One of the best studio albums in years from Kurt Elling – the much-overlooked Blue Note vocalist who's truly one of the greatest singers of his generation! The album returns Elling to a format that we really love – a setting in which he's able to craft his own lyrics to tunes – either jazz classics by Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, Joe Zawinul, and others, or original tunes written in collaboration with players on the album. More than ever, Elling displays a tremendous understanding of jazz in all its shapes and forms – pushing the boundaries of jazz vocals farther than anyone we've heard since Mark Murphy in the 70s, and giving us hope for the future of singers in jazz! There's no warmed-over standards or easy classics here – but really incredible tunes that show that at least there's one person out there willing to do more than just provide a soundtrack to Starbucks. Titles include great versions of Coltrane's "Resolutions" and Herbie Hancock's "A Secret I", plus the tunes "Higher Vibe", "All Is Quiet", "Minuano", "In The Winelight", "Time To Say Goodbye", and "The More I Have You". CD

Early genius from Kurt Elling – one of Blue Note's best vocal signings of the 90s, and a richly talented singer who's still not well understood by many audiences! The set's got Kurt doing a bit of everything he does great – completely transforming old standards like "Nature Boy" and "April In Paris"; coming up with new lyrics for harder jazz numbers, like Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy" or Donald Byrd's "Tanya Jean"; and working through compelling original material that includes "It's Just A Thing", "Endless", and "The Messenger". CD

Titles include "Black Swan", "Azure", "In Triplicate", "Fifi", "Black Butterfly", "El Gato", "BP", and "4:30 Blues" – plus a speech by Duke at the end! LP, Vinyl record album

Deep and bluesy work from the all-star Ellington group of the late 50s – a beautifully recorded album that moves way past the simple cliche of its title! The set features a host of original tunes from Duke Ellington and other members of the group – and players include Jimmy Hamilton on tenor, Ray Nance on trumpet, Matthew Gee on trombone, and the wonderful Johnny Hodges on alto – playing here at the peak of his later powers. Titles include "Three J's Blues", "Smada", "C Jam Blues", "Sweet & Pungent", "Blues In Blueprint", "The Swinger's Jump", and "Blues In Orbit". LP, Vinyl record album

Notable sidemen include Ben Webster, Jimmy Blanton, Ivie Anderson, Rex Stewart, Johnny Hodges, Barney Bigard, Cootie Williams, and Tricky Sam. CD

One of our favorite Duke Ellington albums, and a sometimes-overlooked work that stands as one of his best compositions from the time. The "Liberian Suite" was originally issued as a 10" LP, and is one extended suite of tracks commissioned by the Liberian government for their centennial celebration in 1947. The piece starts with the haunting "I Like The Sunrise", with vocals by Al Hibbler, then leads into 5 "Dances", with solo work by Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and Tyree Glenn. "Tone Parallel To Harlem" is added to the album, taking up all of side two, and is another beautiful extended work – the kind that really showed tremendous growth in Ellington's style. LP, Vinyl record album

A great LP issue of material that originally appeared on 78s during the Duke's first big rise to fame! LP, Vinyl record album

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Funky funky Don Ellis – a great set of electric groovers released at the same time that Don scored big with his soundtrack for The French Connection! As you'd guess from the title, the feel here is quite similar – funky electric big band jazz, with a very hip 70s action soundtrack feel – one that mixes acoustic sax and trumpet passages with some groovier keyboards and electronic bits – all wrapped up in production that's tight, but never too slick to be funky! The album features a great take on Don's excellent "Theme From The French Connection" – plus great electric jazz covers of "Alone Again Naturally", "Superstar", "I Feel The Earth Move", "Roundabout", and "Lean On Me" – as well as album originals "Chain Reaction" and "Train To Get There". LP, Vinyl record album

The American debut of The English Beat – aka the UK group The Beat, who'd been making some big waves with import 45s on the 2Tone label, the burst forth on our US market with a slight shift in name, due to another group hogging their original moniker on our side of the Atlantic! That bit of backstory hardly need matter, though – as the group wear their English loud and proud here, setting off a huge ska revival as they blend Jamaican roots with London attitude in the post-punk years – stacking up a set of classics that continue to groove many turntables all these many years later. Titles include "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Hands Off She's Mine", "Twist & Crawl", "Big Shot", "Best Friend", and "Jackpot". LP, Vinyl record album

The American debut of The English Beat – aka the UK group The Beat, who'd been making some big waves with import 45s on the 2Tone label, the burst forth on our US market with a slight shift in name, due to another group hogging their original moniker on our side of the Atlantic! That bit of backstory hardly need matter, though – as the group wear their English loud and proud here, setting off a huge ska revival as they blend Jamaican roots with London attitude in the post-punk years – stacking up a set of classics that continue to groove many turntables all these many years later. Titles include "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Hands Off She's Mine", "Twist & Crawl", "Big Shot", "Best Friend", and "Jackpot". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare 70s funky soul from The Equatics – just the kind of record that keeps us digging and still excited after all these years – resurrected by the like minded diggers at Now Again! You know the kind of album we're talking about, the ones you come across with enigmatic cover art, no names on the back you recognize or even anything indicating where or when it's from. Then you take a spin and it's the real thing from the get go! The production is nice and raw but not ragged, and a funky vibe that groups today emulate but just can't recapture. This set's mid 70s R&B, mostly instrumental but with a few vocal numbers, all nicely done up in a very groovy, funky fashion. There's a couple of nice covers, like their Isaac Hayes-ish take on "Walk On By" and a nice rendition of "Ain't No Sunshine", but the rest of the set's mostly originals, like "Merry-Go-Round" and some nice raggedy instrumentals like "What They Doin?", "Santana" done up in parts 1 and 2 (maybe on a 45 somewhere. . .), "Cisco Fare" and the jazzy "The Touch Of You". Amazing! CD

A fantastic set by Booker Ervin, and one of his most overlooked sessions! Ervin's hard biting tenor is met by a warm thoughtful group that includes the great Horace Parlan on piano, plus Frank Strozier on alto, and Walter Perkins on drums. Perkins is wonderful, and he lyrically dances about the kit and brings a whole new shade of color to this session. The writing is fantastic, and the tracks include "Mooche Mooche", "No Land's Man", and "Mour". Great great great stuff – and this CD includes the original cover art, plus 2 bonus tracks that were 45 takes of the best tracks. Simply brilliant! CD

A tremendous non-Prestige moment from tenorist Booker Ervin – one of his first albums ever as a leader, and a record that bristles with 60s modern energy! The group here is only a quartet – with Horace Parlan on piano – and the album's got Booker's amazing tenor right out front, played with those angular, searching tones that are heard most famously on the Space and Freedom Book sessions for Prestige – but which seem to get almost more room for expression here! The remaining players are George Tucker on bass and Al Harewood on drums – both of whom help the album maintain a nicely rhythmic pulse, even when Ervin is going off into the stratosphere – and the album features 4 original tunes – "Mojo", "Uranus", "Boo", and "Booker's Blues" – plus versions of "Speak Low" and "Poinciana". LP, Vinyl record album

Magical trio recordings from the classic trio that featured Bill Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums – a massive 3CD set of music, and one that brings together the complete June 1961 Village Vanguard recordings! The revolutionary bass work of LaFaro, and free-thinking rhythms of Motian really helped open up Evans' work on piano at the time – and their influence is heard to best effect on this spontaneous live set, spread out over the course of 22 tunes, recorded throughout the afternoon and evening on June 25, 1961. The package features one newly-discovered take, plus a number of alternates, spoken bits from Bill, and even a few final bars of music. Titles include "Solar", "Milestones", "All Of You", "Gloria's Step", "My Man's Gone Now", "Detour Ahead", "My Romance", and "Waltz For Debby". Special box is on 180 gram vinyl, with new liner notes, limited poster, and even recording sheets with original producer notes! LP, Vinyl record album

2 wonderful late 50s sessions from arranger Gil Evans – both of which we'd rank right up there with his best work with Miles Davis, or the albums under his own name for Impulse in the 60s! The first half of the CD is from the album New Bottle Old Wine – a record of swinging modern backdrops, used to showcase both the solo talents of a young Cannonball Adderley, and the dynamic energy of Evans himself! Cannon's sharp-edged early tone is a really great sound for the record – far more modern than you might expect from later funk and soul sides of the 60s – and perfectly poised next to Gil's larger back drops to reignite a host of older tunes with new energy! And while the titles are familiar, the readings certainly are not – as the Evans pen has really changed things up beautifully – as you'll hear on numbers that include "St Louis Blues", "King Porter Stomp", "Willow Tree", "Struttin' With Some Barbeque", "Lester Leaps In", "Round About Midnight", "Manteca", and "Bird Feathers". Great Jazz Standards is equally great, a fantastic lost set from Evans – and one that features Mingus trumpeter Johnny Coles as the lead soloist in front of Evans-led modern groups that include players like Elvin Jones, Ray Crawford, Steve Lacy, Budd Johnson, Rod Levitt, and Chuck Wayne. Despite the "standards" in the title, most of these numbers are modern tunes from the 50s – like "Joy Spring", "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", "Django", "Straight No Chaser", and "Chant Of The Weed" – all given Evans' unique style of arrangement, tweaked up a few notches to give them a really edgey quality. Coles is clearly standing in for Miles here, but the format works well overall! CD features 15 tracks in all, including some newly-improved versions of a few tracks, correcting mistakes in the original records! CD

Gil plays Jimi? Sounds like a gimmick, but it comes off pretty darn great – and it helps you forgive him for trying to convince the kids that he's not as old as his grey hair might make you think! As always with Evans, the key to the album is a beautiful balance between the strength of the players and vision of the arrangements – a hip mix of musicians who include Billy Harper on tenor and flute, Marvin Hannibal Peterson on trumpet, and both Ryo Kawasaki and John Abercrombie on guitars! Arrangements are great too – handled by Tom Malone, Warren Smith, and Howard Johnson – all of whom make the album way more than just an instrumental reading of Jimi Hendrix tunes – and instead a great platform for improvisation that uses tunes that include "Up From The Skies", "Foxy Lady", "Gypsy Eyes", "Voodoo Chile", "Angel", "Crosstown Traffic", and "Castles Made of Sand". Plus, the CD features 4 bonus alternate tracks – not on the original album! CD

Although Gil Evans is probably best remembered for his work behind Miles Davis, the albums he cut on his own are actually even more interesting, and feature a far-reaching conception of modern jazz, executed by Evans, and some of the top players of his day. This great album from 1964 features a host of wonderful musicians – including Steve Lacy, Eric Dolphy, Johnny Coles, and Wayne Shorter. The set includes mostly original compositions by Evans, like "Las Vegas Tango", "El Toreador", "Flute Song", and "Hotel Me" – all of them a shimmering blend of free solos and tightly composed orchestral passages, filled with rich colors and shades of warm imagination! Plus, this CD also includes a huge amount of extra tracks, either unreleased, or longer versions – including "Time Of The Barracudas", "Spoofull", "Nothing Like You", and "Proclamation"! CD

Gil Evans plays an electric grand piano and is joined by a rather large set of musicians who include Masabumi Kikuchi on a variety of synthesizers, Billy Cobham on drums, Lou Soloff on trumpet, George Lewis on trombone and many others. Tracks include two Evans originals – "Copenhagen Sight" and "Zee Zee" plus others like "Sirhan's Blues", a Jimi Hendrix song "Stone Free", and Mingus' "Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress". LP, Vinyl record album

Gil Evans plays an electric grand piano and is joined by a rather large set of musicians who include Masabumi Kikuchi on a variety of synthesizers, Billy Cobham on drums, Lou Soloff on trumpet, George Lewis on trombone and many others. Tracks include two Evans originals – "Copenhagen Sight" and "Zee Zee" plus others like "Sirhan's Blues", a Jimi Hendrix song "Stone Free", and Mingus' "Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress". CD