... CD

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A very cool package – one that brings together two rare albums issued alongside the early rise to fame of Mad Magazine – plus rare bonus tracks too! First up is the stunning Musically Mad set, led by Bernie Green – one of the maddest bachelor pad albums to come out on RCA during the late 50s – and it features a nutty set of tunes released in conjunction with Mad Magazine, whose Norman Mingo contributed a fantastic cover painting of Alfred E Neuman! Instrumentation is very percussive-heavy – and there's plenty of odd sound effects, like warbling brass, air-squeezed hands, clanging anvils, crazy voices, and "clinkerated chimes" – all of which makes for a cartoony sound that definitely fits the promise Mad spirit! Titles include "Anvils, Of Course", "Concerto For Two Hands", "Laughing Raymond", "The Green Bee", and "Give Me That Good Old Progressive Jazz". Next is Mad Twists Rock & Roll – maybe the coolest of all the Mad Magazine records from the early days – a set done in collaboration with Big Top Records, as sort of a parody of the rock and roll that label was putting out at the time! Most songs are surprisingly strong rock numbers, but the lyrics are often jokes about the usual themes handled at the time – but given the level of presentation and strength of the overall record, the whole thing maybe just serves to remind us how important novelty records were to the birth of rock and roll! Titles include "She Got A Nose Job", "Let's Do The Pretzel", "Throwing The High School Basketball Game", "Someone Else's Dandruff", "When My Pimples Turned To Dimples", and "Blind Date". CD also features some rare bonus tracks from singles too – "It's A Gas", "She Lets Me Watch Her Mom & Pop Fight", "Potzrebie", "Meet The Staff Of Mad", and "What Me Worry". CD

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... 7-inch, Vinyl record

An amazing collection of 40s and 50s jazz drawings by Gene Deitch – the complete anthology of his work for legendary jazz magazine Record Changer! Gene was an amazing artist and cartoonist, whose work helped solidify the legacies of some of the most famous cartoon characters in the American pop culture canon – from Popeye, to Tom & Jerry and beyond – but we're especially in love with his jazz-centric Record Changer era! Gene adored jazz and his love for it really shows! Cat On A Hot Thin Groove includes all of his magazine covers, cartoon panels and other bits from Record Changer – versatile work that ranges from fun, cartoon-y panels of "Jazz Cat" characters, to more elaborate and abstract illustrations. Wonderful, vital stuff – and it's very nicely anthologized here by Fantagraphics! Coffee-table scale paperback – 160+ pages of prime Deitch jazzy drawings with text accompaniment. Book

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

... Magazine

Howe Gelb is back with the band in all of his loose, ragged glory after the considerably more groomed sound of 2000's masterpiece Chore Of Enchantment with this set of heavily reworked – or perhaps more accurately, unraveled covers. Cover Magazine starts out with a haunting hybrid of Marty Robbin's "El Paso" and Neil Young's "Out On The Weekend", followed by a spare version of X's "Johnny Hit And Run Pauline" featuring only Howe on guitar and guest PJ Harvey's banshee wail of the chorus. Black Sabbath's "Ironman" is interpreted here as a mournful ballad augmented by congas, trumpet, piano, and perpetually running water (?). Howe is beautifully backed up on "Wayfaring Stranger" by Chicago chanteuses Neko Case & Kelly Hogan, and the core rhythmic backbone of Joe Burns & John Convertino, aka Calexico, remain the Sand's deadly weapon just as they have for the past ten or so years. Howe is now clearly trying to enjoy himself in his music after a couple of emotionally tumultuous releases following the loss of longtime friend and collaborator Rainer Ptacek to cancer, and the result is a much less weighty gem of a record – as prickly and heavily dusted as the Arizona desert it was born in. Other tracks include two groovy versions of Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On", Johnny Cash's "I'm Leaving Now (Adios)", Goldfrapp's "Human", Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand", Roger Miller's "King Of The Road", an epic, feedback drenched version of Gelb's own "Blue Marble Girl", and Ptacek's "Inner Flame", both featuring members of Grandaddy. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Record Culture is even cooler than ever – as this issue comes with a bonus book as well! But first, the magazine – this issue has the same great format as the others – a book-style package, filled with beautiful full color photos of record collectors, vinyl culture, and other cool bits from around the world – all put together to show that the love of records knows no boundaries, and is still more vibrant now than it was back in the 20th Century! There's a great article in this issue on Twilite Tone – a Chicago hero from way back, given plenty of space for his career and love of vinyl – and the issue also has features on Gerd Janson, June Jones, Eug, Vanessa Worm, Sebastien Dellier, and Bradley Zero – again, based on their interest and use of records. And lastly, there's a very interesting feature – postcards sent to the Time & Space radio show at WNYU! 211 pages, full color, and more like a softcover book. Then, you also get the very cool book – Second Generation – a collection of Chicago house music flyers from the years 1991 to 200 – dozens of pages of ads for gigs and shows, all in full color, pulled from the archives of Mark Farina and Alicia Prior. Magazine

Great reproductions from a totally wonderful magazine – a mid 60s publication that delivered the goods on the hip scene in London – often with images and text that were as swinging as the scene itself! The book is oversized, and has these large reproductions of photo spreads, articles, and other layouts from the publication – presented just as they were, so that the large volume is like leafing through dozens of pages from the long-lost magazine – really making the hippest side of London come alive again, in articles that cover a variety of stars – Andrew Loog Oldham, Vanessa Redgrave, Kim Fowley, Tony Hancock, and others – with looks at the films Modesty Blaise and One Million Years BC – plus record reviews from Joe Meek and Eric Burdon, and even a map of London too! Images throughout – and a very cool book. Book

Includes articles, interviews, and album reviews in both English and Japanese – plus a CD with music by Toshimaru Nakamura, Tetuzi Akiyama, Yoshio Machida, Radu Malfatti and Taku Sugimoto, m-7, Haco, and others. CD

Bi-lingual magazine with articles, interviews, and album reviews in English and Japanese – plus 2CDs with music by Ju Muraoka, Taku Unami, Masahide Tokunaga, aen, Shoji Hano and Masaharu Shoji, Taku Hannoda, and others. CD

A pretty cool relic of the 25th anniversary of Life Magazine – a record with material from a TV special hosted by Bob Hope, with Sid Caesar, Mary Martin, & more – packaged with a nice booklet too! LP, Vinyl record album

That's the great Grant Green on the cover – a hint that you're in for an all-masters set of funky guitar here – in a selection that's put together by the folks at Japan's Guitar Magazine! The package features 2CDs, and Grant gets one whole disc to himself – as the collection mixes together a fair bit of gems from the early 70s years when jazz guitar was finding much funkier currents, thanks to shifts that were taking place in the world of soul music – inspirations from the world of funky 45s, but taken to jazz territory with much longer grooves and extended solos! Tracks include "Brown Bag" and "No Way" by Ivan Boogaloo Joe Jones, "Bowlegs" and "Sister Janie" by Funk Inc, "Giblet Gravy" by George Benson, "Bambu" by Reuben Wilson, "Thank You" by Melvin Sparks, "Chunk A Funk" by Mel Brown, and "The Soul Roll" by Billy Butler – plus Grant Green cuts that include "Jan Jan", "Ain't It Funky Now", "Windjammer", "Sookie Sookie", "The Final Come Down", and "Hurt So Bad". CD

An incredible package – one that features all three variations on this legendary album, along with bonus material on other pieces of vinyl – plus complete replicas of all 17 issues of the legendary Tribe Magazine – a key outlet for knowledge and culture in the Detroit scene of the 70s! The package has all three variations of the record in their original artwork – and version 1 comes with a 7" single that includes short versions of "Where Am I" and "How Do We End All Of This Madness". Version 2 comes with a 10" album that features full instrumental versions of "What We Need", "How Do We End All Of This Madness", and "Angela's Dilemma". Version 3 is pressed on 2LPs, which each play at 45rpm! The core album is genius work from the Detroit underground of the 70s – one of the greatest records ever on the now-famous Tribe Records label, and a masterpiece of soul, jazz, and righteous spirit! The session's headed by tenor player Wendell Harrison – and it's got an all-star Motor City lineup that includes Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Phil Ranelin on trombone, Jeamel Lee on vocals, Charles Eubanks on electric piano, and Charles Moore on flugelhorn. The tracks have a spacious spiritual approach that recalls some of the later Archie Shepp on Impulse – a blend of soul jazz with slight touches of electric instrumentation, some vocals, and a very progressive spirit overall – stepping proud in the new freedoms of the 70s, yet still swinging and very groovy. Titles include "Angela's Dilemma", "What We Need", "How Do We End All Of This Madness", "Merciful", and "Beneficent". But maybe even cooler are the issues of Tribe Magazine – rare treasures from the Detroit underground, reproduced here for the first time ever – and maybe even worth the price of the heavy box set. LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible package – one that features all three variations on this legendary album, along with bonus material on other pieces of vinyl – plus complete replicas of all 17 issues of the legendary Tribe Magazine – a key outlet for knowledge and culture in the Detroit scene of the 70s! The package has all three variations of the record in their original artwork – and version 1 comes with a 7" single that includes short versions of "Where Am I" and "How Do We End All Of This Madness". Version 2 comes with a 10" album that features full instrumental versions of "What We Need", "How Do We End All Of This Madness", and "Angela's Dilemma". Version 3 is pressed on 2LPs, which each play at 45rpm! The core album is genius work from the Detroit underground of the 70s – one of the greatest records ever on the now-famous Tribe Records label, and a masterpiece of soul, jazz, and righteous spirit! The session's headed by tenor player Wendell Harrison – and it's got an all-star Motor City lineup that includes Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Phil Ranelin on trombone, Jeamel Lee on vocals, Charles Eubanks on electric piano, and Charles Moore on flugelhorn. The tracks have a spacious spiritual approach that recalls some of the later Archie Shepp on Impulse – a blend of soul jazz with slight touches of electric instrumentation, some vocals, and a very progressive spirit overall – stepping proud in the new freedoms of the 70s, yet still swinging and very groovy. Titles include "Angela's Dilemma", "What We Need", "How Do We End All Of This Madness", "Merciful", and "Beneficent". But maybe even cooler are the issues of Tribe Magazine – rare treasures from the Detroit underground, reproduced here for the first time ever – and maybe even worth the price of the heavy box set. LP, Vinyl record album

... Magazine

That's Lucy Sante on the cover – and she not only delivers a small piece of her own at the front of the magazine, but is also the focus of a nice long article penned by Sasha Frere Jones, which is then followed by an interview with Sante too! And there's way more here too – a look at 30 years of Sleater Kinney, the contemporary Detroit jazz scene, Chicago music legend Doug McCombs, painter Shonto Begay, the music of Dredd Foole, the teenage recordings of Teresa Leigh, gallerist Hudson, writer Jeff Noon, the cosmic soul of Shabazz Palaces, and lots lots more – all in vivid color throughout, with hardly any ads at all! Magazine

The cover feature pays tribute to the great Pharoah Sanders – one of our all-time favorite jazz musicians, and someone who gave the world so much wonderful music during his time on the planet! But that's just the tip of the iceberg – as there's all sorts of weird and wonderful features here – a look at downer garage psych, photos from Leni Sinclair, a jazz roundtable with Makaya McCraven and others, ambient composer Ernest Hood, The Hi Rhythm Section, and lots lots more! As always, Maggot Brain has a great way of criss-crossing different scenes and styles – opening things up tin so many great ways. Heck there's even a great feature on a Louisville band reunion – served up by our old pal Ken Katkin! Magazine

A beautifully vivid issue of Maggot Brain – one that has great visual presentation of work by artists and musicians alike – in a lineup that includes an article on Motown legend Chris Clark, and more on steel guitarist Barry Walker, painter Duncan Hannah, the MoWest group Odyssey, and Detroit artist Lucy Cahill – plus a look at the visuals that have accompanied the music of Belle & Sebastian, and guitarists Steve Wynn and Chris Forsyth in conversation. There's also a look at the underground pop scene in San Francisco, more on Buffy Sainte Marie and Sessa – and all articles are beautifully illustrated and filled with visuals! Magazine

... Magazine

David Bowie is on the cover for a feature focused on a peak period – 1974, a year that saw the completion of both Diamond Dogs and Young Americans (even if the latter wasn't released until '75) – showcasing a stunning a shift from glam rock to gleaming soul no one could've predicted, not even from a chameleon the likes of Bowie! Other features include a look back at Tom Petty's landmark Long After Dark, Small Face and post-Keith Moon Who drummer Kenney Jones, The Cure, Ezra Collective, Supertramp, The Saints and more. Includes the usual wide array of reviews and a free CD – Future Legends: 15 Tracks Of Dystopian Sci-Fi Rock – with tracks by Father John Misty, Hawkwind, Iggy Pop & James Williamson, The Flaming Lips, The The and many more. Magazine

A great second issue of this very cool publication – one that really lives up to its title, by providing really great features on a range of different records! This time around, the coverage is even bigger than the first – as the issue looks at polka records, South African country albums, and a range of artists who include Ray Bourbon, Sex Pistols, Charles Lloyd, Jack Webb, Vernard Johnson, and others – all brought together to run the full gamut of what you might expect to find when digging through the vinyl racks at a classic used record store! The issue is black and white, but overflowing with great images – lots of cool record covers, and more – and even some vintage ads. Magazine

Includes the tracks Reverse, Attica Blues, and Mama Too Tight. CD

... Magazine

The great Billy Nicholls gets an excellent cover feature here – some new attention to a rock genius who never got his due at the time, but who seems to get rediscovered in a great way with each new decade! In similar territory is the mighty Paul Williams – here alongside articles on Fred Wesley, Primal Scream, The Fleshtones, and The Doors – as well as a look at rare private press folk records – and a big look back at the music of 2024! Everything's presented with that wonderful Shindig panache – a great eye for mixing well-penned text and beautiful graphics, in a way that's as pleasing as digging through the record racks. Magazine

... Magazine

A great issue of the relaunched Wax Poetics – one that has the magazine back to all its early glory, with page after page of wonderful images and deep coverage of the music we love! This time around the split covers broadcast two of the issue's best articles – a long look at the keyboard genius of Patrice Rushen, hero of both jazz and soul – and a history of electronic sounds on the Detroit scene, including Wajeed, who is on the cover – moving back to the early experiments of Juan Atkins and others! There's plenty more, too – articles on Hammond hero Shirley Scott, Bill Evans' work at the Village Vanguard, and more on Joseph Bowie, Mo Wax Records, Joyce, Keiya, Masta Ace, The Chambers Brothers, and the Alpha Boys School – a key part of Jamaican music history! As usual, the art and photography is as great as the writing – making this squarebound publication feel more like a book than a magazine. Magazine

... Magazine

The Worldwide on the cover is a reference to the long-running radio show served up by DJ Gilles Peterson – a figure who's influenced us in countless ways over the years – from his late 80s work on the London scene, to his Talking Loud label in the 90s, his Brownswood projects in the 21st Century – and so many other efforts that continue to shape the way we listen to music! This issue's got a great cover feature on Gilles – alongside other excellent articles of the sort that keep We Jazz at the top of our reading stack, issue after issue – more on Ingrid Laubrock, Astro Can Caravan, Takuya Kuroda, and Die Enttauschung – plus the Discaholic column by Mats Gustafsson, a look at Dutch Jazz and Japanese Jazz, and the mix of spoken word and free jazz on record! 128 pages, squarebound, and filled with beautiful color images throughout. Magazine

A jam-packed issue of this mighty great magazine – one that not only features a big article on Carla Bley, pictured on the cover – but also more on reedman Azar Lawrence, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, and improvising cellist Abdul Wadud! There's also more on John Zorn's Naked City, Amirtah Kidambi, Ruth Goller, Mette Henriette, and Francois Jeanneau – plus a look at the great spiritual jazz label Gondwana Records, and photos from the We Jazz Festival in 2023! As always, the writing is great, the photos superb, and the large publication is more like a book or journal than a magazine – kind of the Wax Poetics for those who dig jazz! Magazine

There's never been a magazine like this – a publication that seems to cover jazz of the past and the future with equal enthusiasm – and which has a way of making everything come together in a wonderfully vivid way! As with previous issues, the choice of subjects seems very close to our own hearts – as a mix of great writers take on artists who include Petter Eldh, Shabaka Hutchings, Jason Moran, Darius Jones, Sven Wunder, and spiritual reedman Carlos Garnett – while also looking at the Sounds Of Freedom residency, and the cool Hip Holland Hip record as well! Speaking of records, Mats Gustafsson turns in a great entry of his Discaholic column – which is then followed by pages of great reviews of other jazz treasures from the past and present. The whole magazine is done in a book-style format – squarebound, 128 pages, very little ads, and cool color images throughout! Magazine

We Jazz magazine is a publication that always finds a way to really get close to our heart – and this time around they've got a fantastic cover feature on righteous jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby – an artist we reissued on the Dusty Groove label many years ago! And in addition to Ashby, the issue also has a great article on Don Cherry – plus more on Jimetta Rose, Peter Evans, Asher Gaedze, and Guy Stevens – plus a great entry in the Discaholic series by Mats Gustafsson, a feature on The Return Of The Queer Jazz Scene, and lots more reviews and other columns too! As always, the presentation is great – a book-like style with full color pages throughout, and well worth the price tag! Magazine

A really fantastic issue of this seminal jazz publication – one that has a great cover feature on our hometown hero, drummer Makaya McCraven! As usual with We Jazz, the whole package is as great as the cover – page after squarebound page of great photographs and images, almost more of a book than a magazine – with more features that include a rare interview with Sonny Rollins done by Ashley Khan, a new column by Mats Gustafsson, and more articles on Eric Dolphy, Adolphe Sax, Amina Claudine Myers, and Ronald Snijders – plus more on Bength Frippe Nordstrom, Rosanna & Zelia, the We Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Room Record label – all with great photos too. There's a nice section of record reviews too – and a photo essay on the new Puristamo record pressing plant in Helsinki at the end! Magazine

This issue's titled after a classic album from the great Horace Tapscott, and features a wonderful article on the man himself inside – plus great feature on Isaiah Collier, our hometown hero on saxophone – destined to become one of the greatest players in jazz over the next few years! There's plenty more too – a look at Gogo Penguin, Matthew Halsall, Tigran Hamasayan, and the jazz scene in Istanbul – plus a second visit to jazz joints in Tokyo, a look at deeper listening modes – and more on Bill Frisell, Spring Heel Jack, and Esa Pethman! As always, the presentation is wonderful – beautiful images and art – and the whole thing is squarebound, like a book, almost no ads and full of color throughout! Magazine

That's the lovely Alice Coltrane on the cover – given some great treatment inside by author Ashley Khan, who literally wrote the book in Impulse Records! There's lots more too – a great piece on Sun Ra, a look at contemporary production of vinyl, record guru/label owner John Corbett, a talk with Alan Braufmann, and a look at the scene in Berlin! But most of all is the presentation – as this is more of a journal than a magazine – done in a book-style package that's like Wax Poetics – squarebound, beautifully printed, with lots of full color images throughout! Magazine

The first installment of the all-star jam session at the Met Opera, organized by Esquire magazine. Including Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Petiford, Lionel Hampton, Art Tatum and others. LP, Vinyl record album

A second installment of the all-star jam session at the Met Opera, organized by Esquire magazine. Including Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Petiford, Lionel Hampton, Art Tatum and others. LP, Vinyl record album

Formica may seem like an everyday surface to some – but at the time of its creation, it was a pretty revolutionary development – one that allowed household and business spaces to step free from longer-term care – giving the workers and residents lots more time to pursue their hopes and dreams! That bright promise of Formica is presented beautifully here – in a lovely history of the product, complete with dozens of vintage images that range from magazine ads to promotional flyers – to some higher-end projects in Formica from the art world! The book's beautiful – as stylish as an interior design magazine from the 60s – with a special color by color section in the middle, including writings by John Updike, Margarate Atwood, and others – on pages that are also perforated and can be folded! The first half of the book is in English, and awash with these images and text – and the second half offers more images, and text in six other languages. 408 pages, softcover, and beautiful color throughout! Book