Heavy soul from the great Spanky Wilson – an album that explodes with energy right from the start – in a groove that definitely lives up to the title! Spanky's got a great mix of funk and class on this set – a punch in the rhythms at points, yet also a poise in the way she delivers the lyrics – a blend that's a bit like Marlena Shaw in her earlier years – and set to some killer arrangements from the great HB Barnum! Barnum gives the record all the cool punch of his great 60s work with Lou Rawls – and nearly all the material was written by the obscure Howlett Smith – an excellent lost writer who had a real talent for coming up with cool little soul songs that rise above the usual bag of his generation. This material works great for Spanky, and together, the pair, along with Barnum, cook up a unique lost soul treat! Titles include "Apartment 101", "On The Morning After", "The Other Girl", "You're Gonna Miss Me", "Love Has Me By The Hand", and "Mighty Great Feeling". CD

Spanky Wilson really takes off here – hitting some of her boldest soul modes to date – and serving up a few funk-heavy classics in the process! Production and arrangements are by HB Barnum – who draws on his own rich legacy of soul projects for the set, and finds a way to let Spanky really knock things out of the park – while still also holding tight to a mighty sweet groove! The style's almost an indie soul take on the Capitol Records groove that Barnum forged with David Axelrod for other singers – with all the strong sense of space between the grooves that would imply. The set features Spanky doing nice hard grooving versions of tracks that you've heard before – like "Loveland", "Let It Be", "Gloomy Sunday", and "Perhaps" – but there's also some nice ones like "Foolish" or "Love or Let Me Be Lonely", that are less familiar, and mighty nice too! CD

Heavy soul from the great Spanky Wilson – an album that explodes with energy right from the start – in a groove that definitely lives up to the title! Spanky's got a great mix of funk and class on this set – a punch in the rhythms at points, yet also a poise in the way she delivers the lyrics – a blend that's a bit like Marlena Shaw in her earlier years – and set to some killer arrangements from the great HB Barnum! Barnum gives the record all the cool punch of his great 60s work with Lou Rawls – and nearly all the material was written by the obscure Howlett Smith – an excellent lost writer who had a real talent for coming up with cool little soul songs that rise above the usual bag of his generation. This material works great for Spanky, and together, the pair, along with Barnum, cook up a unique lost soul treat! Titles include "Apartment 101", "On The Morning After", "The Other Girl", "You're Gonna Miss Me", "Love Has Me By The Hand", and "Mighty Great Feeling". CD

Frank Zappa & The Mothers, live at the Fillmore East – showing the world they've got plenty of greatness to offer away from the studio! The band here is super-tight – with the ferocity of Chunga's Revenge, but still enough room between the jamming for some mad bits of dialog and vocals – which are then offset by great keyboards and saxes from Ian Underwood, electronics from Don Preston, and heavy drums from Aynsley Dunbar! There's a focus to the sound of the group here that really draws together all the strands from the previous few years – and titles include "The Mud Shark", "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are", "Willie The Pimp", "Happy Together", "Lonesome Electric Turkey", and "Tears Began To Fall". Expanded 3LP version – with two more records' worth of material added to the original single-LP set – including the encore with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and the original "Billy The Mountain" – plus an album side of solos in "King Kong"! Even includes the single tracks "Tears Began To Fall" and "Junier Mintz Boogie". LP, Vinyl record album

An early masterpiece from Frank Zappa – one of those records that looks like it's going to be a big ol' mess when you first see the cover – but which turns out to be a carefully calculated act of madness in the end! The Mothers have all their freeform freaky brilliance intact here – still some of the snide edges of the early years, but also really learning their craft as well – and stretching out under Zappa's direction into a pastiche of songs that explore the anxieties and inanities of late 60s America! Frank produced the whole thing with an approach that others wouldn't reach for years – shifting styles, instrumentation, and sound sources with effortless ease – over tracks that include "Hot Poop", "The Idiot Bastard", "Lonely Little Girl", "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance", "Harry You're A Beast", "Mom & Dad", "Who Needs The Peace Corps", and "Flower Punk". LP, Vinyl record album

A great double-length CD that features 2 key west coast jazz sessions from Capitol Records! First up is Shorty Rogers' Modern Sounds – seminal west coast work from the start of the 50s! The group here is Rogers at his hippest – before a bigger rise to 50s fame, and right at the start of a great run as a leader and arranger on his own. The Giants combo here features Art Pepper on alto, Jimmy Giuffre on tenor, John Graas on French horn, and Hampton Hawes on piano – all playing with a style that's tight, yet still has plenty of swing, and a lot more room for individual group voices than other later arrangers who tried to cop Shorty's style! All tracks are extremely playful, but without sounding gimmicky – and tunes include "Four Mothers", "Didi", "Sam & The Lady", "Over The Rainbow", "Apropos" and "Popo". Next is Gerry Mulligan & His Ten-Tette – an early cooker from Mulligan, who's working with a real birth of the cool-styled group that includes Chet Baker and Pete Candoli on trumpets, Bud Shank on alto, John Graas on French horn, Bob Enevoldsen on trombone, and Chico Hamilton on drums – a really wonderful group that has a swing that's might lighter than you might guess from its size! The set is nicely arranged throughout – an early example of Gerry's powers in this respect – with plenty of thought in each tune, yet never so much so that the proceedings get too academic. Titles include "Rocker", "Walking Shoes", "Simbah", "Ontet", "Westwood Walk", "A Ballad", "Taking A Chance On Love", and "Flash". CD

An early masterpiece from Frank Zappa – one of those records that looks like it's going to be a big ol' mess when you first see the cover – but which turns out to be a carefully calculated act of madness in the end! The Mothers have all their freeform freaky brilliance intact here – still some of the snide edges of the early years, but also really learning their craft as well – and stretching out under Zappa's direction into a pastiche of songs that explore the anxieties and inanities of late 60s America! Frank produced the whole thing with an approach that others wouldn't reach for years – shifting styles, instrumentation, and sound sources with effortless ease – over tracks that include "Hot Poop", "The Idiot Bastard", "Lonely Little Girl", "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance", "Harry You're A Beast", "Mom & Dad", "Who Needs The Peace Corps", and "Flower Punk". CD

A huge 2CD set – one that features important European work that saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded with trumpeter Don Cherry! CD1 brings together six tracks from Albert Ayler's Hilversum Radio sessions from 1964 – plus an additional three tracks recorded in Denmark a few months earlier! The first six titles are a famous performance by a famous group set loose on a European tour in 1964 – Ayler on tenor, Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on bass, and Sunny Murry on drums – recorded in The Netherlands for a small audience in a Dutch radio studio! The setting is a wonderful one – a mix of the live freedoms that would really let Ayler stretch out – especially when playing overseas – but recorded with the clarity of some of his studio albums for ESP – that sharp-edged sound that really highlights the groundbreaking style of his playing! The rest of the group here is equally great, and Murray is completely freed up from rhythm at points, to fly beautifully with the rest – on titles that include "Angels", "CAC", "Infant Happiness", "Ghosts", and "No Name". The same group performs on the final three tracks – recorded in Copenhagen for Danish Radio, with an equally great level of clarity – on "Saints", "Spirits", and "Vibrations". The interplay between Ayler and Cherry is especially great – echoing the latter's material with Ornette Coleman, but with a different sort of edge! CD2 features amazing live material from 1964 – work that was recorded at the Club Montmartre in Copenhagen, right around the same time that Albert Ayler recorded his album for Debut Records – and a set that has his quartet in even more firey formation overall! The tracks are long, and Ayler is completely unbridled – at a level that really shows not only how much of a leader he was to the American avant underground, but what an inspiration he was to the European free scene too – who could only help but take a big cue from his work here on tenor! The group also features equally wonderful work from Don Cherry on cornet – sounding quite different than when with Ornette Coleman – plus bass from Gary Peacock, whose dark tones really set the mood – and drums from Sunny Murray, who is also at an explosive point in his career. The material is remastered wonderfully, with permission from Albert Ayler's estate – and titles include "Mothers", "Saints", "Vibrations", Spirits", "Children", and a shorter "Spirits". CD

A killer little soundtrack – and one that's quite different than the usual blacksploitation set, but still pretty funky overall! The film Black Girl was a surprisingly sensitive movie directed by Ossie Davis in the early 70s – not as much about action as it was about the everyday life, and the hopes and dreams of the lead characters – all of which made for some really well-rounded music, of the sort you'd find on some of the other great Fantasy Records soundtracks of the time, especially the classic Cornbread Earl & Me score. Ed Bogas and Ray Shanklin put together the whole thing, and the album's a mix of hip instrumental tracks with some other vocal ones – a really nice range that draws from singers like Betty Everett, Rodger Collins, and JJ Malone – and jazz players like Sonny Stitt and John Hunt (plus organ from Merl Saunders on one cut.) Titles include "BJ's Step", "Black Girl", "Sister", "Earl (Still A Pearl)", "Mothers Day Song", "Power", "Get Me To The Bridge", "Chock-lite Puddin", and "Black Girl Cue". CD

A return to greatness for the legendary Tribe Records scene in Detroit – an underground movement that gave us some spiritual jazz classics in the 70s – then kept on making wonderful music at an even more underground level as the years went on! This set is a collection of work from three rare recordings issued during that time – all on CD only, and representing a maybe even more obscure side of this legacy than the Tribe albums of the 70s! First up is trombonist Phil Ranelin – heading up a group that includes Wendell Harrison on tenor and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet – two key Tribe partners from the early years – really stretching out on the titles "He The One We All Knew" and "Freddie's Groove", both recorded in 1990. Next is material from a 1995 performance led by pianist Harold McKinney – a set that's got an incredible depth of imagination and soul, almost as much as Harold McKinney's work of years back! The group is a wonderfully hip one – with former Tribe artists Wendell Harrison on tenor and clarinet and Marcus Belgrave on trumpet – plus additional players who include Kiane Zawadi on trombone, Reggie Workman on bass, Francisco Mora on percussion, and Jimmy Owens on trumpet. There's a bit of vocals, but never that much – and most tracks are long and open – freely exploratory, but never too far out or avant-styled – just soulful and spiritual, in the true Tribe Records tradition! Titles include "Wide & Blue", "The Slave Ship Enterprise", "Juba", "Libra Ahora", and "Conjure Man". Last is a set of tracks recorded in 2014 by keyboardist Pamela Wise – a record that really carries forward the Tribe Records spirit from the 70s! The overall approach is a bit more contemporary, but the set's still got all the best feel of a classic indie album from the underground – played and penned by Wise in close collaboration with reedman Wendell Harrison, a frequent partner of Pamela's on a variety of projects, and one of the driving forces of Tribe back in the day! Wise plays both acoustic and electric keyboards, and sometimes sings just slightly – although most of the album is instrumental – and in addition to Harrison's work on tenor and bass clarinet, the album features trumpet, guitar, and lots of percussion. Titles include "Ode To Black Mothers", "Hometown", and "Marcus Garvey". CD

A Chicago blues gem – and some of the rarest material issued by King Records in the 60s – very gritty, earthy blues from singer Smokey Smothers – who gets plenty of help in the studio from a young Freddy King! Smothers has this raspy, almost casual style of singing – one that works well with the easygoing rhythms of the tunes, and opens up plenty of space for Freddy to come in and do his thing – coloring the tunes with the same bold tones as on his own King sessions of the time, and maybe bringing a lot more bite into Smokey's songs than they would have had otherwise! The original record is nearly impossible to find – it fell into obscurity almost immediately upon release – and this set brings it back, along with unissued tracks and singles – to make for a whopping 25 titles in all. Tracks include "Crying Tears", "I Can't Judge Nobody", "Smokey's Love Sick Blues", "Give It Back", "The Case Is Closed", "Midnight & Day", "Honey I Ain't Teasin", "Com On Rock Little Girl", "I Ain't Gonna Be No Monkey Man No More", and "Way Up In The Mountains Of Kentucky". CD

A really great collection of work from the early years of King Records – music from a time when the Cincinnati label was one of the key forces in helping shape the sound of R&B in the years before soul music – always with a quality level that set them apart from the rest! Sure, plenty of folks know Atlantic Records and Chess, but back at the time of these recordings, King might have had both of them beat – a label with a fantastic ear for the sorts of acts who were turning late swing and jump blues into something leaner and groovier – a range of artists that includes vocal groups, solo singers, and instrumental combos! There's plenty of classics here, but the package digs nicely into the deeper range of King as well – and as a special bonus, there's even a few unusual spoken passages from the legendary label owner, Syd Nathan. The set features 87 tracks in all, a very big booklet of notes, and work by artists who include Smokey Smothers, Bullmoose Jackson, The Dominoes, Johnny Watson, The Charms, Tiny Topsy, Champion Jack Dupree, Mabel Scott, The Midnighters, Wynonie Harris, Lucky Millinder, Roy Brown, Lonnie Johnson, Todd Rhodes, Little Esther, Dave Bartholomew, The Swallows, Roy Byrd, Tiny Bradshaw, Sonny Thompson, The King Pins, Otis Williams & The Charms, The Ravens, Little Willie Littlefield, Hank Ballard, and many others! CD