Features Gales on bass – with Steve Turre on trombone, Junior Cook on tenor, Benny Green on piano, Ben Riley on drums, and Claudio Roditi on trumpet! CD

We never tire of the saxophone work of Sonny Criss – and this mid 70s gem is a perfect example of his brilliance! Sonny's sound on alto here is completely his own – raspily, soulful style that's really unique – and which draws strongly from Criss' rich life experience, including his years away from music (he'd been retired for most of the 70s before the time of this album.) The group's laidback and open – with Dolo Coker on piano, Ray Crawford on guitar, Larry Gales on bass, and Jimmy Smith on drums – a group that's all well with Criss on his journey – but also lets him sparkle brightly in the lead. Titles include the extended track "Isle Of Celia", plus "This Is For Benny", "Blues In My Heart", and "Crisscraft". CD

We never tire of the saxophone work of Sonny Criss – and this mid 70s gem is a perfect example of his brilliance! Sonny's sound on alto here is completely his own – raspily, soulful style that's really unique – and which draws strongly from Criss' rich life experience, including his years away from music (he'd been retired for most of the 70s before the time of this album.) The group's laidback and open – with Dolo Coker on piano, Ray Crawford on guitar, Larry Gales on bass, and Jimmy Smith on drums – a group that's all well with Criss on his journey – but also lets him sparkle brightly in the lead. Titles include the extended track "Isle Of Celia", plus "This Is For Benny", "Blues In My Heart", and "Crisscraft". CD features 2 bonus tracks – an alternate of "Blues In My Heart", and "All The Things You Are". CD

Great later work from Sonny Criss – very much in the format of his late 60s work for Prestige, but with an approach that's perhaps a bit more open-ended overall! The vibe here is laidback and soulful – Sonny blowing alto sax in that wonderful, all-his-own sort of tone – a sound that's almost tenor-like in phrasing, but with a crisp alto quality that's completely sublime! The group's a batch of familiar associates, all of whom lay back wonderfully in the rhythms – Dolo Coker on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Jimmie Smith on drums. There's a solidness here that few other players can match – and titles include the original numbers "The Dreamer" and "The First One" – plus "El Tiante", "All The Things You Are", and "Out Of Nowhere". CD

A soul jazz Latin classic – one that matches the searing tenor work of Eddie Lockjaw Davis with the hard-hitting conga of a young Ray Barretto! The core group of the set is a soul jazz one – with Lockjaw blowing over rhythm by Lloyd Mayers on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums – plus a small added trumpet section on a few tracks. Ray comes into the mix with some really tight percussion on the bottom, aided by a few other players at times – kicking up the tunes and giving them a lot of fire – something that Davis seems to really respond to in his horn. Thanks should also be given to arranger Gil Lopez, who put together the overall sound of the set – and the album's a hard groover all the way through, filled with Latin jammers like "Wild Rice", "Jazz-a-Samba", "Guanco Lament", "Afro Jaws", and "Tin Tin Deo". LP, Vinyl record album

The twin-tenor duo of Johnny Griffin and Eddie Lockjaw Davis were really on fire in the early 60s – and unlike other pairings of the time, they often brought a strong dose of modernism to their music – as you'll hear in these great interpretations of tunes by Thelonious Monk! The record's a great reminder that the reach of Monk extended far beyond the highbrows of jazz a the time – as Griff and Lock take a nice soul-based path through the tunes, with help from Junior Mance on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums! Titles include "Epistrophy", "Stickball", "In Walked Bud", "Well, You Needn't", and "Rhythm-a-ning". CD

Thelonious Monk on piano, with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Butch Warren, John Ore, and Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley and Frank Dunlop on drums. CD

A lost live recording from the legendary Thelonious Monk Quartet of the 60s – done at a time when the group wasn't recording at all, as a small benefit at a high school in California! Yet despite that setting, the vibe here is as relaxed, open, and human as if the combo were playing at an overseas club – very personal presentation of the best ideals inherent in Monk's piano, Charlie Rouse's tenor, Larry Gales' bass, and the drums of Ben Riley! Monk had been having some health issues during the year, but they don't show up at all in his performance – save for maybe a sense of brooding darkness at times, although that was always a quality that might appear in his performance. The music is every bit as essential as the London recordings that would emerge a few years later – and titles include "Blue Monk", "Well You Needn't", "Ruby My Dear", "Don't Blame Me", "Epistrophy", and "I Love You Sweetheart Of All My Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual live recording by Thelonious Monk – one recorded at the tail end of his famous quartet years on Columbia, but which features him leading an expanded nine-piece group for the date! Usual group members Charlie Rouse (tenor), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums) are expanded by the addition of Ray Copeland on trumpet, Johnny Griffin on tenor, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, and Phil Woods on alto – all of whom join together in some nice angular readings of Monk classics that include "Epistrophy", "Evidence", "Blue Monk", and "Oska T". CD

Classic 60s work from Thelonious Monk – featuring his incredible quartet with Charlie Rouse on tenor, certainly Monk's best-ever musical soulmate! The album features some newer versions of older tunes, and a few written just for the album – but the source of the material is not important, as the Monk/Rouse treatment always transforms whatever is handled, and recreates the work as an an angular sculpture of modernist beauty. Other players include Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums – and titles include "Locomotive", "Blue Sea", "We See", "Japanese Folk Song", and "Straight No Chaser". LP, Vinyl record album

A great session of 70s bop revival from the team of Sonny Stitt and Red Holloway – working here in the warm and sunny style of the great Catalyst label! The album Forecast has the two hornmen blowing to acoustic accompaniment from a trio that includes Art Hillary on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Clarence Johnston on drums – jamming in boppish formation on tunes that include "Lester Leaps In", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Forecast: Sonny & Red", and "All God's Chillun". Even better is the second album on the set – Partners – which has the pair working with a bit of electric keyboards from Frank Strazzeri, and an expanded rhythm section that includes some conga – all of which makes for a sound that's rounder, warmer, and overall more in the mellow modal mode of the best Catalyst sides of the 70s. Titles include "Partners", "Stitt's It", "Lazy Moments", "Bee Dee", and "Evening In Madrid". CD

We never tire of the saxophone work of Sonny Criss – and this mid 70s gem is a perfect example of his brilliance! Sonny's sound on alto here is completely his own – raspily, soulful style that's really unique – and which draws strongly from Criss' rich life experience, including his years away from music (he'd been retired for most of the 70s before the time of this album.) The group's laidback and open – with Dolo Coker on piano, Ray Crawford on guitar, Larry Gales on bass, and Jimmy Smith on drums – a group that's all well with Criss on his journey – but also lets him sparkle brightly in the lead. Titles include the extended track "Isle Of Celia", plus "This Is For Benny", "Blues In My Heart", and "Crisscraft". LP, Vinyl record album

Great later work from Sonny Criss – very much in the format of his late 60s work for Prestige, but with an approach that's perhaps a bit more open-ended overall! The vibe here is laidback and soulful – Sonny blowing alto sax in that wonderful, all-his-own sort of tone – a sound that's almost tenor-like in phrasing, but with a crisp alto quality that's completely sublime! The group's a batch of familiar associates, all of whom lay back wonderfully in the rhythms – Dolo Coker on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Jimmie Smith on drums. There's a solidness here that few other players can match – and titles include the original numbers "The Dreamer" and "The First One" – plus "El Tiante", "All The Things You Are", and "Out Of Nowhere". LP, Vinyl record album

A really special live performance from Thelonious Monk – one that features his killer quartet of the 60s, but also opens the door to some surprise guest appearances too – all of which makes for a recording that's nicely different than much of the Monk live material of the period! The core group is already great enough – the tremendous Charlie Rouse on tenor, and superb rhythm work from Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums – and they're joined by other players at points, including Clark Terry and Ray Copeland on trumpets, Johnny Griffin on tenor, Phil Woods on alto, and Jimmy Cleveland on trombone – whose presence on the record echoes some of the larger charts that Monk cooked up during the late 50s for a few key albums. The tracks with the added players are especially long – and titles include "Hackensack", "We See", "Epistrophy", "Evidence/Epistrophy", "Don't Blame Me", "Blue Monk", and "Oska T/Epistrophy". CD

Thelonious Monk meets the mighty Oliver Nelson – the hip bigger band arranger who was helping so many other artists find their groove back in the 60s! The result is less Nelson-led than some of Oliver's other albums of the time – and instead, the arranger is nicely respectful of Monk's core sound – and still manages to led Thelonious keep the frontline strong on piano, and work with familiar players are the core who include Charlie Rouse on tenor, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. Nelson's touch seeks mostly to augment the Monkish lines with some larger horn shadings – sometimes a bit upbeat, but never more swinging than Monk might want. There's enough of a blue tone here to keep this one nicely in line with the rest of the 60s Columbia catalog for Thelonious – and titles include "Monk's Point", "Consecutive Seconds", "Let's Cool One", and "Rootie Tootie". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most gimmicky cover images ever used to sell the music of Thelonious Monk (and Monk himself hated the image) – but a key classic from his legendary years at Columbia Records! The album's got an edge that definitely lives up to its title – even if the cover photo is a bad joke on the jazz "underground" – and Monk's working here with the amazing Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, blowing these beautifully angular lines on some tracks that never fail to grab us after all these years. Larry Gales is on bass, and Jon Hendricks does some great guest vocal work on a version of "In Walked Bud" – while other instrumental tunes include "Ugly Beauty", "Green Chimneys", "Thelonious", "Boo Boo's Birthday", and "Raise Four". LP, Vinyl record album

A tightly swinging set that makes wonderful use of the tenor sax of Buddy Tate – recorded in a swing-based mode that's very much in the same spirit Verve was using with players of his vintage, but in a style that's slightly rougher around the edges! The whole thing's got a nicely echoing sound that lets Tate's tenor ring out nicely amidst small group backing from Clark Terry on trumpet, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Tracks are a mix of shorter numbers and a few especially nice long ones – and titles include "Groun Hog", "#20 Ladbroke Square", "All Too Soon", and "Snatchin It Back". LP, Vinyl record album

During the early 60s, the team of Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Johnny Griffin was one of the most exciting unions in jazz. The two tenorists came from two different camps – Davis, the gutsy R&B soloist, Griffin, the hardbop powerhouse with a flair for the modern. Their pairing was an incredible stroke of genius and luck, and the albums they waxed – like this one – feature an approach hardly ever matched again by a two-tenor band. One of the best features of the group was their dedication to opening up the works of Monk into a freer blowing style – and they do so nicely on this album's two long takes of "Epistrophy" and "Well, You Needn't", both recorded live at the legendary Minton's Playhouse in Harlem (site of some of the band's best recordings.) Junior Mance heads up the soulful rhythm section that also includes Larry Gales and Ben Riley. LP, Vinyl record album

Great later work from Eddie Harris – three albums in a single set! Live In Berlin is a surprisingly great concert – recorded by Eddie at the end of the 80s, with a fire and open approach that we wouldn't have expected! The album features Eddie on piano and tenor, with backing only by Ray Peterson on bass and Norman Fearrington on drums – and the spare setting really has Eddie taking charge of the set dynamically, hitting funky notes one moment, soulful notes another, and messing around in a tripped-out style that we haven't heard since his best Atlantic recordings of the early 70s. The set kicks off with the funky jamband number "Ambidextrous", rolls into the weird vocal tune "La Carnival", and contains other great numbers like "Scatting Unlyrically Simultaneously", "Airigen", "Walkin", "Lover", and "Eddie Who". Eddie Who is only a trio set, but one that often has all the full, soulful currents of some of the reedman's 70s material for Atlantic Records! Eddie plays piano and trumpet in addition to his usual tenor – and often does so at the same time, thanks to the magic of overdub – which also allows Harris to vocalize a bit next to his instrumental passages, with this very cool sound that's both an extension of the vocalizations he'd begun with Les McCann, but also some more familiar jazz singing as well. The whole album's not vocal, and the more instrumental passages feature some mighty nice tenor – and rhythm is from the team of Ralphe Armstrong on bass and Sherman Ferguson on drums. Titles include "Eddie Who", "Cedar Trees", "Silverplated", "Eddie Theme", and "Ambidextrous". People Get Funny is a later album from reedman Eddie Harris – but a set that still continues some of his best funky styles from the 70s Atlantic Records years! In fact, the record may well be the last that Eddie ever cut in this mode – a real surprise at a time when some of his other sessions were more traditional – and the record's filled with lots of very groovy surprises that include great Fender Rhodes from William Henderson, plus more electric piano from Eddie – who also sings a bit too, in that great raspy tone of his. Rhythms are often pretty great, too – funky, in an offbeat way – thanks to sweet basslines from Larry Gales and drums from Carl Burnett. Titles include "People Get Funny When They Get A Little Money", "Ski Ball", "Three Quarter Miles", "Silver Plated", "Hal Strange", and "Step Down To The Top". CD

A key 70s album from Blue Mitchell – and a set that's perfectly balanced between the lyricism of his mid 60s sides for Blue Note, and the electric funk of later years! The tracks are long, and have a really great vibe – plenty of room for Mitchell's sweet trumpet in the lead, with longer solos than on his last funk albums for Blue Note – and given a nice sense of bounce, a groove that's almost modal at times, by a group that features Walter Bishop on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and Doug Sides on drums. Bishop's clearly playing some Fender Rhodes at times – ala his Black Jazz albums – and the group also features some of the most righteous tenor work we've ever heard from Jimmy Forrest, an artist we really know best for sides from a decade before. Titles include a killer reading of "Soul Village" – later recorded famously by Bishop – plus "Blues For Thelma", "Queen Bey", "Mi Hermano", and "Are You Real". CD

Tracks recorded in Paris between 1963 and and 1966 – all with Charlie Rouse! Other musicians include Frankie Dunlop, Ben Rilley, Butch Warren, and Larry Gales. CD