The title certainly gets it right – as the great keyboardist Bob Baldwin turns over some sweet mellow takes on the classic music of Stevie Wonder! Bob's the mainman at the helm for most of the record – working on Fender Rhodes, piano, and other keyboards – and even vocalizing just a bit – and there's also sweet instrumental contributions on the album from U-Nam and Chieli Minucci on guitars, Marion Meadows and Ryan Kilgore on saxes, and Ragan Whiteside on flute – all players who know just how to get into the right sort of 70s vibe that Baldwin's going for on the record! The focus on Stevie's tunes makes the album a bit hipper than some of Bob's other recent albums – although we also like those quite a bit – and titles include "Don't You Worry Bout A Thing", "Creepin", "The Real Thing/Keepin It Real", "Superwoman/Where Were You When I Needed You Most", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today" – plus the Baldwin originals "Stevie" and "Wonder Wander". LP, Vinyl record album

Dee Clark cracked the charts big with a few crossover hits – but he's an excellent soul singer with a raspy tone that almost set the stage for some of the deeper soul acts to come in the 60s! The style here is very much in the mode of some of Jackie Wilson's best for Brunswick from the early days – tracks recorded in a mode that's often heavy on the voice, letting Dee step out with strong flourishes that change in style from track to track – sometimes dramatic, sometimes subtle – but always impeccably phrased with Clark's stunning vocals! Titles are a nice batch of numbers that go way past Dee's hits – and include "Just Like A Fool", "What I Say", "Come To California", "24 Boyfriends", "I Just Can't Help Myself", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Gloria", and "Baby What You Want". LP, Vinyl record album

Landmark work from The Dead Kennedys – and maybe still one of the greatest punk records to ever come from the American scene! There's so much here that so many other records are missing – razor-sharp instrumentation, a great sense of pacing, and most importantly, a biting wit that always keeps the whole thing from ever lapsing into any sort of over-serious cliches! Yet unlike their LA contemporaries, the group were also never ones to just lay into the jokes – as the political commentary here is especially pointed, and nearly every single song is a blistering attack on late 70s California mores and national obsessions. Every track's a gem – and titles include "Kill The Poor", "Forward To Death", "Let's Lynch The Landlord", "Your Emotions", "Holiday In Cambodia", "California Uber Alles", and "Stealing People's Mail" – plus a killer cover of "Viva Las Vegas". LP, Vinyl record album

A mid 70s repackaging of one of the best vocal jazz albums that Bethlehem ever produced, and a landmark recording in the vocalese tradition! The first record ever from a young Bob Dorough – and easily one of his most swinging sessions! The style here is a bit straighter jazz than on some of Bob's later work – vocalese inspired by Jon Hendricks, King Pleasure, Eddie Jefferson, and others – recorded with a small combo that includes Jack Hitchcock on vibes, Warren Fitzgerald on trumpet, Jerry Segal on drums, and Bob's longtime partner Bill Takas on bass. Many of the tunes are vocalized versions of bop numbers – done with a nicely quirky style that shows that the mad Dorough touch was already in place during these early years – on titles that include "It Could Happen To You", "Polka Dots & Moonbeams", "Baltimore Oriole", "Yardbird Suite", "Devil May Care", and "Ow" – plus his great original "You're The Dangerous Type"! LP, Vinyl record album

A classic album from the early years of soul music – the only full length set ever served up by the great Joe Henderson – a vocalist with roots in the legendary Fairfield Four gospel group, but sounding equally great here in a secular mode! The arrangements are by Cliff Parham, and they've got this blend of bluesy vocals and jazzier backings – in a style that's very much like the best Duke/Peacock work of the time – with a spectacular focus on Joe's voice in the lead! The whole album's great, filled with unusual material – with titles that include "Sad Teardrops At Dawn", "Right Now", "Big Love", "Just Call Me", "Snap Your Fingers", "After Loving You", and "If You See Me Cry". LP, Vinyl record album

After working for years in the Crusaders, then honing his production skills with excellent work for Fantasy and Mercury, Wayne Henderson put out this album of his own, which drew on a lot of the work he'd been doing during the mid 70s. The album's a showcase for his At Home productions team, and it features work by Bobby Lyle, Roland Bautista, Ronnie Laws, and others. Henderson plays trombone, but he also gets in the way a bit with some hipster vocalizing that doesn't quite work. Titles include "Lady Bug", "Foot Stompin Music", "I'm Staying Forever", and a version of the great stepper "Keep On Keepin On". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful set from vocalist Jon Hendricks – and quite different than most of his other work! This set was one of a few that Jon recorded while living in the UK at the end of the 60s – and it features orchestrations by Wally Stott, and production by Johnny Franz – the team who both made the Scott Walker records of the late 60s so great! The style here is a bit more subdued than that on the Scott Walker albums – warm and lush, in a mode that has Hendricks singing as a traditional vocalist, in a mellow late nite style. The album features a few original tunes – "Times Of Love", "Where", and "One Rose" – plus great versions of "I Concentrate On You", "Lil Darlin", and "Nature Boy". Oddly dark, with some nice touches – and a whole new side of Hendricks' vocals! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the lesser-known JJ Johnson albums of the mid 60s – and nice little session that's done with a fresh sort of style! The album's got JJ playing mostly with larger arrangements – penned by Dick Hyman, Slide Hampton, and Billy Byaers – in modes that range from upbeat, mod, and swinging – to mellow, lush, and soulful. A few cuts have vocalists – like the lovely Marlene Ver Planck, who sings wordlessly on the album's amazing groover "Pense A Moi" – a sweetly skipping jazz waltz that's almost worth the price of the record alone! Marlene returns on a great version of "Agua De Beber", and Osie Johnson sings on versions of "The Seventh Son" and "In The Name Of Love" – and other nice tracks include "008", "Feeling Good", and "G'Won Train". LP, Vinyl record album

A really moody little record from Ennio Morricone – spare, subtle, and extremely beautiful – touched with notes of sadness and remorse, but also handled with a strong spirit of redemption! The sound here isn't as cold or atonal as that on some of Morricone's horror work – but it's also not sweet and dreamy either. Instead, there's kind of an economic use of piano, light strings, and odd sonic textures – woven into a tapestry of shorter tunes that convey a real sense of loss, but also a quietly growing beauty. There's a few wordless vocals on the set, but things are mostly instrumental overall – and titles include "La Califfa", "La Pace Interiore", "Fari Nella Notte", "La Cena", "Notturno", "Sotto La Pioggia", and "Sangue Sull'Asfalto". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the most striking set in this ever-shifting series of releases from Matana Roberts – and one that shows his more advanced sonic sensibilities, in a mix of improvised jazz and more compositional settings! There's a vibe here that's almost like the more "serious" work of Roscoe Mitchell – at least in the way that reeds and strings interweave – yet Roberts, as always, brings a deeply personal approach to the music, with lots of shorter songs that weave more soulful elements amidst the avant expressions – which are served up by a lineup that includes Mike Pride on drums, Cory Smythe on piano, Darius Jones on alto, Mazz Swift on violin, and Mat Lavelle on alto clarinet and pocket trumpet. Kyp Malone brings in a bit of electronics, and there are vocalizations at points – on titles that include "A Caged Dance", "No Way Chastened", "Away Is Not An Option", "Shake My Bones", "Enthralled Not By Her Curious Blend", "Different Rings", "Predestined Confessions", and "We Said". LP, Vinyl record album

An early jazzy soundtrack from the great Piero Umiliani – made even better by some key work from Chet Baker on trumpet and Helen Merrill on vocals! The set was done at a time when both artists were spending some time in Italy – shaping the scene with their presence, and really standing out on a handful of rare recordings like this one – quite different than their American material of a few years before! Baker is especially striking – with lead solos that have a great sense of compression, and a depth of soul that really move beyond the Pacific Jazz recordings. And Merrill is wonderful, too – with that special flavor she only ever seemed to open up when she went overseas – and got to move into more unusual settings. But the real star is Umiliani throughout – balancing modern impulses with late night jazz in a way that really points the way towards his later scores in the 60s – but which is already nearly perfect here! Titles include "Smog" (done in instrumental and vocal versions by Baker and Merrill), plus "Dawn", "Tensione", "Tops", "California In The Summer", "Hollywood Tonight", "Bowling", and "Twilight At Los Angeles". LP, Vinyl record album

Kick-ass early work from the great Tom Ze – recorded in the beginning of the Tropicalia years, but with a style that shows Ze sitting on the fence between rock/pop and some of his madder later work! The style's still pretty hard to describe, and listening to the music, you can hear how much of an influence Ze must have had on the styles of Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes – whose work from 1969 is echoed in many of the songs on the album. There's lots of weird organ, arranged in kind of a swirling psychedelic way that reminds us of songs from the early Mutantes album, or from the Tropicalia Ou Panis et Circensis album from 1968. Ze wrote all the tracks, and titles include "Sabor De Burrice", "Camelo", "Gloria", "Curso Intesivo De Boas Maneiras", "Parque Industrial", and "Profissao De Ladrao". A great cover, and a rare rare relic! LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible addition to the rich legacy of Stax Records – a collection of rare tracks, almost all of which appear here for the first time ever – a set that represents recordings done by all the great songwriters who were working for Stax at the time, most of whom were also recording artists on the label! Given that fact, these aren't scratchy recordings performed by hacks who can't sing – as almost all the material features the sort of top-shelf vocalists who made Stax such a deep soul powerhouse in the 60s and 70s – represented here in a style that shows just how much freedom of creative expression the label allowed its best – very different than the way some of the bigger companies would just cram a song down a quickly-booked session in the studio! Plus, these demo tracks are done in a variety of modes – some with very stripped-down instrumentation, some with fuller groups – and together, they offer a key look at the creative process at Stax – one that's very different than the iconic sound of productions in their Memphis studio, and which really shows an even deeper range of expression through the variety of approaches. This LP version features tracks that later became hits in the finished versions – titles that include "A Woman's Love" by Carla Thomas, "634-5789" by Eddie Floyd, "If Loving You Is Wrong" by Homer Banks, "I Got To Be Myself" by Carl Smith, "I'll Be Your Shelter" by Homer Banks, "I've Got No Time To Lose" by Deanie Parker, "I'll Be The Other Woman" by Shelbra Bennett, "Respect Yourself" by Mack Rice, "Woman To Woman" by Henderson Thigpen, and "We Can Love" by Eddie Floyd. LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a sound library record from one of the all-time greats – and maybe one of the few artists who gave his equal all, whether he was cutting a full film soundtrack, or just a discreet batch of tracks like these in the studio! The music is as groovy as groovy can be – sometimes funky, sometimes slinky – and done in this blend of heavy electric bass, nicely snapping drums, riffing guitar, and some great use of wordless vocals – maybe no surprise, since Alessandroni was the man behind the legendary I Cantori Modern! There's a great sense of variety all the way through – all killer, no filler – and titles include "Vocalisation", "Spiagge Azzurre", "Aliante Giallo", "Ciclamino", "Arioso Spirituale", "Cielo Verde", and "Marmittone". LP, Vinyl record album

The wonderful world of Antonio Carlos Jobim gets a whole lot bigger on this American release from the 60s – thanks to a collaboration with the great Nelson Riddle, the arranger whose work made so many of Frank Sinatra's albums so great! Riddle really understands the jazzy elements at the core of Jobim's tunes – and backs his guitar and vocals with a great 60s California take on the bossa nova – one that's never trying too hard to cross over, and which instead really respects the genius of Jobim at the core! Antonio sings on most tracks – some even with English lyrics that are really great – and titles include "Useless Landscape", "Bonita", "Surfboard", "She's A Carioca", "Aqua De Beber", and "Favela". LP, Vinyl record album

A tightly funky set from The Temptations – a record that has the group still standing strong in the post-Norman Whitfield years – working here with producer Jeffrey Bowen in a groove that's almost got some P-Funk touches at times! Things are somewhat polished, but still in the best mainstream funk mode of the time – and in a way, the record's almost a blueprint for the style that so many California groups would pick up in the next few years – upbeat grooves, often driven with some heavy bass at the bottom, but still with enough room for well-crafted vocals on the top. Arrangements are by James Carmichael on most tracks – and the backing group includes Wah Wah Ragin and Eddie Hazel on guitar, both of whom get plenty of space to work out on the set. Tracks include the instrumental "Happy People" – plus "Glass House", "Shakey Ground", "The Prophet", "A Song For You", "Firefly", and "I'm A Bachelor". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Gerald Wilson's hippest albums for World Pacific – and all of them are pretty darn hip! This set is one of Gerald's last for the label – cut in a run of very successful, and very strong big band soul jazz albums that brought together the cream of the crop of the LA underground. Like the other sets, this one's got a great lineup – with players that include Anthony Ortega, Hadley Caliman, Harold Land, Ernie Watts, and Bobby Hutcherson – but the real strength of the album lies with Groove Holmes, who cuts some pretty fantastic solos on the album's best tracks – bubbling his Hammond through the larger arrangements with the space and expression that Wilson allowed his individual players on these sessions. Titles include great versions of "Aquarius" and Coltrane's "Equinox" – plus the original tunes "Celestial Soul", "Scorpio Rising", "Pisces", and "Bluesnee". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest of Gerald Wilson's recordings for Pacific Jazz in the 60s – an excellent live session with a very groovy edge! Wilson's studio work for the label at the time was great enough, but somehow, hearing his group working live, we get a new appreciation of his genius – as the tunes unfold with a soulful depth that goes farther than the studio versions, really grooving with great solo work by Harold Land and Hadley Caliman on saxes, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Jack Wilson on organ, and Phil Moore on piano! Titles include a great version of Tolliver's "Paper Man" – really showing the growing soulful sound of the group – plus the tracks "Viva Tirado", "Blues For A Scorpio", "Lil Darlin", and "The It's Where It's At". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully wicked album – one that sold so many copies that it's sometimes hard to remember how great it is! George takes on all of Abbey Road – or just about all of it – as he runs through some of the most beautiful tracks The Beatles ever wrote, like "Golden Slumbers", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "The End", "Because", and "You Never Give Me Your Money". The whole thing's set to some great baroque jazzy arrangements by Don Sebesky, and George digs the whole thing so much that he even sings a bit – vocalizing in a cool chromatic way that really works well with his guitar playing, and which would soon transform into a very popular style on his records of the 70s. Keyboards are by Bob James and Herbie Hancock – and there's plenty of other great jazz players in the mix! LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of really unusual albums from Mike Cooper – presented here in a single package, one record on vinyl, one on CD! The core set, Life & Death In Paradise, is one of the last in a run of classics that Cooper gave the world at the start of his career – and has really unusual collaborations with members of the London jazz scene – including bassist Harry Miller, saxophonist Mike Osborne, and drummer Louis Moholo! The jazz component of the record is small – this is definitely acoustic singer/songwriter material, not the work the musicians might have issued on the Ogun label – but the set does represent a really nice shift for Cooper, and a great setting for the kind of offbeat songs he does so well. Titles include "Critical Incidents", "OMM Coda", "Suicide De Luxe", "Black Night Crash", "Rocket Summer", and the long "Life & Death In Paradise" suite. The LP package also features a bonus CD with material from many years later – a live acoustic set recorded in Milan in 2018, showing Cooper still as a hell of a talent, with an even more complex understanding of the acoustic guitar – matched by his own unique vocalizations on some of the best tracks. Titles include "Peach Trees", "In Moments Of Reverie", "Lord Franklin", "Sage & Thyme", and "Industrial Hazard". LP, Vinyl record album