One of a series of later recordings made by Chet Baker with the NDR Big Band – a German ensemble that features Herb Geller on alto sax, Walter Norris on piano, and a lineup of European players who nicely respect the gentleness of Baker's sound. The style here is a bit more powerful than some of Chet's later, sometimes sadder records – with a mode that steps out positively on some of the best numbers, most of which feature vibes work from Wolfgang Schluter, ringing out bolder tones next to Baker's horn. Titles include versions of "Mister B", "Dolphin Dance", "All Blues", "Django", "In Your Own Sweet Way", and "All Of You". CD

Later work from Chet Baker – served up here in a 3CD package! The first 2CDs feature the Sesjun Radio Shows albums – rare radio material from Chet Baker – all recorded in the Netherlands, with wonderful sound – and brought together here in a two volume series that offers up some excellent unreleased material from his later years! The tunes and performances are maybe a bit different than some of the looser live dates that Baker recorded for other labels – although many of the performances are quite long, and showcase that advance solo approach that makes Chet's later work so different than the shorter tracks on his early albums. Titles include "Chet's Theme", "Lady Bird", "Just Friends", "Blue N Boogie", "Ray's Idea", "This Is Always", and "I'm Old Fashioned". Straight From The Heart is material from the last concert Chet Baker ever recorded – a surprisingly tight session that has the trumpeter blowing solos in front of the NDR Big Band. The setting is relatively relaxed – not a blasting big band session, but one that colors in the space between Baker's notes with gentle shades of sound – really respecting his role as a soloist, and providing just the right amount of gentle accompaniment to flesh out the sound of the set. Chet sings on 2 numbers – "My Funny Valentine" and "I Get Along Without You Very Well" – and other tracks include "Sippin At Bells", "Conception", "Look For The Silver Lining", and "Tenderly". Herb Geller also solos on 2 numbers too! CD

Material from the last concert Chet Baker ever recorded – a surprisingly tight session that has the trumpeter blowing solos in front of the NDR Big Band. The setting is relatively relaxed – not a blasting big band session, but one that colors in the space between Baker's notes with gentle shades of sound – really respecting his role as a soloist, and providing just the right amount of gentle accompaniment to flesh out the sound of the set. Chet sings on 2 numbers – "My Funny Valentine" and "I Get Along Without You Very Well" – and other tracks include "Sippin At Bells", "Conception", "Look For The Silver Lining", and "Tenderly". Herb Geller also solos on 2 numbers too! CD

Titles include "Juggernaut", "Zebrano", "Catwalk", "Body And Soul", "My Dear", "What Is This Thing Called Love", "Wasamba", "Too Much Of A Good Thing", "Cinema Paradiso", "Blue Sesame", and "Alpha Dog" with guests Randy Brecker, Bob Mintzer, Eric Marienthal, Wayne Bergeron, Brian Bromberg, Gordon Goodwin, Rick Braun, and Jeff Lober. LP, Vinyl record album

There was a special sort of magic in the larger groups on the French scene of the postwar years – a quality of playing and arrangement that wasn't the same as American big bands, and which instead brought in some really creative interplay between the instrumental elements in the lineup! It might be said that these groups were born after bop, and also carried some modern jazz ideas forward too – and that's definitely the case here, with work from pianist Andre Persiany – whose groups on the record are all pretty darn hip! As indicated by the title, there's some wonderful work from Guy Lafitte on tenor – a player who can move between familiar and modern modes with effortless ease – and other players inlcude Bill Jackson and Lucian Juanico on trumpets, Michel De Villers on baritone, Maurice Meunier and Jean Claude Fohenbach on tenors, and Teddy Hameline and Michel Attenoux on altos – players who move beautifully together under Persiany's leadership. A number of cuts are originals by the leader, and there's a number of Basie tunes, remade in a great way – as the 23 track CD pulls together material from three different 10" album releases, the last of which is Andre Persiany Joue Count Basie. Titles include "Halbe Funf", "Blue Organ", "T Bone Steak", "Beer Barrel Bounce", "Little Story", "Panorama", "Shorty George", "Two Cats & A Piece Of Lung", and "Just For Fun". CD

A brilliant little CD – one that features 2 rare 60s recordings by vibraphonist Walt Dickerson! First up is Unity, a session that has Dickerson in the company of pianist Walter Davis Jr. and drummer Andrew Cyrille. The record is very unusual for the time – as each side is one long track, both very open-ended, with a haunting approach to vibes that had yet to be cut on wax by any other player. Dickerson is as fantastic as always, and this session ranks right next to his classic "To My Queen" for sheer brilliance. Titles are "Unity" and "High Moon" – both with writing credits split between Dickerson and Sidney Frey, the guy who owned Audio Fidelity! This one's followed by Vibes In Motion, a strange little album – one that repackages Walt's Lawrence Of Arabia album in the early 60s, ostensibly because the big Arabia buzz had died down! Forget the "Lawrence Of Arabia" in the title, or any of the cheesy references that it might imply, because this LP is as great as any of Walt Dickerson's other records from the time, and it's got the same band that graced his Prestige recordings – Andrew Cyrille on drums, Henry Grimes on bass, and Austin Crow on piano. The music's a beautiful blend of piano and vibes, played with Dickerson's usual dark edge – and even though the compositions are from a familiar soundtrack of the time, Dickerson makes them into moody bases for improvisation over some exotic jazz changes. Beautiful all the way through – and featuring the tracks "That Is The Desert", "Motif", "Nefud Mirage", and "Voice Of The Guns". CD

A heck of a collection – and one that really gets at the amazing array of free-thinking jazz that was brewing up on the European scene during the 70s! The set brings together over eight hours of music recorded during two years of this legendary festival – and each new disc has some great surprises along the way! There's some possibly more familiar material here – such as long improvisations that include a solo piano performance by Joachim Kuhn, two by a Mal Waldron trio with Jimmy Woode on bass and Allen Blairman on drums, one by a trio headed by pianist Yosuke Yamashita and with Akira Sakata on alto, two more by the duo of Peter Brotzmann on tenor and Han Bennink on drums, and a final two long improvisations by a great Archie Shepp gruop with Richard Greenlee on trombone, Dave Burell on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and Beaver Harris on drums! Yet that's only the tip of the iceberg – as there's a full CD of music by a group led by Hugo Heredia on saxes and flute – with Horace Parlan on piano, Dodo Goys on bass, Tullio D'Piscopo on drums, and Mandrake Ivanir Do Nascimento on percussion. And there's another CD that features an hour-long improvisation by a version of the Willem Breuker Kollektief with Leo Cuypers on piano, Maarten Van Norden on tenor, Boy Raaymakers on trumpet, and Bernhard Hunnekink and Willem Van Manen on trombones. There's also a very long track by a cool quartet headed by Polish alto giant Zbigniew Namyslowski – and one more by the French Machi Oul Big Band. There's also tracks by Riot, with Uli Beckerhoff on trumpet; Grumpff with Michael Schlaper on tenor and soprano, and Ekkehard Jost on baritone; Mumps with Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone and John Surman on tenor; and the Eddie Prevost Quartet with Geoff Hawkins on tenor and Gerry Gold on trumpet. And last but not least are two long trcks by the Czech group Celula Jazz Crew – with Laco Deczi on trumpet, Karel Ruzicka on electric piano, and Svatopluc Kosvanec on trombone. Phew – that's a lot of music, and the whole thing comes in a very cool 10" box set, complete with a booklet of notes, too! CD

Arranged and conducted by Colin Towns. CD

On Golden Hair Gil Evans on piano and electric piano, Laurent Cugny on keyboards, Philippe Sellam on alto saxophone, Pierre-Olivier Govin on alto saxophone and flute, Denis Barbier on flute, alto flute and piccolo flute, Bernard Francois on French horn, Bobby Rangell on alto and soprano saxophone and flute, Andy Sheppard and Charles Schneider on tenor saxophone, Gilles Salommez on trombone, Christian Martinez, Francois Chassagnite, and Stephane Belmondo on trumpet, Didier Havet and Philippe Legris on tuba, Lionel Benhamou on guitar, Benoit De Mesmay on keyboards, Dominique Di Piazza on electric bass, Stephane Huchard on drums, and Stephane HuchardMarilyn Mazur and Xavier Desandre Navarre on percussion. CD

Derrick Gardner, Bijon Watson, Andrew Littleford, Jeff Johnson, and Curtis Taylor on trumpet, Mark Gross on alto and soprano saxophone, Greg Gatien on alto saxophone, Ken Gold on baritone saxophone, Rob Dixon and Tristan Martinuson on tenor saxophone, Vincent Gardner, Joel Green and Anthony Bryson on trombone, Bill Green on bass trombone, Kasey Kurtz on guitar, Zen Zadravec on piano, Luke Sellick on bass, and Curtis Nowosad on drums. CD

Features Frank Wess and James Moody on saxophones and flute, Gary Smulyan on baritone sax, Urbie Green on trombone, Johnny Coles and Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet, Herb Ellis and Kenny Burrell on guitar, and guest vocals from Ernestine Anderson and Ernie Andrews. CD

Two killers from drummer Buddy Miles – back to back in a single set! First up is Buddy Miles Live – a really searing set of live performances from 1971, often done in a way that has the band stretching out and jamming heavily! The core group seems a bit bigger than usual – with a lineup that includes guitar and organ alongside some heavier tenor, alto, trumpet, and trombone. The horns come on strong, but are offset by lots of searing guitar from Charlie Karp – and Buddy, as usual, is a real monster on the drum kit. There's plenty of instrumental moments here that cook with funky soul intensity – and titles include "Wrap It Up", "Joe Tex", "Take It Off Him & Put It On Me", "Down By The River", "Place Over There", "The Segment", and "Them Changes". Message To The People is a really fantastic album from drummer Buddy Miles – an artist that many folks know for his key rock work in the Band Of Gypsys group of Jimi Hendrix, but a musician with an equally great ear for soul and funk as well! Miles began in Electric Flag, and certainly has ties to the world of psych – and here, he mixes funkier currents with lots of strong trippy guitar from Marlo Henderson – a player we don't know that well, but who adds some great lines that are a lot like some of the Phil Upchurch contributions over at Chess/Cadet at the same time. Miles sings on most numbers, with that nicely honest vocal approach we love so much – but there's a few instrumental moments too, and the set's got some great use of horns throughout, which brings in some southern funky currents too. Titles include "Joe Tex", "Place Over There", "The Segment", "Don't Keep Me Wondering", "Sudden Stop", and "That's The Way Life Is". CD

An incredibly groovy album – filled with instrumental tracks that shift between funky big band and groovy 60s soundtrack – all arranged by Mike Nesmith and Shorty Rogers! The feel here is like that of some of Rogers' other groovy late 60s instrumental one-off albums – like his hot rod, dune buggy, or surf-orchestra sides – and Nesmith brings in a slightly cynical tone that manifests itself in the choice of some of the instrumentation for the tracks, and the overall setting of the record. Think Monkees instrumentals gone groovier, and you've got part of the picture – but there's also plenty of snippets of Sunset Strip hip and Warner Brothers longing for the past too! Titles include "While I Cried", "Don't Cry Now", "Tapioca Tundra", "Nine Times Blue", "Carlisle Wheeling", and "You Told Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Nothing weird here, just wonderful – a fantastic assortment of music from a time when the British scene was really changing things up – served up in a book-styled package with notes that are as dynamic as its music! The tracks here move way past the obvious – that's an image of John Lennon on the cover, but these aren't the tracks by The Beatles and bigger acts of the time – and instead, the collection really does a great job of digging around all the really wonderful groups that were recording for the bigger British labels of the period, but who were given a lot of freedom to really try out new ideas – both in their music, and in the way the music was recorded. The package is the best we've ever seen to present this slice of English rock – and the set features 122 titles on 5CDs – with work from Ron Geesin, Atlanta Roots, Simon Dupree, The Smoke, John's Children, Ivor Cutler, Tinsel Arcade, The Soft Machine, Canto, New Generation, Medium Rare, 117 Venusian Moonshine, Friday's Chyld, New Generation, Third Ear Band, Wimple Winch, The Deviants, Sorrows, Rupert's People, Orange Bicycle, Shuster, Felius Andromeda, Tomorrow, Crystal Ship, The Moles, and many others – and the set also features 9 never-issued tracks! CD

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! CD

Two classic albums from the great Gene Clark – back to back in a single set! First up is White Light – a key part of that scattered legacy that really helped cement his individual genius after leaving The Byrds! Much of the record is a spare and intimate affair – with Gene's warm vocals accompanied by his own gently picked acoustic guitar, along with producer Jesse Ed Davis (who does a masterful job in the booth on this one) also on guitar. The tunes are also sweetened by waltzy basslines, and Byrds-y keyboard riffs by Ben Sidran, but Gene's wonderful vocals and his amazingly strong songwriting are obviously the biggest draws – not standard country or roots rock, and instead delivered with a sense of sophistication that's almost a genre unto itself. Titles include the amazing "For A Spanish Guitar" – plus "The Virgin", "With Tomorrow", "White Light", "Where My Love Lies Asleep", "1975", and a great reading of The Band & Bob Dylan's "Tears Of Rage". Roadmaster is a warm, wonderful set of Gene Clark recordings from the early 70s – material that probably should have been issued as a proper album in the States back in the day, as sounds pretty much as solid to us as some of his great work in preceding years – but was issued only in Europe at the time! Roadmaster was pulled together from 1972 sessions that were essentially abandoned, but it's truly top notch Cali country rock featuring Byrds and Burrito Brothers in the sessions. Titles include "She's The Kind Of Girl", "Full Circle Song", "Roadmaster", "In A Misty Morning", "She Don't Care About Time", "Shooting Star", "Rough And Rocky", "One In A Hundred", "I Remember The Railroad" and more. CD

The album where things really come together for The Dream Syndicate – a set that has the band effortlessly fusing psychedelic inspirations with tighter punk-era energy, all at a level that would become a touchstone for other artists for many years to come! The presentation and production is as understated as the cover – and the record allows for fantastic focus on the guitars and vocals of Steve Wynn, and the equally great vocal contributions of the young Kendra Smith – whose work on bass is also pretty tone-setting too. The whole thing is a great way of paying forward influences from the Velvets and Big Star, while also forging new west coast territory in the 80s – on titles that include "Tell Me When It's Over", "Definitely Clean", "That's What You Always Say", "Wen You Smile", "Until Lately", and "The Days Of Wine And Roses". CD

A beautiful box set, and one that's filled with amazing material by one of our favorite players of all time! Roland Kirk's work for Mercury has always been darn tough to come by on wax, and even though a number of titles have been reissued individually over the years, this box set is still the best way to approach his early and mid 60's work for Mercury and related labels. The set's got a whopping 10 CDs in all – plus a bonus CD of unreleased stuff – and it's filled with rare material, live tracks, big band tracks, and just plain ol' great hard-wailing straight ahead material by Roland. Players on the set include Jaki Byard, Benny Golson, Wynton Kelly, Roy Haynes, Andrew Hill, Elvin Jones, and Horace Parlan. Very nice, and one you won't tire of quickly! CD

Soundgarden's massive breakthrough – and a much-deserved one, too – a great moment for 90s rock! Soundgarden started out in the indie underground, but unlike SO many bands who were mined by the major labels only to find that the mainstream was no place for them, Soundgarden really belonged to the world at large. The BIG sound, heavy riffs and wailing vocals are rock godhood personified, but at their best – as they are on Superunknown – there's an artful integrity that's not to be overlooked. Includes "Let Me Drown", "My Wave", "Fell On Black Days", "Mailman", "Superunknown", "Head Down", "Black Hole Sun", "Spoonman", "Limo Wreck", "The Day I Tried To Live", "Kickstand", "Fresh Tendrils", "4th Of July", "Half", "Like Suicide" and "She Likes Surprises". CD

A tremendous overview of some really important years in British music – a period that sometimes gets overlooked, due to the huge explosion of psych, prog, and other styles – but one that's equally creative in its own sort of way! First off, forget the term "folk rock" – because although that's what this music might be, it's also very different than the pop folk modes that were big on the US scene in the mid 60s – as this folk rock scene instead represented a host of British musicians really retrenching, and finding their own sort of styles – sometimes borrowing bits from the ancient past of England, other times bringing forth a contemporary way of putting over a tune – at a level that might have gotten commercial and overproduced if these guys were working on the American west coast, but which instead has a nicely unadorned quality here. At a time when most American labels (and listeners) were really leaving folk music behind, these artists were able to often work free from the needs of a big commercial hit – and make genius music that's gone on to transform many minds over the decades. The set moves way past the obvious – and features a whopping 60 tracks in all, with lots of notes in the package – and even includes a few never-issued tracks as well. Includes work by Harvey Andrews, Jade, Michael Chapman, Andy Roberts, Mr Fox, Pentangle, Shirley Collins, Prelude, Heron, Mike Cooper, Paul Brett's Sage, Lifeblood, Dando Shaft, Canticle, Jeremy Harmer, Bridget St John, Al Jones, Bill Fay, Fairport Convention, The Woods Band, Matthew's Southern Comfort, The Johnstons, Beau, Richmond, Chimera, Spirogyra, and many others! CD

Buddy DeFranco plays tunes associated with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw – but in a completely different way than before – with a wider-open swing for the 50s! The work here is all small combo, not big band – and there's a free-flowing groove that's totally great – a sound that carries echoes of the earlier years, but which comes across with that modern inflection to swing that made Buddy's years at Verve so great. Few players could come up with a balance of modes as great as this – and on the 2 sessions in the set, DeFranco's clarinet is caught alongside trumpet from either Don Fagerquist or Ray Linn, tenor from Georgie Auld, vibes from Victor Feldman, piano from Paul Smith or Carl Perkins, guitar from Barney Kessell or Howard Roberts, bass from Leroy Vinnegar or Joe Mondragon, and drums from Stan Levey or Milt Holland. First volume features 14 titles that include "Benny's Bugle", "A Smooth One", "Air Mail Special", "My Blue Heaven", "Seven Come Eleven", "Cross Your Heart", "Frenesi", "Indian Love Call", "Summit Ridge Drive", and "Stardust". CD

The album where things really come together for The Dream Syndicate – a set that has the band effortlessly fusing psychedelic inspirations with tighter punk-era energy, all at a level that would become a touchstone for other artists for many years to come! The presentation and production is as understated as the cover – and the record allows for fantastic focus on the guitars and vocals of Steve Wynn, and the equally great vocal contributions of the young Kendra Smith – whose work on bass is also pretty tone-setting too. The whole thing is a great way of paying forward influences from the Velvets and Big Star, while also forging new west coast territory in the 80s – on titles that include "Tell Me When It's Over", "Definitely Clean", "That's What You Always Say", "Wen You Smile", "Until Lately", and "The Days Of Wine And Roses". LP, Vinyl record album

The album where things really come together for The Dream Syndicate – a set that has the band effortlessly fusing psychedelic inspirations with tighter punk-era energy, all at a level that would become a touchstone for other artists for many years to come! The presentation and production is as understated as the cover – and the record allows for fantastic focus on the guitars and vocals of Steve Wynn, and the equally great vocal contributions of the young Kendra Smith – whose work on bass is also pretty tone-setting too. The whole thing is a great way of paying forward influences from the Velvets and Big Star, while also forging new west coast territory in the 80s – on titles that include "Tell Me When It's Over", "Definitely Clean", "That's What You Always Say", "Wen You Smile", "Until Lately", and "The Days Of Wine And Roses". This 4CD version is a really fantastic take on the album – with lots more rare material, including 31 unreleased recordings – live tracks from before the album's release, the group's original EP debut, material by Steve Wynn's earlier group 15 minutes, their first rehearsal, and more too – all in a book-styled package with detailed notes! CD