An overlooked late 70s moment from the great Garland Green – a set that's quite different than his earlier Chicago soul – thanks to production from Leon Haywood in a sweet west coast mode! The record's got an easygoing vibe that really fits the cover – a mix of mellow and midtempo tracks that Garland does especially well – plus a few groovers too. That deep, rich tone that Green brought to his music is perfect for the warmer touches that Leon creates in the backings – and the whole thing's almost got that mix of deep and modern soul than was brewing out of some of the hipper corners of the south at the time. Arrangements are by Haywood with Gene Page and Tony Coleman – and titles include "I've Quit Running the Streets", "Moody Woman", "Love Is What We Came Here For", "I Found Myself When I Lost You", "Lovin You Baby", "Let Me Be Your Pacifier", and "Let's Celebrate". CD features 3 bonus tracks – "Don't Let Love Walk Out On Us", "Ask Me For What You Want", and "Shake Your Shaker (single version)". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Long lyrical piano tracks by Red Garland – with backing by Wendell Marshall on bass and Charlie Persip on drums! Titles include "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home", "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen", and "My Honey's Loving Arms". LP, Vinyl record album

The genius of Phil Woods emerges fully on this rare album from 1957 – an unusually-titled session, and one of the few to really set Phil up in a looser, more intimate setting! The approach is a bit like Woods sublime work for Epic Records, but more soulful too – and very different than some of his chamber jazz work on RCA, or the more blowing-session styled records on Prestige. Here, everything falls into place beautifully – as Phil's razor-sharp tones sparkle strongly on some well-conceived tracks that also feature trumpet work by Ray Copeland – and rhythm from the trio of Red Garland on piano, Teddy Kotick on bass, and Nick Stabulas on drums. The tunes are bop-oriented, but Woods already stretches out way past any cliches – really finding his voice and showing a tremendous amount of growth in just a few years. Titles include "Steeplechase", "Au Prive", "Last Fling", "Sugan", and "Green Pines". CD

A great set from Red – one of his best for Prestige! Side one of the album has him leading a quintet with Oliver Nelson on alto and tenor, and the great Richard Williams on trumpet. Williams' solos are always a treat at this point – and his lyrical shimmering blowing on the tracks "Green Dolphin Street" and "If You Could See Me Now" is really great. Side two features all trio material – with Art Taylor on drums and Sam Jones on bass – and the groove is nice and lowdown, rolling along on tracks that include "Soul Burnin", and "Rocks In My Bed". LP, Vinyl record album

A 70s 2LP set that brings together two of Miles' seminal mid 50s sessions for Prestige – Musings of Miles and Miles. The albums are united in that they both feature work by the Red Garland Trio on rhythm (Red, Philly Joe Jones, and either Paul Chambers or Oscar Pettiford) – and the later is especially great in that it features an early appearance by Coltrane, then pretty new to Miles' company. Tracks include "Sposin", "Stablemates", "Gal In Calico", "I Didn't", "Will You Still Be Mine", "Green Haze", and "The Theme". LP, Vinyl record album

Bright, breezy, and plenty darn soulful – a nice little post-Prestige album that almost has Red Garland returning to the piano with the tightest focus of his earlier years! The trio here features Sam Jones on bass and Charlie Persip on drums – both of whom punctuate the groove with the same sense as Red's classic trio – and who seem to inspire him to some even more punched-up lines on the set. The style's a bit like that with which Oscar Peterson was winning the crowds at the time – but Red's still got plenty of that old Garland emotion in the mix as well. Titles include a nice longish take on "Lil Darlin", plus the tracks "On Green Dolphin Street", "Blues In The Closet", "So Sorry Please", and "What's New". LP, Vinyl record album

A nice set – despite being kind of a put-together batch of tunes! The album's titled "The Last Trane" because it represents the last material that Prestige Records had in its vault from the time that John Coltrane was recording for the label in the late 50s. Titles were recorded on 3 different dates from 1957 and 1958 – mostly with Red Garland on piano, and also featuring some additional horn work by Donald Byrd on 2 tracks. The album's got a great spare track called "Slowtrane" – one that features Coltrane playing with only bass and drums for accompaniment – and which recalls the genius of some of his sessions for Transition or Imperial. Byrd's blowing alongside the tenor on versions of "Lover" and "Come Rain Or Come Shine" – and the set's rounded up by a nice open-ended track called "By The Numbers", which has a warm bluesy solo by Trane! LP, Vinyl record album

Collection of some more obscure Miles moments from the late 50s Columbia years! It leads off with 4 numbers, a pair each from the Coltrane/Garland incarnation of the quintet, "Sweet Sue" & "Budo", and a transitional sextet from 1962, "Devil May Care" & "Blue Xmas". Then side 2 picks up with with the Cannball/Coltrane sextet performing "Love For Sale" and finishes off with the brief lived Mobley quintet lineup performing "On Green Dolphin Street". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic! This is the kind of soul that we still collect vinyl for! Freddie Hughes is one of the great lost voices of the 60s, and this sparkling album of soulful tunes is a real gem! He's not the same singer as the Freddie Hughes from Chicago – and he hailed from San Francisco, a very unlikely source for such great soul music. The session was recorded with Lonnie Hewitt (Cal Tjader's funky piano player) in SF – but it's got that perfect New York Wand/Scepter "deep soul meets uptown" sound. The tracks are mostly written by Hughes or Hewitt – and they are all pretty amazing, filled with hooks that just don't quit, and some heartbreaking verses that match the work of writers like Curtis Mayfield or Garland Green. Titles include "Send My Baby Back", "He's No Good", "Tonight I'm Gonna See My Baby", and "I Gotta Keep My Bluff In". CD features bonus tracks – single versions of "I Just Found Out", "Will You Be Here", and "I've Got My Own Mind". CD

A mix of older numbers from the Savoy and Muse Records catalogs – strung together to make a package of soul jazz numbers that jumps nicely between the 50s and the 70s and 80s! Most of the work here is from the latter two decades, recorded in that great back to basics mode that made Muse the key heir to Prestige Records at a time when few folks were cutting straight soul jazz. Titles include "Minor Inconvenience" by Richard Groove Holmes, "Dat Dere" by Woody Shaw, "Please Send Me Someone To Love" by Red Garland, "The Dozens" by Charles Earland, "At Last" by Sonny Stitt, "Another Real Good Un" by Jack McDuff, "Work Song" by Grant Green, "Blues In My Heart" by Sonny Criss, "Twelve Inch" by Curtis Fuller, "Whisper Not" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Road Song" by Pat Martino, and "The Breeze & I" by Willis Jackson. CD

The title totally gets it right – because these are some wonderfully put-together soul tunes – mini-masterpieces of the modern variety, and the kind of cuts that are ripe for rediscovery today! Hardly any of these cuts got their due back in the 70s, but they've all got a completely sublime sound – that groove that first started as Northern Soul turned into modern – when the rhythms laid back a bit more and the lyrics hipped up a bit – moving past simple soul themes into even deeper, more mature modes. Production is great, but never commercial at all – and most of the singers still have a really great edge – raspy enough to really bring enough feeling to the tunes, but poised with the right maturity to fit the music. Completely wonderful throughout, and even better than the first volume – with 24 tracks that include some great harmonies on many numbers. Titles include "Double Love" by The California Playboys, "A Broken Heart Cries" by The Pretenders, "It's Better To Cry" by Johnny Watson, "What Hurts" by Grover Mitchell, "Still A Part Of Me" by The Minits, "Lovin" by The Pacesetters, "Always" by Garland Green, "You Gotta Be A Lady" by The Chargers, "That's The Way Our Love Is" by The Radiations, "You're Gonna Lose Me" by Freddie Hubbard & Jeanie Tracy, "Hope For Love" by Darrow Fletcher", "I Can See Him Loving You" by The Mayberry Movement, "More Than Just Somebody I Know" by Brenda Wayne, "The Fool Who Used To Live Here" by Betty Fikes, "I'm A Dreamer" by Bobby Burn, and "Wear Your Natural Baby" by Towana & The Total Destruction. CD

A beautiful little record by Miles Davis – oft overlooked next to some of the better-titled Prestige sessions of the 50s, but a great one nonetheless! The session features Miles working with trio backing from Red Garland on piano, Oscar Pettford on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums – often in a mellow mode that fits the "musings" in the title, but which also provides a wonderful showcase for Davis to further intensify his vision on a set of longer tracks. Most tunes are familiar, but they're really transformed here – and titles include "I Did", 'Will You Still Be Mine?", "Green Haze", "I See You Face Before Me", "A Night In Tunisia" and "A Gal In Calico". LP, Vinyl record album

2 classic Miles/Coltrane albums are compiled here on a nice double LP set with good extra notes on the sessions. Miles and Trane are backed by the classic Red Garland/Paul Chambers/Philly Joe Jones rhythm section, and the set appears to include a few more tracks than the original LPs (although we're not sure). Titles include "Diane", "The Theme", "Ahmad's Blues", "Four", and "Half Nelson". LP, Vinyl record album

2 classic John Coltrane albums in a single set! The package first offers up Traneing In – a beautiful album that more than lives up to its evocative title – an early session from John Coltrane, filled with long tracks that slide along brilliantly! As with many other classic Prestige albums from Trane, backing is by the trio of Red Garland piano, Paul Chambers bass, and Art Taylor drums – all holding back nicely when Coltrane opens up on his solos, but also coloring the tunes with soulful lyricism in a masterful understatement. The sound is about as classic as you can get during these early years in The Great One's career – and titles include "Traneing In", "Slow Dance", "Soft Lights & Sweet Music", and "Bass Blues". Next is Soultrane – a bold early statement from a young John Coltrane – and an album that really has him expanding his talents as a tenor soloist! Coltrane's working here in open-ended quartet format – with backing from the Red Garland trio that includes Paul Chambers and Art Taylor – on a set of longer tunes that really let the young Trane stretch out on his solos, unobstructed by any other horns in the lineup. There's a nice mix of hardbop ideals, gentle ballads, and personal soul to the set – and titles include Coltrane's classic reading of Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait", plus "I Want To Talk About You", "Russian Lullaby", and "Theme For Ernie". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful little record by Miles Davis – oft overlooked next to some of the better-titled Prestige sessions of the 50s, but a great one nonetheless! The session features Miles working with trio backing from Red Garland on piano, Oscar Pettford on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums – often in a mellow mode that fits the "musings" in the title, but which also provides a wonderful showcase for Davis to further intensify his vision on a set of longer tracks. Most tunes are familiar, but they're really transformed here – and titles include "I Didn't", 'Will You Still Be Mine?", "Green Haze", "I See You Face Before Me", "A Night In Tunisia" and "A Gal In Calico". CD

A bit different than the usual Prestige Records two-fer of this type – as the collection brings together tracks from a variety of different sessions by Sonny Rollins – instead of just combining two full LPs! Rollins recorded for Prestige in a variety of formats during the 50s, and this collection offers up a good deal of them – including work with the MaxRoach/Clifford Brown group, collaborations with the Red Garland Trio and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and numbers recorded with Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Elmo Hope, and others. The double-length package features 13 tracks in all – including "St Thomas", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Tenor Madness", "Valse Hot", "Count Your Blessings", "Mambo Bounce", "Newk's Fadeaway" and "No Moe". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking album from Rollins, largely for the extended track "Tenor Madness", which runs on for 13 minutes, and features him and Coltrane blowing head to head – redefining the sound of the tenor sax in jazz through the course of that amazing track! Backing is by the Red Garland/Paul Chambers/Philly Joe Jones group that backed up 'Trane on many of his Prestige sides, and they work equally well with Rollins – especially on the ballads "When Your Lover Has Gone" and "My Reverie", plus the lyrical "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World". LP, Vinyl record album

The genius of Phil Woods emerges fully on this rare album from 1957 – an unusually-titled session, and one of the few to really set Phil up in a looser, more intimate setting! The approach is a bit like Woods sublime work for Epic Records, but more soulful too – and very different than some of his chamber jazz work on RCA, or the more blowing-session styled records on Prestige. Here, everything falls into place beautifully – as Phil's razor-sharp tones sparkle strongly on some well-conceived tracks that also feature trumpet work by Ray Copeland – and rhythm from the trio of Red Garland on piano, Teddy Kotick on bass, and Nick Stabulas on drums. The tunes are bop-oriented, but Woods already stretches out way past any cliches – really finding his voice and showing a tremendous amount of growth in just a few years. Titles include "Steeplechase", "Au Prive", "Last Fling", "Sugan", and "Green Pines". CD

An excellent double-length album that brings together a full session of material by John Coltrane – titles that were initially scattered over a number of different albums, but finally brought back together for this package! The album features Coltrane blowing in a quintet with trumpeter Wilbur Harden – making the set a nice counterpart to the Harden/Coltrane work at Savoy – but done here in a style that's more fully spacious, in keeping with Trane's Prestige work as a leader. Rhythm is by the trio of Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums – and tracks were originally issued on the albums Stardust, Standard Coltrane, and Bahia. 8 titles in all – including "I'll Get By", "Don't Take Your Love From Me", "Stardust", "Invitation", "Love Thy Neighbor", and "My Ideal". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal mid 50s Miles sessions for Prestige recorded during one of his most fertile periods. This set features a quartet format, with Miles backed only by Red Garland, Oscar Pettiford and Philly Joe Jones, a document of his exploration of small group jazz before settling on the quintet lineup with which he'd make musical history. It's a wonderful setting in whichto hear Miles, with loads of space to dig into the six tracks: Tracks include "I See Your Face Before Me", "Gal In Calico", "I Didn't", "Will You Still Be Mine", "Green Haze", and "A Night In Tunisia". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful little record by Miles Davis – oft overlooked next to some of the better-titled Prestige sessions of the 50s, but a great one nonetheless! The session features Miles working with trio backing from Red Garland on piano, Oscar Pettford on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums – often in a mellow mode that fits the "musings" in the title, but which also provides a wonderful showcase for Davis to further intensify his vision on a set of longer tracks. Most tunes are familiar, but they're really transformed here – and titles include "I Did", 'Will You Still Be Mine?", "Green Haze", "I See You Face Before Me", "A Night In Tunisia" and "A Gal In Calico". CD