A wonderful soundtrack to one of the most important films to Latin music in the 70s! This double-length set features a huge array of work from the movie – not only important musical bits, both live and in the studio, but also snippets from TV, concert introductions, and lots lots more that show the range and cultural impact of the early 70s New York scene – stretching way past a simple understanding that you might have from other records! Players include Ray Barretto, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Pacheco, and Bobby Valentin – and tracks include "Drum Story", "The Sugar Cane", "Hollywood", "Barrio", "Mi Gente", "Congo Bongo", "Slave Ship", "African Village", and "Soul Makossa". Also features guest appearances by Geraldo Rivera, Dezi Arnaz, Ismael Quintana, Carmen Miranda, and Al Jolson! LP, Vinyl record album

Genius material from Waylon Jennings – one of those career-defining records from the early 70s that completely put him on top, and heralded a whole new generation in country music! The set's maybe equally noteworthy as a showcase for the up-and-coming Billy Joe Shaver, who wrote much of the songs on the record – and it's also a great showcase for the important production talents of Tompall Glaser, who really gets the spirit of the music right! Titles include great versions of "Honky Tonk Heroes", "Old Five & Dimers Like Me", "Ride Me Down Easy", "Black Rose", "Willy The Wandering Gypsy & Me", "Omaha", and "Ain't No God In Mexico". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent Japanese performance from the Modern Jazz Quartet – and a set that was issued in a bit of a lull during their 60s American years for Atlantic Records – which makes it even more important as a key part of their catalog at the time! The 1966 date has the combo in fine form – and almost stepping out with a bit of added soulfulness, in ways that echo some of the styles that Milt Jackson was exploring on his own at the time, and which seem to be brought back to the group! Milt's vibes are wonderful – ringing out with a great sense of pride and presence that may well go beyond earlier MJQ material – and titles include "Really True Blues", "The Cylinder", "Midsommer", "Animal Dance", "For Someone I Love", "Ralph's New Blues", "Pyramid", "Home", "Winter Tale", "Blues Milanese", and "Bag's Groove". LP, Vinyl record album

A surprising jazz funk stunner from drummer Idris Muhammad – part of his great second chapter of work for CTI in the 70s! Idris is working here in a style that's very different than his heavy-footed funky work on Prestige and Blue Note – and while it's easy to criticize him for not keeping the same old breakbeat funk style, it's also important to give him a lot of credit for pushing his vision way past the simple stock style of the earlier days! The record's a very nice set of complicated jazzy grooves – some a bit clubby, but many very nice, and with the kind of sophisticated funk arrangements that were on the best Kudu records. No surprise that Dave Matthews is putting together most of the cuts, save for one excellent groove that's arranged by Tom Harrell. Players include Fred Wesley, Ronnie Cuber, Eric Gale, and Wilbur Bascomb – and titles include "Baia", "Sudan", "Hey Pocky A Way", "Theme For New York City", which is based on the same Chopin haunting tune as Serge Gainsbourg's "Jane B"! LP, Vinyl record album

One of three incredible albums cut by trumpeter Dizzy Reece for Blue Note Records – all a bit unusual, in that Dizzy was a key part of the scene in London at the time, and not part of the regular New York group that were so important to the Blue Note roster at the end of the 50s! Yet despite that difference, Reece fits into the groove perfectly – with a bold sound on trumpet that's a nice change from the usual – set up in a classic hardbop lineup that includes Hank Mobley on tenor, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Mobley's playing is fantastic – as on all of his Blue Notes – and his presence alone takes the set into another level. His solos on the harder tracks are all great, and played with a razor-sharp edge that opens up Reece a lot more than usual too – very different than some of his work recorded in the UK. Tracks include "The Rebound", "Groovesville", "The Rake", and "A Variation On Monk". Great stuff, and a true classic lost Blue Note! LP, Vinyl record album

One of THE electronic records of the 60s – an album so important, the Silver Apples took their name from the title – and a whole other generation of artists took strong inspiration from the electronic creations of Morton Subotnick! Before the set, much electronic music of this nature was a bit more academic, and often slightly cold – but Subotnick was able to bring things into a more organic, maybe more freewheeling style – using all sorts of cool analogue elements in ways that would run through Perry & Kingsley, Beaver & Krause, and even Stereolab! The work is billed as the "first original full-scale composition created expressly for the record medium" – a great testament to Subotnick's intentions for his creation, and a desire to get it more widely circulated than previous electronic recordings. LP, Vinyl record album

A damn legendary record from the last years of Chess Records – and for good reason, too! Archie Whitewater were a group that was years ahead of its time – a rock combo, but one with real genre-crossing sensibilities that made them perfect for the experimental styles at the Cadet/Concept side of Chess – the same slice of the musical universe that gave us Rotary Connection and important productions from Charles Stepney! The sound here has some surprisingly soulful elements at times – especially the instrumentation, which features some great break moments that get nice and funky, and strands of soulful jazz and blues that really make the music way different than most other groups we can think of – or maybe a bit like a rare elite who shared such visionary territory with Archie Whitewater, such as Shades Of Joy on their first Fontana record. The keyboards and sax lines are as great as the drums – and the vocals have a melancholy undercurrent that's a really refreshing change from some of the overly-postured modes you'd get from other groups in 1970. Titles include the sublime sample cut "Cross Country" – but there's loads of other nice ones with the same stripped-down "Dusty Fingers" sort of groove – and other titles include "Life Is A River", "Home Again", "Lament For The Walking Dead", "Seacoast", "Country To the City", "Friends & Neighbors", and "Mist Of The Early Morning". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful early live work from Gato Barbieri – heard here both before his important American records on Impulse, and his earlier emergence in the global avant garde – already blowing with a really wonderful tone on tenor, in a hip quartet that features the great Ruben Baby Lopez Furst on piano! The set's a wonderful illustration of the way that modern modes showed up on the Argentine scene and very quickly made it one of the hippest in South America – a move that's signaled especially as Gato takes on two key Coltrane compositions amidst well-done versions of familiar numbers. Most tracks are nice and long, overflowing with strong tenor and piano solos – and the group features bass from Jorge Negro Gonzalez and drums from Antonio Tony Harris – on titles that include "Village Blues", "Impressions", "What Is This Thing Called Love", "Round Midnight", and "You Say You Care". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the first truly important records from Don Cherry as a leader – and an amazingly well-crafted session that brings together ideas from his early years with Ornette, and expands them with some of the freedoms he was learning from the European scene! The record boasts a format and lineup that's quite unusual for Blue Note at the time – 2 side-long "suite" tracks, performed by a group that features Cherry on cornet, Pharoah Sanders on tenor and piccolo, Karl Berger on vibes and piano, Gato Barbieri on tenor, Ed Blackwell on drums, and both Jean-Francois Jenny- Clark and Henry Grimes on bass! There's a fair bit of room for creative improvising on the session, but the overall album's a bit more structured than contemporary free jazz outings – and clearly shows the mark of Cherry's interpolation of styles at the time. Two long suites are entitled "Symphony For Improvisers" and "Manhattan Cry" – with shorter passages that include "Nu Creative Love", "Infant Happiness", "Manhattan Cry", and "Lunatic". LP, Vinyl record album

A garage psych masterpiece! Count Five only ever recorded this one album – an instantly powerful blend of fuzzy guitars, heavy burnout organ grooves, raucous rhythms that are as urgent & hard grooving as can be – a record as important to the sound of Northern California rock as early Love records were to the sound of Southern California – which is say it's some of the most influential rock & roll of all time even if they're something less than household names! Titles include "Double Decker Bus", "Psychotic Reaction", "The World", "She's Fine", "The Morning After", and "Out In The Street". LP, Vinyl record album

An early cooker from Richard Groove Holmes – and one of the most important Hammond jazz sets to come out of the west coast at the time! At a point when most folks think the east has a lock on the instrument, Groove bursts forth here with a great hard-edged sound – proof that the LA scene didn't just go for cool jazz and the occasional hardbop date – and the start of a great run of records that would have Holmes sounding great all through the 60s! The lineup is nicely unusual, too – with guitar from Chicagoan George Freeman, then on the west coast – and a key part of Holmes' group for years – and trombone from the excellent Lawrence Tricky Lofton, a player who rarely recorded, but made some great sides with Carmell Jones. The group also features Les McCann on piano, a nice combo with the organ – plus Ben Webster on tenor and Ron Jefferson on drums. Titles include "Good Groove", "That Healin' Feelin'", "Them That's Got", and "Deep Purple". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool solo album from Arif Mardin – the arranger who turned out so much wonderful work for soul singers in the 60s, 70s, and 80s – a legacy that includes some of the most important recordings for Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan! Yet here, Arif's out on his own in an instrumental setting – working in this very hip, very groovy late 60s mode that ties together all the best currents happening on Atlantic Records at the time – soul music, mod jazz, and even a bit of Latin and Brazil – all wrapped up into a sparkling set of arrangements from the man himself! Titles include a number of covers, but redone by Mardin in a really great way – and tracks include the great original "Midnight Walk" – plus "Glass Onion", "Sympathy For the Devil", "Walk On By", "Listen Here", and "Ain't No Way". LP, Vinyl record album

A live album from the mighty Frankie Beverly and Maze – and a set that's every bit as important as their studio classics for Capitol Records! It's always a sign of how huge Frankie Beverly was during the 80s that Capitol let him cut not one, but two double live albums during the early part of the decade – and this one, his first, has the band grooving wonderfully before a crowd going mad in the Crescent City – while the group keep all the perfection, sharp grooves, and sophisticated soul that they had on record! The songs retain all the charm of the studio renditions – and are stretched out a bit more in the live setting, with some really nice interplay with the crowd – who are clearly going nuts in the presence of the group. Titles include the famous live version of "Joy & Pain" – sampled heavily back in the day – plus other classics that include live takes on "Happy Feelins", "Southern Girl", "Look At California", "Before I Let Go", "We Need Love To Love", "The Look In Your Eyes", "Running Away", "Reason", "Feel That You're Fallin", "You", and "Changing Times". LP, Vinyl record album

A real mind-trip – and an incredible document of the times – not just ideas floating around in the late 60s, but also new ways of making records too! The album is loosely based around ideas and writings from The Medium Is The Massage – McLuhan's important 1967 book, co-written with Quentin Fiore – and represented here as a wild sound collage that blends together music, sounds, media snippets, and readings by McLuhan, Fiore, and a host of other voices! The album's actually much more of a "happening" than a spoken word album – a real studio party that's cut up and messed up by all the added effects, sounds, and music – genius that comes from Jerome Agel, who put the whole project together – and delivered it to the loving hands of John Simon, who produced some other wonderful records of this nature for late 60s Columbia. A real delight throughout – and the kind of an album we wish people still kept making! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Willie Nelson's real classics for Columbia Records – a concept album that follows off some of his important mid 70s projects – much more unified overall than some of his other records from the time, and carefully put together down in Spicewood, Texas! Johnny Gimble plays fiddle and mandolin, Grady Martin is on guitar, and titles include "Changing Skies", "My Love For The Rose", "Somewhere In Texas", "Little Old Fashioned Karma", "Nobod Slides My Friend", and "The Convict & The Rose". LP, Vinyl record album

The last album ever from the amazing Minnie Riperton – and one of her greatest records as well! The album was sadly issued after Minnie's untimely early passing from this planet – but it's a heavenly batch of tunes that definitely shows that her love of music lives forever – thanks not only to a strong talent for songwriting and sublime production from husband Richard Rudolph – but also some important help from a variety of all-star guests who are all brought together out of deep affection for Minnie. George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Patrice Rushen, Peabo Bryson and others all make key appearances here – working with arrangements from Johnny Pate, and vocals the Minnie recorded for the record before its completion. Titles include the perennial favorite "Here We Go" – easily one of Minnie's greatest tunes ever – plus "I'm In Love Again", "You Take My Breath Away", "Strange Affair", "Island In The Sun", and " The Song Of Life (La-La-La)". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Mongo's biggest records of the early 70s – and an important early side for Atlantic Records! Moving to Atlantic from Columbia, Mongo hipped things up even more – picking up on important trends in soul, rock, and the Latin underground of the time. Atlantic gave Mongo the freedom to open things up a bit more – and fill his grooves with a bit more funk, jazz, and Chicano soul than heard on earlier albums. The result is a wonderful blend of styles that crackles with electricity from track to track. Arrangements are by Mongo's longtime partner, Marty Sheller – and titles include "Hip Hug Her", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Hold On, I'm Coming", "On Broadway", and "In A Gadda Da Vida", which is a real trip! LP, Vinyl record album

Masterful funky soul jazz from the mid 70s – and one of the best solo albums recorded by Headhunter Bill Summers – a sunny batch of Bay Area funk that really grooves with the best of Fantasy Records from the time! The set was produced by Skip Scarborough, and has that great bubbling, stepping, soulful groove that was Scarborough's best contribution to jazz funk – a trademark groove that was every bit as important to the 70s as the work of Bob James or Larry Mizell! Summers' work on congas and percussion is excellent and the players are totally top shelf – the core group features drums by Alphonse Mouzon, bass by Paul Jackson, and keyboards by Scarborough – and vocalists on the set include Dianne Reeves, Mikki Morris, and Charles Meeks. Titles include "Drum Suite", "Come Into My Life", "People Know", "Just A Matter Of Time", "No One", "Check It Out", and "Que Sabroso". LP, Vinyl record album

A smooth smooth classic from Grover Washington Jr – a set that has a classy image on the cover, and a classic groove within – a completely sublime blend of jazz, soul, and funk, all given the sort of masterful finish that you might have found on the best records by The Crusaders at the time! The difference, though, is that Washington's the lead soloist throughout – crafting some especially nice lines on his trademark soprano sax – which he used in ways that made him one of the most important mainstream jazz artists of his time – and one of the few to really open the doors of the music to folks who might not have been listening otherwise. Grover's sense of space and timing is wonderful throughout – and titles include the classic debut with Bill Withers on "Just The Two Of Us" –plus "Winelight", "Let It Flow", "In The Name Of Love", "Take Me There", and "Make Me A Memory (Sad Samba)". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic look at the groundbreaking sounds of the Disques Debs label – one of the most important companies producing music in the French Caribbean – and an imprint whose impact was strongly felt on the other side of the Atlantic as well! The core of these grooves is that compelling biguine rhythm that flowed from Guadeloupe – almost a mix of Latin and jazz, but with a different sort of vibe of its own – which was then interwoven with elements from Cuban, European, and African styles amidst the initial decade or so of recordings on this set! Debs had strong ties with Paris, and a bit with the West African scene – and their recorded legacy almost follows old colonial paths, but in reverse – creating this wonderful criss-crossing of cultures amidst their grooves. The package is wonderful – loads of vintage photos and great notes in the best Strut Records way – and titles include "Douce Kombass" by Henri Debs Quintet, "Mr Morin" by Joseph Lacides, "Lan Mise" by Geno Exilie, "Feeling Happy" by Cyril Dias Et Son Orchestre, "Ces P'Tits Je T'Aime" by Daniel Forestal Et Sa Guitare, "Assez Fait Cancan" by Guy Conquette, "Stanislas" by Eric Virgal, "Meringue Mondey" by Remy Mondey, "Si I Bon Di I Bon" by Le Ry-Co Jazz, "Salvana" by Dolor Et Les Diables Du Rhythme, and "Van Van" by Henri Guedon Et Les Contesta. LP, Vinyl record album

Important second chapter work from Ornette Coleman – a record that marked a real shift in his sound from the Atlantic Records years – issued by Blue Note at a level that gave the rest of the world a chance to see what Ornette had been cooking up on the underground scene! The album was recorded in Stockholm – in the tradition of European live performances that saw Coleman grow so strongly in the mid 60s – and the tracks are long, free, and full of improvised moments – with Ornette adding in trumpet and violin next to his familiar alto – in a trio with David Izenzon on bass and Charles Moffett on drums – both fantastic players who can be loose at the right moments, and bring things back at others. Tracks are long and unbridled – with less of the rhythmic changes that you'd hear in work by the classic quartet, and more of a full-on fierce soloing mode. Titles include "Faces & Places", "Dee Dee", and "Dawn". LP, Vinyl record album

A sublime little set all the way through – an early 60s date from the west coast scene – and one that was almost as important to that side of the country as the Verve bossa records were to New York! Bud Shank's in the lead on alto sax – no flute at all this time around – blowing sharp and soulfully, in a way that's even more deft than most of his other albums! But the equal star here is the young Clare Fischer – who plays piano in the group, and also contributed a host of original tunes to the set – fresh numbers that are way different than the usual "bossa-ized" standards, or American remakes of Brazilian classics. Ralph Pena is a key member of the group on bass – and Larry Bunker plays some vibes as well. Titles include "Joao", "Pensativa", "Samba Guapo", "Samba Da Borboleta", and "Que Mais?". LP, Vinyl record album