One of Bill Evans' most beautiful albums from the time – and one that features the fantastic team of Jeremy Steig and Eddie Gomez, who were cutting some beautiful records for other labels at the time. Steig's flute later got very silly, but at this point, he's got a raw stripped-down sound that works perfectly with Gomez's warm, slightly funky basslines – making for a slightly soulful approach that really transforms the session. Evans is no slouch either – and the youthful company makes him play some of his best bits in years – on titles that include "Time Out For Chris", "So What", "Spartacus Love Theme", and "Autumn Leaves". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent funky jazz from Jeremy Steig – the funkiest flute player we can think of! The record takes up where Jeremy's LPs on Solid State left off – adding Steig's hard-blowing flute to some groundbreaking beat-heavy backings by Gene Perla and Eddie Gomez on bass, Don Alias on drums, and Jan Hammer on electric piano. The sound is super-dope – and the cuts feel like they fell off some lost blacksploitation soundtrack from the early 70s. All titles are great, and the record's a completely unified, fiercely funky set that should be in the collection of any fan of funky electric jazz. Titles include "Down Stretch", "Swamp Carol", "Home", "Cakes", and "Come With Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare CTI entry from funky flute master Jeremy Steig – a musician whose style is a great fit for the label! There's more of an electric vibe here than on Steig's earlier records – but that creates a nice current of soul that really helps things take off in a nicely different way. The record features Steig's funky flute in front of some larger arrangements by David Matthews – and the style of the record is a blend of CTI electric and some of the choppier bits of earlier Steig albums, blended with some mellow soul lead vocals on three tracks by Googie Coppola – who sings in a manner that's almost like Minnie Riperton! Tracks include the funky groover "Hopscotch", plus the nice soul tracks "Firefly", "Living Inside Your Love", and "Everything Is Coming To The Light". LP, Vinyl record album

Pure greatness from Jeremy Steig – an album of funky flute tracks that really opened up whole new possibilities for the instrument! Steig was probably working in equal parts jazz and rock at the time of the date – but definitely moves into a funky jazz mode for the session – one that often uses some cool studio tricks to really bring the most out of the flute sound – creating some echo and other odd twists that make things trippy, way more than you'd hear on other records of this nature! Plus, Steig's unique style of blowing – one that takes the Roland Kirk breathiness to the "nth degree" – really helps work well with the groove, which also features electric piano from Warren Bernhardt! A record whose vibes are still being felt strongly today – with cuts that include "Insanity", "Flute Diddley", "Lenny's Tomb", "Don't Make Promises", "Mac D", and "Teresa's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A really hip record from fluteman Jeremey Steig – and a set that's nice and lean, with a very cool groove! The lineup just features Eddie Gomez on bass, Ray Mantilla on congas, and Marty Morrell on drums – and Gomez is fantastic, with a rich sound that's very different than his work with Bill Evans – funky at times, and sounding great next to the percussion! Titles include "Djinn Djinn", "Space Maiden", "Monium", and "Dream Passage". LP, Vinyl record album

A great late 70s chapter in the career of funky drummer Idris Muhammad – moving into very different territory here than his early soul jazz with Lou Donaldson, and even his earliest solo material too! David Matthews arranged the tracks, and he's given them a slick but soulful sound, with lots of spacey fusion elements, and a nice funky soul vibe that's a bit similar to some of Larry Mizell's work – stretched out in this great mix of grooves and deeper jazzier elements – even at a level that's hipper than Matthews' usual material from the time. Idris is at the core on percussion – and the lineup also includes Jeremy Steig on flute, Eric Gale on guitar, Randy Brecker on trumpet, and Wilbur Bascomb on bass – and titles include the seminal "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This", plus "Cambay Bolongo", "Tasty Cakes", "Crab Apple", "Moon Hymn", and "Say What". LP, Vinyl record album

A great late 70s chapter in the career of funky drummer Idris Muhammad – moving into very different territory here than his early soul jazz with Lou Donaldson, and even his earliest solo material too! David Matthews arranged the tracks, and he's given them a slick but soulful sound, with lots of spacey fusion elements, and a nice funky soul vibe that's a bit similar to some of Larry Mizell's work – stretched out in this great mix of grooves and deeper jazzier elements – even at a level that's hipper than Matthews' usual material from the time. Idris is at the core on percussion – and the lineup also includes Jeremy Steig on flute, Eric Gale on guitar, Randy Brecker on trumpet, and Wilbur Bascomb on bass – and titles include the seminal "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This", plus "Cambay Bolongo", "Tasty Cakes", "Crab Apple", "Moon Hymn", and "Say What". LP, Vinyl record album

Not nearly as primitive as you might guess from the title – and instead, a heady batch of electric funk from the Japanese scene at the start of the 70s! The album's got a heavy dose of percussion at the bottom – drums and more, interwoven with lots of electric guitar in the rhythms – all to support the solo flute lines of Toshiaki Yokota, a player who manages to mix sensitive moments with some really freewheeling lines that would be right at home in the company of Roland Kirk or Jeremy Steig! The range of percussion definitely supports the sound you might imagine from the title – but the guitars also blow the sound away with a heavy, rumbling quality that's plenty modern. LP, Vinyl record album

No crawl space here – as the sound is wide open, and surprisingly funky – a set that stands as one of Art Farmer's few great 70s outings for the CTI label! The album's got Art blowing with all the cool, compressed sound that he'd bring to a straighter album – but on longer tracks, with that open, flowing vibe you might hear on some of Freddie Hubbard's efforts for the label with less bite, and more flow overall! The set includes great work on flute from Jeremy Steig – plus guitar from Eric Gale, keyboards from Dave Grusin, and drums from Steve Gadd – and although the date of this one is late, the sound is in that prime 1972/1973 CTI mode! The album features four long tracks – and titles include "Crawl Space", "Siddhartha", "Petite Belle", and "Chanson". LP, Vinyl record album

The second part of a great Japanese-only session recorded in 1980 – one that features a later edition of the Great Jazz Trio – with Eddie Gomez on bass and Al Foster on drums, next to piano by usual group member Hank Jones! The set's got a hipper feel than usual for the group – partly because Jones plays Fender Rhodes on part of the record, and partly because Gomez's work on bass gives the proceedings a warm and soulful sound – that deep-flowing groove we first came to love in Eddie's work with Bill Evans and Jeremy Steig. Foster's drums are great too – and have a sense of sharpness that changes the Great Jazz Trio sound nicely. Titles include "Peedlun", "Light Listened", "Duplex", "Just Before Dawn", and "Sublime". LP, Vinyl record album

Man, Lew Tabackin looks pretty darn freaky on the cover image for this one – and although we're tempted to bill the record as his stag-like satyric fling away from his wife, Toshiko Akioshi is very much a key part of the session – contributing some wonderful songs and piano lines to the album's small combo groove! Lew plays flute throughout – blowing in these hauntingly snakey lines that are almost more in the spirit of music by cats like Chris Hinze or Jeremy Steig, than Tabackin's usual groove with his big band – a great change from the usual, recorded here with Toshiko on piano, Shelly Manne on drums, and either John Heard or Bob Daugherty on bass. Titles include "Rites Of Pan", "Autumn Sea", "Be Bop", "Jitterbug Waltz", "Elusive Dream", and "Night Nymph". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic middle period work from drummer Idris Muhammad – a set recorded after his initial run of lean funk recordings for the jazz scene – with a bit more soul in the mix, and definitely a bit of boogie in the groove! Arrangements are by David Matthews – the maestro of the soul-styled charts who first honed his craft with James Brown – and the approach here is tight jazz funk, with both a good ear for the clubs, and some of the more sophisticated styles that the CTI/Kudu crowd could appreciate! There's some vocals at times – sung by Frank Floyd, Ray Simpson, and others – but the instrumental component of the album definitely takes the lead - with percussion by Nicky Marrero alongside Muhammad's tight drums – plus Hiram Bullock on guitar, Cliff Carter on keyboards, David Friedman on vibes, and solos from Ray Davis on alto and Jeremy Steig on flute. Titles include "One With A Star", "Boogie To The Top", "Bread", and "Stick It In Your Face". LP, Vinyl record album

Hank Crawford turns his back on the cover of this sweet little set from Kudu – but the groove itself is very upfront, strongly in the best mix of funky jazz and club the label had going down into the late 70s! Arrangements are by David Matthews, who keeps things lean and mean, even when the instrumentation is fairly large – and Hank's nicely burning alto is firmly in the lead, blown with a sound that echoes back to older soul jazz modes of the 60s, but which has some smoother touches overall for the 70s. The album's got plenty of keyboards from Richard Tee, plus trombone solos from Fred Wesley, flute from Jeremy Steig, and guitar from Eric Gale – plus backing vocals on some of the cuts. Titles include "Funky Pigeon", "Midnight Over Memphis", "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", "Canadian Sunset", and "I Can't Stop Loving You". LP, Vinyl record album

The cover art is a great fit for this record – as fluteman Eric Ghost works with some nicely psychedelic styles in his music – often some of the modes that contemporary Jeremy Steig would use on some of his coolest albums of the late 60s! Instrumentation here is nice and lean – percussion, bass, and piano – and there's a tightness to most of the cuts that moves between funky and spiritual modes, both of which are handled wonderfully by Ghost on his variety of flutes – with a mind-expanding approach that's light years past more familiar jazz flute material by an artist like Herbie Mann. Titles include "Moab", "Secret Sauce", "Bizarre Bazaar", "Orangeland", "Oliver Snagnasty", and "Pakakrakatoa". LP, Vinyl record album

An underground classic from Beverly Glenn-Copeland – an artist who was later known more as a keyboard player, but who here works in this amazing blend of folk, jazz, and soul! The album's vaguely in the territory of Terry Callier on early 70s Cadet Records, but also has its own special vibe too – deeper, darker sound overall – with subtle blending of acoustic elements that are mixed with Beverly's vocals in a way that's unlike anything we can really describe! The singer has a subtle power – a style that could be too dramatic in the wrong setting, but which is fitted here with musical elements that really help the songs flower in the best sort of way – instrumentation that includes contributions from Jeremy Steig on flute, Don Thompson on piano, and Lenny Breau on guitar. Titles include the fantastic long groover "Erzili", plus "Cumberland Passing", "Song From Beads", "Colors Of Anyhow", "Ghost House", "Swords Of Cold", and "My Old Rag Or Hysterical Virgin". LP, Vinyl record album

Electric 70s work from Lalo Schifrin – with a tight uptempo funky sound that's similar to his strong "cop show" soundtrack themes of the time! This album's a pretty great testament to Lalo's durability as one of the great composer arrangers – sublime stuff from the late 70s, and a record that really works nicely alongside Schifrin's music for films. Lalo's got a great crew for the set, too – including Joe Farrell and Jeremy Steig on flute, Eric Gale on guitar, Anthony Jackson on bass, Steve Gadd and Andrew Smith on drums, accompaniment on keys by Chuck Spangler and a host of others! Titles include "Eagles In Love", "Macumba", "Theme From Most Wanted", "Theme From King Kong", and "Roller Coaster". LP, Vinyl record album