A compelling group – with Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, and both Jon Mark and Alun Davies on vocals and guitar! LP, Vinyl record album

There's some pretty great moments in Quincy Jones' original score to the film version of Truman Capote's chilling book – most of them in a darkly tinged crime jazz mode, with flowing, complicated orchestrations that are mixed with breakout solos, and some very strangely arranged instrumental elements – almost more in some of the territory of Kenyon Hopkins, and some of his more dramatic jazz scores of the 60s! Titles include "In Cold Blood", "Seduction", "Down Clutter's Lane", "Murder Scene", "The Corner", "Lonely Bottles", and "No Witnesses". LP, Vinyl record album

Great R&B work from a range of Savoy singers – Big Maybelle, Little Esther, Albinia Jones, Miss Rhapsody, and Linda Hopkins – all 78rpm material, packaged here with great notes! LP, Vinyl record album

Worth it alone for the Brighter Side of Darkness send-up "Basketball Jones" (with a George Harrison on guitar!) but with other classic skits, including quite a few that aren't about pot, believe it or not, like "White World Of Sports", "Evelyn Woodhead Speed Reading Course" and "The Strawberry Revival Festival". Also includes "Sargent Stadanko", "Up His Nose", "Pedro & Man At The Drive-Inn" and more! Did you know that Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, & Carole King play on this record too? LP, Vinyl record album

A great little session by Murray – recorded at that point in the early 90s when DIW was turning out some especially soulful records! The group on the set features Fred Hopkins on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums – and although you might expect a Coltraney feel from such a group, the range of expression is wider, in a variety of rootsier styles that Murray was using at the time. Titles include "3D Family", "Cousin Mary", "Hope/Scope", "Dexter's Dues", and "La Tina Lee". CD

A great little session by Murray – recorded at that point in the early 90s when DIW was turning out some especially soulful records! The group on the set features Fred Hopkins on bass, McCoy Tyner on piano, and Elvin Jones on drums – and although you might expect a Coltraney feel from such a group, the range of expression is wider, in a variety of rootsier styles that Murray was using at the time. Titles include "3D Family", "Cousin Mary", "Hope/Scope", "Dexter's Dues", and "La Tina Lee". CD

A nicely rootsy set – one that mixes vintage work with new material done in a similar mode – all at a level that criss-crosses between rural blues, trad jazz, and a range of other older styles! The package is maybe less a full compendium of the roots of black music than it is a set that does a good job of changing artists while keeping an eye on a thematic sense of expression – beginning with actual roots, then using roots revival and contemporary material to echo a unified aesthetic! The package has track by track notes, and essays on the music – and the 40 track set features work from Cedric Burnside, Corey Harris & Sharde Thomas, Ranky Tanky, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Lightnin Hopkins, Staple Singers, Bennie Richardson, Golden Eagles, Martin Bogan & Armstrong, Bessie Jones, Skip James, Cephas & Wiggins, Inmate Named Peter, Rev Gary Davis, John Jackson, Odetta, Mississippi John Hurt, Professor Longhair, Campbell Brothers, Dom Flemons, Tuts Washington, and others. CD