A landmark record – not only in the career of Grady Tate, but in the realm of adult vocals as well! Grady's incredible here – cool, classy, and amazingly stepping from the role of being a simple jazz drummer, into a world of sophisticated vocals that really caught the world by surprise. The backings are lush, but light – as cooly poised as Grady's own vocals, and still able to hit the right amounts of soulfulness to make the tunes come across with a sound that was quite different than the usual adult pop record of the time. The whole thing's an amazing mix of jazz, soul, and vocals – set to arrangements by Gary McFarland and Mike Abene, and supported by wonderful backings from Jerome Richradson. Includes the sublime "Sack Full Of Dreams", a swirling track that sounds a lot like Scott Walker to us – plus Grady's classic reading of "Windmills Of Your Mine", and the tunes "TNT", "Would You Believe", "All Around The World", and "A Little At A Time". ! LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful set of work from this legendary pianist – material that's issued here for the very first time, but which may well top some of the most important albums in Art Tatum's catalog! As with his classic 20th Century material, the setting here is a live one – the Blue Note club in Chicago, where Art is working with a trio that features Slam Stewart on bass and Everett Barksdale on guitar – a really cool group in that it features no drums at all, which is maybe no surprise, given the inherently rhythmic pulse that Art brings to the material! The whole thing is great – crisp, clear, and full of imagination – and the expanded package also features great notes that really benefit the recordings – a huge amount of tracks that include "Air Mail Special", "What Does It Take", "Crazy Rhythm", "Tea For Two", "The Man I Love", "Where Or When", "Night & Day", "Body & Soul", "Laura", "Humoresque", "Dark Eyes", "Judy", "Tabu", and "Lover". CD

A beautiful set of work from this legendary pianist – material that's issued here for the very first time, but which may well top some of the most important albums in Art Tatum's catalog! As with his classic 20th Century material, the setting here is a live one – the Blue Note club in Chicago, where Art is working with a trio that features Slam Stewart on bass and Everett Barksdale on guitar – a really cool group in that it features no drums at all, which is maybe no surprise, given the inherently rhythmic pulse that Art brings to the material! The whole thing is great – crisp, clear, and full of imagination – and the expanded package also features great notes that really benefit the recordings – a huge amount of tracks that include "Air Mail Special", "What Does It Take", "Crazy Rhythm", "Tea For Two", "The Man I Love", "Where Or When", "Night & Day", "Body & Soul", "Laura", "Humoresque", "Dark Eyes", "Judy", "Tabu", and "Lover". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet electro classic from Telex – one of those records that had the Euro trio years ahead of their time, and working with a sound that went onto influence a fair bit of American club, dance, and hip hop in the decade to come! The record is awash in all sorts of great electronics – maybe no surprise, given that the trio features earlier experimenters Marc Moulin and Dan Lacksman, both of whom work with Michel Moers to come up with a cool and groovy style that mixes keyboards, beats, and really playful lyrics – some of which are run through vocoders to really sound great! Titles include "Lakele", "Dance To The Music", "Euro Vision", "Realite", "Cliche", "Tour De France", "My Time", and "A/B". LP, Vinyl record album

The lone album from Temple Of The Dog – featuring members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, but recorded before Pearl Jam's massive debut and before Soundgarden broke out in a big way commercially – subverting, in a way, the idea of the rock supergroup! Intended as a tribute to then recently deceased singer Andrew Wood of peers Mother Love Bone, it's a surprisingly grounded, earnest effort that no doubt inspired Soundgarden and Pearl Jam songwriting to come. Includes the surprise hit "Hunger Strike", plus "Say Hello 2 Heaven", "Pushin Forward Back", "Wooden Jesus", "Four Walled World", "All Night Thing", "Call Me A Dog", "Times Of Trouble" and more. CD

The most spiritual session we've ever heard from Tenderlonious – a set that we always knew he had in him, given his playing on other folk's albums – yet one that still comes as a great surprise in comparison to some of his other records too! The set features compositions by Wayne Shorter, Stanley Cowell, Charles Tolliver, and Bill Lee – all nods to the generation that Tenderlonious evokes here on alto and flutes, working in a quartet that features Hamish Balfour on piano, Pete Martin on bass, and Tim Carnegie on drums – a group who are lean and work without any other trappings or structures – coming across maybe a bit like some Clifford Jordan quartet session for Strata East. Titles include long takes on "On The Nile", "Infant Eyes", "John Coltrane", "You Know I Care", "Poor Eric", and "Maimoun". CD

The most spiritual session we've ever heard from Tenderlonious – a set that we always knew he had in him, given his playing on other folk's albums – yet one that still comes as a great surprise in comparison to some of his other records too! The set features compositions by Wayne Shorter, Stanley Cowell, Charles Tolliver, and Bill Lee – all nods to the generation that Tenderlonious evokes here on alto and flutes, working in a quartet that features Hamish Balfour on piano, Pete Martin on bass, and Tim Carnegie on drums – a group who are lean and work without any other trappings or structures – coming across maybe a bit like some Clifford Jordan quartet session for Strata East. Titles include long takes on "On The Nile", "Infant Eyes", "John Coltrane", "You Know I Care", "Poor Eric", and "Maimoun". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunner – and one of Clark Terry's finest moments ever! The record has a rawness and groove that you'd hardly expect from his later albums – no surprise, though, considering that it was cut during that really hip time at Emarcy, when the label was working in a mode that was darker and more challenging than many of the smaller labels at the time. Credit is also due to arranger Quincy Jones – who pulls together a group that includes Horace Silver, Jimmy Cleveland, Cecil Payne, and Art Blakey, all into a fiercely grooving sound that recalls some of his most adventurous work of the 50s. The album kicks off with the stunning "Swahili", a tune that will instantly make you happy you bought the record – and other tracks include "Coop", "Chuckles", "Tuma", "Kitten", and "The Countess". CD

A stunner – and one of Clark Terry's finest moments ever! The record has a rawness and groove that you'd hardly expect from his later albums – no surprise, though, considering that it was cut during that really hip time at Emarcy, when the label was working in a mode that was darker and more challenging than many of the smaller labels at the time. Credit is also due to arranger Quincy Jones – who pulls together a group that includes Horace Silver, Jimmy Cleveland, Cecil Payne, and Art Blakey, all into a fiercely grooving sound that recalls some of his most adventurous work of the 50s. The album kicks off with the stunning "Swahili", a tune that will instantly make you happy you bought the record – and other tracks include "Coop", "Chuckles", "Tuma", "Kitten", and "The Countess". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunner – and one of Clark Terry's finest moments ever! The record has a rawness and groove that you'd hardly expect from his later albums – no surprise, though, considering that it was cut during that really hip time at Emarcy, when the label was working in a mode that was darker and more challenging than many of the smaller labels at the time. Credit is also due to arranger Quincy Jones – who pulls together a group that includes Horace Silver, Jimmy Cleveland, Cecil Payne, and Art Blakey, all into a fiercely grooving sound that recalls some of his most adventurous work of the 50s. The album kicks off with the stunning "Swahili", a tune that will instantly make you happy you bought the record – and other tracks include "Coop", "Chuckles", "Tuma", "Kitten", and "The Countess". LP, Vinyl record album

2 rare sides of work by trumpeter Clark Terry – both with a fair bit more edge than many of his later recordings! The first half of the CD is from the amazing 1955 album Clark Terry for Emarcy – a real stunner, and one of Terry's finest moments ever! The record has a rawness and groove that you'd hardly expect from his later albums – no surprise, though, considering that it was cut during that really hip time at Emarcy, when the label was working in a mode that was darker and more challenging than many of the smaller labels at the time. Credit is also due to arranger Quincy Jones – who pulls together a group that includes Horace Silver, Jimmy Cleveland, Cecil Payne, and Art Blakey, all into a fiercely grooving sound that recalls some of his most adventurous work of the 50s. The album kicks off with the stunning "Swahili", a tune that will instantly make you happy you bought the record – and other tracks include "Coop", "Chuckles", "Tuma", "Kitten", and "The Countess". These tracks are followed by 8 more from an obscure 1954 session done under the leadership of clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton – and featuring Terry on trumpet, Barry Galbraith and Sidney Gross on guitars, Oscar Pettiford on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums – all in a really unusual group formation that's totally great! One guitar's used for solos and the other for rhythm – and the lack of piano gives the record a decidedly different swing than you might expect from a Jimmy Hamilton session – one that's less traditional, and more airy and open – really inventive in the rhythmic construction of the tunes, in a mode that's followed up very nicely by the soloists in their own energy. Titles include "Chuckles", "Bohemia After Dark", "Blues In My Room", "Blues For Clarinet", and "What Am I Here For". CD

A range of different recordings from the team of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee – all recorded by a young Bob Shad at the end of the 40s and start of the 50s – and originally issued as 78s on the Sittin In With and Jax labels! The work is quite rootsy, even for the time – but that's no surprise, given the time-tested styles of the pair. Most numbers feature Brownie on guitar and Sonny on vocals and harmonica – plus a bit of other instrumentation – and the recordings were all done in New York, during the years 1949 to 1952. LP, Vinyl record album

Peter Tessier turned plenty of knobs to make a record this great – which is maybe no surprise, given that he worked as an engineer in the Canadian branch of RCA Records in the early 70s! Pete definitely makes that legacy work for him – with really wonderful arrangements and sharp production that set a strong fire to illuminate his unique songs! The record's not really psych or prog, and Tessier's more raspy vocal style almost gives it more of the 70s personality of a singer like Lou Reed – while the songs echo singer/songwriter modes, but are executed with a lot more sonic complexity – almost in a way that feels like some of those 80s UK records that were influenced by psych, but come off sounding very different than the originals of the 60s. Titles include "I'll Never Know", "A Little More Rain", "Someday", "And On The Eighth Day", "Bottle Of Time", and "I Still Don't Know". LP, Vinyl record album

A solo set from groundbreaking UK jazz musician Emma Jean Thackray – but a set that's hardly got the quiet feel of an individual with just one instrument! Thackray's blowing trumpet here, as on other records – but the set also features her handling a range of other instruments, on tunes of her own composition – which are then remixed and given structure in the studio – often with more of a rhythmic pulse than some of her other albums! There's a lot of great keyboards, basslines, and rhythms – but not in a jazz remix way, as the overall sound is more complex than that – shifting between songs of differing lengths and styles, in a way that really keeps things interesting. Emma Jean sings a bit, too – which is a great surprise – and titles include "Red Bush", "Catford Bridge", "Howley", "Make Do", "Ley Lines", "Rain Dance", and "The End". LP, Vinyl record album

A near-lost soundtrack from the early 60s – one that features work from a host of the best European talents at the time! The film's a thriller set in Paris, and although Mikis Theodorakis scored most of the music, the record also features some great contributions from Frenchmen Georges Auric and Jacques Loussier – both of whom bring in some jazzier moments! There's less of the Mediterranean-styled sounds here than you might expect from Theodorakis' better-known scores – and overall, the whole thing comes across with the style of some of the best nouvelle vague soundtracks of the period – with lots of short tracks that mix thrilling themes, jazzier instrumentation, and some occasional playful rhythms – all in a tapestry of sound that's as compelling as the film itself! Titles include "The Ghost (parts 1 & 2)", "Up There", "Surprise Blues", "Concorde", "Cornice", "Twistin The Twist", "Potpourri At Regines", "Baion", and "The Crime". CD

A mindblowing collaboration – one that brings the soulful vocals of Nenah Cherry into play with the avant jazz sounds of The Thing – but all in a mode that's unlike anything either artist has recorded before! The mix of talents is no surprise – given that Nenah's dad is Don Cherry, whose own European work helped to set the tone for a generation – and also given that group members Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen Love, and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten all have ears for styles that go way beyond jazz – including a surprisingly great taste for offbeat funk, which really comes to the forefront on this unusual set! Make no mistake, there's still plenty of jazz-based instrumentation – sharp reeds from Mats, heavy drums from Paal, and those magical moody basslines that we love so much from Ingebrigt – but they often get a bit more directed, and are augmented with slight added instrumentation at points – to provide a perfect foil for Cherry's righteous vocals – all with results that easily make the album one of the most unusual soul projects we've heard in years – on a par with equally creative efforts from artists like Meshell Ndegeocello, Erykah Badu, or Georgia Anne Muldrow. Titles include "Cashback", "Dream Baby Dream", "Too Tough To Die", "What Reason Could I Give", "Dirt", "Accordion", and "Sudden Moment". CD

One of the gems that Lucky Thompson cut on his return to the US in the mid 60s – and one of the few albums from that time that got wide release! The album's a laidback quartet session that has Lucky blowing both tenor and his new love, soprano sax, with a group that includes Hank Jones on piano, Richard Davis on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. Thompson's playing is a masterpiece in understatement – with these sly lines, especially on soprano sax, that really set things off beautifully – grabbing you by surprise and holding you rapt, in ways that remind us a bit of Pony Poindexter during the same time. Titles include "Mumba Neua", "Invitation", "Prey Loot", "Fly With The Wind", and "Mid Nite Oil". CD

One of the best albums from singer Teri Thornton – a jazz vocalist who was really starting to come into her own at the beginning of the 60s, and shines here in a way that's different from some of her bigger label sets! Backings are by Norman Simmons – a pianist we love on his own, and for his work in small groups with other singers – but a real surprise here for his work on the album's dark-tinged charts, which have a similar undercurrent of modernism to some of the work at the time by Abbey Lincoln. The group's relatively small – and features work by Seldon Powell on tenor, Clark Terry on trumpet, Earl Warren on alto, Freddie Green on guitar, and Wynton Kelly on piano – and titles include a version of Bob Dorough's "Devil May Care", plus dark takes on "My Old Flame", "Dancing In The Dark", "Left Alone", "What's New", and "Lullaby Of The Leaves". CD

One of the best albums from singer Teri Thornton – a jazz vocalist who was really starting to come into her own at the beginning of the 60s, and shines here in a way that's different from some of her bigger label sets! Backings are by Norman Simmons – a pianist we love on his own, and for his work in small groups with other singers – but a real surprise here for his work on the album's dark-tinged charts, which have a similar undercurrent of modernism to some of the work at the time by Abbey Lincoln. The group's relatively small – and features work by Seldon Powell on tenor, Clark Terry on trumpet, Earl Warren on alto, Freddie Green on guitar, and Wynton Kelly on piano – and titles include a version of Bob Dorough's "Devil May Care", plus dark takes on "My Old Flame", "Dancing In The Dark", "Left Alone", "What's New", and "Lullaby Of The Leaves". LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly one of the most successful Japanese piano trio recordings of the 70s – a super-session performed by a group that includes Joe Sample on acoustic piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums! Given that Sample's best known during the era for his electric keys with the Crusaders (and on countless studio sessions), it's a real treat to hear him tickle the ivories in an acoustic way – and a genuine surprise to hear how strong his work is in such a format. Joe manages to swing the tunes with plenty of creative improvisation, but also keeps a strong focus on the groove too – making for an album that's got some of the rhythmic flourishes of the best work of the Oscar Peterson trio in later years, but with some of the added freedoms of the Japanese scene. Titles include "On Green Dolphin Street", "Round Midnight", "Funky Blues", "Manha Do Carnaval", "Yearnin", and "Satin Doll". CD