Wayne Fontana without The Mindbenders – and sounding really cool, really groovy, and a like a completely different singer than before! A big part of the credit for the record might go to Les Reed – who sets up that great Fontana vocal style with modes that are jazzier than before, and which also echo other mod currents on the London scene – mixing in familiar American standards and soul tunes with a more swinging 60s style – which gives the whole thing the charms of similar work at the time by Alan Price or Georgie Fame! The whole thing's great – a real revelation – and titles include "It Was Easier To Hurt Her", "Please Stop The Wedding", "My Friend & I", "Star Of Eastern Street", "Internal Circle", and "Perfidia". 2CD set features 22 more fantastic tracks – all excellent solo singles that continue the trend of the album – titles that include "Dayton Ohio 1903", "Charlie Cass", "Pamela Pamela", "Storybook Children", "Waiting For A Break In The Clouds", "24 Sycamore", "The Sun's So Hot Today", "The Impossible Years", and "Mind Excursion". CD

An excellent collection of early work by John Cage – and a set that's maybe not nearly as sweet as you'd guess from the "lollipops" in the title! The box is worth it alone for its presentation of the 25 Year Retrospective Concert – which brings together 1958 performance versions of important early works, including "Imaginary Landscape No 1", "Six Short Inventions For Seven Instruments", "First Construction In Metal", "She Is Asleep" (in quartet and duo version), "Sonatas & Interludes", "Music For Carillion No 1", "Williams Mix", and "Concert For Piano & Orchestra", which was new at the time. The package then goes on to include "Double Music" by Cage with Lou Harrison, the spoken word/piano statement "Indeterminacy" done with David Tudor, and key early readings of "Cartridge Music" and "Fontana Mix". CD

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 their fire, direction, or imagination – a quality that emerges here maybe even more strongly than on some of the records that preceded it – as Hayes works with just a quartet, on long tracks that are really dominated by both his great sound, and the strong contributions of pianist Mike Pyne – an equal star on the set! At a time when British jazz was going for a lot of new recording modes, crossover styles, and other gimmicks, the whole thing is a back to basics record for Tubby – but also one that shows just how much he's grown as a soloist in just a few short years – really on fire, as the tenor is driven strongly by the efforts of Ron Mathewson on bass and Spike Wells on drums, completing a great quartet who really get the energy of their leader. Titles include a great version of the Duke Pearson tune "You Know I Care", a lovely take on "Where Am I Going", and the Hayes originals "For Members Only", "Rumpus", and "Grits Beans & Greens". Fantastic stuff – long overdue, and instantly a key addition to the Tubby Hayes Fontana catalog of the 60s! CD

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 their fire, direction, or imagination – a quality that emerges here maybe even more strongly than on some of the records that preceded it – as Hayes works with just a quartet, on long tracks that are really dominated by both his great sound, and the strong contributions of pianist Mike Pyne – an equal star on the set! At a time when British jazz was going for a lot of new recording modes, crossover styles, and other gimmicks, the whole thing is a back to basics record for Tubby – but also one that shows just how much he's grown as a soloist in just a few short years – really on fire, as the tenor is driven strongly by the efforts of Ron Mathewson on bass and Spike Wells on drums, completing a great quartet who really get the energy of their leader. Titles include a great version of the Duke Pearson tune "You Know I Care", a lovely take on "Where Am I Going", and the Hayes originals "For Members Only", "Rumpus", and "Grits Beans & Greens". Fantastic stuff – long overdue, and instantly a key addition to the Tubby Hayes Fontana catalog of the 60s! 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 their fire, direction, or imagination – a quality that emerges here maybe even more strongly than on some of the records that preceded it – as Hayes works with just a quartet, on long tracks that are really dominated by both his great sound, and the strong contributions of pianist Mike Pyne – an equal star on the set! At a time when British jazz was going for a lot of new recording modes, crossover styles, and other gimmicks, the whole thing is a back to basics record for Tubby – but also one that shows just how much he's grown as a soloist in just a few short years – really on fire, as the tenor is driven strongly by the efforts of Ron Mathewson on bass and Spike Wells on drums, completing a great quartet who really get the energy of their leader. Titles include a great version of the Duke Pearson tune "You Know I Care", a lovely take on "Where Am I Going", and the Hayes originals "For Members Only", "Rumpus", and "Grits Beans & Greens". Fantastic stuff – long overdue, and instantly a key addition to the Tubby Hayes Fontana catalog of the 60s! This great 2CD version features the full versions of all the sessions, with a number of takes on some of the tunes – including an unusual version of "Where Am I Going" with the guitar of Louis Stewart instead of the piano of Mike Pyne. Also has a hardcover package, and a nice booklet of notes! CD

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 their fire, direction, or imagination – a quality that emerges here maybe even more strongly than on some of the records that preceded it – as Hayes works with just a quartet, on long tracks that are really dominated by both his great sound, and the strong contributions of pianist Mike Pyne – an equal star on the set! At a time when British jazz was going for a lot of new recording modes, crossover styles, and other gimmicks, the whole thing is a back to basics record for Tubby – but also one that shows just how much he's grown as a soloist in just a few short years – really on fire, as the tenor is driven strongly by the efforts of Ron Mathewson on bass and Spike Wells on drums, completing a great quartet who really get the energy of their leader. Titles include a great version of the Duke Pearson tune "You Know I Care", a lovely take on "Where Am I Going", and the Hayes originals "For Members Only", "Rumpus", and "Grits Beans & Greens". Fantastic stuff – long overdue, and instantly a key addition to the Tubby Hayes Fontana catalog of the 60s! This great 2CD version features the full versions of all the sessions, with a number of takes on some of the tunes – including an unusual version of "Where Am I Going" with the guitar of Louis Stewart instead of the piano of Mike Pyne. Also has a hardcover package, and a nice booklet of notes! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing collection of music – the legendary Fontana Records run of albums by tenor giant Tubby Hayes – a key player on the UK bop scene of the 50s, but one who took off in all these great new directions with these classic albums for the Fontana label in the following decade! The package features twelve full albums done by Tubby as a leader – all newly remastered by Gearbox, and packaged here with bonus material that was not on previous reissues – a number of alternate takes across the entire Fontana catalog! Each album comes in an LP-styled jacket with original cover art, save two, which are combined – and albums include Tubbs, Tubbs In New York, Palladium Jazz Date, Equation In Rhythm, Down In The Village, Late Spot At Scotts, Tubbs Tours, Return Visit, 100% Proof, Mexican Green, The Orchestra, and the 2CD version of the newly-discovered Grits, Beans, and Greens. There's a big booklet of notes, too, with rare photos and other images – and the whole package is wonderful throughout! CD

3 incredible albums from the British jazz scene at the end of the 60s – all together in one 2CD package! Down Another Road is incredible work from one of England's greatest jazz talents – bassist Graham Collier, a player with an amazing ability to absorb a lot of the modern and progressive influences of his jazz generation – but all without succumbing to the same indulgences as them – a fact which resulted in a razor-sharp style that forged some of the freshest jazz ever to come out of the UK. This 1969 album is a masterpiece – filled with a modal groove and a strident searching theme, yet also as tight and grooving as most of the best Blue Note sessions from the same time. Harry Beckett's on trumpet, Nick Evans is on trombone, John Marshall plays drums, and Stan Sulzmann handles the reeds. Tracks include "Down Another Road", "Danish Blue", "The Barley Mow", and "Aberdeen Angus". Songs For My Father is a masterpiece of modernist soul jazz, with a sound that recalls the best late Blue Note work by Lee Morgan or Hank Mobley. Alan Wakeman's tenor is perfectly pitched, and searingly searching; Harry Beckett's trumpet is round, lyrical, and filled with soul; and the piano of John Taylor comps along in chunky modal grooves that make the whole album fall together brilliantly. Tracks include "Song One", "Song Two", "Song Three", etc – and they're all fantastic! Mosaics is a wonderfully searching session – filled with warm McCoy Tyner-esque modal moments, and searing post-Coltrane solos! The album comprises one long piece – Collier's "Mosaics" – performed live by a group that includes Alan Wakeman on tenor and soprano, Harry Beckett on trumpet, and Geoff Castle on piano. "Mosaics" has that amazing mid 60s Coltrane quality of going out in a spiritual kind of way – yet always returning to the groove, never getting too free, and always remaining firmly focused on the direction ahead. All players are great, and the record crackles with the intensity of a classic session on Impulse! CD

One of our favorite-ever Miles Davis albums – and a groundbreaking soundtrack that forever changed the way that jazz music was used in film! According to legend, the sounds here were recorded by Miles on a hot Paris night – late in the studio, after a live performance – in a very intimate setting that had he and the combo creating these little poetic passages along with the action in the film! In addition to sublime and moody muted trumpet from Miles – the small group also features tremendous tenor work from the great Barney Wilen – a French modernist who's at the height of his powers – and beautiful bass from Pierre Michelot, whose rich tones really frame the whole proceedings. The rest of the group features bop pianist Rene Urtreger and American drummer Kenny Clarke – but the real charm comes from the interplay between Wilen, Davis, and Michelo. Titles include "Florence Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "L'Assassinat De Carla", "Diner Au Motel", "Evasion De Julien", "Nuit Sur Les Champs-Elysees", "Le Petit Bal", "Au Bar Du Petit Bac" and "Sur L'Autoroute". This amazing 3LP version features one never-issued track – "L'Interrogatoire De Julien" – plus 16 more tracks from the sessions for the recordings, and a booklet of notes! LP, Vinyl record album

A fitting title for a great album – Eric Dolphy's last live recording, performed on June 2, 1964, with a trio of youngsters that included two of the greatest names in European avant garde jazz – Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink! The sound is jagged and a bit free – showing the way towards even greater innovations that might have marked Dolphy's 60s years, had he not been taken from us so quickly! The album's filled with beautiful Dolphy playing in his late mode – on alto, flute, and bass clarinet – and tracks include "The Madrig Speaks, The Panther Walks", "Miss Ann", and "Hypochristmutreefuz". CD

This is the US issue of the 1969 album that Serge and Jane Birkin cut together, and every track is a groovy French classic, of the sort that made Serge a legend! The arrangments are amazing, and feature some of the weirdest instrumentation ever heard on a pop record – especially one that was as successful as this. The tracks are insane, and even though the lyrics are in French, you'll be able to get more than enough of them from the sexy interpretation! Highlights include "69 Anne Erotique", "Jane B", "Elisa", "Orang Outan", and "Manon" – but it's all good! Plus, this US version of the album also includes the hit single "Je T'Aime . . . Moi Non Plus"! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Long overdue reissue of one of the totally rare sessions that Tubby Hayes cut for British Fontana in the early 60s. Hayes was one of the best British jazz talents ever, and his raw tenor sound is right up there with Sonny Rollins and Hank Mobley for sheer power and inventiveness. This laidback session features Hayes at the prime of his power, playing in a very tight live quintet with Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet, Gordon Beck on piano, and Allan Ganley on drums. The group grooves in an extremely tight way, and the tracks are long long long, with beautiful solos that never let up for a minute. Highlights include the originals "Down In the Village" and "In The Night", plus the tracks "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" and "First Eleven". The whole record is great, and its re-release opens a key chapter in the career of one of the greatest jazz players to ever spring up on the east side of the Atlantic! CD

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A weird one – but one of the real standouts in Cleo Laine's 60s catalog! As the title might imply, Cleo sings jazz versions of Shakespeare poems and bits from plays – with musical backing by husband Johnny Dankworth, who gives the set a cool enough groove to really make it work, and keeps things from being as stuff as you might fear! Kenny Wheeler plays a fair bit of trumpet solos when Cleo's not singing – further emphasizing the jazz component of the record, and moving it away from the flowery language of The Bard. There's a strangely sinister feel here that we really like – and titles include "Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind", "Duet Of Sonnets", "Winter", "O Mistress Mine", 'Witches Fair & Foul", and "The Compleat Works". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Searing work from the budding New York avant scene of the 60s – material that was some of the first to explode out of the city's new world of jazz – even though it only saw initial release overseas! The 1963 recording even predates the wave of groundbreaking ESP albums – and features a fantastic quintet with Archie Shepp on tenor, Don Cherry on trumpet, John Tchicai on alto, Don Moore on bass, and JC Moses on drums! The vibe is a bit like Shepp's initial work for Impulse – but also a bit more open and improvised, too – with a vibe that shows that even before the ESP label showed up to document the scene, masters like Shepp and company were already making amazing things happen. Titles include "Consequences", "Trio", "Rufus", "Sound Barrier", and "Wo Wo". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great record – one our all-time favorites from our early years of crate-digging! Shades of Joy were one of those cool little sixties bands that fell through the cracks – a San Francisco based, racially-mixed jazz group that had rock leanings, but did some neat groovy stuff. We like some of the instrumental cuts on here, but especially love "Icarus Revealed", a cool vocal ditty about the Greek pilot! Other tracks have a great mix of jazz, groove, and SF stoner spirituality – in a way that's kind of cheesy, but also instantly captivating and strangely appealing. This is the kind of record we passed by for years, but which we now treasure as the kind of unique little album that we'd be hard pressed to find easily. Titles include "Andy's Dream", "Crying Bag", "Tada", "Come & Throw The Rye Bread", and "It's Time". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark collaboration between Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin – his paramour at the time, and a much younger woman! The pair come together beautifully here in a set of sensuous duets – tunes that have an open, honest approach to the relations between the sexes – yet never in any sort of cliched late 60s hippie-esque ways. This album is perhaps the archetypal Gainsbourg erotic effort – and it's filled with wonderful duets set to breathy, bouncy orchestrations – tunes that forged a whole new "adult" level in pop music – not just in France, but around the globe! The arrangements are amazing, and feature some of the weirdest instrumentation ever heard on a pop record – especially one that was as successful as this. Backings are by Athur Greenslade – and titles include the classic "69 Annee Erotique" and "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus", plus "Jane B", "Elisa", "Orang Outan", "Les Sucettes", and "Manon". LP, Vinyl record album

Produced in coordination with Amnesty International. Music from Johnny Cash, Raphael Saadiq, Rise Against, Pete Townshend, Bettye Lavette, Brett Dennen, Ziggy Marley, My Morning Jacket, Sting, Steve Earle & Lucia Micarelli, Joan Baez, Joe Perry, Sinead O Connor & more. CD

An incredible collaboration between Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot – one of Serge's first duet albums ever – and a gem all the way through! In the year before he cut "Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" with Jane Birkin, Serge recorded this great album with Brigitte Bardot in which he worked out many of the same ideas. The album is probably best known for the track "Bonnie & Clyde" – which has been sampled to great fame over the years – but there's loads of other great tracks on here, with a mix of styles that joins Serge's jazzy years with his softcore 70s work – very cool, very groovy, and years ahead of its time. Some tracks are duets, and some are sung individually by Serge or Brigitte, but they're all great, and titles include "Intoxicated Man", "L'eau A La Bouche", "Un Jour Comme Un Autre", "Comic Strip", and more! Arrangements by Alain Gourager, Michel Colombier, and Claude Bolling – and the cover's got a great shot of Serge & BB as Bonnie & Clyde! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A rare 60s session from European vocalist Pedro Biker – singing here in English with backing by a very cool combo that includes Sahib Shihab! The sound is tighter and a bit more groovy than most other American male vocal sides from the time – a groove that's often snapping, swinging, and sometimes slightly modal – thanks to sharp rhythm from Bent Axen on piano, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, and Bjarne Rostvold on drums. Sahib is probably the best player, though – and his saxophone work here really helps color in the tunes nicely – with a slightly modern sound that pushes a nice edge into the record! Titles include "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "Willow Weep For Me", "Just In Time", "Green Dolphin Street", "Stella By Starlight", and "Everything Happens To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection – featuring famous collaborations between Elis Regina and Gilberto Gil, Pele, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tim Maia, Pierre Barouh, Jair Rodrigues, and Toots Thielemans! The Tim Maia and Pierre Barouh tracks are especially unusual! LP, Vinyl record album

A nice collection of classic bossa tracks from Philips and Fontana – featuring some tunes that you might already have, plus others that are pretty darn tough to find on wax! Includes "Chega De Saudade" by Jobim (1964), "Garota De Ipanema" by Os Cariocas (1963), "Voce" by Dick Farney and Norma Bengell (1964), "Desafinado" by Gal Costa (1973), "Voce E Eu" by Nara Leao (1984), "Surf Board" by Roberto Menescal (1966), "Falsa Baiana" by Joao Gilberto (1973), and "So Em Teus Bracos" by Sylvia Telles & Lucio Alves (1964). LP, Vinyl record album

A great set of under-reissued material by Herman – featuring sides recorded for MGM in 1951 and 1952, plus a few more for the Mars label – when he was working with his "Third Herd" group that included Urbie Green, Don Fagerquist, Bill Perkins, and Carl Fontana. Most titles were originally only issued on 78s, and titles include "Moten Stomp", "Perdido", "Celestial Blues", "Teressita", "This Is New", "Dandy Lion", "New Golden Wedding", and "Blue Flame". CD

One of the more obscure 60s albums cut by jazz vocalist Irene Kral – and a great little record that shows her to be more of a singer than we expected! Some of the tunes on the set have the straight vocals with band feel of Irene's other albums, but a few more go for a groovier sort of 60s sound that we really love – pushing Irene almost into pop vocal territory, but with enough jazz and enough class to keep things cool. Overall, the album's sort of in the range of similar mid and late 60s work by Blossom Dearie or Chris Connor – and the set list includes a lot of hip tunes, like "Nothing Like You", "Wonderful Life", "There Is No Right Way", "Is It Over Baby?", "Goin To California", and "I've Never Been Anything". LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool little package – one that brings space age sounds from both the world of mainstream pop, and the farther reaches of electronic music composition in the postwar years! The core of CD1 is the groundbreaking album I Hear A New World by Joe Meek – presented here both in the "restored" version that was first issued by RPM in 1991, and the original unreleased tapes from 1960. The whole record is like The Ventures meeting space aliens – and Joe Meek composed and conceived the incredible 60s session of strange space-age instrumentals – one that mixes instrumental surf-flavored guitars with crazy sound effects and production techniques, for an out-of-this-world batch of tracks that's like nothing else we can think of! Tracks include "Glob Waterfall", "I Hear A New World", "Orbit Around The Moon", "March Of The Dribcots", and "Valley Of The Saroos". CD1 also features 11 more weird electronic tracks from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop – and from Ray Cathode. Then CD2 and CD3 move into the darker corners of experimental electronics and musique concrete – with works that include "Dripsody" by Hugh Le Caine, "Syncopation" by Tom Dissevelt, "Timbres Durees" by Olivier Messiaen, "Poeme Electronique" by Edgard Varese, "The Innocents" by Daphne Oram, "Fontana Mix" by John Cage, "Visage V (parts 1, 2, & 3)" by Luc Ferrari, "Musica Su Due Dimensioni" by Bruno Maderna, "Deux Etudes De Musique Concrete For Magnetic Tape" by Pierre Boulez, "Fantasy In Space" by Otto Luening, and "Piece For Tape Recorder" by Vladimir Ussachevsky. CD

A killer collection of work from one of the hippest jazz singers of all time – captured here at a point when he was really opening up into some fresh, unique territory of his own! Mark Murphy first began recording in the mid 50s for Decca, and had a run of other records in the 60s for Capitol, Fontana, and other labels – but by the time he hit Muse Records in the 70s, he was really open to new ideas – and able to do far more than just the simple singing of a tune! Instead, he'd worked his voice into a mode that was more like an instrument overall – able to run free with brilliant solo passages, and inflect the lyrics in ways that even the great singers of years before might never have dreamed of! And at Muse, he got excellent support and instrumental backing – always hip combos, and the freedom to create the sort of special albums that still make his records for the label a real high point in the development of jazz vocals. These are sides that went onto inform generations of singers – from Kurt Elling, to Gregory Porter, and so many others – and this well-chosen selection of songs is completely sublime. Titles include "On The Red Clay", "Stolen Moments", "Effendi", "Naima", "Maiden Voyage", "Lookin For Another Pure Love", "Waters Of March", "Come & Get Me", "Be-Bop Lives", "Dingwalls", "Cantaloupe Island", "Sly", "Empty Faces", and "Two Kites". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty nice left turn from Krautrock pioneer Michael Rother – who veers from the more outwardly lumbering sound of his earlier Flammende Herzen LP into a tighter, even more melodic instrumental sound on Sterntaler! This album indeed shares some of the traits of Rother's earlier partners in Kraftwerk – particularly the gliding atmosphere the Autobahn album – not to mention Rother's earlier work with Neu! That said, Rother does his own thing with a bit more of an anthemic quality that really manages to tug at your emotions – also with a little more of a reliance on traditional rock & roll instrumentation behind the soaring keyboards! Titles include "Sterntaler", "Blauer Regen", "Stromlinien", "Sonnenrad", "Fontana Di Luna", "Orchestrion". CD

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Amazing grooves galore – part of a landmark series that really helped folks around the globe get a better understanding of the greatness of the Italian soundtrack scene in the 60s – all the wonderful sounds that were crafted for low-budget crime, comedy, and horror films of the period! The sounds are as sexy as the image on the cover – and if you're just dipping into the wealth of wonderful Italian soundtrack music, this set's a great place to start – thanks to cuts that include "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" by Bruno Nicolai, "Love War Call" by Piero Piccioni, "A Doppla Faccia" by Nora Orlandi, "Shake Per Un Divorzio" by Fred Bongusto, "Mr Dante Fontana" by Piero Piccioni, "Bada Caterina" by Armando Trovajoli, "Easy Dreamer" by Piero Piccioni, "Sensi" by Luiz Bacalov, "London Streets" by Nico Fidenco', "Soho" by Nora Orlandi, and "Notti Caldi" by Perio Piccioni. CD

An excellent album – and one of Joe Henderson's boldest sets from the early 70s! The record features Joe working with a hip group of young Japanese players that includes Terumasa Hino on trumpet and Masabumi Kikuchi on piano and electric piano – and the sextet format of the session stretches way past Joe's other Japanese recording from the time, which was issued in the US on Milestone. This one features very long tracks, with tremendous intensity from both the group and Joe, who's got a real edginess to his playing here. Includes a version of "So What", plus the originals "Sunrise In Tokyo" and "Get Magic Again". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the strangest albums ever from John Cage – but one of the most compelling too – and a record that really gets at the larger person behind his incredible music! The album has a very spare format – and features John Cage reading 90 stories – all short, spoken bits that are woven with Cage's theories on art, music, chance, and existence – backed by music from David Tudor, who plays piano passages from Cage's "Concert For Piano & Orchestra" and tape sections from the classic "Fontana Mix". Cage's voice alone is worth the price of admission – especially on some of the more autobiographical sections! CD

A treasure trove of work from the team of John Dankworth and Cleo Laine – quite possibly the Lord and Lady of British jazz, given the scope of their work over the past 50 years! The 4CD set presents a wonderful range of music from both artists – and includes solo material from John, vocal sides from Cleo, and even some later collaborations that include family members who sprang from the pair's romantic union. CD 1 features The Early Days, a host of John Dankworth jazz recordings from the 40s and 50s; CD 2 features John Big Band & The Movies, a collection of Dankworth's great 60s and 70s recordings for EMI, Fontana, Philips, and RCA; CD 3 is Focus On Cleo, with vocal jazz performances by Laine from the 60s, 70s, and 80s; and CD 4 is titled Family Affair, and includes 90s material from the Alec & John Dankworth Big Band, plus more vocal material from Cleo! The whole thing comes with a huge booklet with over 60 pages of notes and photos – and the 4CD set features a whopping 73 tracks in all. CD

Three hip European jazz talents from the 70s – all working here in rare performances from the Jazz Live Trio! The first half of the set features wonderful vocals from Karin Krog – very open and free, at a level that's right up there with her hippest studio sides of the 70s – although maybe not as totally abstract as some of the mellower ones – and instead very far-reaching and experimental, in ways that make this recording one of her most striking of the time! The group's driven by great piano from Klaus Koenig – and titles include "Fontana Barberini", "Sing Me Softly Of The Blues", "Nightmare", and "Lament". Next is a different set of vocals from Miriam Klein – an overlooked German singer from the time, and one with a voice that has a lot of Billie Holiday elements overall. The small group setting is perfect for the mood of the material – and for Klein's presentation – and titles include "Little Waltz", "Come Rain Come Shine", "I Love My Man", and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen". And last, but not least, trumpeter Enrico Rava really takes off – blowing on a long "Improvised Sequence" with the trio – stretching out for 15 minutes, and hitting some of his best bold tones of the time! CD