Beautiful tenor work from Buck Hill – an under-acknowledged genius who finally got his chance to reach a larger audience with a handful of Muse Records releases like this one! Hill's a player with a great deal of feeling – a tone that stretches back to Coleman Hawkins in his best later years, schooled with some of the soul of Stanley Turrentine, but delivered with a warm, rich sound that's all Buck's own – the kind of overlooked tenor talents that would grab your ears from the back of a bar, even if you weren't already hip to the player! Buck's working here with a familiar combo that includes Jon Ozmont on piano, Carroll Dashiell on bass, and Warren Schadd on drums – and he also delivers some surprisingly great original tunes on the set – the titles "Blue Hill", "Mitzi", "Lullaby Of Loosdrecht", "Bossa For Sax", and "Blues In Five For Four Or More". Other titles include "But Beautiful", "I Want To Be Happy", and "Warm Vally". CD

Buck Hill blows mean and lean here – working in a quartet with a solidly soulful finish, one that's perfect for his well-schooled sound on the tenor sax! The album's got a really non-nonsense feel – production from Houston Person that keeps the sound plenty clean, and very focused on Buck's wonderful horn – and rhythms that never try too hard to be contemporary, and instead relax nicely in the older soul jazz groove that fits Hill's solo style the best. Titles include original numbers "Ottawa Bash", "Impulse", and "Random Walk" – plus "Now's The Time", "Blues In The Closet", "Solitude", and "How Do You Keep The Music Playing". CD

A trio of wonderful tenorists – each of them important players on their respective local scenes – coming together tremendously here in an all-star set! Tracks are often long, and really allow each individual plenty of personal expression on their solos – and although Edwards was getting some good time on record at this point in his career, the set's maybe even more special for the way it presents both Buck Hill and Von Freeman – each of whom is great. Backing is by the trio of Rein De Graaff on piano, Koos Serierse on bass, and Eric Ineke on drums – and titles include "Perdido/Wahoo", "Red Top", "I Can't Get Started", "Out Of Nowhere", "Loverman", and "Old Folks". CD

One of the few widely-circulated documents of the great Buck Hill – a tenorist who rarely left his local scene in Washington DC – and was maybe a bit to his city what Von Freeman was to ours! Buck plays tenor, with Kenny Barron on piano, Buster Williams on bass, and Billy Hart on drums – and titles include "Tokudo", "Oleo", "I'm Aquarius", and "SMY". LP, Vinyl record album

Ahhh . . . The young genius of The Replacements! A bit punk, a bit garage, with a heartfelt quality that you didn't always find in indie rock at the time. These rough hewn gems are already as brilliant as they can be – shiny little diamonds that show Westerberg and crew working at top form, possibly topper than they'd ever be at in later years. Every single track is fantastic – and the album dances from number to number with delight, an endless array of great hooks, soulful vocals, and searing guitar bits that are laid out with early 80s economy! Titles include "Take Me Down To The Hospital", "Run It", "Color Me Impressed", "Within Your Reach", "Buck Hill", and "Treatment Bound" – and it's finally, after all these years, been carefully remastered! CD

With some nice guest tenor work from Buck Hill! Titles include "Get Out Of Town", "Beautiful Friendship", "I Got Lost In His Arms", "Come Fly With Me", and "So I Love You". CD

Features Joe Henderson and Buck Hill on tenor, Billy Hart and Elvin Jones on drums, and trumpet from Roy Hargrove! CD

A tremendous little session from a hip DC group – one led by trumpeter Allen Houser, and featuring some really great tenor from the great Buck Hill! Hill and Houser make the album worth the price of admission alone – but the set's also got some wonderful rhythms too, courtesy of Vince Genova on piano, Steve Novosel on bass, and Howard Chichester on drums. Bob Balthis plays valve trombone too – but our favorite artist here is probably Hill, who we only know from later recordings, but plays with a great raw tone on the best numbers. Titles include "Runnin Wild With Trevor Koehler", "While We're Young", "Continue", "Rubato For Lenny Bruce", and "He Had It But He Lost It". LP, Vinyl record album

Ahhh . . . The young genius of The Replacements! A bit punk, a bit garage, with a heartfelt quality that you didn't always find in indie rock at the time. These rough hewn gems are already as brilliant as they can be – shiny little diamonds that show Westerberg and crew working at top form, possibly topper than they'd ever be at in later years. Every single track is fantastic – and the album dances from number to number with delight, an endless array of great hooks, soulful vocals, and searing guitar bits that are laid out with early 80s economy! Titles include "Take Me Down To The Hospital", "Run It", "Color Me Impressed", "Within Your Reach", "Buck Hill", and "Treatment Bound". LP, Vinyl record album

Buck's tribute to the immortal Tommy Collins (the same man Merle Haggard sang of in his hit "Leonard"). Collins was a very endearing and influential songwriter who moved to Bakersfield in the late 50s and hired the young Buck as a guitarist on his early Capitol recordings. Includes many tracks that became standards for many C&W performers, such as the gorgeous "High On A Hilltop", "If You Ain't Lovin', You Ain't Livin'", "You Gotta Have A License", and "I Always Get A Souvenir". Buck's expressive singing and Don Rich's twangy chicken pickin' do Tommy right! CD

Buck's tribute to the immortal Tommy Collins (the same man Merle Haggard sang of in his hit "Leonard"). Collins was a very endearing and influential songwriter who moved to Bakersfield in the late 50s and hired the young Buck as a guitarist on his early Capitol recordings. Includes many tracks that became standards for many C&W performers, such as the gorgeous "High On A Hilltop", "If You Ain't Lovin', You Ain't Livin'", "You Gotta Have A License", and "I Always Get A Souvenir". Buck's expressive singing and Don Rich's twangy chicken pickin' do Tommy right! LP, Vinyl record album

An unreleased live set from Neil Young – recorded in Santa Cruz in November of 1990, and featuring the group hot on the success of their Ragged Glory album! The set features the live debut of many of the record's songs, along with a number of surprises too – tracks that are unexpected in the performance, which sprawls over three long sets! Titles include "Country Home", "Surfer Joe & Moe The Sleaze", "Days That Used To Be", "Bite The Bullet", "Love & Only Love", "Cortez The Killer", "T-Bone", "Homegrown", "Mansion On The Hill", "Roll Another Number For The Road", "Danger Bird", "Don't Cry No Tears", "Farmer John", and "Cinnamon Girl". Features the full album on 4LPs, and on 2CDs, plus a DVD of the concert – all in a very limited box set! LP, Vinyl record album

Includes recordings with his Rhythm Aces, Charles Johnson's Paradise Ten, Gut Bucket-Teers, Ikey Robinson and his band, and Alex Hill and his orchestra. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of school-themed tracks in many styles – all brought together in a mad mix of music that's very much in the best Bear Family label tradition! Most of the cuts here are from the early years of rock and roll – and there's plenty of riotous numbers that were likely designed to drive the teacher crazy – mixed with other numbers that have sweeter or more soulful styles – work in modes that run the gamut from R&B, to country, pop, vocal, and other postwar genres! The package is delightfully done, with mighty nice notes – and titles include "School Boy Blues" by Bobby Mitchell & The Toppers, "Goin Away To School" by John D Loudermilk, "Summer School" by Bucky & The Premiers, "Summer Vacation" by Carl Phillips, "Ding Dong School Is Out" by The Hollywood Playboys, "Rockin After School" by Miss Georgia, "After School" by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, "School Fool" by Mark Dinning, "School Blues" by Dave Rich, "School Days Are Back Again" by Smiley Lewis, and "Charlie Brown Got Expelled" by Joe Tex & His X Classmates. CD

Includes tracks by Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Marcia Ball, Beausoleil, Alvin "Red" Tyler, James Booker, Buckweat Zydeco, Phillip Walker, and others. CD

Featured soloists include Buck Clayton on trumpet, Flip Phillips on tenor, Trummy Young on trombone, Coleman Hawkins on tenor, Illinois Jacquet on tenor, Ken Kersey on piano, Willie Smith on alto, Herb Ellis on guitar, Benny Fonville and Ray Brown on bass, and Buddy Rich an Jo Jones on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

Features JC Heard, Buck Clayton, Lee Young, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, Flip Phillips, Hank Jones, Lester Young, Gene Krupa, and others. CD

Cypress Hill's debut masterpiece – one of the biggest and best first albums in 90s hip hop! There's little we can add to the canon when it comes to describing this album's impact, but it's still pretty revelatory. Like other west coast rap heavies of the time, Cypress Hill documents real world street violence with a darkly comic sensibility, redefined usage of the word "blunt" forever more, and simply delivered one of the most influential rap (or rock, considering the astonishing crossover success) albums of the decade. Titles include "How I Could Just Kill A Man", "Hand On The Pump", "Hole In The Head", "Real Estate", "Stoned Is The Way Of The Walk", "Phunky Feel One", "Pigs", "Latin Lingo", "Something For The Blunted", and "Psychobeatbuckdown". LP, Vinyl record album

There's always something great afoot in the Hillbillies In Hell series – usually way more than you might guess from the theme hinted at on the cover, as the scope of songs within tend to deliver a lot more too! As with the other volumes, the music here is from the farther reaches of country in the postwar years – either great work by obscure artists, or obscure tracks by better-known names – all with themes that are on the darker side of the spectrum, and which are very different than the usual country songs about heartbreak! This set features 18 great cuts in all – and titles include "Jesus Is My Pusher" by Margie Singleton, "I Saw The Light" by Bobby Bare, "Atom Bomb" by The Revelations Quartet, "My Feet's On Solid Ground" by Jimmy Murphy, "The Devil Trail" by Rhys Evans, "Half A Loaf Of Bread" by Jimmy Murphy, "Keep On The Firing Line" by The Sunshine Boys, "Ten Rounds With The Devil" by Barney Pierce & The Friendly Four, "Which Way You Going" by Jerry Jericho, "Troubled Times" by Gary Williams, and "Satan's Gotta Get Along Without Me" by Buck Owens. LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from Shawn Phillips – a set that has more of the jazzy tones of his later work coming to the forefront – in a sound that's fuller, richer than before – with larger orchestrations by Paul Buckmaster and Ian Green, and a growing sense of groove that's made Shawn one of the best examples of the early 70s folk funk generation! There's a tightly vamping energy to most of the best numbers that's really great – and a slightly jazzy sensibility too, even when things still sound mostly folksy overall. Titles include "Song For Mr C", "Sleepwalker", "Keep On", "Song For Sagittarians", "Steel Eyes", "Schmaltz Waltz", and "F Sharp Splendor". CD

A near-forgotten gem from Coleman Hawkins excellent late 50s period – recorded for the short-lived Felsted label, and done in a beautifully relaxed way! The tracks here are long and easy-going – at times even more open than Hawkins' work for Verve, and in the style he'd explore even more deeply for Prestige on some albums recorded right after this set. Hawk is playing in a quintet with Buck Clayton on trumpet, Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Mickey Sheen on drums – and titles include "My One & Only Love", "Bird Of Prey Blues", "Get Set", "Ooh Wee Miss GP", and "You've Changed". Added to that set are 3 bonus tracks from the Verve album Coleman Hawkins & Confreres – featuring a group with Roy Eldridge, on the titles "Hanid", "Honey Flower", and "Nabob". And last up are 2 more live recordings from a show in New York at the Phytian Temple – MC'd by All Jazzbo Collins, and featuring a solo performance of "Foolin Around", plus a take on "The Man I Love", played by a group with Hank Jones. CD

One of the key early albums in the career of trumpeter Clark Terry – and a set that's also noteworthy for being a key 50s session for the great Thelonious Monk! If you only think of Terry from his later smiling face on record covers, the player here you'll find is very different – one that has a lot more bite, and whose horn not only matches the sharpness of Monk's piano – but also delivers some great original material that allow you to hear Thelonious in a nicely varied setting than his own records! The group features excellent rhythm work from Sam Jones on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums – and titles include great originals like "In Orbit", "Pea Eye", "Argentina", "One Foot In The Gutter", and "Buck's Business". LP, Vinyl record album

A strong showcase for young Nat Adderley's talents on cornet – and an album that's got a different feel that his work with his more famous brother's combo at the same time! The style here is simple – Nat blowing with 2 different quartets – one with Joe Zawinul on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums (all from Cannonball's group) – the other with the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Despite's Nat's reputation as a gutbuckety soul jazz player, he actually gets in some nicely lyrical licks in this set – blowing in a soulful modern style that almost recalls the work of Carmell Jones at times! Titles include "Chloe", "Images", "Scotch & Water", and "Naturally". CD

There were plenty of things brewing down in the swampy scene in Louisiana during the 50s – where many musical crossroads met, and created some of the hottest sounds of the time! Case in point is the mighty Goldband label – located in Lake Charles, where currents from Texas, Memphis, and other point south all swirled together – to create a wonderful hybrid of hillbilly roots, bluesy inflections, and raw styles from the early years of rock and roll – presented beautifully in this overstuffed package of rare singles from the label! Production is nicely raw, but right on the money – not nearly as polished as rockers on labels like Capitol, Mercury, or MGM – and often with some touches that reflect the Louisiana roots of the artists – either a bit of cajun phrasing here, or a deep south twang there – expanded upon in the vivid stories told in the collection's detailed notes. CD features 26 titles in all – including "Twitterpated" by Buck Wheat, "No No Baby" by Al Ferrier, "The Girl In The Red Blue Jeans" by Hopeless Homer, "Plant You Now Dig You Later" by Bee Arnold, "I Love That Woman" by Red Le Blance & His Crescent Boys, "Wanna Go Steady" by Bill Hutto & His Playboys, "Mabel's Done Gone" by Jerry Noble, and "Honest To Goodness Baby" by Bill& Carroll with the Neches Valley Boys. CD

One of Lee Morgan's first-ever recordings as a leader, cut way back when he was just a hip teenager from Philly with a bucketful of promise on the trumpet! The session's a crack hard bop date – with an all-star cast that includes Hank Mobley on tenor, Hank Jones on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – and although the proceedings are a bit rough around the edges compared to some of the Blue Note sets, the album's still filled with a heck of a lot of fire, and like all Morgan albums, is totally worth owning! Tracks are longish, and filled with imagination – and titles include "Bet", "Hank's Shout", "Nostalgia", "That's All", and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise". CD

2 of the great late 50s swing sessions on the short-lived Felsted label – both albums that feature trombonist Dicky Wells on some long and open-ended tunes! Dicky's playing here with fellow trombonists Benny Morton, Vic Dickenson, and George Matthews – as well as Buddy Tate on tenor, Buck Clayton on trumpet, and Skip Hall on organ on a few tracks. The lineup changes from side to side, but the feel is certainly the same – and very strong. Titles include "Hello Smack", "Come & Get It", "Stan's Dance", "You Took My Heart", "Bones For The King", "Girl Hunt", "Wine O Junction", and "Sweet Daddy Spo-de-o". 12 tracks in all! CD

An insane collection of work from the great Sonny Burgess – easily one of the rawest artists to ever record for the legendary Sun Records – and that's saying a lot, given his late 50s contemporaries on the label! Sonny's not just wild from a rockabilly perspective, he also feels like he's just completely wild from a personal one – steeped in equal influences from country and R&B, and wound up and let go here in the studio – often with vocals that feel as if they're ready to blow the speakers off the wall in the legendary studio of Sam Phillips! In order to show the full genius that went into these tracks, the set also features some unusual false starts and undubbed versions too – along with a very big booklet of notes that has all the details on the sessions behind these gems. Titles include "We Wanna Boogie", "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It", "Sweet Misery", "Oh Mama", "Truckin Down The Avenue", "Find My Baby For Me", "Mr Blues", "Feelin Good", "Always Will", "Please Listen To Me", "Daddy Blues", "Fannie Brown", "Life's Too Short To Live", "Red Headed Woman", "The Prisoner's Song", "Thunderbird", "Itchy", "Mama Loochie", "A Kiss Goodnite", "Smoochin Jill", "My Baby Loves Me", "Sadie's Back In Town", and "You're Not The One For Me". 57 tracks in all! CD

The first ten tracks feature Bucky Pizzarelli on guitar, Hank Jones on piano, Richard Davis on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums – The remaining tracks feature Bob Brookmeyer and Bob Cutshall on trombones, James Morreale and Rusty Dedrick on trumpets, Jerry Dodgion, Pepper Adams, Joe Farrell, and Bob Wilber on saxes, Wayne Wright on guitar, Dave McKenna on piano, Buddy Jones on bass, and Morey Feld on drums. CD

The Holiday Inn chain of motels was first launched in Memphis during the city's rockabilly years, and an early investor was Sam Phillips of Sun Records – so it's maybe no surprise that the company also hosted a small record label of its own – a short-lived imprint that's a treasure trove of rare Memphis music! This set brings together all the great early singles on the imprint – both a-sides and b-sides, with a blend of instrumental rockers, soulful pop, and rockabilly – much of which was handled by Phillips at the Sun Studios! Most of the names here aren't Memphis legends, but the music definitely lives up to the rare 45s from that city's scene at the time – and in addition to a rare single here by Charlie Feathers, the package also includes work from Buck Griffin, Jimmy Foster, The Roller Coasters, Stony Martin, Jimmy Foster, Joe Fuller, and others – plus two Holiday Inn jingles too! CD