A great session from 1959 – one that features John Coltrane playing tenor in a combo that's billed as being led by altoist Cannonball Adderley – but which is really more of a Miles Davis combo, without Miles! The set was recorded in Chicago when both were stopping through the city with Miles Davis' combo at the time – and since the rhythm section includes Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums – the album's essentially a Kind Of Blue-era Miles album, recorded without Miles on trumpet, and grooving in a slightly more soul-based Adderley mode! Given the presence of Coltrane, there's a bit less of the gutbuckety soul jazz that Cannon was cutting in his own Quintet – but that's more than ok with us, as the Coltrane solos more than make up for that difference! The set's got 2 great originals by Coltrane – "The Sleeper" and "Grand Central" – plus the cuts "Wabash" and "Limehouse Blues". CD

A strong showcase for young Nat Adderley's talents on cornet – and an album that's got a different feel that his work with his more famous brother's combo at the same time! The style here is simple – Nat blowing with 2 different quartets – one with Joe Zawinul on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums (all from Cannonball's group) – the other with the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Despite's Nat's reputation as a gutbuckety soul jazz player, he actually gets in some nicely lyrical licks in this set – blowing in a soulful modern style that almost recalls the work of Carmell Jones at times! Titles include "Chloe", "Images", "Scotch & Water", and "Naturally". CD

Like many other 70s reissues in the Prestige/Milestone/fantasy family, this set compiles 2 early albums by Mose. Unlike a lot of his later material, this set's mostly instrumental, though he does get in some vocals on about a third of the tracks. The album features some great work by Allison's trio of the time – Addison Farmer on bass and Ronnie Free or Nick Stabulas on drums – simple piano-driven groovers, performed with a slight gutbuckety approach, and lots of sweet down home soul. 20 tracks in all, including "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", "How Long Has This Been Going On", "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand", "Stroll", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", "Seventh Son", "If You Live", "Mule", "If I Didn't Care", "Moon & Cypress", and "Creek Bank". CD

Atlantic's great early soul singer delivers 2 sides of fairly traditional material – both in her own gutsy R&B style. Precious Memories features LaVern singing 12 gospel tunes like "Didn't It Rain", "Too Close", "Without A God", "Touch Me, Lord Jesus", and "Journey To The Sky". LaVern's fine, but the real treat is the backing by Alex Bradford and his singers, one of the most soulful gospel groups of the late 50s! The next set of 12 tracks are all older Bessie Smith numbers – performed with small group backing that includes Sahib Shihab, Paul Quinichette, Buck Clayton, and Jimmy Cleveland. LaVern's versions are a bit jazzier than Bessie's – and titles include "After You've Gone", "preaching The Blues", "Empty Bed Blues", "Back Water Blues", and "Gimme A Pigfoot". CD

The team of Al & Zoot are wonderfully reunited in this classic 70s session – an album that still crackles with all their best twin-tenor frontline styles, but which also has a more fluid, free, and easygoing feel than their work in the 50s! The rhythm session on the set features some great work by Horace Parlan on piano, giving the set a nice gutbuckety bottom, and making the whole thing come across with a lot more soul than you might expect. Titles include "Motoring Along", "Fallin", "What The World Needs Now", and "Stockholm LA". CD also features 3 bonus tracks too! CD

A record that's virtually the blueprint for the sound of Hammond organ and tenor sax in soul jazz– the first of Eddie Lockjaw Davis' great run of cookbook albums for Prestige! The record features Lockjaw's gutsy tenor in a group alongside Jerome Richardson's lighter flute – both dancing wonderfully together over organ lines from a young Shirley Scott – playing here with a style that's a bit earthier and more bluesy than some of her later work. Rhythm is by George Duviver on bass and Arthur Edgehill on drums – and tracks include the classic 12 minute jammer "In The Kitchen", plus shorter tracks "Three Deuces", "The Chef", and "Have Horn, Will Blow". CD features bonus track "Avalon". CD

Griff and Lock are playing head to head here – right in their classic "tuff tenors" mode, although not recorded Live at Mintons! Rhythm is by Norman Simmons, Vic Sproles, and Ben Riley – and the album's actually a bit gutsier and more freewheeling than some of their earlier sets, the ones with a bit more Monk work. Titles include "What's Happening?", "63rd Street Theme", "Pull My Coat", and "Hey Jim!". CD features a bonus version of "Billie's Bounce" – one that runs for nearly 12 minutes! CD

A cool cooker from the great Lou Donaldson – and a record that's ever bit as tasty as its cover! Lou's really hitting his soul jazz stride here – stepping off his 50s bop years, and moving into a more gutbuckety groove that's delivered with wonderful accompaniment from a quartet that features Grant Green on guitar, John Patton on Hammond, and Ben Dixon on drums! The style is loose and open – and tracks are long, with tight solos, especially from Patton and Green, always a winning combination – really stepping out here with an early raw fury! Titles include "Caracas", "Bad John", "Holy Ghost", and "Good Gracious!". Nice cover, too, with a photo of Lou checking out a sexy model, while speaking the title! CD

One of our favorite albums by Kenny Dorham – and a really different session than his usual studio work! The album captures Kenny in a relaxed live setting, with a bit more dirt on his horn than usual, and some great gutsy players in the group, like Bobby Timmons, Sam Jones, and JR Monterose. This second volume to the set is a Japanese-only vinyl pressing – with titles that appeared later on CD, but weren't on the original album. Tracks include "Who Cares", "The Prophet", "Royal Roost", "KD's Blues", and "My Heart Stood Still". CD

A different version of the album Bash – recorded for the Jazztime label in 1961, with leadership by Dave Bailey – a set that's filled with fire, soul, and imagination – recorded as part of the drummer's amazing (and amazingly short) early 60s run as a leader! The date smokes with the same sort of energy as Dave's great "Gutter" albums for Epic – a groove that's part Blue Note, part Prestige, and carried off with so much precision, we wonder why Bailey never recorded more as a leader. Players are all wonderful – Kenny Dorham's on trumpet, Curtis Fuller's on trombone, Frank Haynes is on tenor, and Tommy Flanagan's on piano. Ben Tucker provides excellent basswork, and proves that him and Bailey were one of the best hardbop rhythm teams ever! Cuts include "Grand Street", "Osmosis", "Soul Support", and "An Oscar For Oscar". CD features 7 tracks in all – including some that haven't been on other versions of this session. Other titles include "Just Friends", "Like Someone In Love", and "BMT Express". CD

A wonderful small combo session from tenorist Benny Golson – one of a few key albums like this from the early years! Although Golson is perhaps best known as a lively arranger in the modern idiom, he's also a kick-ass tenor player when he wants to be – and on this classic, he definitely wants to be! Unlike some of Golson's more tightly arranged records of the early years, this date is a deeply gutsy soul jazz session – support from a group that includes Ray Bryant on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, Art Blakey on drums, and Curtis Fuller on trombone – all sliding into long tracks that have plenty of room for solos! The whole thing's a bit like the more spontaneous side of the Jazz Messengers groove – and titles include "The Stroller", "Drumboogie", "My Blues House", and a beautiful version of "Yesterdays". CD

The long-anticipated second album from Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings is a stunner – undoubtedly stronger than the group's fantastic debut – and a record that not only transcends the late model funk revival genre, but stands on footing as solid as the best hard funky soul of the late 60s and early 70s! If you're expecting a rehash of the heavy funk jams that burned on the Dap Dippin' album you won't be disappointed, but get ready for a deep, natural (hence the title) soulfulness that not only caught us off guard, but really forms the big, hard-beating heart of the album. The frothing, frenetic funk is as tight as ever, and in spots just as furious, but the attention to songcraft this time out is just as searing and indelible. The eight piece Dap Kings continue to be the best band in the land – with El Michels on baritone sax, Neal Sugarman on tenor, Homer Steinweiss on drums, not-so-secret weapon Bosco Mann on bass, vibes and piano. Guest appearances include fellow Daptone powerhouse vocalist Lee Fields on the the duet "Stranded In Your Love", and strings courtesy of the Bushwick Philharmonic, but make no mistake, this is the band's album. Amazing stuff from in indispensable group – an album that'll keep spinning in our circles for as many years as the great albums by the gritty soul forefathers do! Tracks include "How Do I Let A Good Man Down?", "Natural Born Lover", "My Man Is A Mean Man", a soulful reading of Woodie Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land", "Your Thing Is A Drag", "Fish In A Dish" and "All Over Again". CD

Despite the fact that the title's "Introducing Roland Kirk", it's not actually Kirk's first album – but it is a heck of a smoker with a very unusual sound! The session features Roland with a Chicago group that includes Ira Sullivan on trumpet, Don Garrett on bass, and Ron Burton on both piano and organ – the latter of which gives Kirk's playing a very different feel than usual – a bit more soul jazz and gutbuckety than on the later Mercury recordings. In fact, given Roland's use of many different reed instruments (tenor, manzello, stritch, and whistle – all often played at the same time!) – there's almost a Yusef Lateef quality to the album, at last in the style of some of Lateef's more hardbop sides for Prestige at the time. Kirk's tone, as always, is amazing – with that really spacious feel he gets from playing more than one horn at once! Titles include some great originals, like "The Call", "Soul Station", and "Spirit Girl" – plus "Our Waltz" and "Jack The Ripper". CD

A nice little set by Joe – recorded live, and much more freewheeling than some of his other albums from the time! The set's unusual for Joe, in that it's got more of a down and dirty approach – not exactly soul jazz, but with a much more gutbuckety groove than we might have thought! Newman's playing here with a great group that includes sax work by Oliver Nelson – working on tenor, and always a treat in a set like this – plus piano by Lloyd Mayers, drums by Ed Shaughnessy, and bass by Art Davis. Includes the long original tune "Wednesday's Blues", plus "Caravan", "Love Is Here To Stay", "Someone To Love", and "The Midgets". CD

A nice little set by Joe – recorded live, and much more freewheeling than some of his other albums from the time! The set's unusual for Joe, in that it's got more of a down and dirty approach – not exactly soul jazz, but with a much more gutbuckety groove than we might have thought! Newman's playing here with a great group that includes sax work by Oliver Nelson – working on tenor, and always a treat in a set like this – plus piano by Lloyd Mayers, drums by Ed Shaughnessy, and bass by Art Davis. Includes the long original tune "Wednesday's Blues", plus "Caravan", "Love Is Here To Stay", "Someone To Love", and "The Midgets". CD

A great litle early album from Ann Peebles – rawer than most of her more familiar stuff, with a gutbuckety soul quality that really keeps things fresh! We always love Ann's work, but in these early years she has a deep soul vibe that few other singers can touch – a level that easily rivals Aretha Franklin, but has more real southern roots – and which is handled here by the Hi Records sound. Willie Mitchell produced and arranged (of course!), and the record's got some sweet backing vocals by Rhodes, Chalmers, & Rhodes – very much in a Sweet Inspirations mode, but again maybe a bit deeper too. Tracks include a funky remake of The Isleys' "It's Your Thing", plus "Solid Foundation", "Crazy About You Baby", "Give Me Some Credit", and "Generation Gap Between Us". CD

The "flipside" of Ike Quebec's legendary run of albums for Blue Note – a huge set of material recorded only as 45 singles during his same stretch at the label! Although Quebec's work as a soulful tenorist has been well documented and reissued over the years on albums like Blue & Sentimental and Heavy Soul, Ike also cut a fair number of singles aimed at the jukebox and radio crowds of the time – tunes that were more in the gutsy tenor and organ mode recorded by labels like Prestige or Chess, and which never made it onto any of the full-length sets for Blue Note! This great little package brings together all of Ike's 26 tracks recorded for 45s in the late 50s and early 60s – material that features organ on most numbers, played by either Ike Quebec, Sir Charles Thompson, or the enigmatic Edwin Swanston. Quebec's tone and phrasing is similar to his Blue Note LP work of the period, but there's also a more relaxed, and more punctuated feel to these recordings – one that's not as rough or raw as other jukebox tenor stars of the time, but which still steps out past the usual Blue Note poise, especially on the original numbers. Some tracks were briefly issued on the 80s collection With A Song In My Heart, and in a Mosaic box – but this is the first proper Blue Note album of the material. Titles include "Buzzard Lope", "Zonky", "Blue Monday", "Later For The Rock", "Dear John", "Blue Friday", "Ill Wind", "Mardis Gras", "Everything Happens To Me", "Me N Mabe", "All The Way", "Intermezzo", "All Of Me", and "Imagination". CD

Seminal sounds from The Residents – a record that's purportedly inspired by the ceremonial music of the Eskimo – but it's very a much a Residents album, and one that follows their own absurdist adventuresome impulses! There's often this cold, drifting wave of sound in the background that's as chilly as you'd expect – and on top of the sound effects and all around trippy electronic atmosphere, they're supposedly playing instruments made of the guts and bones of arctic wildlife! Titles include "The Walrus Hunt", "Birth", "Arctic Hysteria", "The Angry Angakok", "A Spirit Steals A Child", and "The Festival Of Death". CD

Go out of the world with The Three Sounds on this sweet little set for Blue Note – as the trio are at their early best, and working with a care of craft that you won't find on other 60s albums for labels like Verve or Mercury! The mighty Gene Harris is in the lead on piano, moving between a great blend of lyrical and more soul-based styles – given great accompaniment from Bill Dowdy on drums and Andy Simpkins on bass – the latter of whom is an overlooked genius, with this round tone and solid touch that really holds the group together! Titles are a nice mix of exotic standards and gutbuckety originals – and tunes include "My Silent Love", "Just In Time", "Out Of this World", "Out Of the Past", "Sanctified Sue", and "Girl Of My Dreams". CD

One of Bobby Timmons' most obscure trio sessions from the early years – recorded at the tail end of the Riverside years, which is probably why the album disappeared so quickly! The set's in a similar format to some of Bobby's other records for Riverside – a trio set with either Sam Jones or Ron Carter on bass, and Connie Kay on drums – but it's different in that Bobby's a bit more introspective – "blue", if you will – working in less of the gutbucket soul jazz mode than before, and really hitting some lyrical magic on the keys! The album includes the original tunes "Know Not One", "Often Annie", and "The Sit In" – plus a great reading of Tom McIntosh's "Malice Towards None". CD

One of the all-time great tenor/organ sessions on Blue Note – totally fierce, with a sound that's a lot rawer than most other work on the label! The incredible Baby Face Willette grooves it hard and heavy on Hammond – working in a quartet that includes Fred Jackson on tenor, Grant Green on guitar, and Ben Dixon on drums – a killer lineup that makes for a very cooking sound throughout! There's a bit of an R&B-ish tinge to most of the tracks on the set – gutbuckety soul jazz, of the sort you'd hear on a label like Prestige, but recorded with more of the Blue Note sense of poise and professionalism – a very unique blend that makes the album an essential one in any collection. Titles include "Swingin' At Sugar Rays", "Face To Face", "Something Strange", and "Goin Down". CD features 2 bonus tracks – "Face To Face (alt)" and "Something Strange (alt)". CD

Music from Etta Baker, Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, Louis Armstrong, Odetta, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Woody Herman, and others – 15 tracks total. CD

Features John Prine, Arlo Guthrie, the Lincoln Park Pirates, Bonnie Raitt, Michael Smith, Ed Holstein, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. CD

Rare material from Dave Bailey – a set that's filled with fire, soul, and imagination – recorded as part of the drummer's amazing (and amazingly short) early 60s run as a leader! The date smokes with the same sort of energy as Dave's great "Gutter" albums for Epic – a groove that's part Blue Note, part Prestige, and carried off with so much precision, we wonder why Bailey never recorded more as a leader. Players are all wonderful – Kenny Dorham's on trumpet, Curtis Fuller's on trombone, Frank Haynes is on tenor, and Tommy Flanagan's on piano. Ben Tucker provides excellent basswork, and proves that him and Bailey were one of the best hardbop rhythm teams ever! Cuts include "Grand Street", "Osmosis", "Soul Support", and "An Oscar For Oscar". CD features 5 bonus tracks – alternates of "Grand Street", "Osmosis", "Like Someone In Love", "BMT Express", and "Soul Support". CD

A lost classic from Art Blakey – quite different from some of his Blue Note work! The album's a very swinging mid 60s session, noteworthy for the presence of John Gilmore, recording here in one of his few appearances away from Sun Ra. Gilmore wails on tenor, and he sounds great next to Lee Morgan, who had, at this point, briefly returned to play with Blakey, and fit in with the group beautifully. John Hicks is on piano, and contributes a few nice tracks – and Curtis Fuller rounds out the sextet nicely, hitting some of those great gutbuckety notes that he only ever seemed to manage when he worked with Blakey! The whole album's great – and tracks include "Little Hughie", "Olympia", "One For Gamal", and "Faith". Also has cool design with replica of original inside LP booklet! CD

A cool cooker from the great Lou Donaldson – and a record that's ever bit as tasty as its cover! Lou's really hitting his soul jazz stride here – stepping off his 50s bop years, and moving into a more gutbuckety groove that's delivered with wonderful accompaniment from a quartet that features Grant Green on guitar, John Patton on Hammond, and Ben Dixon on drums! The style is loose and open – and tracks are long, with tight solos, especially from Patton and Green, always a winning combination – really stepping out here with an early raw fury! Titles include "Caracas", "Bad John", "Holy Ghost", and "Good Gracious!". Nice cover, too, with a photo of Lou checking out a sexy model, while speaking the title! CD

Teddy Edwards at the height of his powers – packing a tight, soulful punch that made him one of the most popular players on the west coast in the early 60s – and a great link between earlier R&B tenorists and the leaner sound of 60s jazz! Edwards has a nice gutbuckety tone at times – the qualities you might hear from Hank Crawford or David Newman in the way they blended their sounds – but the overall feel is leaner and cleaner, too – not many cliches, and a kind of straightforward sound that really shows the new inroads that the LA soul jazz scene was making at the time. The set features a shifting lineup – piano from Amos Trice, Joe Castro, and Ronnie Ball – bass from Leroy Vinnegar and Ben Tucker – and drums from Al Levitt and Billy Higgins – on titles that include a whopping batch of originals like "Teddy's Tune", "Tempo De Blues", "Vintage '57", "Sunset Eyes", and "Takin Off". Plus, this CD's got some great notes, excellent packaging, and even includes 3 unreleased bonus cuts! CD

Iggy's first proper solo record, and a strange morass of junkie desperation and guttural punk funk! The Idiot is the ultimately the culmination of a very smart decision to move away from the guitar roar of the Stooges and closer to the sounds his longtime champion David Bowie was experimenting with at the time, with a little bit of Lou Reed for good measure – but make no mistakes, this is Iggy's show. It's as fascinating overall as it is impressive on a more visceral level, with heavy bass rhythms and keys intergral to the sound, and weary latenight storytelling that trips you out on contact. All tunes co-written by Bowie, who would go on to make a lot of money off "China Girl" a few years into the 80s when the world was more ready for it, plus the classic "Nightclubbing", "Sister Midnight", "Baby", "Dum, Dum Boys", "Tiny Girls" and "Mass Production". CD

A twin-alto session that matches the sax of Sonny Stitt with that of Bunky Green – both set up in a tight little combo that includes some smoking work on Hammond by organist Odell Brown! Brown's fierce approach to the keys creates a really gutbuckety sound on the set – making the album burn like some of the best Prestige soul jazz sides from the mid 60s – but also opening up some of the tunes in the same sort of skittish groove that Brown was using on his own albums of the period! A young Maurice White plays drums – and titles include "Soul In The Night", "One Alone", "The Spies", and "Home Stretch". CD

The debut of Tom Waits – a prettier, less gravelly-voiced and less knowingly seedy effort as the albums to come – and a set that's as tender as any that Waits would ever record! This is Waits in after hours yearning mode, still upright on a barstool or a piano bench, not yet having fallen in a gutter. It's one of his best records. Includes "Ol' 55", "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You", "Midnight Lullaby", the beautiful "Martha" – which still one of his best written songs), plus "Rosie", "Lonely", "Ice Cream Man", "Closing Time", "Grapefruit Moon", and "Little Trip To Heaven". CD

A rare soul jazz session from alto saxophonist Leo Wright – a player that we mostly know from his bossa work of the early 60s! The session's extremely noteworthy as being one of the few to feature female organist Gloria Coleman – a player with whom Wright worked on her classic 1963 date Soul Sisters, and who returns here in a very similar hard-wailing sax-and-organ mode! Wright's work on alto is incredibly deep – with a sharper bite than much of his other 60s sessions, and a gutsy down-n-dirty quality that makes the record feel like one of the best organ jazz albums at the time from Prestige. Coleman's approach to the Hammond is great too – freely skipping around with a liberated sense of rhythm, in a way that matches Wright's every twist and turn with ease – and throws a few of its own into the mix as well! The group's completed by Kenny Burrell on guitar (also sounding harder here than usual!) and Frankie Dunlop on drums – and titles include some fresh originals "Poopsie's Minor", "State Trooper", "Blue Leo", "Blues Fanfare", and "Soul Talk". CD

Music from Reverend Gary Davis, Yvonne Hunter, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton, Carter Stanley, Mary Townsley, Bill Monroe, Eck Robertson, Last Forever, Elizabeth Cotton, Woody Guthrie & more. CD

A great session from 1959 – one that features John Coltrane playing tenor in a combo that's billed as being led by altoist Cannonball Adderley – but which is really more of a Miles Davis combo, without Miles! The set was recorded in Chicago when both were stopping through the city with Miles Davis' combo at the time – and since the rhythm section includes Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums – the album's essentially a Kind Of Blue-era Miles album, recorded without Miles on trumpet, and grooving in a slightly more soul-based Adderley mode! Given the presence of Coltrane, there's a bit less of the gutbuckety soul jazz that Cannon was cutting in his own Quintet – but that's more than ok with us, as the Coltrane solos more than make up for that difference! The set's got 2 great originals by Coltrane – "The Sleeper" and "Grand Central" – plus the cuts "Wabash" and "Limehouse Blues". CD

If the 60's ever had a "hit" jazz record, it was probably this one! The album's a sparkling live session featuring the trademark soul jazz sounds of the Cannonball Adderley group with Joe Zawinul on acoustic and electric piano, and brother Nat Adderley on cornet. The tracks have a long soulful groove, with gutbucket solos from the 3 above-mentioned players, and tight live production by a young David Axelrod. Titles include "Sticks", "Hippodelphia", "Sack O Woe", and the classic "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" – a jazz theme that you'll recognize instantly! CD

Late 50s Exotica jazz gems from Les Baxter for Capitol – Africa Jazz and Jungle Jazz in a single set! Africa Jazz is one of his greatest records, and one that's got just about everything you'd ever want! Plas Johnson plays tenor, and his solos are right out front, and recorded beautifully. There's a number of other great LA session players on percussion and vibes, and the arrangements have a definite jazz bent to them. Tracks include "Congo Train", "Walkin Watusi", "Ostrich Hunt", "Balinese Bongos", and "Mombasa After Midnight". Jungle Jazz is also fantastic stuff, and recorded with beautiful sound! It's right on a par with African Jazz, which uses a similar formula: Plas Johnson's up front playing gutsy tenor, and Les is behind, working a large group of exotica players into a tribal frenzy of mellow grooves. Titles include "Amazon Falls", "Coco", "Isle Of Cuba", "Jungla Brava", "Go Chango", and "Blue Jungle". CD

Dazzling work from John Cale – exactly the kind of record that shows why his solo years were so great! The record's got this unusual vibe – on one hand, it's put together like a more conventional rock set of the time – but on the other, it's got strange dark currents that run through the whole thing in very weird ways – a bit like some of the Roxy Music edges from the early years. No surprise, both Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera contribute strongly to the set – but the energy of the record definitely comes from Cale's great songwriting and offbeat vocals – and his great ear for a weird-sounding tune. Titles include "Mr Wilson", "Rollaroll", "Ski Patrol", "Guts", "The Jeweller", and Cale's famous version of "Heartbreak Hotel". CD

Booker Ervin hits a great blue note here – working with a wonderfully soulful group that includes the mighty Carmell Jones on trumpet and Gildo Mahones on piano! These players both help Ervin hit a sound that's much more in the pocket than some of his other work on Prestige at the time – a lot less modern, and more with roots in the Texas tenor tradition from whence Ervin sprang. But as you might guess with Jones – and maybe a bit with Mahones – the overall sound still has some nice modern touches too – subtle, sneaky little bits thrown in alongside the gutsier, more full-on solo moments. Rhythm is by Richard Davis on bass and Alan Dawson on drums – and the album features 4 long tracks that include "Eerie Dearie", "One For Mort", "No Booze Blooze", and "True Blue". CD

Beautiful duo soul from the all-time great Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway – released right around the time of Donny's tragic passing! The set was co-produced by Eric Mercury and Flack – and it has a lot of great vocals from Roberta, with as masterfully paired with Donny as always – plus guest vocal appearances by Luther Vandross, Gwen Guthrie, and Eleanore Mills, and even Mercury, who sings a bit on one track! Titles include couple of nice Stevie Wonder tunes – "You Are My Heaven" and "Don't Make Me Wait Too Long" – plus "Stay With Me", "God Don't Like Ugly", "Only Heaven Can Wait", and "Disguises". CD

George Freeman on guitar, Bobby Cranshaw and Leroy Jackson on bass, Bob Guthrie, Buddy Williams and Marion Booker on drums, Von Freeman on tenor saxophone, John Young on piano, Kenny Barron on electric piano, Harold Mabern Jr on electric piano and piano, and Bobby Blevins on organ. CD

One of the "bottomest" albums you'll ever hear – as trombonist Curtis Fuller meets baritone saxophonist Tate Houston – for a real session of "bone" and "bari" grooving that's one of the most striking Blue Notes of the time! The album features the pair working hard to push their instruments past conventional expectations – gliding with a fluid ease that you really wouldn't expect, yet still working out all the gutbuckety soul propensities that the instruments possess. Part of the strength of the session is the rhythm section – which features Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – but another strong aspect is the choice of material, which includes some nice originals like "Again", "Pickup", "Nita's Waltz", and "Algonquin". CD

One of our favorite Red Garland albums of the late 50s – thanks to a slightly different rhythm section that features Sam Jones on bass and Art Taylor on drums – both of whom work beautifully with Red in a gutbuckety set of tunes! The style isn't exactly soul jazz, but it's clear that Garland's feeling a bit of pressure from some of the up and comers on the scene – and he digs a bit deeper into bluesy roots here, in a setting that makes especially nice use of Jones' work on bass. Titles include "He's A Real Gone Guy", "See See Rider", "Trouble In Mind", "St. Louis Blues", and "Theme From M Squad". CD

Great later Coleman Hawkins on Impulse – just the sort of deep-toned, soulfully-blown record that makes all his sessions for the label so great! Hawk's very firmly in the lead on that classic tenor of his – but the rest of the lineup keeps things swinging too – with Snooky Young and Bill Berry on trumpets, Urbie Green on trombone, Barry Harris on piano, and Eddie Locke on drums. The best tracks are the sparest – the album's quartet readings of "Out of Nowhere" and "Indian Summer" – but the rest of the material features some nice gutsy solos from Hawk too, and other tracks include "Bean's Place", "Marchetta", and "She's Fit". CD

An obscure late 50s set from the mighty Hank Mobley – and like all of the tenorist's sides for Blue Note, an essential gem that tops most work by the rest of his contemporaries! The setting here is a really warm and lyrical one – as Mobley's playing with Horace Silver on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, Art Blakey on drums, and the great Art Farmer on trumpet – making one of his rare (and appreciated!) Blue Note appearances on the set! The tracks have a good mixture of hardbop and more lyrical overtones – in a manner that's similar to Silver's work, but with a little more gutbucket soloing on tenor from Mobley. Titles include "Base On Balls", "Fin De L'Affaire", "Funk In Deep Freeze", and "Startin From Scratch". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – alternate takes of "Funk In Deep Freeze" and "Wham & They're Off". CD

This is the kind of battle we like to see! Three heavy tenors – Nelson, King, and Jimmy Forrest – come head to head in a relaxed set of tunes cut in that Prestige blowing session mode, but tweaked with a bit more tightness, in the style of some of the label's emerging soul jazz sides of the 60s. Nelson's gutsy tenor will shock you if you haven't heard him in this sort of less restrained setting – and Forrest's work from this time is always a treat. Titles include "Blues For MF", "Anacruses", "Perdido", and "In Passing". Includes the bonus track "Soul Street". CD

A brilliantly bubbling session from Hammond genius John Patton – and a set that serves as a real link between the gutbucket soul of his early years, and some of the fresher phrasing he was beginning to explore at Blue Note! Patton's lines on the keys are a wonderful thing to behold (and behear!) – as they're both rhythmic, but extremely fluid and exploratory – more conceived around some of the new ideas on tenor at the time, and pushing forward roughly into the same territory as Larry Young – but with more of Patton's rootsy soul still intact. Junior Cook is in the group on most tracks on tenor – sounding quite fresh himself in this context as he leaps around with new energy – and the rest of the group features Jimmy Ponder on guitar and Clifford Jarvis on drums. The cuts are all originals, further proof of Patton's genius through his writing – and titles include "String Bean", "I Want To Go Home", "Dirty Fingers", and "Daddy James". CD

Although most of the world knows Ike Quebec these days for his "comeback" recordings with Blue Note in the early 60s, back in the 40s, he recorded some totally smoking sides for the label that show him playing in a much younger, gutsier vein – nicely shifting between the camps of bop and swing, as a fierce young tenor master. Those recordings, all originally issued on 78s, have all been tough to find – and now they're paired nicely with a great set of recordings that Quebec did for the Savoy label around the same time. Both sets are excellent material by one of the most woefully overlooked tenorists of the 20th century, and this set features great remastering, and probably the best packaging we've ever seen for the material. There's a total of 22 cuts in all – with a number of unreleased ones – and titles include "Zig Billion", "IQ Blues", "Jim Dawgs", "Facin The Face", "Tiny Exercise", and "Hard Tack". CD

A very unique album from Sonny Rollins – one that features him blowing tenor over some Latin-based rhythms that have a tight uptempo feel. The core group on the album features Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Ben Riley on drums – but they're augmented by larger arrangements that mix together bossa nova and calypso rhythms, which forge a surprisingly great background for Rollins' gutsy tenor. Although it's easy to dismiss the record as a throwaway cash-in affair on the Latin boom of the early 60s – Rollins actually handles himself wonderfully, and the longer-than-usual tracks on the album show a whole new side of his talents that were later reprised on Latin sessions during the 70s. Titles include "Bluesongo", "Jungoso", "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", and "Brownskin Girl". CD

An amazing return to form for the Ethiopiques series – wonderful cuts from that early 70s moment when Ethiopian music was really exploding with new ideas! If you've dug some of the other sets in the series – especially those by Mulatu, Tlahoun Gessesse, and Mahmoud Ahmed – you'll find plenty to love here – as the rhythms are exotic, the instrumentation unusual, and the sounds out of this world – really amazing stuff that breaks down any conventions you might expect – exactly that fresh spirit that's been taken up by so many younger artists in recent years. As with other volumes, notes are both in English and French, with lots of images too – and titles include "Wefe Yelala" by Damtew Ayele, "Gebre Guratch Gute" by Abbebe Tessemma, "Yakolele" by Gemetchu Itana, "Kasegnesh" by Tlahoun Gessesse, "Balendjere" by Abayneh Dedjene, "Yeborena Game" by Hayle Werque, and "Ayamaru Eshete" by Essatu Tessemma. CD

Includes music Stephanie Mills, New Edition, Silvia Striplin, Eighties Ladies, Thelma Houston, Cuba Gooding, Gwen Guthrie, the Bar-Kays, Atlantic Starr, and more – 30 tracks total. CD

A gem of a session from both players – and one of the long-lost sides on the short-lived Metrojazz label from MGM! Adams and Knepper head up a soulful group that features Wynton Kelly on piano (and a bit of organ!), Doug Watkins on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The real charm, though, is from Adams' solos, which are in that perfect gutbuckety mode that he could hit when he wanted to – a deep, dark drink the best tone the bari could offer, never getting clumsy at all, thanks to some lively rhythm playing. It's another one of those amazing sets recorded on a single date in NYC! Titles include "Minor Catastrophe", "Riverside Drive", All Too Soon", "Beaubien, "Primrose Path", and "Adams In The Apple". CD

Brilliant late work from Ayler – 2 albums in a single set! The Love Cry session has none of the jazz-meets-other music feel of some of the other Impulse albums – and is more in the straight expressive style of the ESP recordings. Tracks are more reined in here – with some short themes that are almost a distillation of the freedom Ayler had been expressing for a few years, summed up beautifully in tunes that have a plaintive cry, filled with as much soul and love as Ayler could muster into his horn! Players include Don Ayler, Cal Cobbs, Alan Silva, and Milford Graves – and titles include "Zion Hill", "Love Flower", "Love Cry", "Ghosts", "Omega", and "Dancing Flowers". That's followed by Ayler's last album ever – and an incredibly strange batch of tracks that shows perfectly the kind of stylistic and emotional struggle he was going through in the final years of his life. Like the albums New Grass and Love Cry, this one shows Ayler toying with influences from other genres – like rock and soul – in order to better communicate his message to the masses. And while there's some strange odd moments that don't really work, there's others that have a gutsiness that's stunning – especially from the otherwise serious (by this point) NY underground. Players include Bobby Few, Muhammad Ali, and Stafford James – and tracks include "Untitled Duet", "Again Comes The Rising Of The Sun", "Toiling", "Birth Of Mirth", and "Desert Blood". CD

One of the few sessions ever recorded by tenor player Walter Benton – a great talent with a very strong voice, coming out of a gutsier 50s era, and growing into a capable hardbop player by the time of this set. The album's got Benton playing in a quintet that features Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and either Jimmy Cobb or Albert Heath on drums – and although the group's clearly not Benton's working unit, the overall sound of the record is quite strong, with very capable rhythm playing, and some nicely arcing solos with spirit and surprising touches. Titles include "Iris", "Night Movement", "A Blues Mood", "Azil", and "Walter's Altar". CD

2 of Oscar Brown's classic Columbia albums – back to back on one CD! Tell It Like It Is is a great early album by Oscar – one that focuses on his own compositions, and a few other hip tunes written by other jazz players, with new vocals added by Oscar! These kind of tracks are the stuff that made him a legend instantly – strongly voiced vocal tunes, handled with a flair that few other singers could match, save for Jon Hendricks, who also shared Oscar's talent for crafting a jazz-based lyric. Arrangements are by Oscar's hometown talent Floyd Morris – and titles include "One Foot In the Gutter", "The Snake" (later covered by Al Wilson), "So Help Me (A Little 3/4 For God & Co)", "The Tree & Me", and marvelous lyrical versions of Miles Davis' "All Blues" and Duke Pearson's "Jeanine". Essential stuff for jazz juice fans! In A New Mood is a tight set featuring Oscar Brown Jr. performing jazz material written (mostly) by other composers, shifting the focus away from his earlier records, which have more of his own compositions. Ralph Burns and Al Cohn handled the arrangements – and Oscar sparkles with a straight jazz flair on tracks that include Mood Indigo", "Hey There", "Go Down Moses", "Where or When", and "Straighten Up and Fly Right". CD

One of our favorite albums by Kenny Dorham – and a really different session than his usual studio work! The album captures Kenny in a relaxed live setting, with a bit more dirt on his horn than usual, and some great gutsy players in the group, like Bobby Timmons, Sam Jones, and JR Monterose. This third volume to the set is a Japanese-only pressing – with titles that weren't on the original album. Tracks include "KD's Blues (alternate)", "Riffin", "Who Cares (alternate)", "NY Theme", and "Monaco (alternate)". CD

Plenty plenty soul here – as Milt Jackson's moving away from the Modern Jazz Quartet, and working with a great group of players that really expand his sound! The session's a bit like some of Milt's soul jazz work for Riverside and other labels – in that it's got rhythms, timings, and solos that all are much more gutbuckety than you'd expect from the other side of his career – a real nod towards the nascent soul jazz sound in the late 50s, served up with lots of undercurrents from R&B and gospel in the mix. Side one features players that include Ronnie Peters on alto sax, Frank Foster on tenor, and Sahib Shihab on baritone – plus Horace Silver on piano – and Silver makes a return appearance on side two, alongside a group that includes Lucky Thompson on tenor and Joe Newman on trumpet. Titles include "Plenty, Plenty Soul", "Boogity Boogity", "Heartstrings", "Sermonette", "The Spirit Feel", "Ignunt Oil", and "Blues At Twilight". CD

JJ Johnson's greatest album – without a doubt! This gem of a session was recorded in 1960 in New York, with an incredibly hip sextet that includes Cedar Walton, Clifford Jordan, and Freddie Hubbard. The tracks are all long, hip, and very much in a Blue Note soul jazz mode – very unusual not only for Johnson, but for Columbia records as well. The album feels like it should have been issued on Epic, with those killer Dave Bailey sides from 1961 – which might be why it has frequently gotten lost in Johnson's career, hidden amidst some of the sleepier material that seems to see the light of day more often than this one. The album's a stone winner all the way through – and features Johnson playing some of his gutsiest solos ever. Tracks include "Minor Mist", "In Walked Horace", "Fatback", "Aquarius", and "Shutterbug". CD

One of Hank Mobley's last recordings for Blue Note, and a record that really shows him stretching it out – hitting territory hardly imagined on his earlier hardbop sides! The album's still somewhat inside, but the overall feel is much more spacious than before – a sound that has some nice open moments, and which shows Hank not content to simply blow tenor in a deep, gutbuckety mode – even though that was still pretty darn great! The lineup is a sextet – with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Eddie Diehl on guitar, Cedar Walton on piano, Mickey Bass on bass, and Leroy Williams on drums – a different-than-usual combo for Mobley, and one that furthers the unusual feel of the record. Side one features the extended "Suite" – proof that Mobley's writing had grown as much as labelmate Lee Morgan by the end of the 60s. Other tracks continue that fact – and include "Justine", "You Gotta Hit It", and "Talk About Getting It" – plus "Gayle's Groove", which was written by Bass. The set was originally recorded in 1970, but was not issued on vinyl until 1980! CD

Davy Mooney on gutiar, John Ellis on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Felipe Silveira on piano Thiago Alves on bass, and Paulinho Vicente on drums. CD

Classic Hammond work from female organ legend Shirley Scott – in her best mode of the 60s! Here's the reasons: 1) The group features husband Stanley Turrentine on tenor, adding in some nice extra tones to Shirley's usual trio! 2 ) The rhythm section is Bob Cranshaw and Otis Finch – surely one of Shirley's best. 3) The set was recorded live, in the Front Froom in Newark, with a real down-home gutbucket approach that's different from some of the other Impulse albums. 4) Tracks are long, with plenty of room for soloing – even more so than some of Shirley's other records of the time. Titles include "That's For Me", "Rapid Shave", and "Squeeze Me". Nuff said! CD

Tracks include "The Perils Of Self-Betterment", "I want To Be Cholorphylled I: Corpos Conductor", "Gutbucket Asylum", and "Compassion Montage". CD

Socking soul from Dee Dee Sharp – one of the hardest acts on the legendary Cameo/Parkway label! Dee Dee's got a rough, gospelly tone in her vocals that makes for a really nice change from sweeter 60s girl singers – a gutsy approach to the lead that stands out wonderfully, and which really marks her as one of the key females in the move to deep soul at the time. This 24 track set is easily the best collection we've ever seen of her work for the Cameo label – and it's a well-done, remastered package that also features details for each individual tune – tracing Sharp's early work with arranger Dave Appell, up to later recordings with the soon-to-be-famous team of Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble, the latter of whom would later become Dee Dee's husband! Titles include "Mashed Potato Time", "Never Pick A Pretty Boy", "Rock Me In The Cradle Of Love", "Slow Twistin", "Ride", "Do The Bird", "Baby Cakes", "Why Doncha Ask Me", "There Ain't Nothin I Wouldn't Do For You", "Deep Dark Secret", "I Really Love You", "To Know Him Is To Love Him", and "It's A Funny Situation". CD

An incredible album – one of our favorite Blue Notes ever! Despite the fact that the album's a spare quartet session, the record is one of Wayne Shorter's richest – and features his gutsy young tenor soloing insanely with a rhythmically intense combo that includes Herbie Hancock on piano, Reggie Workman on bass, and Joe Chambers on drums – a wonderfully free-thinking rhythm trio! Workman's bass is especially strong, and it underpins the cuts with a throbbing pulse that takes them past any simple hardbop conventions. Every cut's a winner – and this is one album we reach for time and time again over the years! Titles include "Adam's Apple", "El Gaucho", "Footprints", and "Teru". CD reissue contains an extra bonus cut, "The Collector". CD

A strong second set by Angie Stone – with production work by Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Raphael Saadiq, Rufus Blaq, and others – warmly wrapped up in a NuSoul orgy of beats, smooth instrumentation, and gutsy soul vocals. Titles include "The Ingredients Of Love" with Musiq Soulchild, "Snowflakes", "Soul Insurance", "Brotha", "Pissed Off", "More Than A Woman" with Calvin, "Brotha Part 2", "Time Of The Month", and "Wish I Didn't Miss You". CD

A surprisingly nice set that brings together Clark Terry and Thelonious Monk! Given Terry's bright approach to jazz, it's a bit hard to imagine him and Monk working well together – but at the time of this session, Clark still had a fair bit of an edge – with roots in a number of modern styles of the 50s, and a flair for crafting a compelling line on his horn. The set's got a number of nice originals – and titles include "In Orbit", "Pea Eye", "Argentina", "One Foot In The Gutter", and "Buck's Business". CD

Genius work from one of the most solid groups in 60s jazz – the quintet co-led by trumpeter Clark Terry and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer – a legendary ensemble that drew on the best talents of both players, but grew into something greater! Brookmeyer's playing valve trombone throughout on the tunes – played in a fluid, trumpety way that matches perfectly with Terry's own phrasing – and which almost creates a sense of counterpoint on the head arrangements, yet which never falls into styles that are too academic or modern. There's a fluid easy grace here that's really surprising – with none of Terry's gutbuckety tricks or Brookmeyer's too experimental moments – and overall, the group have a solid, soulful quality that almost reminds us of the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet, or of some of Farmer's other key recordings of the 60s. Rhythm is by the trio of Roger Kellaway on piano, Bill Crow on bass, and Dave Bailey on drums – and the CD features 3 albums' worth of material on 2CDs – 28 titles that include "Tete A Tete", "Pretty Girl", "Blue China", "The King", "Dancing On The Grave", "Sometime Ago", "Hymn", "Green Stamps", "Hawg Jawz", "Simple Waltz", and "Milo's Other Samba". CD

2 live cookers from Cal Tajder – back to back on a single CD! The set begins with Night At The Blackhawk – one of Cal's best late 50s dates for Fantasy Records – thanks to some smoking tenor sax from Jose "Chombo" Silva! The album has Cal working in the very comfortable territory of San Francisco's Blackhawk Nightclub – in a combo that also features familiar players Vince Guaraldi on piano, Al McKibbon on bass, Willie Boby on drums, and Mongo Santamaria on congas – all musicians who'd previously helped Tjader hit some of his best Latin grooves! But the addition of Silva on a few tracks here really makes the set crackle – giving it a gutsy, soulful fee that you don't always get on some of Tjader's other records. Tracks are longish – and titles include the nice original "Bill B", plus jazzy versions of "I Love Paris", "Blue & Sentimental", and "Night In Tunisia". Live & Direct is great live work from Cal Tjader – one of a number of sets but at his home turf of the Blackhawk Nightclub in San Francisco! The album's nicely laidback, with tracks that stretch out a bit more than Tjader's studio work for Fantasy Records – often hitting a slight Latin groove at times, but with a bit more of a straight jazz vibes feel overall! The great Lonnie Hewitt's on the group on piano, coloring in the tunes with some very soulful notes – and in addition to Cal's vibes, the rest of the lineup includes Victor Venegas on bass, and Willie Bobo on drums. Mongo Santamaria on congas and Rolando Lozano on flute join in on the track "Mambo Terrifico" – and other titles include "Racoon Straits", "Bad & The Beautiful", and "You Stepped Out Of A Dream". Note that the CD omits the track "The Continental" from Live & Direct – due to space restrictions. CD

Tortoise's third album and a pretty remarkable creative leap for the inventive Chicago ensemble – now with the great guitarist Jeff Parker in the fold! Like their earlier records, TNT features a haunting mix of percussion, electronics, and jazz-oriented instrumentation – put together with an approach that's even more sophisticated than earlier releases. That said, the guitar makes a huge difference – and there's a lot of guest players in the mix, including horns and strings. Definitely one of their best ever! Titles include "Swing From The Gutters", "Four Day Interval", "Jetty", "Everglade", and "The Equator". CD

A very successful album for Blue Note – and one that took the searing tenor sax of Stanley Turrentine and backed it with some boldly soulful arrangements from Oliver Nelson! Nelson was perfect at this sort of session – able to provide full backings that infused the record with energy, yet never dominated the space of the soloist – and Turrentine really rises to the occasion here, and matches the quality heard in similar Nelson sessions with Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, and Cannonball Adderley! Other players in the core group here include Kenny Burrell and Herbie Hancock – but Stan's the main star of the set with his gutsy tenor lines, all blown beautifully in a way that points towards his later experiments in this mode. Titles include "Bayou", "Mattie T", "Little Sheri", and "River's Invitation" – and the CD features the bonus tracks "Gravy Train" and "A Kettle Of Fish". CD

One of best ever albums by Tom Waits – the beginning of his gutbuckety, Americana Carnivalesque era of dreamlike sinister romance and lovelorn surrealism! The tin pan piano ballads and get pushed a bit to the wayside for Tom's more mysterious and poetic side, and this begins one of the great second acts in pop/rock history. Includes the tracks "Underground", "Shore Leave", "Dave The Butcher", "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six", "Franks Wild Years", "Down, Down, Down", "Rainbirds", "Just Another Sucker On The Vine", "Town With No Cheer", and others. CD

Includes tracks by Jesse Johnson, Klique, Angela Winbush, Rick James, Ready For The World, Bobby Brown, Oran "Juice" Jones, Gwen Guthrie, Cameo, and Joyce Kennedy & Jeffrey Osborne. CD

Music from Woody Guthrie, James Shorty, Viola James & Congregation, Leadbelly, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson & Big Bill Broonzy, Vera Hall, Bessie Jones & group, Sidney Lee Carter, Kelly Pace & group, Cleveland Simmons group, Macbeth the Great, Duke Of Iron, Georgia Turner and more. CD

Includes music from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Paul Robeson, Cisco Houston, Phil Ochs, and the New Lost City Ramblers. CD

Music from Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Janis Ian, The New World Singers, Liz Getz, Peter La Farge, Phil Ochs, The Bergerfolk, Pete Seeger, and more. CD

Extended long play club versions of 12 tracks by Black Box, Soul II Soul, Cece Peniston, Snap, Technotronic, Cathy Dennis, Crystal Waters, Lidell Townsell, Lil' Louis, Sybil, Gwen Guthrie, and Joyce Sims. CD

Music from Woody Guthrie, Norman Blake, Mississippi John Hurt, David Bromberg, Etta Baker, Alison Krauss & the Cox Family, Roy Book Binder, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Boozoo Chavis, Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Ted Hawkins, Ted Lundy, Don Stover, Boone Creek & much more. CD