A really amazing set from this ultra-cool quartet – a group that features lots of soulful reed work from Steve Marcus on tenor and soprano sax, plus smoking guitar lines from a young Sonny Sharrock! Sonny's funkier here than we've ever heard him before – and gets some strong inspiration from the bass of Miroslav Vitous and drums of Daniel Humair – the latter of whom also hits grooves we never would have expected – sometimes bold and avant, but sometimes very tight and rhythmic! The album's got four long tracks, all very much in the kind of trippy space between funky jazz and freer work you'd find on the Vortex albums of Steve Marcus – and titles include "The Echoes", "Green Line", and "Melvin". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Japanese-only album from American reedman Steve Marcus – best known for his fuzzy freaky sets on the Vortex label – but heard here in the company of Tokyo reedman Jiro Inagaki – who also made some pretty freaky albums of his own! The tracks here are nice and long – longer than usual from Jiro – with extended snakey saxophone solo from both players, and some sweet electric touches from the Social Media group – who are more laidback here than on some of their more funk-based outings. The change is a nice one, and makes for a real standout from both players – the kind of overlooked early 70s moment that makes digging for Japanese records so great! Titles include "Something", "Fairly Rings", and "Serenity". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work from Weldon Irvine – a selection of tracks recorded as private studio outings, reissued briefly by Luv N Haight in the early 90s, and then only on vinyl! The style here is much more jazz-based than some of Irvine's soul recordings – a mode that's often all instrumental, and which features Weldon playing more acoustic piano than on his 70s fusion classics – but usually mixed in with sweet electric elements, too – which creates this wonderfully righteous balance in the music! The whole thing's very soulful, with plenty of undercurrents of the RCA years – and guest players include Steve Grossman on tenor, Marcus Miller on bass, Tom Browne on trumpet, and Bobby Broom on guitar – the latter 3 of which all worked with Weldon at GRP, making us guess that some of these 80s sides were intended for release on that label. Titles include "Kundabuffer", "Music Is The Key", "Mr PC", "We Can Try Again", and "Blues For Spike". LP, Vinyl record album

The last-ever recording of drumming great Buddy Rich – and a set that we'd put right up there next to his best records of the previous two decades! Buddy's in familiar formation here, but the sound is wonderful – recorded live at Ronnie Scott's nightclub in London, with this mixture of band tightness and solo freedoms that's really striking – all driven by the kind of energy that always made Buddy one of the few folks who could help a larger ensemble continue with vitality into later years! The formation of the whole group is great – that bold, brash, Buddy Rich sound – and soloists include Steve Marcus on tenor, Bob Bowlby on alto, Tom Garling on trombone, Greg Gisbert on trumpet, and Matt Harris on piano – each of whom get some key solo moments on the set. Titles include "Wind Machine", "Night Blood", "Ready Mix", "Winding Way", "Love For Sale", "Just In Time", and "Harco Shuffle". 3LP version features a 31 minute long take of "Good News" – with a very long tenor solo from Steve Marcus! LP, Vinyl record album

Smooth jazzy fusion from Lee Ritenour – a classic set that was originally only released in Japan, part of the underground Japanese Fusion movement of the late 70s, famous for groove hounds for that added level of soul that often wasn't showing up in American releases at the time! The album was recorded in both Rio and LA – with work by a mixture of Brazilian and American fusion players, including Chico Batera, Oscar Castro Neves, Alex Acuna, Don Grusin, Dave Grusin, Steve Forman, and Marcus Miller. Includes the smooth funk classic "A Little Bit Of This & A Little Bit Of That", plus the cuts "Simplicidad", "Rainbow", "Rio Funk", "San Juan Sunset", and "Ipanema Sol". LP, Vinyl record album

With Marcus Miller on keyboards, bass, and rhythm guitar, Steve Ferrone on drums, Hiram Bullock on lead guitar, Bernard Wright on synthesizer, Steve Gadd on drums, Don Grolnick on piano, Hugh McCracken on slide guitar, Mac Rebennack aka Dr John on piano, and Paulinho da Costa on percusion. LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal album – a late 60s classic meeting of the brain trust of the avant garde jazz scene in New York, recorded for the young JCOA label – and put forth as one of their early attempts to prove that musicians could be in charge of the means of production! Michael Mantler provided the core composition, and directs the group – but the lineup is a who's who of forces who'd record for ESP, Impulse, and other labels – with bold solos from Don Cherry on cornet, Gato Barbieri on tenor, Larry Coryell on guitar, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Cecil Taylor on piano, and Pharoah Sanders on tenor – in a larger lineup of players who also include Steve Marcus, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Alan Silva, Carla Bley, Beaver Harris, Charles Davis, Robert Northern, Kent Carter, and many other key avant musicians! Titles include "Communications 8", "Communications 9", "Communications 10", and "Communications 11".' LP, Vinyl record album

Proof that the Kenton sound could work in just about any format – as Stan transforms a host of older tunes from his book into a bossa nova groove! The approach is simple, but great – as the rich Kenton tones and colors are infused with some added rhythms laid down by Milt Holland, Larry Bunker, and Frank Guerrero on Latin percussion. Horn players Steve Marcus, Jack Nimitz, Dalton Smith, Conte Candoli, and Gabe Baltazar carve out some great lines in the set – cascading waves of sound that are a wonderful counterpoint to the driving rhythms of the set – almost in a way that recalls the Kenton Latin sides of the 50s, but a bit more subtle. Titles include "Kentonova", "Opus In Chartreuse", "Artistry In Rhythm", "Concerto To End All Concertos", "Loco Nova", "Artistry In Bossa Nova", "Eager Beaver", and "Painted Rhythm". LP, Vinyl record album

Some nice solo moments here – courtesy of Steve Marcus on tenor and soprano sax, Gary Bribek on tenor, and Barry Keiner on piano. Titles include "Bouncin With Bud", "Fiesta", "Funk City Ola", and "Cape Verdean Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

With Marcus Miller on bass, Moog bass, Rhodes, piano, OBX-A, Yamaha GS-2, Prophet-5, Jupiter-8, guitar, and percussion; Michael Colina on OBX-A, Jupiter-*, piano, and vocoder; Hiram Bullock on Moog bass, Rhodes, and GS-2; Steve Gadd on drums, and Ralph MacDonald on conga and percussion. LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary compilation from the Soul Jazz label – one of their early important records that helped give new exposure to a whole generation of spiritual jazz from the American scene! Titles include "Space 1" by David Durrah, "Space Is The Place" by Sun Ra, "Theme De Yo Yo" by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, "Lions Of Judah" by Steve Reid, "Space Odyssey" by Marcus Belgrave, "Kitty Bey" by Byron Morris & Unity, "Empty Streets" by New Life Trio, and "Astral Travelling" by Pharoah Sanders. LP, Vinyl record album