A wickedly cool small combo set from the 60s – featuring reedman John Lemon, who blows both tenor and flute, plus a bit of alto as well – in a combo with Jimmy Scott on organ, Ernest McLean on guitar, and Bobby Brooks on drums! The set's got a great soul jazz vibe – like a Prestige Records session, but produced with a bit more echo – and titles include the originals "Yes Baby", "Chilly Willie", and "Big Mamma" – plus versions of "Watermelon Man" and "Cute". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the earliest records by the legendary Novi Singers – and a rare MPS set that exposed the group to a larger European audience! Novi hail from Poland, but have a name that's an condensation of the English phrase "new original vocal instruments" – a great summation of the way the quartet use their voices to recreate the feel of instruments in modern jazz – a mode first explored by the Lambert Hendricks & Ross group in the US, but taken to a much farther extreme on this set! The group are supported here by a border-crossing small combo of musicians that includes Zbigniew Namyslowski on alto sax, Idrees Sulieman on trumpet, Adam Makowicz on piano, and Billy Brooks on drums – and the sound is cool, laidback, and very groovy – extremely tight, almost even more so than some of the group's Polish albums! Titles include "The Second Side", "Secret Life", "Kulfon", and "Apartment Under The Roof". LP, Vinyl record album

A bit less well-known than some of the real Horace Silver classics on Blue Note – but an incredible record that shows the Silver Quintet at all its lyrical best! The record is a masterpiece of original voicings from Horace – not just in the unique tunes he penned for the set, but also in the strong direction he gives the group – a well-knit lineup that includes Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor, Gene Taylor on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums – all coming together with some of the most fluid, most intuitive energy of any combo of the time! The melodic themes are structured loosely, so that Mitchell, Cook, and Silver can extrapolate on beautifully-spun solos – and titles include "Sweet Sweetie Dee", "Nineteen Bars", "The Dragon Lady", "Silver's Serenade", and "Let's Get To The Nitty Gritty". LP, Vinyl record album

Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone, Ben Webster on tenor saxophone, Lawrence Brown on trombone, Ray Nance on trumpet, Lou Levy and Russ Freeman on piano, Emil Richards on vibraphone, Joe Mondragon and Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Gus Johnson and Mel Lewis on drums. CD

A huge collection of rare singles from the vaults of the legendary Treasure Isle label – a company who was home to some of the hippest tracks from the early days of ska – and also did a great job of getting the music to the UK scene as well! This package goes past the familiar Treasure Isle hits, as the 7" singles feature previously unreleased tracks and rare alternate versions – all packaged up in a great box set with a mighty sharp look. The whole thing is great – nice and raw, and very different than ska revival material of later years – and this 3CD set features all the material that was on the 7" box set done a few years back, plus 74 more bonus tracks! Core cuts include "You Wish Me Bad (take 6)" by The Spanishtonians, "Love Me Or Leave Me (take 1)" by Owen & Leon Silvera, "I'm All Alone (take 1)" by Frank Cosmo, "Oh Misery (take 2)" by The Duke Reid Group, "Thinking Of The Future" by Stranger Cole, "Fooling Around" by The Rio Grandes, "Renegade (take 1)" by The Zodiacs, "Smokey Ska (take 1)" by The Baba Brooks Band, "Practice What You Preach" by Owen & Leon Silvera, "My True Confession (take 1)" by The Silvertones, "Til My Dying Day" by Winston & Slim, "Road To Nowhere (orig mix)" by Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band, "What A Bailing (take 1)" by Duke Reid Group, The Army Is Searching (take 2)" by Basil Caral & Group, "Storm Warning (take 1)" by Lyn Taitt & the Boys, "Want Me Cock (take 1)" by Owen & Leon Silvera, and "How Know Your Friend (take 1)" by Derrick Morgan – with bonus material by Duke Reid, The Movers, Justin Hinds, Tommy McCook, Froggy, Lynn Tait, Eric Morris, Baba Brooks, Lloyd & Glenn, Derrick & Naomi, The Miracles, The Zodiacs, The Melodies, Sensations, and many many more. CD

One of the first albums to really show Blue Mitchell's genius as a leader – recorded past the more formulaic bop modes of some of his other Riverside sessions, and handled with a lyrical edge that really gets at the best aspects of his playing. Of course, part of the reason for this is that Blue's in the company of some of his Horace Silver bandmates – including drummer Roy Brooks, tenorist Junior Cook, and bassist Gene Taylor – but even more than that, the presence of a young Cedar Walton on piano really makes the set sparkle, as does the choice of some extremely strong material – such as "The Cup Bearers" and "Capers", both written by that young and glowing jazz compositional lumiary, Tom McIntosh, and the tunes "Turquoise, written by Walton, and "Dingbat Blues", written by Charles Davis. Forgive the long sentence, but the quality of this one's best expressed in a single breath! CD

An exquisite bit of modernist hardbop – recorded by Freddie Redd with the same sort of sound that he brought to the classic Connection recording, also done for Blue Note! As with that session, Redd is working here with alto from a young Jackie McLean's on alto sax – really at the top of his powers here, and beautifully skirting a line that runs between soulful hardbop and some of the more modern phrasing McLean would use during his "new thing" years! Tina Brooks is on tenor, and as on other classic Blue Notes – such as the Street Singer album – the Brooks/McLean combination makes for some stellar solo work throughout. Redd's piano is firey in a way that we can hardly describe, and tracks include "Thespian", "Melanie", and "Shadows". LP, Vinyl record album

A bit less well-known than some of the real Horace Silver classics on Blue Note – but an incredible record that shows the Silver Quintet at all its lyrical best! The record is a masterpiece of original voicings from Horace – not just in the unique tunes he penned for the set, but also in the strong direction he gives the group – a well-knit lineup that includes Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Junior Cook on tenor, Gene Taylor on bass, and Roy Brooks on drums – all coming together with some of the most fluid, most intuitive energy of any combo of the time! The melodic themes are structured loosely, so that Mitchell, Cook, and Silver can extrapolate on beautifully-spun solos – and titles include "Sweet Sweetie Dee", "Nineteen Bars", "The Dragon Lady", "Silver's Serenade", and "Let's Get To The Nitty Gritty". CD

A real classic by alto giant Jackie McLean – a record that's pulled from two different sessions, but which stands out with a strikingly unified feel! The album was cut during the height of Jackie's bop years for Blue Note – with material from one 1959 session that features Donald Byrd on trumpet and Sonny Clark on piano – and another from 1960 that has Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, and the great Tina Brooks on tenor! Brooks' appearance on the album is especially great, as the tracks which feature him and McLean together crackle with some of the first modernist energy to show up on one of Jackie's albums – really hitting hard on original compositions that include "A Ballad For Doll", "Appointment in Ghana", and "Isle of Java". One of McLean's best-ever – and filled with great original tracks! CD also features 3 bonus tracks from the Brooks session – "Medina", "Melonae's Dance", and "Street Singer". CD

One of the first albums to really show Blue Mitchell's genius as a leader – recorded past the more formulaic bop modes of some of his other Riverside sessions, and handled with a lyrical edge that really gets at the best aspects of his playing. Of course, part of the reason for this is that Blue's in the company of some of his Horace Silver bandmates – including drummer Roy Brooks, tenorist Junior Cook, and bassist Gene Taylor – but even more than that, the presence of a young Cedar Walton on piano really makes the set sparkle, as does the choice of some extremely strong material – such as "The Cup Bearers" and "Capers", both written by that young and glowing jazz compositional lumiary, Tom McIntosh, and the tunes "Turquoise, written by Walton, and "Dingbat Blues", written by Charles Davis. Forgive the long sentence, but the quality of this one's best expressed in a single breath! LP, Vinyl record album

An exquisite bit of modernist hardbop – recorded by Freddie Redd with the same sort of sound that he brought to the classic Connection recording, also done for Blue Note! As with that session, Redd is working here with alto from a young Jackie McLean's on alto sax – really at the top of his powers here, and beautifully skirting a line that runs between soulful hardbop and some of the more modern phrasing McLean would use during his "new thing" years! Tina Brooks is on tenor, and as on other classic Blue Notes – such as the Street Singer album – the Brooks/McLean combination makes for some stellar solo work throughout. Redd's piano is firey in a way that we can hardly describe, and tracks include "Thespian", "Melanie", and "Shadows". CD

An exquisite bit of modernist hardbop – recorded by Freddie Redd with the same sort of sound that he brought to the classic Connection recording, also done for Blue Note! As with that session, Redd is working here with alto from a young Jackie McLean's on alto sax – really at the top of his powers here, and beautifully skirting a line that runs between soulful hardbop and some of the more modern phrasing McLean would use during his "new thing" years! Tina Brooks is on tenor, and as on other classic Blue Notes – such as the Street Singer album – the Brooks/McLean combination makes for some stellar solo work throughout. Redd's piano is firey in a way that we can hardly describe, and tracks include "Thespian", "Melanie", and "Shadows". CD

A real classic by alto giant Jackie McLean – a record that's pulled from two different sessions, but which stands out with a strikingly unified feel! The album was cut during the height of Jackie's bop years for Blue Note – with material from one 1959 session that features Donald Byrd on trumpet and Sonny Clark on piano – and another from 1960 that has Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Kenny Drew on piano, and the great Tina Brooks on tenor! Brooks' appearance on the album is especially great, as the tracks which feature him and McLean together crackle with some of the first modernist energy to show up on one of Jackie's albums – really hitting hard on original compositions that include "A Ballad For Doll", "Appointment in Ghana", and "Isle of Java". One of McLean's best-ever – and filled with great original tracks! CD also features 3 bonus tracks from the Brooks session – "Medina", "Melonae's Dance", and "Street Singer". CD