... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Original pressing of one of this legendary series that pulled together lost Jelly Roll Morton sessions from the Library Of Congress. Alan Lomax captured Morton's genius in 1938, in a special session of intimate recordings, done exclusively for the Library – and which stand today as some of the best recorded examples of Morton's genius. This original 50s recording features great cover art, and very very heavy vinyl. Tracks include "Ancestry & Boyhood", "Hyena Stomp", "Tiger Rag", and "Mr Jelly Lord". LP, Vinyl record album

Original pressing of one of this legendary series that pulled together lost Jelly Roll Morton sessions from the Library Of Congress. Alan Lomax captured Morton's genius in 1938, in a special session of intimate recordings, done exclusively for the Library – and which stand today as some of the best recorded examples of Morton's genius. This original 50s recording features great cover art, and very very heavy vinyl. Tracks include "The Pearls", "Pep", "Jungle Blues", and "Ain't Misbehavin". LP, Vinyl record album

A collection of tracks from Mid 40s sessions with Miles Davis, Maax Roach, Duke Jordan, Howard McGhee, Erroll Garner, Wardell Gray, Barney Kessel, and others. Titles include "The Gypsy", "Cool Blues", "Relaxin' At Camarillo", "Cheers", "Bongo Bop", "Bird Feathers", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A cool UK combo set – Derek Cox on piano, with Billy Bell on guitar, Dave Richmond on bass, and Art Morgan on drums! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of Henry Mancini's grooviest LPs from the 70s – a mixture of tight large arrangements with a smooth funky edge, similar to some of his best soundtrack work at the time! The rhythm section is great – with Harvey Mason on drums and Joe Sample on keyboards, and guitar by David T Walker and Dennis Budimir – and the album also features some cool solos on instruments like African finger piano and piccolo trumpet. The whole thing bounces along with a majestic approach that's very full and complicated – yet also tight and funky! Lots of nice groovy tunes – and titles include "Sun Goddess", "Symphonic Soul", "Soul Saga", "African Symphony", "Slow Hot Wind", and "Satin Soul". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary compilation – and one that marked the start of the huge On-U Sound legacy to follow throughout the 90s! The work here is maybe even more messed-up than some of the later productions by Adrian Sherwood – as there's maybe a bit more post-punk influence in the blend, alongside plenty of that Jamaican groove that was so important to both Sherwood and the UK scene at the time, already getting manipulated here in the way that made the producer and label such an important aesthetic force in years to come! Titles include "Bed Bound Saga" by Machine Gun Hogg & Co, "Woodpecker Sound" by Jah Woosh, "Quit The Body" by The Chicken Granny, "Dreams Are Better" by London Underground, "Demonic Forces" by Alan Pellay, "Afghani Dub" by The Mothmen, "The Dice" by Judy Nylon, "Yipee I Aah" by New Age Steppers, "Quante Jubila" by Prince Far I & Creation Rebel, and "Asian Rebel" by Suns Of Arqua. LP, Vinyl record album

Quincy Jones may be best remembered for his funky soundtrack work of the 70s – but the man can also hit a deeper, more serious vein when he wants – as he does on this ambitious album-length project inspired by the landmark Roots mini-series! The music isn't a straight soundtrack from the program, but instead evokes the longer narrative over the passage of its different selections – working as its own "saga of an American family", as it moves from African roots, through years of oppression, to moments of pride and power – amidst larger orchestrations from Jones, with help from Letta Mbulu on some key vocals, and more help from Bill Summers, James Cleveland, and even Lou Gossett. Titles include "Many Rains", "Free At Last", "Jumpin De Broom", "Ole Fiddler", "Boyhood To Manhood", "Oluwa", and "Motherland". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work by one of the most compelling groups in the Kama Sutra bubble gum stable! Sopwith Camel always seemed a bit headier than their contemporaries – part Spanky & Our Gang type pop, part long-haired hipster rock – handled with some introspective touches that almost feel like Leonard Cohen at times. This early album's hard to describe, but it's a lost pop gem – and one of those west coast late 60s sides that make you realize that there was a heck of a lot of great music that got lost in the shuffle of the summer of love! Titles include "Walk In The Park", "Postcard From Jamaica", "Cellophane Woman", "Maybe In A Dream", "Saga Of The Low Down Let Down", "Hello Hello", and "Frantic Desolation". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set from those magical 70s years when Quincy Jones was effortlessly blending jazz, soul, and contemporary R&B – all to come up with a genre that's almost completely his own! In the early 70s, Quincy Jones surrounded himself with some of the best young soul and jazz talent he could find, plus a few older pros – and the result was a great series of albums that spanned genres and created a whole new approach to modern R&B. This gem of an album was put together with a young Leon Ware and an older Ray Brown – and it features some killer mellow soul tracks that rank with Quincy's best work – with especially strong contributions from Ware, who'd yet to really shine on his own! Titles include the sublime version of "If I Ever Lose This Heaven", plus "Body Heat", "Soul Saga", "Everything Must Change", "One Track Mind", and "Along Came Betty". LP, Vinyl record album

One of those great later albums from the Rascals – recorded after their early hit years on Atlantic, at a time when the group was tripping out a bit, and actually picking up a lot more funk and rock touches! The sound of the record is surprisingly appealing to our ears, with some great funky bits that creep out from time to time – amidst a set of tracks that bubbles with a nice crossover style – all in the same soulful-leaning modes of the group's earlier work, but with a headier sound overall! Titles include "Jungle Walk", "Brother Tree", "Echoes", "Hummin Song", "Lucky Day", and "Saga Of New York". LP, Vinyl record album

The really wonderful debut of Thin Lizzy – a set that features a slightly different sound than their big 70s classics, but which is also completely wonderful, and shows that the group was already on a very clear path! There's a bit more acoustic guitar here than in later years – as Phil Lynott plays the instrument, and Eric Bell adds in 12 string guitar – both elements in the music that really give the songs a subtle sense of beauty, even while they still rock out heavily with those amazing Lynott lead vocals, as well as his great work on bass! The power of the album comes through right away – clearly very different than so much of the scene at the time – and titles include the fantastic "Friendly Ranger At Clontarf Castle", plus "Honesty Is No Excuse", "Ray-Gun", "Look What The Wind Blew In", "Clifton Garage Hotel", "Saga Of The Ageing Orphan", and "Remembering (Part 1)". LP, Vinyl record album

A great Japanese-only collection, with some of the excellent early 70s funky tracks from Quincy Jones – including "Sanford & Son (Hicky Burr)", "Chump Change", "Summer In The City", "Ironside", "Soul Saga", "Eyes Of Love", and "If I Ever Lose This Heaven". LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Judas Priest, Kix, Fiona, Jon Astley, Saga, Ted Nugent, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent bit of UK Afro-Funk – recorded at the beginning of the 70s by a group that included members of the legendary South African jazz combo The Blue Notes – Dudu Pukwana on reeds, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, and Louis Moholo on drums! The record's quite different than you'd guess from those players – thanks to some kickass help from the rest of the group – who really push things into a tripped-out version of Afro Funk – a bit in the mode of Demon Fuzz at the time – a group who also lent a member to this project! There's some great horn work on the record – with the kind of "out" soloing you might expect from the group, laid out over heavy drums and good bass-heavy funk – on titles that include "Hey Jude", "Irin Ajolaway", "Akasa", "Telephone Girl", "Beka", and "Cocoa". LP, Vinyl record album

Incredible modal sounds from trumpeter Matthew Halsall – one of our favorite contemporary jazz artists, and one whose vision just gets bolder and bolder with each new record! This completely sublime set has Halsall working tightly with reedman Nat Birchall – a frequent musical partner whose own records bristle with the same sort of spiritual energy – given some slight additional flavors here with extra flute, harp, and koto – used alongside the more familiar piano, bass, and drums that have always grounded the pair's work together. All tunes are original, and have this vibe that's perfect for the post-Coltrane spiritual jazz generation – but delivered in a way that's quite fresh, too – and not just a simple rehash of early 70s Impulse Records modes. Every track's a gem – and titles include "Sagano Bamboo Forest", "Tribute To Alice Coltrane", "When The World Was One", "Falling Water", and "Kiyomizu Dera". LP, Vinyl record album

Soundtrack to the TV series by Carl Sagan, with selections by Vangelis, Toru Takemitsu, Tomita, and Synergy, and classical pieces by Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Bach, Shostakovich, Hovhaness, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky. LP, Vinyl record album

The great, bracing score to the fantastic Otto Preminger film, with music by Georges Auric, and nice dramatic saxophone passages. Juliette Greco sings the title song in a nice dramatic Frenchy fashion, and the whole thing does great justice to the steamy book by Francoise Sagan. LP, Vinyl record album

Stunning soul from Ken Boothe – one of the singers who really helped bring a sense of soul to Jamaican music with classic material like this! Ken's got a unique voice that's not the usual style of reggae vocalists – a really distinct sense of phrasing that's both easygoing and deep at the same time – yet never in a way that's like American deep soul either. The approach is one that helped Boothe ride strongly from the rocksteady years into the soulful side of 70s reggae, and beyond into the roots generation too – sometimes transforming American soul tunes, but often delivering some mighty righteous originals that were some of his best material. This big set covers all the bases – and the 2LP version features 28 tracks in all, with titles that include "Lady With The Starlight", "Silver Words", "Everything I Own", "Is It Because I'm Black", "Freedom Street", "Say You", "Who Gets Your Love", "Your Feeling & Mine", "I'm Not For Sale", "Rasta Never Fails", "Satta Massagana", "Love Don't Love Nobody", "Freedom Day", "Let Go", and "That's The Way Nature Planned It". LP, Vinyl record album

With featured soloists Ray Nance, Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Taft Jordan, Jimmy Hamiltn, Harry Carney, Junior Raglan, and Joe Nanton. Titles include "Star Spangled Banner", "Take The A Train", "Tea For Two", "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ring Dem Bells", "Black And Tan Fantasy", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Ronnie James Dio's final album fronting Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow – and one of the better albums from that 70s hard rock/proto metal behemoth! It's got 2 tracks per side, each with a shorter song and a more epic rocker – lumbering, catchy, and heavy rock that's a helluva lot of fun all these years later! Dio's at his 70s best here, too, before going all out with the sword-wielding macabre sagas, but the Rock God anthems were in full force with Rainbow. Includes "Lady Of The Lake", "Gates Of Babylon" The Shed (Subtle)" and "Rainbow Eyes". LP, Vinyl record album

The lovely Marilia Medalha turns her talents to a host of songs penned by Vinicius De Moraes – all numbers done in collaboration with the singer, at a level that's quite different than some of the other Vinicius projects of the time! The poet produced the set, and arrangements are by Edu Lobo and Chiquinho De Moraes – who both bring in this warmly sophisticated style that really makes things interesting – charts handled with that special care that Edu always had for his best work – with a blend of fullness in the setting, but never in a way that overwhelms the vocals. Medalha's got this well-paced, sometimes spacious approach to the music that really opens up the tunes – and titles include "Mr Toquinho", "Se O Amor Pudesse", "Moinho D'Agua", "Algum Lugar", "Ausencia", "Sagarana", "Meu Tempo", and "Distante". LP, Vinyl record album