A classic set to feature the Bill Evans Trio with the great Scott Lafaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums! Listening to the set we're reminded of what always brings us back to Evans' playing – a quality that's often described as moody, but which is really is quite spry and lively throughout this set, without ever giving up its lyrical approach. Titles are mostly standards – but really transformed by the touch of the trio – and tunes include "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "Autumn Leaves", "Witchcraft", "When I Fall In Love", "Peri's Scope", "What Is This Thing Called Love", "Spring Is Here", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Blue In Green". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic set to feature the Bill Evans Trio with the great Scott Lafaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums! Listening to the set we're reminded of what always brings us back to Evans' playing – a quality that's often described as moody, but which is really is quite spry and lively throughout this set, without ever giving up its lyrical approach. Titles are mostly standards – but really transformed by the touch of the trio – and tunes include "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "Autumn Leaves", "Witchcraft", "When I Fall In Love", "Peri's Scope", "What Is This Thing Called Love", "Spring Is Here", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Blue In Green". CD features 1 bonus track! CD

Bill Evans' first album as a leader – and a well-titled set that went onto transform the sound of the piano in jazz! The session isn't as lyrically free as some of Evans' later classics, but already has an undeniably fresh approach to the keys – one that's modern, yet never academic – fluid, but never flowery – pure genius of economy and understatement, while also at the same time opening bold new worlds in sound. The trio features drummer Paul Motian and bassist Teddy Kotick, and titles include the classics "Five" and "Waltz For Debby", the latter of which is performed solo by Evans – plus tracks that include "Displacement", "I Love You", "My Romance", "No Cover, No Minimum", and "Our Delight". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique little album that features jazz versions of themes from Swedish folk music – all served up by a sublime quartet that features Art Farmer on flugelhorn and Jim Hall on guitar! The exploration of folk roots in jazz is not a new one – and a number of the postwar Swedish modernists were especially strong in their love of folk music for inspiration. But the genre's never been handled this well before, and Farmer's warmly lyrical sensibilities really transform the tunes – opening up a timeless sense of expression in their melodies, yet still keeping things strongly in a modern jazz vein with his timing and phrasing. The other members of the piano-less quartet certainly help in this respect – Steve Swallow on bass and Pete LaRoca on drums – and Jim Hall's guitar is always a treat in a stripped-down session like this. The sound of the record is both warm and eerie at the same time – and titles include "Va Da Du?", "De Salde Sina Hemman", "Kristallen Den Fina", and "Visa Vid Midsommartid". CD

An amazing record! By all rights, this shouldn't be so good – but it's an incredible album of haunting tracks that really has us coming back again and again over the years. The formula is simple: Jose plays late 60s pop tunes on acoustic guitar, and sings them in his spacey soulful voice. Backings are by George Tipton, plus a jazz combo made up of Jim Horn, Ray Brown, and Milt Holland – but it's Jose that really makes the whole thing amazing! His style of presentation is like anything else we can describe – filled with sadness and soul, but enough joy to keep moving forward. He takes tracks like "Light My Fire", "In My Life", "Sunny", and "California Dreamin", and transforms them into an amazing document of the darkness hidden behind the sun of southern California. "California Dreamin" is especially amazing – and Jose's version is one of the best soul songs of all time! CD

An amazing record! By all rights, this shouldn't be so good – but it's an incredible album of haunting tracks that really has us coming back again and again over the years. The formula is simple: Jose plays late 60s pop tunes on acoustic guitar, and sings them in his spacey soulful voice. Backings are by George Tipton, plus a jazz combo made up of Jim Horn, Ray Brown, and Milt Holland – but it's Jose that really makes the whole thing amazing! His style of presentation is like anything else we can describe – filled with sadness and soul, but enough joy to keep moving forward. He takes tracks like "Light My Fire", "In My Life", "Sunny", and "California Dreamin", and transforms them into an amazing document of the darkness hidden behind the sun of southern California. "California Dreamin" is especially amazing – and Jose's version is one of the best soul songs of all time! LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing work from Roberta Flack – an album that should be in the collection of any fan of righteous soul music! Forget all the wimpier modes of Flack's later years – because here, the young Roberta is a vision of positive power and spiritual soul – a singer with roots in jazz, which helps to transform some of the album's very surprising song choices – and a depth and sensitivity that goes way past the usual female soul modes of the time. Donny Hathaway handled half the arrangements for the record – a perfect choice for Flack – and Deodato handles the other, with some large arrangements that still have just the right sort of gentleness to go with her voice. Titles include a version of "Reverend Lee", penned by Eugene Daniels – and the great "Gone Away", written by Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, and Hathaway – plus the tracks "Just Like A Woman", "Do What You Gotta Do", "Business Goes On As Usual", and "Until It's Time For You To Go". CD

Mindblowing work from Roberta Flack – an album that should be in the collection of any fan of righteous soul music! Forget all the wimpier modes of Flack's later years – because here, the young Roberta is a vision of positive power and spiritual soul – a singer with roots in jazz, which helps to transform some of the album's very surprising song choices – and a depth and sensitivity that goes way past the usual female soul modes of the time. Donny Hathaway handled half the arrangements for the record – a perfect choice for Flack – and Deodato handles the other, with some large arrangements that still have just the right sort of gentleness to go with her voice. Titles include a version of "Reverend Lee", penned by Eugene Daniels – and the great "Gone Away", written by Curtis Mayfield, Leroy Hutson, and Hathaway – plus the tracks "Just Like A Woman", "Do What You Gotta Do", "Business Goes On As Usual", and "Until It's Time For You To Go". LP, Vinyl record album

An early moment of vocal strength from Aretha Franklin – a set in which she takes on the music of the recently-departed Dinah Washington, and really transforms it into her own! If you know other Aretha records on Columbia, you'll know that the label did a great job of opening up the jazzier side of her style – served up here with arrangements by Robert Mersey that are definitely different than Franklin's later music for Atlantic, but which also does a great job of bridging the worlds of postwar jazz and 60s soul! Titles include "Evil Gal Blues", "Soulville", "Unforgettable", "Cold Cold Heart", "Drinking Again", and "This Bitter Earth". LP, Vinyl record album

Early 80s clubby funk & soul from Freeez – a pretty sweet mix of period synth and boogie soul with far richer, live instrumentation and solid, hooky songwriting! Freeez recorded Gonna Get You in Manhattan – and you can certainly hear the NYC culture of the time flowing nicely in the groove. The songs are really good, and catchy enough to have caught on a much bigger level – with male and female lead and chorus backing vocals, and the synths and drum machines pulse and thump underneath congas, bongos and other percussion, Rhodes, piano and other elements. Includes "We've Got The Juice", "Can't Keep My Love", "Love's Gonna Get You", "Pop Goes My Love", "IOU", "Freezin'", "Can You", "Watch Me" and "Gonna Get You (Megamix)" – the 13 minute closer of disc 1. Disc 2 features 13 bonus tracks: "IOU (7" Version)", "We Got The Jazz", "Scratch Goes My Dub (7" Version)", "Love's Gonna Get You (7" Version)", "IOU – Megamix", "A Capella U" and more. CD

The clubby jazz funk debut of Freeez – plus the Anti-Freeez remix album from a couple years later – issued together along with even more bonus material in this great 2CD set! Dancefloor ready live band grooving is the warmly beating heart of the Freeez sound at this early point – with heated drums and killer basslines driving it – clearly influenced by late 70s international club sounds, but with this great, tight energy and dexterous musicianship that could only come from a real, functioning, true band. Nice stuff! Disc One includes the original album & remixes: "Mariposa (Butterfly)", "Caribbean Winter", "Easy On The Onions", "Sunset", "Flying High", "Roller Chase", "First Love" and more from the original, plus bonus tracks including "Ainti-Freeez (Set Me Free) – Disco Version", "Fly By Night", "Flying High (12" Remix)" and more. Disc Two includes early singles, demos, instrumentals and the complete Anti-Freeez remix album from 1984 – with "Keep In Touch", "Hot Footing It", "Stay", "Roller Chase (1984 Remix)", "Alone (1984 Remix)", "One To One (1984 Remix)", "Caribbean Winter (1984 Remix)", "Say You Will Be My Lover (Previously Unreleased Demo)" and more. 30 tracks on 2CDs. CD

A hell of a record from Brazilian pianist Amaro Freitas – an artist we already loved before, but who's really stepping forth boldly with this release! Freitas has a way with the piano that's unlike anyone else we can think of – that freshness we maybe first felt when hearing a player like Robert Glasper many years back – and he works in a trio setting at a level that completely transforms the format – thanks in part to the very inventive assistance he gets from Jean Elton on bass and Hugo Medeiros on drums and percussion! If you think Freitas looks righteous on the cover, just wait until you hear his music – as he's definitely the real deal, and bound to be a big force in the jazz generation to come. Titles include "Malakoff", "Nascimento", "Sankofa", "Ayeye", "Vila Bela", "Baquaqua", and "Cazumba". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most successful albums ever from guitarist Eric Gale – a laidback understated player whose mellow sound had a tremendous influence on mainstream jazz funk in the 70s! The album takes off from the late 60s CTI and Verve sessions by Wes Montgomery – and features Gale riffing out chromatically over tightly woven arrangements by Bob James, who also plays keyboards on the set. There's no standout funky numbers on the record, but it's got a great conception overall – with lots of dreamy grooves that sound very nice! Titles include "Forecast", "Tonsue Corte", "White Moth", "Cleopatra", and "Dindi". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost bossa jazz classic from Dizzy Gillespie – recorded at a time when Lalo Schifrin was working in his combo! The record's got a cool, laidback kind of groove – one that's miles away from Gillespie's earlier bop work, and which shows him opening up his rhythmic conception strongly in the 60s. Rhythms are percolated by the piano of Schifrin, guitar of Bola Sete, bass of Chris White, and some well-chosen added percussion work – and the overall groove is one of the best American takes on the bossa jazz sound of the time, delivered with wonderful horn work from Dizzy on trumpet, Leo Wright on flute and alto, and Charlie Ventura on tenor! Even familiar tunes are transformed by the sound – and titles include "In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town", "Careless Love", "Taboo", "One Note Samba", "Pergunte Ao Joao", and "Chega de Saudade". CD

A lost bossa jazz classic from Dizzy Gillespie – recorded at a time when Lalo Schifrin was working in his combo! The record's got a cool, laidback kind of groove – one that's miles away from Gillespie's earlier bop work, and which shows him opening up his rhythmic conception strongly in the 60s. Rhythms are percolated by the piano of Schifrin, guitar of Bola Sete, bass of Chris White, and some well-chosen added percussion work – and the overall groove is one of the best American takes on the bossa jazz sound of the time, delivered with wonderful horn work from Dizzy on trumpet, Leo Wright on flute and alto, and Charlie Ventura on tenor! Even familiar tunes are transformed by the sound – and titles include "In A Shanty In Old Shanty Town", "Careless Love", "Taboo", "One Note Samba", "Pergunte Ao Joao", and "Chega de Saudade". LP, Vinyl record album

Three later live sets from Dizzy Gillespie – all in a single package! Sesjun Radio Shows 1 is great, and if you like Dizzy Gillespie as much as us, you'll know that he kept on getting better and better as the years went on – continuing to evolve as a musician, into territory that's always very different than what he was giving the world a few years before! That's definitely the case here, on two live performances done for Dutch Radio in the late 70s – both of which feature a guitar as the key partner – with Rodney Jones on the first half, Ed Cherry on the second, and bass from Benjamin Brown and drums from the great Mickey Roker. Tracks are long, and open up in this really wonderful way – and the group is joined by percussionist Sheyvonne Wright on the second half, who also sings a bit too. There's a quality here that's much more in the best 70s work on the Muse label than you might expect – and titles include "Barcelona", "Diddy Wah Diddy", "Toccata", "The Truth", "Night In Tunisia", "Manha De Carnaval", and Round Midnight". Sesjun Radio Shows 2 is further proof that the genius of Dizzy Gillespie knows no bounds, even in later years – as these two different radio performances feature Diz with very unique saxophonists – both of whom really transform the sound of the group! The first half of the set has Gillespie on trumpet with a young Paquito D'Rivera on soprano and alto sax – a young player really coming into his own here, in an unusual group that also features Canadian guitarist Ed Cherry, bassist Michael Howell, and drummer Ignacio Berroa – on titles that include the funky "Unicorn", plus "All The Things You Are" and "Cripple Crapple Crutch". The second half will be even more surprising to fans of avant jazz – as the legendary Sam Rivers joins the group on tenor and soprano sax – blowing straighter than on his free improv records, but definitely adding an edge! The rest of the group features Cherry and Berroa, with John Lee in on bass for Howell – and titles include "Tanga", "Manteca", and "Birk's Works". Concert Of The Century is a record with a title that's a hell of a claim to make – but it's also a hell of a concert, too – one that features Dizzy Gillespie blowing with an all-star small group lineup – in really stretched-out takes on the tunes, at a level that rivals his best 70s material on the Pablo label! In addition to Gillespie on trumpet, players also include Milt Jackson on vibes, James Moody on tenor and flute, Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums – all working together as seamlessly as you'd expect! Titles include "Darben The Redd Foxx", "The Shadow Of Your Smile", "Get Happy", "Blues N Boogie", "If I Should Lose You", and "Bass Solo/Manha De Carnaval/Work Song". CD

Sweet KPM funk from the 70s – a set that features the legendary "Big City Suite" from David Gold, plus 20 other groovers from rare KPM sound library albums of the time! Gold's suite is really great – a hip mix of keyboards, wah wah guitar, and strings – all wrapped together warmly in a portrait of a city from a variety of angles, in a variety of moods. The work's almost an update of 50s city-symphony albums, but is put together here with a much hipper 70s soundtrack mode – lots of subtle elements that really keep things interesting! Other tracks offer up a mix of jazz, soundtrack, and sound library funk – hand-picked from KPM classics like Jazzrock, Synthesis, Sounds Of The Times, Trendsetters, and other legendary albums – really packed in here with a huge amount of cuts that are totally great! Titles include "Good Vibrations" and "Trial Of Strength" by Keith Mansfield, "Testing Time" by David Lindup, "Four O'Clock Earthquake" and "Smokey Joe's Dilemma" by John Cameron, "Watchful Eye" by James Clarke, "Sunshine Special" and "Get Ready Get Set Fly" by Alan Hawkshaw, "Open Roads" by Nick Ingman, "Go Getter" by John Cameron, "City Airscape" and "City Police" by David Gold, and "Lap Of Honour" by Clive Hicks. CD

Important early European work by Dexter Gordon – recorded during his successful 60s run at the legendary Cafe Montmartre, where using the new freedoms of that scene, he re-invented himself as a player, and gave a much needed boost to European-American jazz relations! The tracks on the set are all very much in the best spirit of Gordon's Montmartre years – long and open-ended, with a real focus on the tenor solo work, but also some excellent support by a rhythm trio that includes Kenny Drew, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, and Alex Riel. Titles include "So What", "You've Changed", "Heartaches", and "Devilette". CD

Prepare to discover your new favorite artist – a tremendously hip cat who never got his due – and who should be held as high on these shores as British talents like Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, or John Martyn! Like all of those three, Davy Graham is a complete original – a guy with an acoustic guitar, but light years beyond familiar folk – often using all these jazzy changes in his style, and mixing his own music with songs by Dylan, The Beatles, Muddy Waters, and even Art Blakey – but all in ways that are completely transformative, and which maybe use the familiar songs just as a way for Graham to show us how individual he can be – because even a song we know sounds nothing like the original. His guitar work is superb – full of all the fresh ideas, unusual phrasings, and special sounds that the best of his generation were bringing to acoustic music – and titles include "Lotus Blossom", "Down Along The Cove", "Stan's Guitar", "Bulgarian Dance", "Buhaina Chant", "I'm Ready", "Getting Better", "Hornpipe For Harpsichord Played Upon Guitar", and "Pretty Polly". LP, Vinyl record album

A long overdue classic from Count Basie's excellent 50s guitarist! Freddie was one of the strongest single-line players of the 50s – coming to prominence in the years before Grant Green and Wes Montgomery completely transformed jazz guitar, but never getting as much chance as those greats to record under his own name. This rare 1956 set is one of the few that Freddie ever did on his own, and it's a nicely laidback small group romp, with players that include Al Cohn, Joe Newman, Nat Pierce, and Milt Hinton. Tracks are short, with a focus on Green's guitar on the solos. Titles include "Down For Double", "Free & Easy", "Date With Ray", "Swinging Back", and "Feed Bag". CD