "Triple Over Time", "I Could Really For You", "Message Urgent", and "Trees & Grass & Things". Life Line is a strong outing from this key post-Mingus collaboration – and a record that really shows both Don Pullen and George Adams really coming into their own! Pullen's piano can have plenty of edges, as can Adams' tenor – but there's also some warmer, lyrical moments that really round things out – kind of a balance between righteous energy and deeper quietude that the musicians might have learned during their time with Charles Mingus – taken to a logical small group extension here. Adams also plays a bit of flute, which is especially nice – and the group also includes Cameron Brown on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums. Titles include "The Great Escape Or Run John Henry Run", "Seriously Speaking", "Soft Seas", and "Protection". Live At Montmartre is solidly soaring work from tenorist George Adams – recording live here with pianist Don Pullen, one of his best musical partners during the 80s! The album's got a bit more of a bite than some of the pair's studio sessions – a bit straighter overall, but recorded with a nice degree of energy, and some long tracks that really let both players open up nicely – in a combo that also features John Scofield on guitar, Cameron Brown on bass, and Dannie Richmond on drums. The inclusion of Scofield's guitar changes up the group's sound in a nice way – adding in some more chromatic elements that really stand out – and titles include "IJ", "Flame Games", "Song Everlasting", and "Forever Lovers". CD

Open, swinging live work from the George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet – and a set that shows both the group's sense of jazz tradition, and their willingness to play with it on their own terms! The tracks here are all quite long, jamming numbers – built on lively rhythms from the bass of Cameron Brown and drums of Dannie Richmond, and featuring a mix of exploratory solos and more swinging moments from Adams on tenor and Pullen on piano. Titles include a great reading of the Mingus tune "Diane" – plus "The Necessary Blues", "Intentions", and "Solitude" – all of which are over 13 minutes long! CD

Open, swinging live work from the George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet – and a set that shows both the group's sense of jazz tradition, and their willingness to play with it on their own terms! The tracks here are all quite long, jamming numbers – built on lively rhythms from the bass of Cameron Brown and drums of Dannie Richmond, and featuring a mix of exploratory solos and more swinging moments from Adams on tenor and Pullen on piano. Titles include a great reading of the Mingus tune "Diane" – plus "The Necessary Blues", "Intentions", and "Solitude" – all of which are over 13 minutes long! LP, Vinyl record album

A strong outing from this key post-Mingus collaboration – and a record that really shows both Don Pullen and George Adams really coming into their own! Pullen's piano can have plenty of edges, as can Adams' tenor – but there's also some warmer, lyrical moments that really round things out – kind of a balance between righteous energy and deeper quietude that the musicians might have learned during their time with Charles Mingus – taken to a logical small group extension here. Adams also plays a bit of flute, which is especially nice – and the group also includes Cameron Brown on bass and Dannie Richmond on drums. Titles include "The Great Escape Or Run John Henry Run", "Seriously Speaking", "Soft Seas", and "Protection". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Early Atlantic Records work from the great Mose Allison – easily one of the most unique jazz artists of his time! Most started out as a pianist with a nicely bluesy vibe, but soon added in this excellent vocal approach that was maybe part New Orleans, part New York hipster – delivered here with a vibe that follows nicely from his earlier recordings for Columbia and Prestige Records! The sound is nice and stripped-down – none of the larger arrangements that Mose would soon use on Atlantic – and the set features accompaniment from Addison Farmer on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. Titles include the classic "Your Mind Is On Vacation" – plus "I Don't Worry About A Thing", "It Didn't Turn Out That Way", "Stand By", "Meet Me At No Special Place", and "The Song Is Ended". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic record – and a really mindblowing mix of spiritual jazz and electronics! The set is an amazing collaboration between trumpeter Don Cherry and pioneering electronic musician Jon Appleton – one of those rare meetings of the minds that goes far deeper than you'd expect! On the set, Cherry's trumpet, flute, and percussion is heavily processed by Appleton – often in ways that are organic enough to keep with Cherry's other experiments of the time, and with the "Human Music" title of the set – but sometimes with the more playful feel of Appleton's other music from the time. The mix of electronics and improvisation is amazing – years ahead of its time, and with a haunting sound that works perfectly against Cherry's style of restrained spiritualism. The LP's got 4 long tracks – "Boa", "Oba", "Abo", and "Bao" – all recorded live in the studio! LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a record from the groundbreaking Landsdowne series of UK jazz recordings at the end of the 70s – an ambitious effort directed by composer Neil Ardley, cut very much in the mode of the best work by the Ian Carr/Don Rendell group of the time! As the title might imply, the tunes are all of Greek mythological inspiration – but not in a hokey sort of style, or one that has any overdone "battle of the gods" feel. Instead, there's a warm, intimate approach to the work – almost in the mode of the best sophisticated jazz soundtracks of the late 60s – with a real concern for color, shadings, and tone – ultimately in a style that has less to do with mythology than you might think, but which is pretty darn impressive nonetheless! Carr plays trumpet and flugelhorn, Rendell plays saxes and flutes – and other players include Jack Bruce on bass, Chris Spedding on guitar, and and Barbara Thompson on reeds. Titles include "The Greek Variations", "Farewell Penelope", "Persephone's Jive", "Veil Of Ino", and "Siren's Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare meeting of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and the late pianist Don Pullen – recorded at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival in 1991, and easily one of the group's greatest sessions from this period! There's a freely creative spirit here that reminds us a lot of the Art Ensemble's best European performances of years back – especially on the 20 minute opening reading of "People In Sorrow", which has an ethereal sound built up from percussion, in a way that's almost more haunting than the original. Pullen's piano takes on a bit more presence on the tracks "Song For Atala" and "Fundamental Destiny" – both of which show the skill for more tightly arranged horn parts that the Ensemble picked up during the 80s – but still delivered here with enough loose, spontaneous energy to stand apart from some of their studio work of the decade. Pullen delivers a strong pulse on the latter track especially – and continues into a straighter, soaring jazz groove on "Odwalla/The Theme", which closes the set. Lester Bowie plays trumpet, Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell are on woodwinds and percussion, Malachi Favors on bass, Don Moye on Sun percussion, and Don Pullen on piano. CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A huge 2CD set – one that features important European work that saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded with trumpeter Don Cherry! CD1 brings together six tracks from Albert Ayler's Hilversum Radio sessions from 1964 – plus an additional three tracks recorded in Denmark a few months earlier! The first six titles are a famous performance by a famous group set loose on a European tour in 1964 – Ayler on tenor, Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on bass, and Sunny Murry on drums – recorded in The Netherlands for a small audience in a Dutch radio studio! The setting is a wonderful one – a mix of the live freedoms that would really let Ayler stretch out – especially when playing overseas – but recorded with the clarity of some of his studio albums for ESP – that sharp-edged sound that really highlights the groundbreaking style of his playing! The rest of the group here is equally great, and Murray is completely freed up from rhythm at points, to fly beautifully with the rest – on titles that include "Angels", "CAC", "Infant Happiness", "Ghosts", and "No Name". The same group performs on the final three tracks – recorded in Copenhagen for Danish Radio, with an equally great level of clarity – on "Saints", "Spirits", and "Vibrations". The interplay between Ayler and Cherry is especially great – echoing the latter's material with Ornette Coleman, but with a different sort of edge! CD2 features amazing live material from 1964 – work that was recorded at the Club Montmartre in Copenhagen, right around the same time that Albert Ayler recorded his album for Debut Records – and a set that has his quartet in even more firey formation overall! The tracks are long, and Ayler is completely unbridled – at a level that really shows not only how much of a leader he was to the American avant underground, but what an inspiration he was to the European free scene too – who could only help but take a big cue from his work here on tenor! The group also features equally wonderful work from Don Cherry on cornet – sounding quite different than when with Ornette Coleman – plus bass from Gary Peacock, whose dark tones really set the mood – and drums from Sunny Murray, who is also at an explosive point in his career. The material is remastered wonderfully, with permission from Albert Ayler's estate – and titles include "Mothers", "Saints", "Vibrations", Spirits", "Children", and a shorter "Spirits". CD

A huge 2CD set – one that features important European work that saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded with trumpeter Don Cherry! CD1 brings together six tracks from Albert Ayler's Hilversum Radio sessions from 1964 – plus an additional three tracks recorded in Denmark a few months earlier! The first six titles are a famous performance by a famous group set loose on a European tour in 1964 – Ayler on tenor, Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on bass, and Sunny Murry on drums – recorded in The Netherlands for a small audience in a Dutch radio studio! The setting is a wonderful one – a mix of the live freedoms that would really let Ayler stretch out – especially when playing overseas – but recorded with the clarity of some of his studio albums for ESP – that sharp-edged sound that really highlights the groundbreaking style of his playing! The rest of the group here is equally great, and Murray is completely freed up from rhythm at points, to fly beautifully with the rest – on titles that include "Angels", "CAC", "Infant Happiness", "Ghosts", and "No Name". The same group performs on the final three tracks – recorded in Copenhagen for Danish Radio, with an equally great level of clarity – on "Saints", "Spirits", and "Vibrations". The interplay between Ayler and Cherry is especially great – echoing the latter's material with Ornette Coleman, but with a different sort of edge! CD2 features amazing live material from 1964 – work that was recorded at the Club Montmartre in Copenhagen, right around the same time that Albert Ayler recorded his album for Debut Records – and a set that has his quartet in even more firey formation overall! The tracks are long, and Ayler is completely unbridled – at a level that really shows not only how much of a leader he was to the American avant underground, but what an inspiration he was to the European free scene too – who could only help but take a big cue from his work here on tenor! The group also features equally wonderful work from Don Cherry on cornet – sounding quite different than when with Ornette Coleman – plus bass from Gary Peacock, whose dark tones really set the mood – and drums from Sunny Murray, who is also at an explosive point in his career. The material is remastered wonderfully, with permission from Albert Ayler's estate – and titles include "Mothers", "Saints", "Vibrations", Spirits", "Children", and a shorter "Spirits". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Features a vocal tune with lyrics penned by Norman Mailer! LP, Vinyl record album

A cheapo package, but some really great material! Side one features two long cuts recorded live – with Gato Barbieri on tenor, Don Cherry on trumpet, and Karl Berger on vibes – on "OCDC" and "Third Movement". Next is another live track – Albert Ayler's tenor on a version of "Ghosts" with Norman Howard on trumpet, Earle Henderson and Henry Grimes on basses, and Sonny Murray on drums. Last is a side-long take of "If Only We Knew" – led by John Handy on alto – with Michael Sampson on violin, George Tucker on bass, and Bobby Fuhlrodt on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Bruce Barth on piano, Ed Howard on bass, and Billy Drummond on drums. CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record