Lots of obscure material from a variety of unusual albums – and unissued tracks too! CD

With Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, and the Eva Jessye Choir. 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Includes "Lover Man", "Don't Explain", "Solitude", "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", "God Bless The Child", "Them There Eyes", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A comprehensive collection of work from a key, although under-recorded stretch in the career of Billie Holiday – material that comes after her early years at Columbia, and before her 50s revival at Verve! CD

... CD

Lots of solo piano material plus small ensemble recordings with Joe Thomas, Tiny Grimes, Oscar Moore, and vocalist Adelaide Hall. 81 tracks total. CD

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... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Includes 27 tracks. CD

A landmark blend of soul jazz and bossa nova – cut by the legendary Quartette Tres Bien back in the 60s! The group are kind of a "piano trio plus" – an outfit with piano, bass, and drums in the lead – but also plenty of conga and added percussion – a style used here to really underscore the bossa inspiration of the set – often in ways that are more driving and more complicated than original 60s bossa recordings themselves! The feel is really unique – almost equally inspired by African rhythms in parts – and even when the group are playing familiar numbers, then manage to transform the tracks completely with their inventive approach to rhythms and super-searing work on piano! Titles include the jazz dance classic "Boss Tres Bien", plus "Rhodesian Chant", "Always on Saturday", "The Sweetest Sounds", "I Love Paris", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "Days Of Wine & Roses". LP, Vinyl record album

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Titles include "On The Sunny Side Of The Street", "La Vie En Rose", "Lazy River", "I Surrender Dear", "When It's Sleepy Time Down South", "You Rascal You" with Louis Jordan, and "Gone Fishin" with Bing Crosby. CD

A really great collection of momentous early recordings from the Basie Band! CD

It's hard to put the genius of Woody Herman in words – but that's something we don't have to do, thankfully, as this massive box set provides a wonderful illustration of everything that made Woody such a standout in his generation! Sure, Herman was a bandleader with a clarinet – but that's where any similarity to other large groups stops – as Woody was always open to new ideas, including influences from bebop, modern jazz, R&B, jump blues, and other styles – and was always changing up the way he approached his music and arrangements, not just changing the lineup of his famous bands, but also breaking out into new recording possibilities too! This package captures Herman at three important parts of his career – early Decca Records 78rpm singles, which show all those modern edges that Herman created on the large ensemble jazz scene, thanks to key modern players; his huge amount of music for MGM, where Herman also really opened up as an overall entertainer, and was able to take on just about any jazz style with effortless ease, and become quite a singer as well; and his rare 50s material for his own self-run Mars label, an imprint for 78rpm singles that linked Woody much more with the growing R&B indies of the time. And as much as we love Mosaic for LP-related box sets, we often feel they do an even more crucial job with sides from this 78rpm era – proving great sound, missing notes, and a sense of completeness that you don't even get if you're a collector of the original format. 7CD box has the usual great Mosaic presentation and copious notes – and a total of 141 tracks in all. CD

... CD

Some of best honky tonk performances ever captured on record – by one of the greatest performers ever to sling a guitar over his Nudie Suit! Webb Pierce's stuff isn't cannonized so much as Hank Williams's catalog – but Webb's 50s work here is just as strong as Hank's – if not, dare we say it, better. Aww, to hell with it. It IS better! All the great Decca sessions Webb recorded throughout the 50s – sounding wonderful on CD! Produced in conjuction with the Country Music Foundation, a brand you can trust to do historic work justice. 18 works of hillbilly genius: "Wondering", "Back Street Affair", "There Stands The Glass", "I'm Walking The Dog", "Even 'Tho", "I Don't Care", "Why Baby Why", "Honky Tonk Song", "I'm Tired", "Tupelo County Jail" and more. CD

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Nat King Cole as a leader and a sideman – incredible material from 1936-1946 – featuring the King Cole Trio, side work with Eddie Cole's Solid Swingers, Dexter Gordon, The Keynoters and The Lester Young Trio! There's a number of great tunes here with Nat singing, but also a whole bunch of recordings that shine a light on his impeccable work as a group piano player of the finest caliber, working as Nat King Cole and under some funny pseudonyms while he was recording hits for Capitol! Packaged stunningly, even by Hip-O Select Standards – essentially housing the CDs in a hardcover book of 31-pages with an essay by David Ritz, 7 3/8" square package with detailed session notes, and beautifully reproduced art work from original 78s and 10-inch LPs! Disc one features 17 tracks by the King Cole Trio with Nat singing and at the piano, with Oscar Moore on guitar and and Wesley Prince on bass: "Sweet Lorraine", "This Side Up", "Babs", "Scotchin' With The Soda", "Slow Down", "Hit That Jive, Jack" and more. Disc one also includes 5 tracks with Eddie Cole's Solid Swingers, with Nat on piano, Eddie Cole on bass, Kenneth Roane on trumpet, Tommy Thompson on saxes and Jimmy Adams on drums:" Honey Hush" (with Eddie on vocals) plus an alternate take, "Thunder", "Stompin' At The Panama" and "(Bedtime) Sleep, Baby Sleep". Last up on disc one, four tracks by the Keynoters with Willie Smith on alto, Nat as Lord Calvert on piano, Red Callender on bass and Jackie Mills on drums: "The Way You Look Tonight", "My Old Flame" and more. Disc 2 is comprised of Jazz At The Philharmonic: Los Angeles, July 1944, with collective personal including Nat as Shorty Nadine on piano and singing on "Sweet Lorraine", Shorty Sherlock on trumpet, JJ Johnson on trombone, Illinois Jacquet and Jack McVea on tenor, Red Callender on bass, Lee Young on drums, and Carolyn Richards singing on "The Man I Love". Other titles include "Blues", "Tea For Two", "Rosetta", "Bugle Call Rag", "Oh, Lady, Be Good!" and more. Disc 3 starts with 1943/44 material by Dexter Gordon's group featuring Nat on piano, Sweets Edison on trumpet, Gordon on tenor, Red Callender or Johnny Miller on bass and Clifford Owens on drums: "I've Found A New Baby", "I Blowed And Gone" and more. That's followed by Lester Young Trio material of similar vintage with Nat as Aye Guy on piano, Young on Tenor and Buddy Rich on drums: "I Cover The Water Front", "The Man I Love", "Peg Of My Heart" and more. Last, but not least, Keynoters alternate takes including "The You You Look Tonight", "Airiness A La Nat" and "I can't Believe That You're In Love With Me". CD

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... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A great package – includes Armstrong's famous Pasadena show from 1951, plus 2 more CDs' worth of a 1955 Crescendo Club show – with lots of unreleased material! CD

Titles include "Lover", "Body And Soul", "Royal Garden Blues", "Mahogany Hall Stomp", "Tea For Two", "High Society", and "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home". CD

A surprising gem from Louis' later years – most famous for the title hit, but a great album all the way through! Louis is more of a singer than a musician on the set – and he's working with arrangements steeped in warmth and nostalgia – going for an instantly-ancient sound that brings out the best in Armstrong's sentimental tone. Next to the album's wonderful title track "What A Wonderful World", there's also lots of great obscure material – including "The Home Fire", "Hello Brother", "There Must Be A Way", "Fantastic That's You", and "The Sunshine Of Love". CD

Features Fletcher Henderson, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Bertrand and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest jazz soundtracks of all time! Elmer Bernstein wrote the score to Otto Preminger's chilling film version of Nelson Algren's book The Man With The Golden Arm – a sad tale of jazz, gambling, and heroin addiction on the streets of Chicago (not far from Dusty Groove, in fact!) – and in doing so, he came up with one of the first jazz soundtracks to really work strongly with a dramatic narrative. The film's striking theme is played in a number of variations, either with orchestral backing, or in small combo format by Shorty Rogers & His Giants, a crack west coast group that features work by Bud Shank, Shelly Manne, Bob Cooper, and Pete Candoli. The tracks work perfectly together as a suite of tracks, even without the images of the film – telling a tale of temptation, sadness, tragedy, and rebirth. Titles include "Clark Street", "Breakup", "The Fix", "Zosh", "Frankie Machine", and "Audition". Worth the price for the Saul Bass cover alone! LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A bit of hard rock, a bit of freakbeat, and a plenty darn great album from Bulldog Breed – one that's got a lot more edge than you might expect from the slightly corny cover! The album's an obscure Decca release from the tail end of the 60s – and like some of the other more revolutionary Decca sides of the time, it's got a really free approach to the structure of the music – unexpected twists and turns that keep things interesting, as the album unravels through a tapestry of shorter tunes that mix sweet moments with much harder ones! Some tracks are heavy in fuzz, both on guitars and vocals – while others are far gentler, but with a really dark undercurrent. Titles include "Paper Man", "Broomstick Ride", "When The Sun Stands Still", "Friday Hill", "Reborn", "Dougal", "Austin Osmanspare", and "Top O The Pops Cock". CD features 2 bonus tracks – "Halo In My Hair" and "Porticullis Gate". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Classic sounds from Patsy Cline – and an album that will definitely open up your understanding of her music! Patsy Cline Showcase features a few of the hits you might expect – "Crazy", "I Fall To Pieces", and "Walkin After Midnight" – but it also includes some wider-ranging material that shows where Patsy might have gone, had she continued to make music throughout the 60s. Other titles include "A Poor Man's Roses", "Have You Ever Been Lonely", "The Wayward Wind", "South Of The Border", and "I Love You So Much It Hurts". CD

A posthumous release from Patsy Cline – with tracks that include "I'm Moving Along", "Lovesick Blues", "Crazy Dreams", "There He Goes", "Lovin In Vain", and "Love Love Love Me Honey Do". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

This may well be THE Christmas album of the 20th century – a 50s issue of 40s singles cut by Der Bingle, packaged in a cover with a classic cover image that's ensured that the record stayed in print for dozens of Decembers in years to come! Given that Bing virtually owned Christmas on TV during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, the album's place in popular music is well-earned – and honestly, Bing's "aw shucks, I'm just reg'lar folks" sort of approach to these tunes really helped create a kind of common man secular side to the Holidays that forever transformed America's celebration of the season. Or maybe we're going to far with this one . . . But whatever the case, the album's a standard, and one we were certainly raised on. Titles include "Silver Bells", "Jingle Bells", "Silent Night", "White Christmas", "Adeste Fideles", "Faith Of Our Fathers", "I'll Be Home For Christmas", and "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album