An entry in this excellent series that's very near and dear to our heart – as the cuts here were all chosen by Chicgao DJ Rahaan, who's got a mighty nice ear for a rare clubby groove! The collection explores territory that the previous volumes have hit, but with a special sound that's a nice change too – less of the standard disco or boogie, and some nicely unusual tracks that really change things up, and show just how much fresh creative energy was happening in the underground, way past the bigger labels of the time! Many of these cuts are completely new to our ears, which is really saying a lot in favor of the strength of the collection – and titles include "Ticket" by John Lamkin, "Wanna Get Down With You" by Jaze, "He Loves You" by Wings Of Light, "Let's Get It On" by Marini, "Come & Get It" by Santrax, "Shoot Me With Your Love" by Venus Dodson, "One Of These Days" by The 21st Century Singers, "For You" by Cherish, "Super Disco" by Frank Hatchett Dance Explosion, "Count Of Monte Thisgo" by Ship Of The Desert, "Back Fire" by Time Unlimited, "Juicy Fruit My Love" by Boobie Knight, "Go Down Moses" by Porno Disco, and "Catch Your Glow" by Cousin Ice with Zack Sanders. LP, Vinyl record album

Very groovy work from the Four King Cousins – a sweet quartet of lovely voices peeled off of the larger King Family ensemble, singing here in a spare and syncopated groove with lots of late 60s Capitol touches! Maestro Lex De Azevedo produced, arranged, and conducted – and the album's got a really unified sound that links together harmonies from Sunshine Pop and a bit of the loping styles that were showing up in mainstream easy at the time – a sublime blend of vocals and lightly snapping rhythms that's totally outta site! All tracks are covers, but done in really wonderful versions – and tunes include the great Roger Nichols track "I Fell", plus "Love So Fine", "God Only Knows", "California Nights", "This Girl's In Love With You", and "I Wanna Be Free". CD

An amazing set of work by John Coltrane – some of his best recordings ever, tracks that form a pivotal point between his later 50s work with Miles Davis and his mid 60s spiritual searching years. The set's unbelievably exhaustive – and includes every track that was ever issued by Coltrane on an Atlantic album, plus some great alternate takes, plus a 72 page hardbound book of photos and writings, plus a whole CD of rare material that was never issued before! (The folks at Atlantic say that they would have loved to make an even bigger set – but after a fire in their warehouse in the 70s, this one CD of tapes is all that ever remained!) The whole package is incredibly well put together – in a small discrete box with some great fold-out CD cases, and a wonderful mechanism for storage that's as great as the music in the set. Titles include "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Ole", "My Favorite Things", "Cousin Mary", "Giant Steps", "Mr Day", "Blues To Elvin", "Satellite", "Liberia", "Dahomey Dance", and sooooo much more! CD

Cooper and Holman don't actually play together on this album but it is rather a collection of some of their sessions for Capitol, originally in the Kenton Presents Jazz series, from 1954. Side A is mostly comprised of Cooper and his band playing such songs as "The Way You Look Tonight", "Lisbon Lady", "Group Activity", "Polka Dots & Moonbeams", and "Solo Plight". Cooper's Sextet included such musicians as Bud Shank, Shelly Manne and Stan Levy. Side B are all original Holman compositions and they include "Awfully Busy", "Back To Minors", "Cousin Jack", "Sparkle", and "Plain Folks". Holman's band included such musicians as Stu Williamson, Max Bennett, Stan Levey, and Herb Geller. LP, Vinyl record album

Genius work from Japanese trombonist Hiroshi Fukumura – working here at the helm of a twin-trombone group that also features the talents of Shigeharu Mukai – in a style that's filled with soul and free-thinking imagination! The two players work together beautifully here – avoiding any of the cliches of trombone-heavy groups from the past – and instead, using the open-ended Three Blind Mice label format to explore new ideas in jazz by hitting a spare, sensitive space that's really great. Sometimes tracks really take off and soar with the sort of inventiveness we'd expect from Slide Hampton at the time – at others, they work together more quietly to use the trombones as great shifters of sound and color. Tracks are all quite long, and other players include Hiroshi Tamura on piano, Tsutomu Okada on bass, and Shinji Mori on drums – on titles that include "Morning Flight", "Winter Song", "Cousin Mary", and "Soldier In The Rain". CD

Music by King Kooba, BLIM, Cousin Grizzly, Professor Stretch, Justice, Kaltech, and Grand Unified. CD

Mr & Mrs Jazz – and their cool cousins too – given that the combo also features some sublime tenor sax from JR Monterose, in addition to vocals from Sue and piano from Ralph! The set's a much harder-edged date than you might guess from the cover – and Sharon's approach to arrangements is a bit more dynamic than later work with Tony Bennett – swinging in a cool Bethlehem way, but given a great punch from the instrumentation – which also includes vibes from Eddie Costa and guitar from Joe Puma! Sue Sharon's a pretty nice singer, and appears on about half the tracks – the others are instrumentals – and titles include "That Goldblatt Magic", "Mynah Lament", "Just You Just Me", "Nothing At All", "Hugette Waltz", "A Nightingale Can Sing The Blues", and "A Trout No Doubt". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from the Flints, Earl & Jimmy & the Salesmen, the Splenders, the Strangers, Johnny Till & group, the Cousins, the Velvet Satins, the 4 Tones, the Embers, the Spaniels, the Viceroys, and more – 24 tracks total. CD

An unusual chapter in the label-hopping career of Charles Mingus – a one-off date recorded for Mercury right after Mingus' legendary sessions for Columbia! The format here may well be Mingus' most ambitious to date – as the album features larger groups than before, exploring a range of musical ideas that run from Charles' own highly political expressions of the Civil Rights era to some of his landmark explorations of Duke Ellington! As always, the individual players in the group are given a strong voice in the proceedings – and the record bristles with energy from solos by Ted Curson, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, Yusef Lateef, and a young Joe Farrell – as well as vocal performances by Lorraine Cousins, who sings on the classic "Weird Nightmare" and the haunting "Eclipse". A tremendous record throughout – filled with life, imagination, and boundless creativity – with titles that include "Mingus Fingus no. 2", "Weird Nightmare", "Eclipse", "Bemoanable Lady", "Half Mast Inhibition", and "Prayer for Passive Resistance". LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of hard to put a finger on the style of Jho Archer – which is probably why they used the phrase "many talents" in the title of this one! Jho's got a bit of Caribbean in his vocals – traces of calypso and Haitian soul, inflected with a hipper French approach to the backings, which are handled by H Rostaing, in a manner that reminds us of some of those used on the recordings of Henri Salvador. Jho sings in English and French – and the best cuts are nicely swinging. Titles include "Work Song", "Le Condamne", "The Peanut Vendor", "Cousin", "Ibo Lele", and "Sky Boat Song". LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual chapter in the label-hopping career of Charles Mingus – a one-off date recorded for Mercury right after Mingus' legendary sessions for Columbia! The format here may well be Mingus' most ambitious to date – as the album features larger groups than before, exploring a range of musical ideas that run from Charles' own highly political expressions of the Civil Rights era to some of his landmark explorations of Duke Ellington! As always, the individual players in the group are given a strong voice in the proceedings – and the record bristles with energy from solos by Ted Curson, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, Yusef Lateef, and a young Joe Farrell – as well as vocal performances by Lorraine Cousins, who sings on the classic "Weird Nightmare" and the haunting "Eclipse". A tremendous record throughout – filled with life, imagination, and boundless creativity – with titles that include "Mingus Fingus no. 2", "Weird Nightmare", "Eclipse", "Bemoanable Lady", "Half Mast Inhibition", and "Prayer for Passive Resistance". CD

An unusual chapter in the label-hopping career of Charles Mingus – a one-off date recorded for Mercury right after Mingus' legendary sessions for Columbia! The format here may well be Mingus' most ambitious to date – as the album features larger groups than before, exploring a range of musical ideas that run from Charles' own highly political expressions of the Civil Rights era to some of his landmark explorations of Duke Ellington! As always, the individual players in the group are given a strong voice in the proceedings – and the record bristles with energy from solos by Ted Curson, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, Yusef Lateef, and a young Joe Farrell – as well as vocal performances by Lorraine Cousins, who sings on the classic "Weird Nightmare" and the haunting "Eclipse". A tremendous record throughout – filled with life, imagination, and boundless creativity – with titles that include "Mingus Fingus no. 2", "Weird Nightmare", "Eclipse", "Bemoanable Lady", "Half Mast Inhibition", and "Prayer for Passive Resistance". LP, Vinyl record album

Three albums from reedman Arthur Blythe – served up in one nicely-priced set! Retroflection is a great showcase for the alto talents of Arthur Blythe – a set that's maybe a bit more stripped-down than some of his bigger label albums of the 80s, but in a way that really lets you focus on his strength of tone and phrasing! The group's a quartet, working in an open live setting – John Hicks on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Bobby Battle on drums – and while all players certainly know how to go inside, they keep things swinging and relatively straight at the core – while Blythe waxes beautifully on the alto, with these sharp edges that mix nicely with more lyrical moments. Titles include "Jana's Delight", "JB Blues", "Lenox Avenue Breakdown", "Faceless Woman", and "Peacemaker". Calling Card is a great little record from Arthur Blythe – mostly straight ahead, but pretty darn freewheeling too – thanks to a selection of long tracks that really let him open up on alto sax! The setting is a quartet – nicely put-together with John Hicks on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Bobby Battle on drums – a rhythm trio who do equally well on the album's spiritual tracks and its more soulful groovers. The performance was recorded live, but with a nice degree of intimacy, especially on Blythe's horn – and titles include "Hip Dripper", "Naima's Love Song", "As Of Yet", "Blue Blues", "Break Tune", and "Elaborations". On Hipmotism, there's a really hypnotic blend of sounds – the always-strong alto work of Arthur Blythe, whose solos are a key part of the strength of the set – matched with a super-strong lineup that includes Hamiet Bluiett on baritone sax, Kelvin Bell on guitar, Gust William Tsilis on vibes, Arto Tuncboyaci on percussion, and Famoudou Don Moye on drums! There's a slight crackle of electricity at times, but never in a way that dampens the soul, especially that of a leader – and while earlier efforts of this sort might have gotten mired in too much criss-crossing of modes, this set comes off perfectly – a fresh entry in Blythe's wonderfully storied career. Titles include "Miss Eugie", "Hipmotism", "My Son Ra", "Bush Baby", "Dear Dessa", "Cousin Sidney", "Shadows", and "Dance Benita Dance". CD

A wonderful little tribute to the late, great John Coltrane – served up as a piano trio session led by Tommy Flanagan, but done with a sense of power and imagination that rivals the strength of Trane's classics! All tracks here are originals by Coltrane, performed by Flanagan with a forceful approach to the piano that shows a bit more McCoy Tyner than usual – and which is propelled strongly on most numbers by bold rhythm work from the team of George Mraz on bass and Al Foster on drums. Foster's work on the kit is especially nice – quite bold, and really soaring forward with a sense of righteous energy – inspiring Flanagan to heights we've never heard before on a session like this. Titles include "Naima", "Giant Steps", "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Central Park West", "Mr PC", and "Cousin Mary". CD

A full package of work from the mighty Bill Holman – 2CDs worth of music – including three full albums plus bonus tracks! First up is material from the 1957 Coral album The Fabulous Bill Holman – a record that's got a maturity of expression that pushes Holman way past his Kenton years! The tracks are all larger ensemble ones, arranged and partially written by Bill, and played by the group in a broad chromatic style that's very nice – certainly Kenton-esque, but with a style that's somehow a bit more personal. Players include Charlie Mariano, Herb Geller, Richie Kamuca, Conte Cantoli, Stu Williamson, and Holman himself – and titles include "Evil Eyes", "You & I", "Bright Eyes", and the extended "The Big Street" – a great 17 minute tune! Next Is In A Jazz Orbit – a set that has Holman in a great mode that bridges the large group styles of the swing years and the changes in big band sounds that would take place in the 60s – and he's almost prefacing the style of the Clarke Boland Big Band by writing charts here that pack a real punch on the ensemble passages, yet which also rely very strongly on breakaway horn solos to tear up the tunes! The strength of the players is a key factor in the success of the album – as soloists include Frank Rosolino, Jack Sheldon, Herb Geller, Richie Kamuca, and Holman himself – on titles that include "Kissin Bug", "You Go To My Head", "Far Down Below", "Aura", "Theme & Variation #2", and "No Heat". Bill Holman's Great Big Band is a session from 1960 that has Bill Holman still sitting nicely at the top of the west coast large group format from the 50s! As with previous dates of this nature, Holman's got a way around the charts that few can match – a way of swinging the whole ensemble strongly, yet never in ways that are cloying, commercial, or cliched. All the right players find a space for expression – and the lineup includes Richie Kamuca and Bill Perkins on tenor sax, Frank Rosolino on trombone, and Conte Candoli on trumpet – all players who really sparkle nicely when they step out from the larger group. Titles include "Stereoso", "Shadrack", "Quickstep", "Aura", "The Moon Is Blue", "June Is Busting Out All Over", and "Spinuet". CD features 10 more bonus tracks – tunes from Holman's Kenton Presents sessions for Capitol in 1954 – octet material done with Don Fagerquist, Bob Eneveldsen, and Stu Williamson providing full brass support on trumpet and trombones – while Holman, Herb Geller, and Bob Gordon cut some broader lines themselves on saxes. Tunes are all great originals by Holman – extremely inventive in both melody and structure – with titles that include "Sparkle", "Tanglefoot", "Song Without Words", "Cousin Jack", "Back To Minors", and "Jughaid". CD

Unreleased genius from British altoist Mike Osborne – and a set that easily matches his classic albums of the 70s! The double-length set was recorded live in the mid 70s, and is issued here for the first time – a wonderfully tight trio outing that features Osborne's alto alongside the bass of Harry Miller and drums of Tony Levin – in a mode that's decidedly Coltrane-influenced, and which has a searching, spiritual quality that's even deeper than most other British work of the time! We've never heard Osborne play with so much feeling, and Miller's basswork is wonderful too – really underscoring the sound with a full, rich quality that grounds the whole proceedings nicely – a soaring, majestic energy that's a far cry from some of the unstructured freedom from other Brit groups of the same stretch. Tremendous throughout – and with cuts that include "One For George", "Alfie", "Almost Home Kathy", "More Mike", "Ossie's Opener", "Awakening Spirit", and "Cousin Mary". CD

A wonderful little tribute to the late, great John Coltrane – served up as a piano trio session led by Tommy Flanagan, but done with a sense of power and imagination that rivals the strength of Trane's classics! All tracks here are originals by Coltrane, performed by Flanagan with a forceful approach to the piano that shows a bit more McCoy Tyner than usual – and which is propelled strongly on most numbers by bold rhythm work from the team of George Mraz on bass and Al Foster on drums. Foster's work on the kit is especially nice – quite bold, and really soaring forward with a sense of righteous energy – inspiring Flanagan to heights we've never heard before on a session like this. Titles include "Naima", "Giant Steps", "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Central Park West", "Mr PC", and "Cousin Mary". CD

A lost bit of European funk from the JJ Band – a Belgian combo from the start of the 70s, and one with shared members of the more famous Euro funk groups Chakachas and El Chicles! As with those groups, the style here is nicely offbeat – elements learned from American soul and jazz, but reworked into a cool groove that's not afraid to borrow bits from the UK beat group scene – all wrapped together with soaring horns, funky drums, and plenty of riffing guitar to hold the whole thing together! Vocals are in English throughout – maybe no surprise, as some of the cuts are covers of big Anglo hits, mixed with great original tracks by the group – in a lineup that includes "Love In Them There Hills", "Now I've Found Out", "Leaving You", "Norwegian Wood", "Bip Bip", "To Love Somebody", and "We've Been So Happy/Into A World". CD features bonus tracks "Cousins Jack" and "Nicky's At The PC". CD

An unusual chapter in the label-hopping career of Charles Mingus – a one-off date recorded for Mercury right after Mingus' legendary sessions for Columbia! The format here may well be Mingus' most ambitious to date – as the album features larger groups than before, exploring a range of musical ideas that run from Charles' own highly political expressions of the Civil Rights era to some of his landmark explorations of Duke Ellington! As always, the individual players in the group are given a strong voice in the proceedings – and the record bristles with energy from solos by Ted Curson, Eric Dolphy, Booker Ervin, Jimmy Knepper, Yusef Lateef, and a young Joe Farrell – as well as vocal performances by Lorraine Cousins, who sings on the classic "Weird Nightmare" and the haunting "Eclipse". A tremendous record throughout – filled with life, imagination, and boundless creativity – with titles that include "Mingus Fingus no. 2", "Weird Nightmare", "Eclipse", "Bemoanable Lady", "Half Mast Inhibition", and "Prayer for Passive Resistance". LP, Vinyl record album