Classic from the Chicago house scene – and still a bonafide club floor shaker! "Get The Hole" is a persistent jam that continues on in the "Acid Hole" version – getting more beats focused as it builds. "Under Control" and it's dub version on the flip are classic level, too, with some nice keyboards and vocal atmosphere. 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the proudest pop moments in the Windy City during the 60s – the fantastic Columbia debut of The Buckinghams, easily one of the most tremendous vocal groups of their generation! At their core, the quintet work in a sunny way that's not unlike other pop acts – but the key difference here is that they're getting some incredible production and arrangements from James William Guerico, working in a pre-Chicago mode that has complicated horn charts pushing up brightly underneath the vocals – edging the whole mix way up into the stratosphere with a uniquely soaring sound! Other instrumentation is great too – bright, but never slick, and really complementing the vocals perfectly. Titles include "The Married Life", "Don't You Care", "Pitied Be The Dragon Hunter", "And Our Love", "I'll Be Back", and "Remember". LP, Vinyl record album

A really breakout set from Jonathan Butler – a double-length album that really has the singer/songwriter taking off! Butler's really finding his best groove here – that mature blend of soul, jazzy bits, and a good ear for a hook – all done in that crossover careful style that helped Jonathan find a huge new audience up here in the Northern Hemisphere – and which continues to make this set one of Butler's best-remembered moments. Titles include "Lies", "Love Songs Candlelight & You", "Holding On", "I Miss Your Love Tonight", "One More Dance", "Barenese", "Overflowing", "Loving You", "Say We'll Be Together", and "Give A Little More Loving". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful spare electronics, art rock, and even a little bit of avant funk from the Cluster team of Rodelius & Moebius! Grosses Wasser is an underrated effort from a combo that's been consistently underappreciated – one of the non-Eno collaborations, and showing that Cluster is a formidable artistic force with and without the aforementioned genius. Most tracks start out on the spare tip and slowly build in mood – utilizing electronics and ambient atmosphere. It has some dark touches, but is playful at times, too, and this is a vital piece of the Cluster puzzle. featuring the tracks "Avanti", "Prothese", "Isodea", "Manchmal", and "Grosses Wasser". LP, Vinyl record album

A mighty big party from tenor giant Arnett Cobb – a player who always blew strongly in other settings, but really hit his height on these albums for Prestige! The record is a perfect mix of Cobb's bluesy roots and a more sophisticated modern jazz setting – with support from a crack rhythm combo of Ray Bryant on piano, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – plus the special addition of Ray Barretto on congas, who brings in this rolling kick that definitely opens things up to the party atmosphere in the title – even when things are mellow! Most numbers have a open, soulfully blowing feel – and titles include "Slow Poke", "Lonesome Road", "Party Time", and "Blues In the Closet". LP, Vinyl record album

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

A sweet 80s groover from KC and his Sunshine Band – a set that's got the group sounding a lot different than during their Miami hit years of the 70s – but still every bit as groovy! The style is more 80s funk than before – a bit more emphasis on the keyboards, and basslines that rocked straight through the grooves – and Wayne "KC" Casey's voice often uses that cool level of processing you'll know from his hits, but in a wider range that even makes for some unusual moments on the mellower cuts and the ballads. Overall, there's still lots of sunshine in the mix – that ebullient atmosphere that always made KC and the group so great – and titles include "Don't Run", "Give It Up", "You'd Gimme Some More", ""When You Dance To The Music", and "You're Going Out Of Your Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

Two rare Charlie Parker albums in a single set! First up is Bird On 52nd Street – one of the more obscure Charlie Parker sessions of the 40s – at least in the original release! The material was recorded in 1948, on a home tape recorder, but not issued until after his death – part of a huge wave of Charlie Parker material that hit the market at the end of the 50s and start of the 60s! The sound here is quite raw – made even more so by the recording quality – but it also offers up a good illustration of the sheer power of Bird back in the day, the kind of bold, bracing energy that made even more than the regular jazz world sit up and take notice. The group's a quintet – with Miles Davis on trumpet, Duke Jordan on piano, Tommy Potter on bass, and Max Roach on drums – and there's been a few tape tricks in the mastering, in order to come up with a better version of some of the recordings. Tracks are short – in true bebop format – and titles include "Night In Tunisia", "Dizzy Atmosphere", "Out Of Nowhere", "My Old Flame", "How High The Moon", "This Time The Dream's On Me", "Hot House", and "Chasin The Bird". Next is Bird At St Nicks – a posthumous issue of an early 50s live set by Charlier Parker – one of the many that were rushed to the public in the years after his early death. The set, like many of the other live ones from the time, isn't recorded that well – but the music is still pretty wonderful. There's a real focus on Bird in the way the microphone was set up – so although you hear the rest of the band comping in the background, the album almost works like a session of solo sax work by Parker – as his alto is right out front in the mix, playing with a faltering style at times – but in a way that only seems to deepen our vision of his genius. Players include Red Rodney on trumpet and Al Haig on piano – and titles include "Ornithology", "Star Eyes", "Visa", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "Confirmation". LP, Vinyl record album

Great late 60s work from Oscar Peterson – a player who's definitely Travelin On here, thanks to a great approach to production, and a trio that features Sam Jones on bass and Bob Durham on drums! These MPS sessions are essentially identifiable for the relaxed, soulful warmth that came so naturally from the atmosphere of the home of producer/engineer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer – who manned the booth as well as provided the venue. Tracks include "Travelin' On", "Emily", "Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)", "Sax No End" and "When Lights Are Low". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing early work from Sonny Rollins – the first of his tremendous Blue Note albums – and a record that really shows him taking off at the time! The record captures Rollins at a key turning point – emerging from his firey bop years, moving into a much more complicated, introspective tenor style that was a perfect showcase for his developing genius for improvisation – not as far out as in a few years to come, but already awash in imagination and creativity. The group here includes Donald Byrd on trumpet, Wynton Kelly on piano, Gene Ramey on bass, and Max Roach on drums – but as with all Rollins Blue Note sessions, his tenor is the dominant force. Titles include "Bluesnote", "Plain Jane", "Sonnysphere", and "Decision". LP, Vinyl record album

With tracks by Craig Armstrong, Nils Petter Molvaer, Dreadzone, Swati Natekar, Trilok Gurtu, Photek, Tuu, Vibrasphere, Ali Farka Toure, Dub Tractor, dZihan & Kamien, and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. LP, Vinyl record album

A real treasure, and a record that may well be our favorite Jimmy Smith album for Verve – a masterful meeting of his smoking Hammond work with some swingingly sophisticated arrangements by Oliver Nelson and Claus Ogerman! Both Nelson and Ogerman bring a fuller spectrum of horn work to the album than heard on other Smith sides of the time – using an almost orchestral approach to the backings, one that pushes Jimmy even further into the stratosphere as he solos madly on the organ! But don't think that the larger backings are clunky at all – because they're not – and there's a surprisingly deep soul to all the proceedings on the album, making it one of the tightest, grooviest, and deeply soulful records that Jimmy cut after leaving Blue Note! The LP includes two very long cuts – killer versions of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf" and "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" – plus shorter takes on "Bluesette", "Women Of The World", and "Wives & Lovers" that are all plenty amazing too! LP, Vinyl record album

The first of 3 LA EPs from Flying Lotus – rich, textural and sublimely soulful tunes from one of the more inventive soundscape makers on the Warp label! LA EP 1 features a couple of the best tracks from the fine Los Angeles LP, plus four worthy non album tracks that meld Asian string accented grooves, layers of crackling beats and synth, spare atmosphere and heavier dynamics when the mood fits. Titles include "Sleepy Dinosaur" and "Roberta Flack" from the album – plus "Rickshaw", "My Chippy" , "Paper Crane Gang" and "Interference". LP, Vinyl record album

The recordings are prime Diz, cut in the height of his bop years, hard grooving with a lot of pyrotechnics, a bit of vocalization, and a great sense of humor! Titles include classics like "He Beeped When He Shoulda Bopped", "Groovin High", "Dizzy Atmosphere", "Ray's Idea", "Oop Bob Sh'bam", "That's Earl's Brother", and "One Bass Hit". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing little record – easily one of the coolest albums ever on the legendary Ovation label – and a set that has the small imprint almost hitting the heights of their Chicago neighbor Cadet Records! The core sounds here are from the folksy duo of Chuck Hollins and Dave Starr – but their music is really expanded with some key studio touches – jazzy inflections from session players, some slight fuller arrangements – and an overall vibe that carries the same sense of hope and new voice that you'd find in records by Terry Callier or Rotary Connection! The dawn of the 70s was a great time to push the boundaries of what could be done with folk and psychedelic trappings, and these guys really find a great little space – balancing trippy lyricism, lots of ethereal atmosphere, and a few heavily percussive jams! Titles include "Talking To Myself", "Krishna Dov", "Cry Baby Cry", "Twin City Prayer", "John Hurt", "Hard Headed Women", "Lovable", "Digress", "Staying High", "Sidewalk's Talkin'", and "Feelin' Good". LP, Vinyl record album

Wild and wonderful work by Keith Jarrett – light years away from his records on ECM! The album features a quartet that includes Dewey Redman on tenor, Charlie Haden on bass, and Paul Motian on drums – but it's clearly Keith who's driving the bus here, taking lots of odd twists and turns for playful moments that come as an unexpected surprise. One of the best of these is the short percussion track "Pre Judgement Atmosphere", which almost sounds like a Moondog number – and another is the rollingly funky "Gypsy Moth", a tune that always seems to be careening out of control, but is never "outside", just percussively grooving. Side two features two longer jamming tracks that almost have a loft jazz feel – "El Juicio" and "Piece For Ornette" – and Keith plays alone on the track "Pardon My Rags". LP, Vinyl record album

Volume 2 of this hard to find early side on the legendary Debut label – a unique 4 trombone session originally issued on 10"s featuring JJ Johnson, Kai Winding, Benny Green, and Willie Dennis – with an all star rhythm section of John Lewis on piano, Charles Mingus on bass, and Art Taylor on drums! Though there's some ensemble lines in the heads, the horn players get lots of room to do their own thing too, taking turns soloing on long takes of "Now's The Time", "Trombosphere", "Ow" and "Chazzanova". LP, Vinyl record album

The Liverpool Scene mix smart and smartass wordplay, taking the piss out of pop & rock stars and the overall cultural atmosphere of the era thanks in no small part to leader Adrian Henri, with some excellent musical backing – ranging from jazzy brass & bass, to acoustic folk rock. Wholly unique and pretty amazing stuff! LP, Vinyl record album