A well-titled set, given that Fred Anderson's been a missing link in Chicago jazz for many years – a bold tenorist with qualities that reach back to the heavy sax generation of the 50s, and a creative improvisor who's kept the AACM ideals alive and well in the Windy City for years! The session captures Fred in the late 70s, a really under-recorded point in his career (especially in comparison to his big revival of the past decade or so) – and Anderson's working with Larry Hayrod on bass, Hamid Drake on drums, and Adam Rudolph on percussion – in relatively freewheeling space that gives Fred plenty of room to solo! Titles include "Twilight", "Ballad For Rita", and "The Bull". CD features the bonus previously-unreleased track "Tabla Peace" – a cool number penned by Drake, with lots of nice percussion. CD

A double-length set – and one that's got plenty of space for wide-ranging power from guitarist Volker Kriegel! The set builds beautifully off the energy that Volker had in the Dave Pike Set – with a similar blend of funk and psychedelic influences, all filtered down beautifully in wicked MPS vibe – lots of space between the notes, and a balance that never gets too jamming or rocking – which is plenty pleasing to our ears! Volker's got an amazing tone on some of these tunes – and other hip players include John Taylor on electric piano, Cees See on flute and percussion, soprano and tenor sax from Alan Skidmore, tenor from Heinz Sauer, trombone from Albert Mangelsdorff, and bass from Eberhard Weber. Tunes really run a nice range of styles – some getting trippy, some a bit exotic, and plenty nice and funky, too! Titles include "Slums On Wheels", "The E Again", "Zanzibar", "Missing Link", and "Lastic Plemon". LP, Vinyl record album

A well-titled set, given that Fred Anderson's been a missing link in Chicago jazz for many years – a bold tenorist with qualities that reach back to the heavy sax generation of the 50s, and a creative improvisor who's kept the AACM ideals alive and well in the Windy City for years! The session captures Fred in the late 70s, a really under-recorded point in his career (especially in comparison to his big revival of the past decade or so) – and Anderson's working with Larry Hayrod on bass, Hamid Drake on drums, and Adam Rudolph on percussion – in relatively freewheeling space that gives Fred plenty of room to solo! Titles include "Twilight", "Ballad For Rita", and "The Bull". CD features the bonus previously-unreleased track "Tabla Peace" – a cool number penned by Drake, with lots of nice percussion. CD

A double-length set – and one that's got plenty of space for wide-ranging power from guitarist Volker Kriegel! The set builds beautifully off the energy that Volker had in the Dave Pike Set – with a similar blend of funk and psychedelic influences, all filtered down beautifully in wicked MPS vibe – lots of space between the notes, and a balance that never gets too jamming or rocking – which is plenty pleasing to our ears! Volker's got an amazing tone on some of these tunes – and other hip players include John Taylor on electric piano, Cees See on flute and percussion, soprano and tenor sax from Alan Skidmore, tenor from Heinz Sauer, trombone from Albert Mangelsdorff, and bass from Eberhard Weber. Tunes really run a nice range of styles – some getting trippy, some a bit exotic, and plenty nice and funky, too! Titles include "Slums On Wheels", "The E Again", "Zanzibar", "Missing Link", and "Lastic Plemon". CD

Wild early material from Nick Cave and the wildy influential Birthday Party! Literate post punk that stands up incredibly well decades later, with a sound that's all their own, but profoundly paves the way for late 80s and 90s noise rock. Amazing! Includes "She's Hit", "Dead Joe", "The Dim Locator", "Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)", "Gold Blade", "Kewpie Doll", "Several Jeans". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "A Catholic Skin", "Red Clock", "Faint Heart", "Death By Drowning" and "Hair Shirt". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Jimmy Johnson on guitar and vocals – on titles that include "Heap See", "Missing Link", "Happy Home", "Chicken Heads", "Little By Little", and "When My First Wife Quit Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A mindblowing collection of work from Marvin Gaye – tracks recorded in the space right after What's Going On – many of which were never issued at the time! All this incredible material from 1972 has been brought together to create a stunning double-length album – one that features a few tracks that only ever saw issue as 45s back in the day, others that only later turned up as bonus tracks on CDs or box sets, and still others that appear here for the first time ever – all to show the incredible talents that Marvin was working with during this incredibly fruitful time in his career! Much of the material has the same righteous, socially-conscious spirit as What's Going On – and, if anything, the whole set provides a much-needed missing link between that album and the more sensual territory of Let's Get It On. There's definitely some of the spirit of that later album in place here too, as well as the instrumental complexity that Gaye would display on his soundtrack for Trouble Man – and the set even features a few Christmas tunes too. Titles include two versions of "You're The Man" – a killer 45 cut that we've loved for years – plus "Piece Of Clay", "I'm Gonna Give You Respect", "Try It You'll Like It", "You Are That Special One", "We Can Make It Baby", "My Last Chance", "Symphony", "I'd Give My Life For You", "Woman Of The World", "The World Is Rated X", "Where Are We Going", "I Want To Come Home For Christmas", "I'm Going Home (Move)", and the killer "Checking Out (Double Clutch)" – one of the funkiest tunes that Marvin ever recorded! LP, Vinyl record album

2 amazing albums from the 2nd version of the Jimmy Giuffre 3! After working with his first combo of Bob Brookmeyer and Jim Hall during the late 50s, Giuffre hooked up with a pair of younger modernists – Paul Bley and Steve Swallow – reintroducing the piano and bass to his trio format, instruments that had been previously missing because Giuffre wanted to explore the possibilities of melodic composition freed from rhythmic constraints. With this trio, Giuffre was still working in that mode – as you'll hear on Bley and Swallow's incredibly free playing. The group's performances are not free jazz by any means, but they're a key link in that tradition – as Giuffre and crew do an excellent job of creating unconventional compositions, most of which feel like little sculptures in sound. There's a total of 20 tracks on 2CDs – and titles include "Cry, Want", "Trudgin", "Jesus Maria", "Ictus", "Sonic", "Whirrrrr", "The Gamut", "Herb & Ictus", and "Flight". Both records originally available on Verve, now repackaged by ECM. CD

A very cool volume of this excellent series of Louisiana sounds – one that mixes rare and unreleased tracks from the late 50s from equally great 70s sounds – all with a unified bluesy groove that really makes the whole thing come together nicely! The 70s tracks have a style that's much more old school than some of the blues recordings from other scenes at the time! Most of this music could be of late 50s or early 60s vintage, given the approach – which often electrifies the guitar, sometimes throws in a harmonica solo, and usually keeps the rhythms as raw as the production – holding onto an edge that was often missing from more commercial blues productions of the period! There's also a number of cuts by artists you might also know from zydeco work, but who are definitely working here as blues musicians – really showing the link between the two styles. Some of the older music is from the Flyright label – those great JD Miller recordings from the farther reaches of the scene – and also includes some unreleased tracks, too. Package features 28 tracks in all – with titles that include "I'm Not Jiving" by Juke Boy Bonner, "I'm A Lucky Lucky Man" by Henry Gray, "She's Gone" by Schoolboy Cleve, "Wild About My Baby" by Slim Harpo, "No Use To Worry" by Lonesome Sundown, "Oh Yeah She's Gone" by Boozoo Chavis, "I Told My Little Woman" by Lazy Lester, "Late Hour Blues" by Henry Clement, "Night & Day My Love" by Clifton Chenier, "Frankie & Johnny" by Jimmy Anderson, and "Sitting Here Alone" by Johnny Sonnier. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album