Angel Bat Dawid is a completely mesmerizing artist on record, but she's even more mindblowing in a live setting – where she seems to channel the energy of the skies and the planet into her music – brimming over with righteous energy that guides the rest of the group with a hell of a lot of power! Angel plays clarinet, keyboards, and sings throughout – effortlessly shifting between those elements in a group that includes tenor, keyboards, electronics, bass, and lots of drums and percussion – bursting out with an effortless blend of larger conception and improvisation – at a level that may well have Dawid emerging as one of the few folks from Chicago that could ever hope to match the legacy of Sun Ra! That's not saying that Angel is anything like Ra at all – but in a similar way, she immediately comes across as a true visionary, a deeply spiritual talent, and an artist who's following a path that's completely her own. Features material recorded live in Chicago and Berlin – and titles include "Capetown", "Black Family", "What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black", "The Wicked Shall Not Prevail", "Melo Deez From Heab'N", "VIKTORious Return", and "Enlightenment". CD

Really heady sounds from Frightnrs – a group who've changed up their sound slightly since their last full length release – at a level that makes them even more interesting than ever before! The group still draw heavily from older rocksteady and soulful reggae modes – but it also feels as if they're leaning a bit more heavily on sweet soul modes from the early 70s too – coming across with the warmth of a harmony vocal record on the lyrics, while still also reveling in the best sort of slow-stepping, dub heavy rhythms in the music! Dan Klein handles the vocals, always with a great sense of echo – and Chuck Patel adds lots of great organ and keyboards to the music – including some great spacey effects. Victor Axelrod did a superb job with production – and titles include "30 56", "You Still", "Profilin", "Expectations", "Tuesday", "Always", "Maybe Isle", and "Why Does It Feel Like A Curse". CD

A trio date with John Patitucci on bass and Jeff Tain Watts on drums! CD

One of the most ambitious albums ever from Rob Mazurek – and a set that really continues the legacy of community building and world healing that's become such an important part of his music! Rob's a player who was great at the start – a hell of a trumpeter, and a great experimentalist with electronics – but in recent years, he's matured to become a real messenger for the farther, future reaches of jazz – with an energy that makes a collaborative project like this come off in a way that might never have occurred in the hands of any other musician! Mazurek is at the head – director, composer, arranger, and instrumentalist too – and the large lineup is filled with heavyweights from the Chicago scene that Rob helped shape over the past few decades – plus others as well – players who include Damon Locks on voice and electronics, Nicole Mitchell on flutes, Tomeka Reid on cello, Joel Ross on vibes, Jaimi Branch on trumpet, Jeff Parker on guitar, Ingebrigit Haker Flate on bass, and Chad Taylor, John Herndon, and Mikel Patrick Avery on a variety of drums and percussion. There's a richness here that tops other Exploding Star Orchestra performances – and more of a focus, too – so that the whole thing comes together as even more than the sum of its mighty parts, as one of the best International Anthem releases to date. Titles include "Galaxy 1000", "Parable Of Inclusion", "Autumn Pleiades", "Minerals Bionic Stereo", "Dimensional Stardust", "Abstract Dark Energy", and "The Careening Prism Within". CD

Wonderful work by a group who really know how to make their mark – coming across with a sound that's very much their own, with a quality that hits you from the very first note! As with previous records, a big part of the sound here depends on the vibes of Behn Gillece – already a really great player on his own records, and a core part of the color and tone of this quintet – a tight lineup that also features Patrick Cornelius on alto, Ryan Keberle on trombone, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums! There's a way in which the vibes are used that's very different than on other records of this nature – maybe the initial paintbrush on the palette, with a stroke that resonates throughout the canvas and touches all other players – bringing them together wonderfully on tunes that include "Slope Of The Blues", "Dinner Is Served", "We Will Know", "Sisters Of Mine", "We Dare", "After KW", and "Waiting For Takeoff". CD

Rare 78 rpm recordings from Fess Williams, Taylor's Dixie Orchestra, Ross Deluxe Syncopators, Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks, Williamson's Beale Street Frolics Orchestra, Jimmie Lunceford & his Chickensaw Syncopators, Mart Britt, Blue Steele, Andy Kirk & his Twelve Clouds of Joy, and Slatz Randall. CD

A studio album, but one that really has Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt recreating some of the bold energy of their live shows – coming across with a vibe that's much more Prestige Records than Verve, thanks to the presence of the Don Patterson trio on the set! Backing is by Don on Hammond, Paul Weeden on guitar, and Billy James on drums – a nicely loose combo that really lets the tenorists stretch out and show their stuff. The cuts are mostly standard material – "John Brown's Body", "Walkin", "Long Ago And Far Away" – but the twin-tenor sound is great, and Patterson's free organ lines riff away nicely! CD

2 slices of Peggy Lee – one classic pop, one adult contemporary! I'm A Woman was a landmark album in Peggy's career – one that featured some wonderful crossover hits that broke her into a whole new audience in the 60s – and which really helped cement Peggy's relationship with Capitol Records. Benny Carter and Dick Hazard arranged the set with a gentle bouncing swing – still jazzy enough to keep Peggy's sophisticated side in place, but buoyant enough to hit that syncopated groove that was helping singers like Sinatra and Sammy D find new chart success at the time. Titles include "The Alley Cat Song", "I'm Walkin", "Mack The Knife", "I'm A Woman", "One Note Samba", and "There Ain't No Sweet Man". Norma Deloris Egstrom is quite a different album altogether, but equally memorable – as Peggy's working here in that wonderful later style she used at Capitol – a truly adult approach to pop that was less concerned with chart placement than it was with getting over a more sophisticated level of expression. Peggy turned out to be wonderfully well suited for this mode – a deeply emotive singer by this point, capable of bringing a deeper sense of life into younger tunes of the time, fleshing them out with the newer freedoms of the time, yet without going overboard. There's almost a Robert Altman sense of poise and adult grace to these tunes – arranged by Artie Butler with a careful simplicity, and sung by Peggy with some of the truest emotion of her days on record. Titles include "Love Song", "Razor", "When I Found You", "A Song For You", "It Takes Too Long To Learn To Live Alone", "Someone Who Cares", and "Just For A Thrill". CD

Sublime overseas work from these two legendary musicians – both players from different scenes in the US, and who never would have crossed paths back in the day – but who really sparkle here with a sense of brilliance that brings out the best in both artists! There's no other accompaniment at all – just the piano of Horace Parlan alongside the tenor and soprano sax of Archie Shepp – right at that point when Shepp was exploring more conventional structures of jazz, but with all the knowledge he'd learned from the avant scene – which makes for wonderfully soulful ballads here that are unlike anything you might expect. Parlan is great too – stretching out in the very resonant space of the recording – and titles include "Deep River", "Goin Home", "Amazing Grace", "Go Down Moses", and "My Lord What A Morning". CD

Mindblowing work by The Impressions – a double-length set that's totally great! First up is the soundtrack for the Fred Williamson/Jim Brown/Jim Kelly action flick Three The Hard Way – not only a great soundtrack, but one of the best 70s albums by The Impressions! The set was written, arranged, and produced by the Curtom super-team of Rich Tufo and Lowrell Simon – and it's got a super-dope feel that reminds us of the work by Natural Four from the same time, with sweet harmonies over funky backings, in a hip 70s groove that's totally great! All cuts are vocal, but they have plenty of funky moments – and in a way, the whole album's as great as the lead track, which is normally the best one in a blacksploitation soundtrack like this. In other words, if you dig hit soundtrack theme songs like "Across 110th Street" or "Theme from Cleopatra Jones", you'll dig this entire album! Tracks include the great "Having A Ball", plus "Make A Resolution", "Something's Mighty Mighty Wrong", and "Three The Hard Way (Chase & Theme)". First Impressions is hardly the first album by The Impressions, despite the title – but a wonderful batch of modern soul tunes that proves that the group could groove long after Curtis Mayfield was gone! As with other Curtom gems from the 70s, the album has the group working with some really top-shelf help in the studio – production from Ed Townsend, who does a really great job of making the harmonies sparkle with a rich quality that really stands out – a mode that returns the group to the mellow brilliance of their 60s recordings, but still keeps some of the maturity they picked up along the way. Townsend also wrote most of the tracks on the set, with a confident male soul style that's not unlike the best love-heavy territory that Marvin Gaye was exploring at the time – a perfect fit for the newly-refined vocals of the mid 70s quartet lineup that included original members Sam Gooden and Fred Cash, plus Ralph Johnson and Reggie Toran. Titles include the sublime "Groove", which has a nice two-step feel, and "Sooner Or Later", which is a nice mellow cut with an undercurrent of funk – and other tracks include "Old Before My Time", "Same Thing It Took", "I'm So Glad", and "How High Is High". CD

John Swana on trumpet and flugelhorn, Jesse Van Ruller on guitar, John Patitucci on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. CD

Thievery Corporation are back after a long hiatus – and they've returned to the fold with a host of surprising guest stars! The set's got a really wide range of grooves – as one might expect when the group's working with artists that include David Byrne, Perry Farrell, and The Flaming Lips! But over and above these bigger crossover names, the team's also sticking very true to their roots on other tracks – bringing in some great downtempo and Brazilian influences, and fleshing out tunes with an equally great array of lesser-known talents that includes Sista Pat, Gunjan, Verny Varela, Gigi Rezende, and Patrick De Santos. Titles include "Marching The Hate Machines", "Pela Janela", "Sol Tapado", "The Time We Lost Our Way", "A Gentle Dissolve", "Holographic Universe", "The Heart's A Lonely Hunter", and "The Cosmic Game". CD

Joel Weiskopf on piano, John Swana on trumpet, Walt Weiskopf on tenor and soprano sax, John Patitucci on bass, and Jeff Brillinger on drums. CD

Funk from Seattle? Hardly seems likely – but prepare to be amazed! The funky reissuers at Light In The Attic, in collaboration with Mr Supreme, have unearthed a treasure trove of rare singles and groovers for the set – all obscure local recordings from the Emerald City scene, most of which never made it past the Pacific Northwest to the national charts. Back in the day, Seattle was a real cross-cultural hotbed – filled with folks who'd picked up and moved out from points east, settling in the Central District, working for Boeing, and reveling in the freedom of the new city to find their own groove. This set does a great job of documenting the flowering of eastern-styled funk in Seattle's growing scene of the late 60s – and features a range of tracks that run from deep funk to hard soul, sock-boogaloo, and even a bit of hard-handed piano jazz! The package features a great set of notes on the music, and a long set list that includes "Louie Louie" by The Topics, "Brighter Tomorrow" by Soul Swingers, "This Is Me" by Cookin Bag, "Bold Soul Sister Bold Soul Brother" by Black On White Affair, "Cissy Strut" by Johnny Lewis Trio, "Stop Losing Your Chances" by Cold Bold & Together, "I Just Want To Be" by Robbie Hill, "Wheedle's Groove" by Annakonda, "Hey Jude" by Overton Berry Trio, and "A Little Love Affair" by Patrinell Staten. CD

One of Roy Ayers' biggest albums ever – and also one of his deepest, too! The whole thing's an incredible album of mellow jazzy soul – and it shows Roy at the crossroads, perfecting his earlier funk style with a sweet mellow R&B edge, getting a bit slicker, but still staying on the righteous path, and opening up a whole new bag in soul music. There's a wonderful electric vibe running through the record – not just from Roy's vibes, but from the Fender Rhodes and Arp work by Phillip Woo – and the amazing energy of the rest of the group too. Features the landmark title cut – "Everybody Loves The Sunshine", one of those tunes that becomes more and more of a classic each year – plus spiritual numbers like "Third Eye" , "Keep on Walking", and "The Golden Rod". Very righteous, and with a cool dope jazzy groove! CD

One of the most unusual criss-crossings of styles that we've ever heard from saxophonist Charles Lloyd – and that's saying a lot, given all of his unusual projects over the years! This set follows from Lloyd's previous album with his Marvels group – a richly American blending of jazz and roots – and also brings in singer Lucinda Williams on a number of the album's tracks! The core sounds have that strong contribution from guitarist Bill Frisell that made the previous Marvels project so unique – and Williams herself has great sympathy with the guitarist, as she does with Greg Leisz, who plays pedal steel and dobro on the record. Lloyd handles tenor, flute, and "ghost vocals" – and the album equally balances instrumental tunes and vocal selections, including one trio number with just Lloyd, Frisell, and Williams. Titles include "Dust", "Vanished Gardens", "Unsuffer Me", "Monk's Mood", "Angel", "Blues For Langston & LaRue", "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", "Ventura", and "We've Come Too Far To Turn Around". CD

An unusual album from an unusual group – one that has reedman Frank Wess sounding far more introspective and personal than on some of his other material from the 70s and 80s – thanks to work from a group that also includes Roland Hanna on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Ben Riley on drums! We're tempted to say that Hanna's voice is what really shapes the record – that thoughtful mix of sophistication and lyricism that always comes across sounding surprisingly natural – but Wess also wrote some of the album's most compelling songs, alongside a few other great numbers by Roland. Mraz brings some extra-special energy to his phrasing on bass, Wess also blows a bit of flute alongside his tenor – and titles include "The Patient Prince", "Cram It Damn It", "Funk House", "Don't Come Don't Call", "It's Just A Social Gathering", and "Oasis". CD

Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart on tenor sax – with David Hazeltine on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums. Tracks are a mix of standards and originals, and include "Shadow Of Your Smile", "Stand Pat", "Somewhere In The Night", "That's Earl, Brother", and "Scotch Thing". CD

Diego Rivera has a very classic look on the cover – and the record comes across with a very classic vibe as well – back to the days of Sonny Stitt or Hank Mobley, when a top-shelf saxophonist set up in a quartet was more than enough to make some really special magic on record! That's definitely the case here – as Rivera blows both tenor and soprano with a mixture of deeper tones and lighter colors, in a voice that's very much his own – mostly on shorter original tracks, save for one take on a John Coltrane number that stretches out nice and long. The compactness is key to the sound, as Diego packs a heck of a lot into the three to five minute space of most tracks – working with a great rhythm trio that features Art Hirihara on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums. Titles include the originals "Ganas", "Soul Purpose", "Anticipation", "Composure", "Simon", "La Malinche", and "Battle Fatigue" – plus a nice take on "Alabama". CD

Tim Warfield on tenor and soprano sax – with Terell Stafford trumpet and flugelhorn, Pat Bianchi on Hammond, Byron Landham on drums, and Daniel Sadownick on percussion. CD

A fantastic 70s classic from Stevie Wonder – part of a great run of records in which he broke completely from his earlier Motown sound – and showed the world that he was one of the true musical visionaries of the decade! The righteous currents of his previous few albums are fully in place here, taken with a bit more focus that helped the record gain Stevie a few new followers in the crossover market, while still offering up plenty to please all the minds that had already been blown by is initial work of the 70s! There's some fantastic themes here, and so many new ideas too – and titles include the slow-funk moog classic "Creepin", which has these wonderful washes of sound throughout, weird vocals by Stevie, and some drums that bump around in off-kilter little patterns just at the right moments. The album also includes the hit "Boogie On Reggae Woman", plus "Too Shy To Say", "You Haven't Done Nothin", "It Ain't No Use", "Bird Of Beauty", and "Please Don't Go". CD

Music from Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, the O Jays, Marvin Gaye, Peaches & Herb, the Delfonics, Jeffrey Osborne, the Commodores, Al Green, Earth, Wind & Fire, Smokey Robinson, LTD, and more. CD

This first volume of Compost's Glucklich series is one of the most groundbreaking compilations of the 90s! It brings together 10 stunning rare German fusion tracks that have a deeply Brazilian groove – and the set is not only interesting from a cross-cultural perspective, but it's also a fantastic treat for funky listening. Nearly all of these tracks are totally rare, and you'll never find them in the original. They all sparkle with a deep sense of imagination, creativity, and a strong desire to groove – and titles include "Ocean Song" by Sunbirds, "Mixing" by Rainer Pusch Quartet, "Mato Pato" by Kitty Winter, "Mystic Latin" by Namaz, "Onkle Joe" by Catch Up, and "Glucklich" by To Be. Great stuff, and one that we still come back to again and again! CD