... CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Features work for Decca and V-Disc – including some unissued titles! Tracks include "Mister Lovingood", "Knock Me A Kiss", "Small Town Boy", "Dirty Snake", "De Laff's On You", "Ration Blues", and "Is You Or Is You Ain't My Baby?" CD

A huge amount of material – 131 tracks in all, almost everything this groundbreaking pioneer recorded with his small combo at the start of his career! CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Comeback LP that Louis Jordan recorded for Ray Charles' Tangerine label during the mid 60's, with some reprises of his old stuff like "Saturday Night Fish Fry" and "Cole Slaw", plus other stuff like "Honey Bee", "The Troubadour", "Hop, Skip & Jump", "El Camino Real", and "Time Is Running Out". Louis' style totally benefits from the good recording quality of Tangerine, and the set's a great updating of his music, with excellent backing, and some very nice production on Louis' vocals and sax solos. LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent collection – 46 tracks, and most of his important early singles for Decca Records! CD

... CD

36 tracks total including duets with Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Louis Jordan. CD

Louis Armstrong is on the cover, but the set also features work from a nice mix of "friends" – other important artists from the postwar years, who help round out this collection of Holiday favorites! Louis Armstrong sings on "Christmas In New Orleans", "White Christmas", "Christmas Night In Harlem", "Winter Wonderland", "Zat You Santa Claus", and "Cool Yule" – and other tracks include "Silent Night" by Dinah Washington, "The Christmas Song" by Mel Torme, "It's Christmas Time Again" by Peggy Lee, "May Everyday Be Christmas" by Louis Jordan, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Lena Horne, "Merry Christmas Baby" by Lionel Hampton, "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt, and "Jingle Bells" by Duke Ellington. CD

The first-ever Blue Note album as a leader for drummer Louis Hayes – something that's long overdue, given that the man played on classic albums for the label by Clifford Jordan, Sonny Clark, Grant Green, and Curtis Fuller – not to mention his first big boss, Horace Silver – who was the inspiration for this set! Yet rather than recreate the sound of the old Silver quintet, Hayes shows us once again what a wonderfully creative cat he is – as the set's more inspired by the warmth and soul of Horace's group – and has the music ringing out in so many wonderful new directions – given strong presentation by a sextet that also includes Steve Nelson on vibes, Abraham Burton on tenor, Josh Evans on trumpet, David Bryant on piano, and Dezron Douglas on bass! All tunes are originals that were written by Silver, but get a very fresh presentation – and titles include "Lonely Woman", "Juicy Lucy", "Room 608", "Echaroh", "Senor Blues", "Strollin", "Hastings Street", and a nice take on "Song For My Father", with vocals by Gregory Porter. CD

Trumpeter Louis Smith made only two records for Blue Note, but both of them are great! This set's arguably his most famous – because of a rare uncredited appearance by Cannonball Adderley, working here under the "nom de date" of "Buckshot La Funke" – and blowing with a power that beats most of his other Mercury sessions of the late 50s! But the real credit here should go to Louis Smith – who's got a sense of power and command that should have made him one of THE trumpeters of the 50s – an emerging young talent to stand alongside Lee Morgan, Nat Adderley, and other post-Fats Navarro/Clifford Brown talents on the instrument. Smith sparkles throughout with a mix of soul and modernism we really love – and an earthy way of blowing the horn that doesn't always reach its goals, but which draws even more energy from its ability to try! The rhythm section on the album's also very tight – with Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and either Tommy Flanagan or Duke Jordan on piano – and tracks include "Ande", "Brill's Blues", "South Side", and "Val's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Trumpeter Louis Smith made only two records for Blue Note, but both of them are great! This set's arguably his most famous – because of a rare uncredited appearance by Cannonball Adderley, working here under the "nom de date" of "Buckshot La Funke" – and blowing with a power that beats most of his other Mercury sessions of the late 50s! But the real credit here should go to Louis Smith – who's got a sense of power and command that should have made him one of THE trumpeters of the 50s – an emerging young talent to stand alongside Lee Morgan, Nat Adderley, and other post-Fats Navarro/Clifford Brown talents on the instrument. Smith sparkles throughout with a mix of soul and modernism we really love – and an earthy way of blowing the horn that doesn't always reach its goals, but which draws even more energy from its ability to try! The rhythm section on the album's also very tight – with Art Taylor on drums, Doug Watkins on bass, and either Tommy Flanagan or Duke Jordan on piano – and tracks include "Ande", "Brill's Blues", "South Side", and "Val's Blues". CD

Stunning live material from the great Ray Charles – a 3CD set that brings together a wealth of stage performances from May of 1962, in setting that often lets us focus as much on Ray's incredible piano work as it does his trademark vocals! Charles' talents need no introduction from us, but they're in fantastic formation here – without some of the studio trappings that he was beginning to use in the 60s, and much more of the jazzy flourishes that he was using towards the end of his time at Atlantic Records – played here by a group that includes Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Hank Crawford on alto, and David Fathead Newman on tenor. The package features 52 live tracks – including "Blue Stone", "The Danger Zone", "From The Heart", "Margie", "One Mint Julep", "Doodlin", "Careless Love", "Hit The Road Jack", and "I Believe To My Soul". Also features a few bonus studio cuts – including work with Louis Jordan! CD

A nice collection of Decca sessions with Taft Jordan on trumpet and Louis Jordan on alto! CD

A nice collection of work that Ella Fitzgerald did with a bunch of "fellas" – either male band leaders like Sy Oliver or Chick Webb – or other singers who include The Mills Brothers, Ink Spots, or Louis Jordan! LP, Vinyl record album

Includes music from Freddie Slack, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Dinah Washington, Lil Green, Billy Eckstein, Tampa Red, Lucky Millinder, Lionel Hampton, Eddie Vinson, Earl Hines, Peggy Lee, Jimmy Rushing, and more. CD

One of the odder James Brown records from the 60s – as it includes 11 studio tracks with overdubbed audience. James was under contract with King at the same time, and couldn't record new vocal material for Smash – so the record doesn't contain any JB originals, but covers of Louis Jordan style songs like "Caldonia", "Evil", "Nobody Here But Us Chickens". Certainly not The Godfather's funkiest moment, but proof that he could still swing in a hard R&B groove with the right backing. LP, Vinyl record album

Some of Kenny Burrell's best early work! The album catches Kenny in the perfect Blue Note jam session mode of the late 50s – one used also with Jimmy Smith, and which features a number of the label's star players hitting hard with the main soloist. Players on the two volume set include Duke Jordan or Bobby Timmons piano, Junior Cook and Tina Brooks tenor, Louis Smith trumpet, and Art Blakey on Drums. The cuts have a very open-ended blowing session feel, and Kenny comes through surprisingly well, really picking up steam on a way you don't always hear in more restrained recordings. Titles on this volume include "Yes Baby", "Scotch Blues", and "Phinupi". CD

Some of Kenny Burrell's best early work! The album catches Kenny in the perfect Blue Note jam session mode of the late 50s – which features a number of the label's star players hitting hard with the main soloist. Players on the two volume set include Duke Jordan or Bobby Timmons piano, Junior Cook and Tina Brooks tenor, Louis Smith trumpet, and Art Blakey on Drums. The cuts have a very open-ended blowing session feel, and Kenny comes through surprisingly well, really picking up steam on a way you don't always hear in more restrained recordings. Titles on this volume include "Rock Salt", "Chuckin", and "Caravan". CD

Some of Kenny Burrell's best early work! The album catches Kenny in the perfect Blue Note jam session mode of the late 50s – which features a number of the label's star players hitting hard with the main soloist. Players on the two volume set include Duke Jordan or Bobby Timmons piano, Junior Cook and Tina Brooks tenor, Louis Smith trumpet, and Art Blakey on Drums. The cuts have a very open-ended blowing session feel, and Kenny comes through surprisingly well, really picking up steam on a way you don't always hear in more restrained recordings. Titles on this volume include "Rock Salt", "Chuckin", and "Caravan". CD

A wonderful Holiday album that's stayed fresh for years – a date that was maybe done as a seasonal one-off for singer Ella Fitzgerald, but one that's gone on to become one of her best-selling records of all time! Ella's got a perfect style to interpret these numbers – upbeat and swinging, very much as promised in the title – with a quality that makes the tunes move, and avoids some of the too-blue and more melancholy modes that can sometimes get in the way of making a Christmas jazz vocal album work this well! Fitzgerald has great arrangements here – working with Frank DeVol and Russ Garcia – on a set of lightly jazzy versions of Christmas favorites like "Sleigh Ride", "Jingle Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", "Frosty The Snowman", and one of the best versions of "What Are You Doing New Years Eve" ever recorded! Plus, this 2LP set has a full album of bonus tracks – titles that include "Christmas Island", "We Three Kings/Little Town Of Bethlehem", "The Secret Of Christmas", "Holiday In Harlem", and "Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney" – plus duets with Louis Armstrong on "Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You" and "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" – and with Louis Jordan on "Baby It's Cold Outside". LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy tenor sax and wonderful vocals from the great Bull Moose Jackson – a key figure in the transition from swing to R&B! As these classic sides will attest, Jackson was a heck of a talent on the tenor sax, and could blow with the best of the hard-wailers of the early 50s – but could also lay down a lyric with the same sort of wit and sparkle as Louis Jordan on his best Tympany Five recordings! The tracks on the set appear mostly to be recorded for the King label, and are packaged nicely with full session information on each number – and a total of 26 tracks that include "Hodge Podge", "Hold Him Joe", "Buffalo Shuffle", "Three Bones", "Shorty's Got To Go", "I Know Who Threw The Water In The Well", "Sneaky Pete", "I Want A Bowlegged Woman", and Jackson's classic "Big Ten Inch Record". CD

A rare non-Blue Note outing from Lee Morgan – and a record that's sometimes mistaken as a large group effort because of the "twelve" in the title, but which is a tight small group set that's equally cooking as some of Lee's better known records! As with the best mid 60s Blue Note work from lee, the players here are both soulful and modern – able to shift easily into some of Lee's most complicated ideas of jazz expression, yet always doing so in ways that are never stiff or academic – but filled with life and spirit in every note! Clifford Jordan's tenor is a fantastic accompaniment to Morgan's trumpet in the frontline – and Barry Harris' piano has the warmth and flowing quality of a young Cedar Walton on most tracks. Bass is by Bob Cranshaw and drums are by Louis Hayes – and titles include "Lee-sure Time", "Second's Best", "Little Spain", and "Waltz For Fran". CD also features 1 bonus track! CD

2 excellent and hard to get Atlantic 60s LPs by Zawinul on one disc. Although Joe first came to big fame in the US as a funky vamper and soloist behind Cannonball Adderley's big group of the 60s, his early album as a leader has a much more mature sound than that funky work with Cannon – and it rightly earns the "third stream" tag in the title through the use of an enlarged ensemble that includes cello and viola, in addition to the core group of soulful players like Jimmy Owens, Richard Davis, and Freddie Waits. William Fischer's also on the record on tenor, and many of the tracks are his own compositions, with that kind of weird off-kilter, slightly serious approach he used on other Atlantic/Vortex sessions at the time. The mix of soul and serious scoring is actually a pretty darn compelling blend – as you'll hear on tracks like "Lord, Lord, Lord", "Soul Of A Village", and "The 5th Canto". And the second LP of the set, Money In The Pocket may arguably be the best solo record that Joe Zawinul ever cut – and one of the few to really show him working in the sound that he had when with Cannonball Adderley's famous 60s combo! The record features Joe on piano, in groups made up of soul jazz luminaries like Blue Mitchell, Joe Henderson, Sam Jones, Clifford Jordan, and Louis Hayes. Tracks are short and groovy – with a bit of a Blue Note kick to them. Titles include "If", "Midnight Mood", "Some More Of Dat", "Sharon's Waltz", and "Del Sasser". CD

Includes tracks by Frankie Carle, Tommy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, Louis Jordan, Glenn Miller, Paul Weston, Harry James with Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and more – 75 tracks total. CD

Features Dinah Washington, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Roy Byrd, Buddy & Ella Johnson, Louis Jordan, and Clyde McPhatter. CD

Like so many Milestone 2-fers from the 70s, this set combines two excellent 60s hard bop LPs into one nice set! Both sides feature Adderley's trademark soul jazz hard bop hybrid, but in contexts that add a twist to the settings you might otherwise have heard Cannonball in. The first album's a quintet side featuring brother Nat, Wynton Kelly, Victor Feldman, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes with Feldman playing vibes on the tracks that feature Kelly, piano on the ones that don't – and includes "Arriving Soon", "New Delhi", "Winetone", and "Lisa". Cannonball's soulful alto meets the cerebral piano of Bill Evans in a more stripped down setting, with the group filled out by Percy Heath and Connie Kay, for a set that's filled with surprises, and some nice modal moments. The set includes versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album