A great post-Miles/post-Herbie space funk jam – produced by Skip Drinkwater before he got into his later, more well-known slick Jazz-funk style. Eddie's set up with some of the hippest players of his generation – including Bennie Maupin, Buster Williams, Billy Hart and Patrick Gleeson, who kicks out some amazing work in a moogy synth mode! Herbie Hancock also plays Fender Rhodes and Clavinet on the album – and titles include "Inside Out", "Dreams", "Fusion", "Discoveries", and "Moussaka". LP, Vinyl record album

With Dick Vance on trumpet, Eddie Barefield on clariknet, Lucky Thompson on tenor, John Brown on bass, and Jimmy Crawford on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Eddie continues the funky groove begun on Instant Funk, and smoothed out over albums like I Need Some Money – and although jazz fans probably gave him hell for going this way, we think this is actually a pretty darn great album! The record takes all of Eddie's experimentation with groovy styles from the early 70s, and filters it through some tighter playing that actually makes the groove a lot more compelling than before. A number of the tracks have vocals, almost in a humorous Bill Cosby mode – but in a way that also preserves the party feel of the cuts. Players include Bobby Lyle, Paul Humphrey, Buck Clarke, and Bradley Bobo – and one Chicago-recorded track features a great assortment from older years that includes Muhal Abrams, Odell Brown, Marshapp Thompson, Willie Henderson, and Richard Evans. Titles include "Tryin Ain't Dyin", "Ooh", "Exempt", "Live Again", "Flowers", "Why Do You Hurt Me", and "It's All Right Now". LP, Vinyl record album

A great assortment of some of the great jazz recorded during the short-lived run of Vee Jay Records – titles that include "Exodus" by Eddie Harris, "Awful Mean" by Paul Chambers, "Wrinkles" by Wynton Kelly, "Bye Bye Blackbird" by Bill Henderson, "Hazing" by Louis Hayes, "I'm A Fool To Want You" by Lee Morgan, "Jim Dog" by Bennie Green, and "Sleepy" by The MJT + 3. LP, Vinyl record album

A classic straight session by Joe Henderson – cut during his early years, when he was breaking out of the box with a heck of a lot of fire! Kenny Dorham's subdued lyricism complements Joe's impassioned playing over the angular, yet still-swinging rythm section of Andrew Hill, Eddie Kahn and Pete La Roca. The track "Pedro's Time" reflects Joe's fascination with Latin-flavored pieces (as evidenced by Joe's previous effort Page One, and his work on Dorham's Una Mas), while pieces like "Teeter Totter", "Our Thing" and "Back Road" play with time and structure in subtle ways. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful late 70s side featuring a cast of soul jazz heavies playing in a more straight context, with arrangements by Bill Lee. Richard Davis leads the group, with Eddie Henderson and Joe Henderson blowing up front, and Stanley Cowell and Billy Cobham joining him in the rhythm section, plus Dolly Hirota contributing vocals on "I StillLove You, Baby". The remainder of the set is made up of classic jazz numbers that may fall a bit short of "standard" status, but are great tunes nonetheless, like Miles' "Nardis", Donald Byrd's "Fancy Free" and Horace Silver's "Silver's Serenade". LP, Vinyl record album

One of a few great 70s albums from Luis Gasca – a funky jazz player, but one who draws on a lot of Latin influences too – all in this sweet soulful mode that echoes some of the hippest Bay Area sounds of the time! Arrangements are done with help from Joe Gallardo – who also plays trombone on the record – amidst a very hip lineup that includes Joe Henderson and Hadley Caliman on tenor and flutes, Oscar Brashear and Eddie Henderson on trumpets, George Duke and Mark Levine on electric piano, David Holland on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums! The record includes a great track called "New Orleans Strut", plus the cuts "Dr Gasca", "A Love Supreme", and "I Was Born To Love You". LP, Vinyl record album

Features great work on tenor by Joe Henderson – alongside Eddie Gomez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Early genius from drummer Norman Connors – a sensational bit of righteous soul jazz – right up there with the best work on Strata East and Black Jazz from the time! The sound here is full, soulful, and spiritual – as Connors heads up a large ensemble that includes luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Carlos Garnett, Buster Williams, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all working together in a formation that's free spirited, yet tightly unified – often at a level that's even stronger than their own recordings! The album mixes a few longer tracks with shorter numbers – in a mode that reminds us a lot of Garnett's classic Black Love album – and titles include "Song For Rosa", "Black Lightnin", "Dark Of Light", "Butterfly Dreams", and "Laughter". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums ever from organist Charles Earland – a double-length set that's filled with spiritual, soaring grooves! The style here is a perfect blend of the rougher soul jazz of Earland's roots with some of the spacier styles of his later recordings – served up in a sound that's majestic and powerful, almost with an indie soul jazz sort of vibe overall! There's an immediate urgency to most numbers that's totally undeniable – a lesson learned from the electric experiments of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, but fused down into a core essence – then let loose on a soaring journey to the heavens. Earland plays Hammond, moog, clavinet, and Arp on the set – and other players include Joe Henderson on tenor, Dave Hubbard on alto and soprano sax, Eddie Henderson and Freddie Hubbard on trumpets, Marc Elf on guitar, Harvey Mason on drums, and the incredible Patrick Gleeson on synthesizers – bringing in a spacey edge to the record that's really amazing! Rudy Copeland sings a wonderful vocal on the title cut, "Leaving This Planet" – and all other instrumental cuts include "Red Clay", "Warp Factor 9", "Tyner", "Van Jay", "Never Ending Melody", "Mason's Galaxy", and "Asteroid". LP, Vinyl record album

A great little collection of hip 70s soul jazz tunes – recorded for the Mainstream level by a few different groups, but all united with a spirit of freedom and soulful exploration. Titles include "Dark Mood" by a group with Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Land, Mtume, and Buster Williams; "Quien Sabe" by Hadley Caliman, Larry Vuckovich, and others; "Miscegenation" by Buddy Terry, Woody Shaw, Eddie Henderson, and Joanne Brackeen; and "Valerie" by Blue Mitchell, Herman Riley, and Joe Sample. LP, Vinyl record album

Early genius from drummer Norman Connors – a sensational bit of righteous soul jazz – right up there with the best work on Strata East and Black Jazz from the time! The sound here is full, soulful, and spiritual – as Connors heads up a large ensemble that includes luminaries like Herbie Hancock, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Carlos Garnett, Buster Williams, and Dee Dee Bridgewater – all working together in a formation that's free spirited, yet tightly unified – often at a level that's even stronger than their own recordings! The album mixes a few longer tracks with shorter numbers – in a mode that reminds us a lot of Garnett's classic Black Love album – and titles include "Song For Rosa", "Black Lightnin", "Dark Of Light", "Butterfly Dreams", and "Laughter". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent session that was one of Herbie Hancock's first free-flowing fusion records of the 70s! Herbie's playing Fender Rhodes with a sound that's at once cosmically beautiful, soulfully fragile, and spacily grooving – and he gets some excellent accompaniment from an all-hip group of players that includes Benny Maupin on bass clarinet and flute, Buster Williams on bass, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, and Julian Priester on trombone – plus percussion from Jose Areas and Ndugu Chancler. The roots of later classics like Sextet and Flood all start with this session – and the album contains 3 long tracks – "You'll Know When You Get There", "Ostinato", and "Wandering Sprit Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunning little record from Pharoah Sanders – a double-length set that has all the soul and spirit of his Impulse Records classics, but with a very different vibe! There's a sense of focus here that's tremendous – as if Sanders has found a way to take the energy of his side-long performances and hone them to a level that's maybe even more expressive in its economy – maybe a streamlining of spiritual jazz for the new decade, but not at a level that tries to sound commercial or mainstream at all. Sanders is joined here by a host of equally well-voiced players who really match his energy – Joe Bonner and John Hicks on piano, Eddie Henderson on flugelhorn, Ray Drummond on bass, and Idris Muhammad on drums – and the set also features a bit of great work on koto from Yoko Ito Gates as well. Titles include the classic "You've Got To Have Freedom" – a fantastic soaring anthem of joy – plus "After The Rain", "Soledad", "Greetings To Idris", "Doktor Pitt", "Think About The One", "Bedria", and "Yemenja". LP, Vinyl record album

A dream come true! Someone at Blue Note is keeping their eyes and ears on the street and in the clubs – because here's another late model conceptual triumph – a remix project pairing current innovators in the club and hip hop underground with classic numbers from the label's vaults! The concept is simple; classic numbers are given to handpicked remixers, re-doers, and stylistic misfits best suited to re-work that particular number. Mo Wax maestros La Funk Mob open the set with a mellow, club soul tweak of Wayne Shorter's "Oriental Funk Song". Kenny Dope trips out Bobby Hutcherson's "La Malanga" into a bubbly club funk jam. "Kyoto Jazz Massive" completely re-work Eddie Henderson's "Kudu" into a wonderful number all their own. Perhaps the biggest triumph of all here is the consistency throughout; every artist attached brings their A-game (how could they do any less, given a chance to add their own elements to the some of the most influential numbers they could get their hands on?) Amazing, amazing stuff – whether it's the scratched up, hip hop flavor J Dilla brings to Jack McDuff's "Oblighetto" or the righteous electronic groove Jazzanova drops on Eddie Gale's "Song Of The Will", the minimalist, keys and beats drive Osunlade brings into Grant Green's "A Time To Remember". Every track sparkles! Other tracks include DJ Spinna/Donald Byrd "Lansanna's Priestess", 4 Hero/Horace Silver "Won't You Open Up Your Senses", DJ Cam & Erik Truffaz/Donald Byrd "The Emperor", Herbert/Michel Petrucciani "Caravan" and more! LP, Vinyl record album

Keystone bop indeed – a smoking little set from Freddie Hubbard, recorded during his great back-to-basics years of the early 80s! The tracks here are all quite long, and informed by a strong sense of hard bop – but they also open up with some sharper, more modern moments at times – of the sort that keenly reflect Freddie's best roots during his early years at Blue Note. The other players here are all quite strong – especially well-matched for the energy of such a record – with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes and Joe Henderson on tenor, plus rhythm from Billy Childs on piano, Larry Klein on bass, and Steve Houghton on drums. 3 lengthy tracks: "The Littlest One Of All", "One Of Another Kind", and "Body & Soul". LP, Vinyl record album

A smoking little set from Freddie Hubbard, recorded during his great back-to-basics years of the early 80s! The tracks here are all quite long, and informed by a strong sense of hardbop – but they also open up with some sharper, more modern moments at times – of the sort that keenly reflect Freddie's best roots during his early years at Blue Note. The other players here are all quite strong – especially well-matched for the energy of such a record – with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes and Joe Henderson on tenor, plus rhythm from Billy Childs on piano, Larry Klein on bass, and Steve Houghton on drums. The LP presents all tracks in long, unedited takes – titles that include "Birdlike", "The Intrepid Fox", and "Sky Dive". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing work from Freddie Hubbard – one of his best albums ever! The title cut's a classic, but all cuts on the album are great – and really set a whole new standard for soul jazz in the 70s! Unlike the freer runs of Miles Davis, Freddie takes things into territory here that's open, yet tightly controlled – a really soulful, spiritual vibe that's quite different than any of his later commercial work – or his hardbop of the decade before! The lineup includes Joe Henderson on tenor and Herbie Hancock on piano – and even back in the 80's, when everyone was going purist again, and was pretending they didn't like 70's electric jazz at all, they still claimed that this was a great jazz record, and one of the only good ones for CTI. We know better now, of course, and know that there were loads of great CTI sessions – but that doesn't stop this from being one of the best! Titles include "Red Clay", "Delphia", "Suite Sioux", and "The Intrepid Fox". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet late 70s set from Freddie Hubbard – a slight move away from some of his highly-electric sides of the CTI years, yet one that still has some of the most soulful qualities of that work! Freddie's trumpet has a nicely spacious quality throughout – one that's flowing, and almost glowing at time – cascading along with qualities you might be more likely to hear from Art Farmer on some of the gentler numbers, yet really bursting out with that old Hubbard dynamism on the rest. Other players include Joe Henderson on tenor, Hubert Laws on flute, Kenny Barron on piano and keyboards, Ron Carter on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – and George Benson also guests on guitar on one number too. A good number of the titles are originals, and tracks include "Super Blue", "To Her Ladyship", "Take It To The Ozone", "The Gospel Truth", and "Theme For Kareem". LP, Vinyl record album

Quite an unusual session for trumpeter Freddie Hubbard – a set done during his early run of albums for Blue Note, but one that's got some much darker, more modern qualities than the rest! The music here almost verges on some of the "new thing" material of the period on the label – although is not as far outside as some of the others – and the record features two different groups – both with excellent early work from James Spaulding on alto and flute, and really unique use of euphonium from Kiane Zawadi, whose depth on the instrument really explores the darker currents of sound. In addition to Freddie's trumpet work, the set also features Joe Henderson and Hank Mobley on tenors, Harold Mabern and McCoy Tyner on pianos, and Clifford Jarvis and Pete LaRoca on drums. Big Black also adds in percussion on the cuts "Cunga Black" and "Soul Surge" – and other titles include "Outer Forces", "Blue Spirits", and "Jodo". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing second CTI set from Freddie Hubbard – one that takes off nicely from Red Clay territory, and starts to hit an even funkier mode! The tracks here are all relatively long, with a huge amount of solo space for Freddie on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor, George Benson on guitar, and Herbie Hancock on piano. The title track "Straight Life" has a style that's quite searing and righteous at points – almost some of Freddie's boldest playing on record from the time. It's followed by an excellent take on Weldon Irvine's "Mr Clean" – one that's rompingly funky while still as righteous as the work on side long title track – played with some great electric piano from Herbie and sweet guitar lines from Benson. The set closes with a mellow take on "Here's That Rainy Day", played in a way that reminds us of Hubbard's more lyrical style – but still with plenty of CTI 70s overtones. LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work by Andrew Hill – recorded in the 60s – but not issued until this 1975 2-fer package, which then went out of print very quickly! One session's from 1969, and features Hill with Bennie Maupin, Charles Tolliver, and Pat Patrick. Another has him and Maupin playing a few tracks with a string quartet. And the last set (which covers all of the second record) is a straighter set from 1965, with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Richard Davis, and Joe Chambers. The album's a motherlode of great rare material by one of the best piano players of the 60's, and a talent that Blue Note made sure to record as much as they could. Tracks include "Diddy Wah", "Fragments", "Erato", "Pax", and "Eris". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal set in the rebirth of straight jazz in the early 80s – a wonderful record with a much warmer, more traditional feel than you'd expect from some of the players involved! Bassist Stanley Clarke and pianist Chick Corea really return to their roots here – Stanley with some of the bold acoustic tones of his earliest soul jazz years, Chick with those modern-yet-soulful piano lines he first brought to magical recordings of the 60s – including the Sweet Rain session with Stan Getz. Freddie Hubbard's also in the group – blowing wonderfully with that reborn sound of his early 80s years, still some of the best work he ever did – and the group also features Joe Henderson on tenor, always a treat, and Lenny White on drums, really keeping things focused. The set's a gem through and through – and titles include "L's Bop", "Happy Times", "Remember", "Guernica", "October Ballade", and "Why Wait". LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of early Herbie Hancock work for Blue Note Records – done in his pre-electric years, but with a sound that's already ahead of the pack – as Herbie's mixing modernism with 60s soul jazz – alongside players that include Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley and Joe Henderson on tenor, Hubert Laws on flute, Thad Jones on flugelhorn, Grachan Moncur on trombone, Ron Carter and Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins and Tony Williams on drums! Titles include "Cantaloupe Island", "Blind Man Blind Man", "Maiden Voyage", "Empty Pockets", "Speak Like A Child", "Toys", "Three Bags Full", "Triangle", "And What If I Don't", "Drifitin", "Goodbye To Childhood", and "The Prisoner". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique album for Chaka Khan – one in which she teams up with a host of jazz artists to craft a classic-styled set of vocals! Given that Chaka was at the height of her 80s groove solo career at the time of this one, the move is a surprising one – but also a great chance for Chaka to show that she has a lot more to offer than just pop chops, as she sounds pretty darn great scatting on these classic jazz numbers. And as proof that the set was definitely a serious jazz effort, Chaka's got a great lineup on the album – a group that includes Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor, Chick Corea on piano, and Lenny White on drums. Titles include "Them There Eyes", "All Of Me", "Take The A Train", "Hire Wire", "The Aerialist", and "I Hear Music". LP, Vinyl record album

Nothing mystifying here – as the album grabs us right from the get-go – with wonderful Fender Rhodes lines from leader Tom Grant, and plenty of soulful tenor from the great Joe Henderson! The album's an overlooked gem from Joe's late 70s years – and the the player is right at home next to Grant's keys – which are sometimes acoustic, and sometimes accompanied by a wordless, humming sort of vocal – which really gives the album some strongly soulful currents! The rest of the quartet features Rick Laird on bass and Ron Steen on drums – and the electric tunes are especially wonderful, and are almost an extension of the vibe of some of Joe's late Milestone albums. Titles include "Caribbean Firedance", "Gazelle", "No Me Esqueca", and "Peddie Has A Point". LP, Vinyl record album

A heavy classic from trumpeter Buck Clayton – and a record that set a whole new standard for the jam session on record at the time! The album pushes forward strongly from the territory of the Jazz At The Philharmonic and Jam Session records on Verve – with a vibrancy that's even stronger, and which really has Clayton's leadership bringing all the players into sharp focus. Each track takes up a side of the record – with plenty of room for individual solo work from players who include Joe Newman on trumpet, Urbie Green and Henderson Chambers on trombones, Lem Davis on alto, Julian Dash on tenor, Charlie Fowlkes on baritone, Sir Charles Thompson on piano, and Freddie Green on guitar! The performances are nicely more focused than looser live jam session material of this nature – and titles include "The Huckle-Buck" and "Robbin's Nest". LP, Vinyl record album