Jazz — Recently Added

A great little set of grooves by organist Lonnie Smith – and one of his best albums ever! The key to Drives is that it finds Lonnie backed by a totally sympathetic group of musicians – including Ronnie Cuber on baritone, Dave Hubbard on tenor, and the great Joe Dukes on drums – ... CD

One of the most righteous albums of jazz ever recorded – a brilliant blend of soulful and avant garde styles, backed up by a chorus of voices that have a really soulful sound! The album's the second recorded for Blue Note by the Ghetto Music ensemble of trumpeter Eddie Gale – a lesser-k ... CD

A key meeting between the Three Sounds trio and the amazing Monk Higgins – done at a time when Higgins was taking his Chicago-crafted grooves to work on the west coast – and doing some really wonderful productions with Dee Ervin! The set features full Higgins backings throughout – ... CD

Steve Lacy had plenty of fantastic moments on the European scene of the 70s – but this unique album may well stand as one of his best! The set's very different than any of Steve's recordings with his own group – partly because the core energy here comes from trumpeter Franz Koglmann ... CD

Stunning work from the great second chapter of Patrice Rushen – the time when the lady moved over to Elektra Records and really opened up her groove! Rushen had already been making great music for most of the 70s – playing fantastic keyboards as a real up-and-coming star on the funky ... CD

A fantastic lost slice of work from Stan Getz – one that features an early 60s group that was barely recorded at all, and which really shows Getz stretching out right before his bossa nova years! The quartet features a very young Steve Kuhn on piano, the great Roy Haynes on drums, and John ... LP, Vinyl record album

Kazutoki "Doctor" Umezu was always one of the more unusual Japanese saxophonists back in the day – not just a jazz musician, but a player who's open to a wide variety of styles – which you'll definitely hear here, in a cool collaboration with percussionist Midori Takada and ... LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing work from this seminal group on the FMP scene – a quartet led by pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach, but equally balanced between the saxes of Evan Parker, bass of Peter Kowald, and percussion of Paul Lovens! We're not sure how much to take the "nails" in the title ... LP, Vinyl record album

A different sound than usual from the Fire Orchestra of Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin – a set that still features the large spontaneous composition style of the group, but which also has them working with singer Mariam Wallentin – whose vocals really add a lot to ... LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album of soulful jazz – and one that's got a lot more staying power than the macrame craze of the 70s! Don't confuse this Bobby with the Rodriguez who put out some mid 70s salsa albums on Vaya in New York – because this Bobby's a trumpet player from the LA scene, one who ... LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a record that came out at a time when the UK scene was just beginning to explode with a whole new wave of jazz energy – and a set that's ripe for rediscovery even a few years later! Collocutor are a smallish group – just a septet – but they play with a righteous majesty ... LP, Vinyl record album

A sock-solid sextet session from the mighty Lee Morgan – recorded for Blue Note at the height of his mid 60s powers, and carried off in a beautiful blend of soul jazz and some slight modern touches! The group here is top-shelf all the way through – Jackie McLean on alto, Hank Mobley on ... LP, Vinyl record album

Pretty great stuff – even though Wendall Harrison has strayed far from the Tribe Records sound of his earlier years! The record takes the spiritual post-Coltrane jazz of Harrison's earlier days, and infuses it with a smooth fusion approach that's clearly an attempt to reach a wider audience ... LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime sounds from the great Herbie Hancock – presented here in one of his amazing Japanese-only albums from the 70s! The record is a showcase for Hancock in two different modes – as Herbie plays solo acoustic piano on side one, and delivers these really haunting renditions of "Ma ... LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal 70s work from one of the most righteous jazz musicians ever! On this set, Alice Coltrane moves past the rawer spiritual sound of her Impulse albums – working with a more focused vision and an approach to jazz that takes her way past the identity of just being "Mrs Coltrane" ... LP, Vinyl record album

A masterpiece of British jazz from the end of the 60s – a set that doesn't need to answer at all to any of the jazz styles coming from America at the time – as it's sound and vision is so bold, so unique, it's a completely massive statement on its own! The set may well represent the ... CD

Fantastic material from Sonny Stitt – alternate takes of sides that may well be some of our favorites from the bop sax legend – issued here on vinyl for the first time ever! The material here was recorded for the Roost label after Stitt's famous initial run on Prestige Records – ... LP, Vinyl record album

A long-lost album from one of our favorite jazz talents of all time – British tenor legend Tubby Hayes, a player we'd easily place on a short list with giants like Dexter Gordon or Sonny Rollins! Like both of those players, Hayes has an incredible talent for longform solos that never lose ... CD

A very different album than the previous Tenderlonious record – but a set that's still overflowing with the soulful sounds that made us love his music in the first place! Last time around, Tenderlonious worked with the 22A Arkestra – a group of labelmates that fleshed out his sound ... LP, Vinyl record album

A gem of a record from flute player Lloyd McNeil – an artist who flourished strongly during the spiritual jazz scene of the 70s, but who also seemed to always have his own sort of groove as well! Lloyd blows with the complexity and far-reaching sounds of contemporaries in the loft jazz scene ... CD

Rare work from one of the true powerhouse performers on the Detroit jazz scene – organist Lyman Woodard, famous for a few funk records in the 70s – but a musician who also gigged non-stop for decades in the Motor City! This double-length set features two performances, almost 20 years ... CD

You might know Tony Branker from his more recent work – issued under the name of Anthony Branker, and often quite far-reaching in scope – and here, even at a young age, the trumpeter's already got a heck of an amazing vision – working here in a beautiful set of all-original music, ... LP, Vinyl record album

The title here might seem a bit unusual, but it's a reference to Youtube, which is the source of all the material used on the album – about a decade's worth of performances by Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love – captured by fans, cleaned up by the pair, and lined up here as a ... CD

A fantastic record from Chicago percussionist Art Turk Burton – a longstanding member of the AACM, but one who's been so busy teaching and helping out on the local scene, he's never gotten the international fame he deserves! Art works here in a large group that mixes contemporary modes and ... CD

One of the most unusual albums we've ever heard from David Boykin – a set of spare duets with multi-instrumentalist Alex Wing – done at a level that really pushes Boykin's sounds on both tenor and bass clarinet! The tunes here are all freely improvised, and Wing often plays guitar ... CD

Beautiful work from Blue Mandala Project – an Italian group led by pianist Pietro Vincenti, an artist we really loved for his older Brazilian-styled sounds in the group Quintetto X! The vibe here has some of the sound of the older group, but there's also maybe more funk and soul elements at ... CD

Great work from one of the most dynamic Japanese pianists of the 70s – a player who's straighter than some of his contemporaries, but also has a very soulful swing as well! Tsuyoshi Yamamoto really opens up in a live setting – and concert dates like this represent some of his best work ... CD

An important pre-Art Ensemble Of Chicago moment – one that has most of the group coming together in a pair of rare recordings in the home of Lester Bowie – already sounding amazingly creative as a unit! The sound is almost freer than later work by the group – or certainly at the ... CD

A tremendous 70s album from Charles Tyler – one recorded with a rich, raw tone that's simply mindblowing! Tyler here has all of the deep soul we first came to love during his ESP years, but also a sound that's a bit more focused too – one that's extremely powerful, and boldly righteous ... CD

A well-titled set, given that Fred Anderson's been a missing link in Chicago jazz for many years – a bold tenorist with qualities that reach back to the heavy sax generation of the 50s, and a creative improvisor who's kept the AACM ideals alive and well in the Windy City for years! The ... CD