A nice mix of reggae and soul – recorded at Aquarius! LP, Vinyl record album

Features great music from Bumps Blackwell – with a very young Billy Preston on organ! LP, Vinyl record album

The session's billed as "very personal treatments of great standards" – and it's a great twist on familiar material, all given the Thelonius touch! There's less of Monk's creative composition and angular group arrangements going on here – and instead, the album's almost a rewriting of 40 years of popular compositions, all taken into the modern world of Monk's piano. The group's a trio, with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Art Blakey on drums – and titles include nicely reworked versions of "Just You Just Me", "Memories Of You", "Liza", "Darn That Dream", and "Tea For Two". LP, Vinyl record album

The title certainly gets it right – as the album features some of the first unique modern work by Randy Weston on wax – important trio material that was as important as key 50s sides by Thelonious Monk or Herbie Nichols! The session has Randy working with Sam Gill on bass and Art Blakey on drums – but the showcase here is really on Weston's work on the keys, which are poised somewhere between the more contemporary mainstream scene of New York at the time, and the angular modernists that this album made Weston a key part of. Titles include the original compositions "Zulu", "Pam's Waltz", and "Solemn Meditation" – the last of which is by Gill – plus "Again" and "If You Could See Me Now". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes recordings with Noble Sissle's Swingsters, Clarence Williams Blue Five, and The Get Happy Band. LP, Vinyl record album

With Bob Cranshaw on bass and Albert Heath on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

With Tommy Flanagan on piano, Major Holly on bass, and Eddie Locke on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most interesting sets of work we've ever seen from Eric Dolphy – a live performance recorded in New York on October 7, 1962, and one that features him working with a host of unusual sidemen – including Herbie Hancock on piano, Ed Armour on trumpet, Richard Davis on bass, and Edgar Bateman on drums! The recording quality's got a definite "live" feel, but is still strong overall – and both Dolphy and Hancock more than make up for it with some very unusual solo work that makes the album a key part of understanding their careers at the time. Eric is on alto, flute, and bass clarinet – and titles include "2.45", "GW", "Left Alone", and "Miss Ann". LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool work from that early 60s time when Jimmy Giuffre was really opening up, as on his Free Fall album – an unissued live performance done with Paul Bley on piano and Steve Swallow on bass! Titles include "Flight", "Hiptus", "Used To Be", "Venture", and "This Time This Time". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare meeting of two jazz generations – as trumpeter Cat Anderson joins the small combo of Charles Mingus for some very firey performances! The set's quite an unusual one – recorded live at the Philharmonie Berlin in 1972 – with a combo that includes both Anderson and Joseph Gardner on trumpet, Hamiet Bluiett on reeds, John Forster on piano, and Roy Brooks on drums – all with a searing sense of freedom that's unusual, even for Mingus albums of the time! Side one features the burning "Celia" – an older Mingus tune, but reworked here as a stunning vehicle for extended soloing – sometimes quite out, depending on the player. Side two features "Perdido", a familiar number, to be sure – but one that's opened up strongly by the group and their long-flowing solo styles – especially in the middle, which breaks down to almost free jazz entirely! LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool Ethiopian record, but not the sort you might expect – as most of the instrumentation here is heavy on electric elements, which includes a fair bit of 80s keyboards, synth, and drum machine lines! The group were actually exiles, living in the Washington, DC area during the early 80s – and the record is almost a fusion of Ethio roots with more familiar American styles – a bit like the work that Mulatu created during his early time in the US, but with a very different vibe! There's lead vocals on one track, but most of the set is instrumental – and filled with plenty of sweet keyboard lines and guitar riffs – jazzy, electro, and plenty charming – on titles that include "Kalatashew Waga", "Anchi Bale Game", "Tez Alegn Yetintu", "Bahta's Highlife" and "Samba Shegitu". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's every bit as groovy as you might guess from the title – served up by one of the most unique combos to record for Colombia's Discos Fuentes in the 70s! Afrosound certainly have plenty of rhythms and sounds that resonate with their contemporaries at the top of the South American scene – but they also use rootsier percussion, and served up a rawer sound too – definitely bringing back some West African modes, after that scene had an earlier influence from the world of Afro-Cuban music! There's some especially cool keyboards that get all weird and distorted – like electric guitar on some Peruvian records – balanced with plenty of live, loud percussion – on titles that include "Banana De Queso", "Baila Felipe", "Negua", "Ponchito De Colores", "Carruseles", "Zaire Pop", "Rapsodia Del Chinito", "Me Voy De La Vida", "Salsa Con Tabaco", and "La Negra Saramuya". LP, Vinyl record album

Jan Akkerman did plenty of unusual projects in the 70s, and this album may well be the best of them – an outing with vocalist Kaz Lux, whose unique phrasing really helps give the music a lot of focus! Akkerman's still hanging nicely between rock, funk, and jazz – but the use of vocals means that some of his guitar lines are a bit more spacious in ways that we really love, especially when they mix in these cool cosmic passages with the MPS-like keyboards of Jasper Van't Hof. The album's hardly a straight fusion album, but it's also not really a rock one either – more like a fusion set with vocals in all the right places – on titles that include "Guardian Angel", "Tranquilizer", "Can't Fake A Good Time", "Naked Actress", "Wings Of Strings", and "Strindberg". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful album from Lorez Alexanderia – one of her two excellent sessions for Impulse! The record was cut after Lorez recorded some great sides for the Argo label – and it works off the strength of those sides, taking her unique vocal approach, forged in R&B, but smoothed by jazz, into a whole new level of expression! The backing is great – small combo, with featured musicians who include Bunk Shank and Paul Horn on reeds, and Victor Feldman and Wynton Kelly on piano – all working with moody, soulful arrangements that are a perfect accompaniment to Lorez' beautiful voice. Includes the cuts "Get Me To The Church On Time", "Satin Doll", "Show Me", "The Best Is Yet to Come", "I'm Through With Love", and 5 more! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the records that really helped establish the legend of Mose Allison as one of the most unique talents in jazz – an early effort that still has Mose working mostly as a pianist, but which also features key vocal performances of "Parchman Farm" and "Lost Mind" – and a spot of trumpet on "Trouble In Mind"! Allison is joined by Addison Farmer on bass, and Nick Stabulas on drums – and the instrumental sides include "Crepuscular Air", "Mojo Woman", "I'll Never Be Free" and "Ain't You A Mess". LP, Vinyl record album

It's the early 70s, and Mose is still going strong – grooving with a unique blend of New Orleans soul and Northern jazz influences, his own particular brand of music, timeless from the day it was born! The setting here is a live one, and Mose is playing with a trio that includes Clyde Flowers on bass and Eddie Charlton on drums. The album features a number of strong originals – including "Look What You Made Me Do", "Powerhouse", "I Don't Worry About A Thing", and "Don't Forget To Smile" – plus versions of "The Seventh Son" and "Fool's Paradise". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal sounds from this legendary group – a combo who feature a young Ted Nugent on some complete amazing guitar, but in a way that's very different than Ted's big arena rock albums of the 70s! The Amboy Dukes have a way of combining the rawness of garage rock with the headiness of psych, all while also reaching a bit into blues roots to really let the guitars speak loudly – one of those really important 60s records that twisted up different rock genres at once, and helped pave the way for a unique generation to come! Singer John JB Drake is pretty great too – and titles include great versions of "I Feel Free", "Let's Go Get Stoned", "Baby Please Don't Go", and "It's Not True" – plus the originals "Young Love", "Colors", "Down On Philips Escalator", and "Gimme Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Warm, mellow, and completely sublime – the mighty America at the height of their powers – working with a quality that nobody else can match! The trio wrap together all the best ideas that were bubbling under in the LA scene of the late 60s – vocal harmonies, studio perfection, and even touches of rootsy instrumentation – yet find a space to work all these elements together in a rich sound that's completely unique – amazingly understated at times, despite a near-perfect level of production! The whole album's great – even their original version of "Muskrat Love" – nestled in here next to "Rainbow Song", "Submarine Ladies", "Molten Love", "Green Monkey", and "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

A trilogy of albums from this unique group – presented here with all their original artwork, and a bit bonus booklet of notes and images too! First up is Love & Poetry – the killer debut of this heady power trio from the British Isles – one who've got some of the same harder rock leanings as some of the other lean groups of their time, but who also seem to manage to hang onto some psychedelic fuzziness too – a fantastic approach that's always made Andwella such a unique group! The bass is nicely brooding, drums are plenty hard, and the great UK reedman Bob Downes adds a bit of sax and flute to the record. There's a wonderfully unique vibe throughout – and titles include "Clockwork Man", "Man Without A Name", "Sunday", "Andwella", "High On A Mountain", "Shades Of Gray", and "Take My Road". World's End is a set that begins with one of the greatest funky rock tracks ever – then leaps into the fray with a whole host of wonderful tunes! That track is the mighty "Hold On To Your Mind" – well worth the price of the album alone, and a tune that takes all the funky energy of the freakbeat scene, and moves it into more sophisticated rock territory! The rest of the record continues the shift to sophistication that makes this second album from Andwella so great – really well-penned songs that manage to do a lot with a little, use familiar instrumentation in unusual ways, and there's some nice use of flute, piano, and organ along the way – deepening their sound in all the best ways. Titles include "Hold On To Your Mind", "Just How Long", "Michael Fitzhenry", "Lady Love", "I'm Just Happy To See You Get Her", and "World's End (parts 1 & 2)". On the cover of People's People, Andwella are looking a bit shaggier and more mature, and they're sounding that way too – really pushing their vocals with more soulful qualities than before, which are a perfect fit for the searching qualities of the music! There's almost a US roots current to the record at times – the sort of vibe that should have made an already-great band even better – and which really takes Andwella on a surprisingly long musical journey in just a very short span! Titles include "She Taught Me To Love", "World Of Angelique", "Saint Bartholomew", "Are You Ready", "Lazy Days", "Behind The Painted Screen", and "Four Days In September". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique album from Yugoslavian group Angel's Breath – one recorded in Brazil, which might come as no surprise, given that one of the members of the duo is Mitar Subotic Suba – who you'll also know from his groundbreaking album Sao Paulo Confessions! Suba got his start in Serbia, but was crucial in the Brazilian advances in the 90s before his too-early death in 1999 – and the record's definitely got some of the same appeal as the best music of the scene from Chico Science or Arnaldo Antunes – especially in the way it uses offbeat guitar lines, crispy electronics, and unusual rhythms next to lyrics that often feel as poetically experimental as they are tuneful! The whole thing's very difficult to describe, but that really gives it a hell of a lot of charm – and if it were not for the turmoil in Yugoslavia at the time, the set might have seen bigger global attention from the same cultural scene who were embracing Brazilian experiments of the period. Titles include "Madalena", "Velvet", "Caura", "Assassino", "Aplauzi", "40 Seconds Of Love", and "Metak". LP, Vinyl record album

The Art Ensemble at the height of their powers – really letting loose on the Parisian scene of the late 60s, where they found a great audience for all the new ideas they'd been brewing up back home! The album's definitely one that has the group's unique ethos coming into focus – that sense of spontaneous collective creativity spawned by their AACM contemporaries, but delivered with the special sort of playful energy of the group – as they effortlessly shift instruments, switch modes, and find a way to resonate wonderfully as a group without sacrificing their individual voices! Everyone plays percussion and other instruments – with Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell on reeds, Lester Bowie on trumpet, and Malachi Favors on bass – on titles that include "Song For Charles", "Ericka", "A Jackson In Your House", and "Get In Line". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic early album from jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby! Ashby's a unique talent like no other – and despite the fact that she plays a rather sleepy instrument, the harp, she swings with an other-worldly quality that's simply amazing, quite exotic, and very much in the camp of players like Yusef Lateef or Les Jazz Modes, who were trying similar experiments in jazz. This session features Dorothy in a quartet with the flute of Frank Wess, the bass of Herman Wright, and the drums of Roy Haynes, whose warm lyrical touches provide the perfect melodicism for the group. Titles include "Rascallity", "Bohemia After Dark", "Taboo", "Autumn In Rome", and "It's A Minor Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

Near-perfect work from Ashford & Simpson – really grooving in full powerhouse mode here, and never missing a beat! By all rights, the team should have run out of steam by this point, but the album's another winner from their sublime Warner years – caught in a unique space between chart soul, ensemble funk, and disco – taking all the best elements of each, and really sending the whole thing home with some incredible vocals and impeccable production and arrangements! Titles include "Rushing To", "Love Don't Make It Right", "We'll Meet Again", "Get Out Your Handkerchief", and "I Ain't Asking For Your Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky African work from Fred Fisher – a Nigerian trombonist who crafted his own unique groove at the end of the 70s! Fred both sings and plays trombone – the latter with a Fred Wesley-like soulfulness – and his rhythms here are really wide-ranging, and embrace a host of new styles coming into play at the time – including a fair bit of influences from American soul! Some cuts have a rootsy groove, while others move into tighter dancefloor territory – never in a commercial style at all, but with traces of boogie and other 80s modes in the mix. Vocals are sometimes in English, which furthers the global appeal of the music – and the set brings together tracks from 4 different albums by Fisher. Titles include "Say The Truth", "Asa Sa", "Iye Ye Mu Elediamemisise", "No Way", "Let Love Free", "WTFS", "Beautiful Dancer", "Happy Blue Night", "The Beginning Ishan", "Ehimedede", "Babajoo", and "Ebi Lolo". 2LP set features 12 tracks in all. Note: The music on the whole set is great, but there are a few tracks that suffer sound-wise from some distortion in the masters used. Most of the other tracks are fine, though. LP, Vinyl record album

A millennial classic from Erykah Badu – a record that came along right as the current century was starting up, to show a soulful path that would keep things strong for many years to come! The album grabbed a bigger audience than Erykah's first, but still kept things strong – really focusing in on that amazing vocal style that made the singer such a unique talent – and which always had edges that were sharper, and runs that were deeper, than some of her contemporaries who might be able to trick a phrase with a bit of spirit, but never deliver the whole thing in the way that Badu can! Themes are both personal and hinting at her political turns to come – and titles include "Kiss Me On My Neck", "Didn't Cha Know", "My Life", "AD 2000", "Bag Lady", "In Love With You", and "Booty". LP, Vinyl record album

The second chapter of Erykah Badu's New Amerykah – recorded for the most part, quite incredibly, during the same period and with the same collaborators as the mind-altering, murky and righteous hip hop funk experimentalism that was Part One – some months that must be among the most dizzyingly creative in Badu's career! We're reluctant to call Return Of The The Ankh a lighter listen than its predecessor, but, it's a less dense and outwardly experimental batch in the sonic realm – the emotionalism and the head nodding warmth is at the forefront, yet she's as uncompromising and real as ever. The sound is still innovative, unique and her own on all fronts, but the songs chosen for Part Two are ones you want to approach and embrace from the opening seconds – there's not as much of a tripped out overall vibe and you don't need to acclimate from a distance – these songs pull you right in! Includes collaborations with James Poyser, Shafiq Husayn, Ta'Raach, Karriem Riggins, Madlib and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Includes "20 Feet Tall", "Window Seat", "Agitation", "Turn Me Away (Get Munny)", "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long", "Love", "Out My Mind, Just In Time" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet Italian set from Chet Baker – from a scene that always seemed to bring out his most lyrical side – and a record that's done in that easy, open, understated style that makes us love Baker's last decade so much! Back in the day, folks only zeroed in on classic Chet from the 50s – but they were really missing a lot by not hearing a record like this – as Baker, although aged and world-weary, is also a master of color, tone, and phrasing – really able to bring a lot more emotion into his music, but in very subtle ways – and matched here by a really wonderful lineup – with players who include Nicola Stilo on flute, Diane Varvra on soprano, and Michel Grallier on piano. And as with so much late Baker, although the tunes are familiar, the execution is unique – on titles that include "Dream Drop", "Estate", "Francamente", "Finestra Sul Mare", and "Lament". LP, Vinyl record album

Mike Bandoni soars to space on waves of funky drums – spread out here on long tracks that are often three times the length of a funky 45, which allows plenty of room for the drums to do all sorts of sharp changes and crackling passages – as plenty of cool keyboards, electronics, and other effects filter into the mix! The drums are at the core throughout, and Mike's a hell of a drummer – but he also really does a great job of bringing in all these other spooky, spacey sounds that really give the album a unique sort of vibe! Titles include "Gamma Ray Burst", "Event Horizon Approach", "Arrival", "The Long Nap", "Something Wonderful", and "It Might Be OK". LP, Vinyl record album

Beach Boys karaoke – or kind of a "music minus one" album – but whatever the case, the set's a pretty unique outing in the field of 60s pop! The record's exactly what the title promises – a "stack o tracks" from the group's earlier records – rhythm parts, some instrumental bits – all laid out with key guitar parts missing and no vocals at all – so that you can pick up your instrument and play along with the record – and maybe get your friends to harmonize too! At the time, the approach seemed somewhat crazy – but after spending decades tracking down Smile-era bootlegs of Brian Wilson studio tracks just like this, the record's got a surprising sort of brilliance – almost as if Brian had guessed there's be a market for his "studio progress" sort of material. Titles include "Darlin", "Salt Lake City", "Wild Honey", "Catch A Wave", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Surfer Girl", "God Only Knows", "Little Honda", and "Let Him Run Wild". LP, Vinyl record album

Pure brilliance from start to finish – especially the second side of the record, which has a continuous run of tunes that's very unique – and still completely sublime all these many years later! The album shows the fracturing ideas of the group, but crafted together with a unity you won't find on The White Album or Let It Be – still a way of making it all gel together beautifully, as the fab four stretch their wings to find new ways of being. Added instrumentation is used wonderfully – never overdone, but with orchestral passages that can really hammer home the best musical moments – and titles include "I Want You", "Because", "You Never Give Me Your Money", "Golden Slumbers", "The End", "Her Majesty", "Polythene Pam", and "Sun King". LP, Vinyl record album