One of the strangest things about Abbey Lincoln's career is the fact that, despite her hip affiliations with the left end of the jazz spectrum, she's actually been slotted into a fair number of straighter projects, not only in music, but in film as well. This album's a perfect example of that – and may well be the reason for Abbey's later leanings towards the left – as here, in her debut LP, she comes off as a dreamy girl singer, recorded by Liberty almost in a mode that's similar to Julie London or some of their other gal stars – with complicated backings from Benny Carter and Marty Paich. The record is lacking the stark captivating quality of Abbey's later records, but it does have a certain kind of charm – especially as the love themes in the set are all-adult, at a mature level that you'd really only hear from a rare few other singers, like Shirley Horn or Lorez Alexandria. Titles include "Two Cigarettes In The Dark", "Take Me In Your Arms", "No More", "Affair", "This Can't Be Love", "I Wake Up Smiling", and "Love Walked In". CD

Excellent early work from Clarence Carter – recording here with production and arrangements by Rick Hall – in that sweet Muscle Shoals style that never sounded better than it did with Clarence! Carter had a way of working with Hall that was really beyond some of the cliches that crept into the scene at the time – a blend of bluesier roots and leaner soul that was totally great – and which was always touched by Clarence's keen sense of wit and personality! The record's got a slightly funky sound in parts – especially on the great cut "Snatching It Back" – and the rest of the titles are all killer southern soul material, with classics that include "Making Love (At The Dark End Of The Street)", "Soul Deep", "Doin' Our Thing", "I Smell a Rat", and "I Can't Do Without You". LP, Vinyl record album

Swirling spiritual work from Alice Coltrane – an incredible trio album that features her heavily on harp, plus a bit of piano – in a trio with Ron Carter on bass and Rashied Ali on drums! The sound is wonderful – lush, yet contemplative – in a personal style that really shows Alice beginning to express herself in new modes after the death of The Great One. The us of harp is especially incredible – handled here with a sense of majesty that really leaves us breathless, and which goes far beyond other use of that instrument in jazz. And even Alice's piano is surprisingly nice – with these mellow, earthy undertones that bubble at the bottom and ground the whole effort on earthly territory. Titles include "Turiya", "HIS", "Jaya Jaya Rama", and "Via Sivanadagar". LP, Vinyl record album

Spiritual sounds galore – an amazing 2-fer from Alice Coltrane! Huntington Ashram Monastery is powerful work from Alice Coltrane – an incredible trio album that features her heavily on harp, plus a bit of piano – in a trio with Ron Carter on bass and Rashied Ali on drums! The sound is wonderful – lush, yet contemplative – in a personal style that really shows Alice beginning to express herself in new modes after the death of The Great One. The us of harp is especially incredible – handled here with a sense of majesty that really leaves us breathless, and which goes far beyond other use of that instrument in jazz. And even Alice's piano is surprisingly nice – with these mellow, earthy undertones that bubble at the bottom and ground the whole effort on earthly territory. Titles include "Turiya", "HIS", "Jaya Jaya Rama", and "Via Sivanadagar". World Galaxy is one of Alice Coltrane's most ambitious albums of the early years – recorded with a full set of heavenly orchestrations! The core group features Alice on piano, organ, and harp – alongside Frank Lowe on saxes, Reggie Workman on bass, Leroy Jenkins on violin, and Ben Riley on drums. Added to this combo is a much larger set of strings – swirling around in a rich musical backdrop that gives Alice's work a sense of majesty and power we could have never imagined. This is the album that really showed the world that she was far far more than just the wife of the late great one – a true mystical visionary with a sound that demanded to be heard! Side 2 features a recitation by Alice's spiritual mentor, Swami Satchdiananda – and the album features a wonderful version of "My Favorite Things", done with both organ and harp, plus the tracks "Love Supreme", "Galaxy In Turiya", and "Galaxy In Satchidandana". CD

Swirling spiritual work from Alice Coltrane – an incredible trio album that features her heavily on harp, plus a bit of piano – in a trio with Ron Carter on bass and Rashied Ali on drums! The sound is wonderful – lush, yet contemplative – in a personal style that really shows Alice beginning to express herself in new modes after the death of The Great One. The us of harp is especially incredible – handled here with a sense of majesty that really leaves us breathless, and which goes far beyond other use of that instrument in jazz. And even Alice's piano is surprisingly nice – with these mellow, earthy undertones that bubble at the bottom and ground the whole effort on earthly territory. Titles include "Turiya", "HIS", "Jaya Jaya Rama", and "Via Sivanadagar". CD

Spiritual jazz both old and new – a collection that really gets past the obvious sides of the genre, and brings together a range of unusual work from the 70s onward! The tracks here are a great antidote to the well-traveled territory of labels like Impulse or Strata East Records – and are mostly from lesser-known sources that include tiny indies from the 80s, and a few ground breaking imprints from recent years! There's definitely a vibe here that holds strongly in the spirit of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and other innovators from the end of the 60s – but the sound is especially fresh given the obscurity of the tunes. Titles include "For Our Souls" by Doug Hammond, "Amazona" by Francisco Mora Catlett, "The Mystery Of Man" by Sarah Vaughan, "Better Than That" by Nomo, "Gol E Gandom" by Lloyd Miller, "Motherless Child" by Brother Ah, "A Love Supreme" by Dwight Trible, "Why" by Woody Shaw with Carter Jefferson, "Rwanda" by Francis Bebey, "Come Sunday" by Stanley Cowell, and "En El Amanecer Del Tiempo". CD

Spiritual jazz both old and new – a collection that really gets past the obvious sides of the genre, and brings together a range of unusual work from the 70s onward! The tracks here are a great antidote to the well-traveled territory of labels like Impulse or Strata East Records – and are mostly from lesser-known sources that include tiny indies from the 80s, and a few ground breaking imprints from recent years! There's definitely a vibe here that holds strongly in the spirit of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and other innovators from the end of the 60s – but the sound is especially fresh given the obscurity of the tunes. Titles include "For Our Souls" by Doug Hammond, "Amazona" by Francisco Mora Catlett, "The Mystery Of Man" by Sarah Vaughan, "Better Than That" by Nomo, "Gol E Gandom" by Lloyd Miller, "Motherless Child" by Brother Ah, "A Love Supreme" by Dwight Trible, "Why" by Woody Shaw with Carter Jefferson, "Rwanda" by Francis Bebey, "Come Sunday" by Stanley Cowell, and "En El Amanecer Del Tiempo". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice 2LP set that brings together some of his most striking sessions of the early 60s recorded for Emarcy. This set includes pieces composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin played by a large ensemble led by Benny Carter – with Dizzy as the main soloist, and work by players that include James Moody, Phil Woods, Emil Richards, Francisco Aguabella, and Schifrin himself. Tracks are long, and have complicated introductions – then easily give way to the sort of flowing grooves that Schifrin was penning often at the time. Titles include "The Conquerors", "The Chains", "The Swords", "The Empire", and "The Legend Of Atlantis". The set also features Diz playing tracks from Tom McIntosh, one of the scene's brightest arrangers at the time, and a talent who was looming large, thanks to support from folks like Diz and James Moody. Moody's in the group – blowing tenor with a quintet that includes Kenny Barron on piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins on drums – and his tone is incredible, with a darkness that he'd rarely had before, and the whole group has a mixture of modern tones and soulful grooves that's beyond compare! Titles include "November Afternoon", "The Cup Bearers", "The Day After". Also included are songs from the soundtrack for the lost Shirley Clarke verite drama The Cool World. Mal Waldron wrote the material for the score, and Diz plays the music with a moody emotionality that you don't often hear in his other 60's work. The recording was made by his great group that included Kenny Barron and James Moody, and the titles include "The Pushers", "Duke's Fantasy", "Coney Island", and "Street Music". LP, Vinyl record album

Unissued live work from the great Shirley Horn – recorded in Las Vegas right before her big comeback recordings of the 90s – at a time when Shirley was hardly getting a chance to make an album! That lack of attention hardly matters to Horn, though – as she faces this performance with all of the class, charm, and undeniable soul of her bigger label material – both singing and playing piano with that unique sense of phrasing that made her a standout from the 60s onward – easily one of the coolest jazz talents of her generation – and an artist that we'd rank up there with Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, and a rare few others. The album's got a few especially nice long tracks – which have Shirley stretching out with great long solos on piano, too – in a trio that features Charles Ables on bass and Steve Williams on drums. Titles include "Meditation", "The Boy From Ipanema", "Hi Fly", "Just For A Thrill", "Blues For Big Scotia", "Lover Man", and "Isn't It Romantic". CD

A well-titled little set – as the collection is as cool as the sound of CTI Records back in the 70s! The unique package features an LP-sized cover – just like one of the CTI gatefold albums from back in the day – which contains 4 different CDs, each with a slightly different take on the sound of the legendary label! CD 1 is titled Straight Up – and features amazing 70s jazz from Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, George Benson, Randy Weston, Freddie Hubbard, and others. CD 2 is titled Deep Grooves/Big Hits – and features some killer numbers by Esther Phillips, Johnny Hammond, Freddie Hubbard, Deodato, Joe Farrell, and Hank Crawford. Next is CD 3, The Brazilian Connection – a beautiful demonstration of Creed Taylor's love of sounds from Rio and beyond – filled with great work from Airto, Paul Desmond, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, and Deodato. Last up is Cool & Classic – the 4th CD, with CTI-remade work by older players such as Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Kenny Burrell, and Jim Hall – all a perfect fit for the label's new sound of the 70s! The package also features an LP-sized booklet – filled with notes and rare images! CD

A great early CTI session by George Benson, and one of the most stripped-down, straight-ahead funky records he did for the label! There's a sharpness here that's different than the larger feel of some of Benson 's later records – a sound that almost links back to his soul jazz roots in the 60s – played by a tight combo that features Benson on guitar, Clarence Palmer on organ, Ron Carter on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – plus percussion from Michael Cameron and Albert Nicholson. There's a version of "So What" on here that's got to be one of the best funky takes of that standard ever – with great hard grooves on the intro – and on other cuts, the real genius is in the way the simple tracks are arranged to shift between darkly chromatic passages and slight bits of funk. Titles include "All Clear", "Ode To A Kudu", and "Somewhere In The East". Plus, the CD features 3 bonus tracks – alternate versions of "Ode To A Kudu", "Somewhere In The East", and "All Clear". CD

A great early CTI session by George Benson, and one of the most stripped-down, straight-ahead funky records he did for the label! There's a sharpness here that's different than the larger feel of some of Benson 's later records – a sound that almost links back to his soul jazz roots in the 60s – played by a tight combo that features Benson on guitar, Clarence Palmer on organ, Ron Carter on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – plus percussion from Michael Cameron and Albert Nicholson. There's a version of "So What" on here that's got to be one of the best funky takes of that standard ever – with great hard grooves on the intro – and on other cuts, the real genius is in the way the simple tracks are arranged to shift between darkly chromatic passages and slight bits of funk. Titles include "All Clear", "Ode To A Kudu", and "Somewhere In The East". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Clark Terry, Jackie McLean, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins – plus arrangements by Ron Carter! CD

One of the best CTI albums from the early 70s – and one of Stanley Turrentine's funkiest records as well! The album's got a sharper edge than most other Turrentine albums of the time – a quality that goes beyond Stan's already soulful approach to the tenor, and which brings in some tight changes and more pronounced rhythms that really give the best cuts a great groove! The group's a sextet – with Bob James on electric piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums – and titles include a monster version of Weldon Irvine's "Sister Sanctified" – a great funk tune that's probably best known as the sample for "My Philosophy" by BDP! Other tracks include "Speedball", "Cherry", and "The Revs". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best CTI albums from the early 70s – and one of Stanley Turrentine's funkiest records as well! The album's got a sharper edge than most other Turrentine albums of the time – a quality that goes beyond Stan's already soulful approach to the tenor, and which brings in some tight changes and more pronounced rhythms that really give the best cuts a great groove! The group's a sextet – with Bob James on electric piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums – and titles include a monster version of Weldon Irvine's "Sister Sanctified" – a great funk tune that's probably best known as the sample for "My Philosophy" by BDP! Other tracks include "Speedball", "Cherry", and "The Revs". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best CTI albums from the early 70s – and one of Stanley Turrentine's funkiest records as well! The album's got a sharper edge than most other Turrentine albums of the time – a quality that goes beyond Stan's already soulful approach to the tenor, and which brings in some tight changes and more pronounced rhythms that really give the best cuts a great groove! The group's a sextet – with Bob James on electric piano, Milt Jackson on vibes, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums – and titles include a monster version of Weldon Irvine's "Sister Sanctified" – a great funk tune that's probably best known as the sample for "My Philosophy" by BDP! Other tracks include "Speedball", "Cherry", and "The Revs". LP, Vinyl record album