Ernesto Cervini on drums, Tara Davidson on alto soprano sax, Joel Frahm on tenor sax, William Carn on trombone, Adrean Farrugia on piano and Dan Loomis on bass. CD

Arguably one of the best records cut for the short-lived Mode label in the late 50s – and easily one of the best from trumpeter Conte Candoli too! For the session, Conte front a quartet with Vince Guaraldi on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Stan Levey on drums – and Guaraldi's piano style's got a heck of a lot more soul than you'd expect, a detail that brings a nice depth to a session that might have been otherwise lightweight – and which comes off with the same strength overall as the pair's outing from the same time for the Crown label. Candoli seems to play about half the tracks with a mute, but still in a style that's more open and fluid than much of his other work from the time – and titles include "Tara Ferma", "Diane", "Mambo Blues", "Mediolistic", and "Walkie Talkie". CD

One of the greatest power pop albums ever recorded – a blistering batch of tight little rocking tunes that took pop music back to basics at the end of the 70s! The group have an almost Beatles-esque flair for the short catchy tune – but have also pumped up things nicely with a smoothly compressed 70s approach to production. There's an urgency to the work that seems to drive the whole thing with an uptight adolescent sense of horniness – a strange force that kicks most tunes into ultradrive by tapping into a virtually limitless source of energy! Titles include the mega-hit "My Sharona", plus "Heartbeat", "Lucinda", "Frustrated", "Good Girls Don't", "Selfish", "O Tara", and "Maybe Tonight". CD

Sun Ra left the planet a few decades ago, but his Arkestra has been going strong – really carrying the torch that the great one kept burning – and stepping out here in their first studio album in 20 years! The record is really something special – that core Sun Ra spirit, but taken in righteous territory that shows just how much the group has evolved in his absence – still with alto saxophonist Marshall Allen as the leader, but a combination of classic Arkestra members and younger musicians who have really helped continue that legacy of mentorship and spiritual exploration that was always the greater mission of the ensemble. The production is great – never too commercial, and handled brilliantly to capture the spirit of the group at their most expressive – with a lineup that also features Knoel Scott on alto, James Stewart on tenor and flute, Michael Ray and Cecil Brooks on trumpets, Vincent Chancey on French horn, Farid Barron on piano, Dave Hotep on guitar, Akatunde and Elso Nascimento on percussion, and Tara Middleton on vocals and violin. Titles include "Sea Of Darkness/Darkness", "Swirling", "Seductive Fantasy", "Sunology", "Door Of The Cosmos/Shy", "Satellites Are Spinning/Lights On A Satellite", "Infinity/I'll Wait For You", and "Angels & Demons At Play". CD

Deep, thoughful and soulful hip hop from Mr J Medieros – produced with a lean, thumping vibe by Stro The 89th Key – with singing by Tara Ellis and a number of tracks. Mr J is doing his own thing on his own label, and it's solid, worthy stuff. Titles include "Children", "Last Stars", "My Own", "Holding On", "Apples Apples", "Brutus", "The Balance" and more. CD

One of our favorite Bobby Hutcherson albums ever – and a magical session filled with electric Latin vibes! The album's quite a different one for Bobby at the time – as it has him working with some larger arrangements, in a soulful west coast groove that's almost got the feel of a hip 70s soundtrack. Bobby's vibes are nicely set up against Fender Rhodes on most tracks – and the group's got some added Latin percussion that really opens up the rhythms. The whole thing's totally wonderful – brimming over with sun and soul, the kind of magic record that will never be made again! Tracks include "Camel Rise", "Yuyo", "Montara", "La Malanga", "Little Angel", and "Love Song". CD

Director Quentin Tarantino has drawn plenty of inspiration from the music of Ennio Morricone over the years – either using short passages of older Morricone music in his films, or evoking the substance and style of the maestro in the way he uses sounds from other sources too! So it's only fitting that this time around, the pair are finally brought together fully – as Morricone turns out one of his best soundtracks in years for Tarantino's Hateful Eight – a brooding, suspenseful tale that owes plenty to the western generation that first sprung Morricone to global fame! Yet as with most of Ennio's best work, the style here is something that goes far beyond expectation – orchestrations that take on a style completely their own – with instrumental elements that have stronger focus amidst the larger charts, and a sense of mood and color here that's completely sublime. The record is mostly music from Morricone – written for the film – and features a few passages of dialogue from the movie, plus just a few additional tracks by The White Stripes, Roy Orbison, and David Hess. Yet it's more than fair to think of this as a complete score by Morricone – very different than the usual compilation-style soundtracks we've had before from Tarantino. CD

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There's few big directors we'd trust with a compilation soundtrack as much as Quentin Tarantino – and once again, the Q's shown us that his knowledge of older music runs as deep as his talent for directing a fresh image on the screen! The package here is made up of older rock, soul, and soundtrack bits from the 60s and 70s – sweet pop next to heavy guitars next to deeper soul numbers – all in a way that makes even the familiar tunes sound somehow darker than before in this new company! There's a few snippets of dialogue from the film on the disc – but not too many to get in the way – and titles include "Sally & Jack" by Pino Donaggio, "Hold Tight" by Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich, "Jeepster" by T Rex, "The Love You Save" by Joe Tex, "Baby It's You" by Smith, "The Last Race" by Jack Nitzsche, "Paranoia Prima" by Ennio Morricone, "Staggolee" by Pacific Gas & Electric, "It's So Easy" by Willy DeVille, "Down In Mexico" by The Coasters, "Good Love Bad Love" by Eddie Floyd, and "Riot In Thunder Alley" by Eddie Beram. CD

One of our favorite Bobby Hutcherson albums ever – and a magical session filled with electric Latin vibes! The album's quite a different one for Bobby at the time – as it has him working with some larger arrangements, in a soulful west coast groove that's almost got the feel of a hip 70s soundtrack. Bobby's vibes are nicely set up against Fender Rhodes on most tracks – and the group's got some added Latin percussion that really opens up the rhythms. The whole thing's totally wonderful – brimming over with sun and soul, the kind of magic record that will never be made again! Tracks include "Camel Rise", "Yuyo", "Montara", "La Malanga", "Little Angel", and "Love Song". CD

One of our favorite Bobby Hutcherson albums ever – and a magical session filled with electric Latin vibes! The album's quite a different one for Bobby at the time – as it has him working with some larger arrangements, in a soulful west coast groove that's almost got the feel of a hip 70s soundtrack. Bobby's vibes are nicely set up against Fender Rhodes on most tracks – and the group's got some added Latin percussion that really opens up the rhythms. The whole thing's totally wonderful – brimming over with sun and soul, the kind of magic record that will never be made again! Tracks include "Camel Rise", "Yuyo", "Montara", "La Malanga", "Little Angel", and "Love Song". CD

An incredibly well-crafted set of soulful hardbop – the kind of record that the Posi-Tone label seems to do better than just about anyone else these days – and which is so tight, so together, the whole thing almost seems effortless! Yet there's clearly a lot of effort going in here – original songs by some members of the group, and a crack cohesion of all the players, right from the start – an ace lineup that features Alexa Tarantino on saxes and flute, Caili O'Doherty on piano, Tony Davis on guitar, Adi Meyerson on bass, and Joe Strasser on drums! The album bursts out of the gate, filled with color and life – and there's an especially magical combination of the piano, bass, and guitar as they trade tones and colors together in the rhythms. Titles include "Reach Within", "Le Var", "Lake Sebago", "Mr M", "Salt & Vinegar", "Your Smile Keeps Me Sane", and "El Gran Birane". CD

A bold new chapter in the career of vibraphonist Stephon Harris – and proof that he's one of the most amazing players of his generation, one who's always growing into new sounds and styles! Despite the "Duke" in the title here, the work isn't a simple homage to the classics of Ellington – and instead, it uses some lesser-known themes by Duke as vehicles for new waves of color, sound, and tone from Harris – scored in the same soulful way as his brilliant work on Grand Unification Theory from a few years back. The style here is hardly Ellington, and is more a shimmering mix of small combo jazz and strings – headed up mostly by Harris' vibes and marimba, but also featuring Steve Turre on trombone, Anne Drummond on flute, Greg Tardy on clarinet, and Xavier Davis on piano. 3 tracks here are from Harris' own The Gardner Meditations – "Memoirs Of A Frozen Summer", "African Tarantella", and "Dancing Enigma" – and Ellington titles include "Thanks For The Beautiful Land On The Delta", "Portrait Of Wellman Braud", "Bourbon Street Jingling Jollies", "Single Petal Of A Rose", and "Sunset & The Mocking Bird". CD

The first we've heard as a leader from saxophonist Alexa Tarantino – a great talent who's really been bubbling under on other ensemble records for the Posi-Tone label, and who's very much at the start of a great career of her own! Alexa plays some mighty nice soprano sax on the album – plus tenor and flute – all with this nice sense of edge in her tone, mixed with a more forward-moving flow – this subtle quality that really keeps things interesting, and which has us held surprisingly rapt whenever one of her horns stretches out in a solo. Most tunes are originals, with this fresh sense of timing that really works with her tone – and the rest of the group features Christian Sands on piano, Joe Martin on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums – and a few tracks also feature trombone from Nick Finzer. Titles include "Wisp After Wisp", "Breeze", "Face Value", "Seesaw", "Without", "Ready Or Not", "Zingaro", and "Square One". CD

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Charles Lloyd plays tenor and alto saxophone, bass, alto and C flute, piano, taragato, Tibetan oboe, percussion, and maracas – accompanied by =Billy Higgins on drums, guitar, guimbri, strings, percussion, and vocals. CD

Life! Liberty! Vengeance! A wild and very cool soundtrack for Tarantino's dual Blacksploitation/Spaghetti Western homage Django Unchained – featuring bits from some of our favorite Italian western composers mixed up with classic and contemporary funky soul and hip hop! It's the kind of soundtrack that could only happen for Quentin Tarantino – with rare and hard-to-find compositions by Luis Bacalov, Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Jerry Goldsmith on one hand – along with a few seemingly antithetical new compositions on the other – including a track penned by star Jamie Foxx for Rick Ross, a James Brown "Payback" remix with a vocal from the 2Pac archive, plus ones by Anthony Hamilton, John Legend and others! Last but not least, it's got some great bits of film dialogue by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Titles include "Django" by Luis Bacalov, "The Braying Mule" by Ennio Morricone, "Nicaragua" by Jerry Goldsmith with Pat Metheny, "Day Of Anger" by Riz Ortolani, "Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable)" by James Brown with 2Pac, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross, "Trinity (Titoli)" by Annibale E I Cantori Moderni and many more. CD

A tremendous collection of work from moog maestro Mort Garson – a name you might know from projects like the Wozard Of Iz, Lucifer, or Ataraxia – stepping out here on some much more obscure recordings, including some that appear here for the first time ever! Garson was easily one of the hippest and most talented artists to work with the moog and related analogue electronics – and his music was always a cut above some of the more simple moog pop instrumentals – as Mort brought in lots of original ideas and compositions to his recordings, while also using the electronics for melody as much as for effect. That blend is very much in place here – on tracks from a number of different projects, including some cool advertising work – and at times, there's a slinky sensuality to Garson's electronics that almost sound like the Italian cinema work of Stelvio Cipriani. Titles include "Killers Of The Wild", "Music For Advertising 2", "Is He Trying To Tell Us Something (inst)", "Geisha Girl", "Space Walker", "Dragonfly", "Cathedral Of Pleasure", "Realizations Of An Aeropolis", and "Son Of Blob Theme". CD

Charles Lloyd on tenor saxophone and taragato, with Billy Higgins on drums and percussion – joined by John Abercrombie on guitar, Larry Grenadier on double bass, and Brad Mehldau on piano. CD

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Renee Rosnes on piano, Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone, Alexa Tarantino on alto and soprano saxophone, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Noriko Ueda on bass, and Allison Miller on drums. CD

Incredibly groovy work from one of the hippest organ talents of the 60s – a true "soul book" of tu nes, most of which are originals penned by Freddie Roach! The sound here is really unique – a bit in the R&B-inspired style of Freddie's work for Blue Note, but also with a leaner, more modal approach – a bit like that showing up in the work of John Patton as he really started to grow – and served up here by players who mostly include Buddy Terry on tenor sax, Vinnie Corrao on guitar, and Jackie Mills on drums. The sound's got a quality that's sometimes tightly stepping – remind us a bit of Trudy Pitts – and at other times, the work shows some of the increasing sophistication that Roach would explore even more strongly in later years. Titles include a beautiful long track called "Spacious", plus "Tenderly", "One Track Mind", "The Bees" and "Avatara". CD

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