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A stunner of a record from the mighty Jorge Ben – and a record that catapulted the Brazilian singer to international fame at the time! Ben had already been making magic for almost a decade down in Brazil – and his compositions and grooves left an undeniable impact on the scene in the post-bossa years – but this album has Jorge really emerging as the global soul star he was destined to be – from his powerful stare on the cover, right down to the grit in the grooves! The sound here is a refinement of the samba soul mode that Ben had been brewing up from the late 60s onward – a skittish mix of older samba elements, American soul, and some slight fuller production that really comes into its own here – mixing all the acoustic elements at the core with just a slight electric flourish, but never losing its edge in the process – all to provide Jorge with a sublime backdrop for his really amazing vocals. The set's a monument in funky Brazilian soul – and it includes the huge hit "Taj Mahal", which still sounds great, even after all these years – plus loads of other gems that include "O Circo Chegou", "Domingo 23", "Fio Maravilha", "Paz E Arroz", "Morre O Burro Fico O Homem", and "Que Nega E Essa". A gem all the way through – and a record we'd never part with! CD

Searing samba soul from Jorge Ben – one of his best-remembered albums of the 70s, and for good reason too! The album's got a slightly fuller feel than some of Ben's other work of the time – never slick, but with backings balanced nicely against his own raspy vocals and acoustic guitar – sweetening things up with a bit of the strings you'd find on Forca Bruta, but with a hint of the soul to come on Africa Brasil! The balance is great – thanks to arrangers Osmar Milito, Darcy De Paulo, and Hugo Bellard – and as usual, Jorge's vocals are the main attraction – dipping, turning, and rising with this really unique, personal feel – Ben-like brilliance at its brightest. The whole thing's wonderful – a key gem from the Philips years – and titles include "Cinco Minutos", "Zumbi", "Brother", "Os Alquimistas Estao Chegando Os Alquimistas", "Errare Humanum Est", "Menina Muler Da Pele Preta", "Hermes Tri", and "O Namorado Da Viuva". CD

Great work from Polly Bergen – breathy and beautiful, but still plenty lively throughout – thanks to some backings from Jerry Fielding! The record's got a sound that's a fair bit more modern than some of Bergen's other albums from earlier years – and Fielding's use of bright horns, vibes, and other chromatic elements really helps to give the record a fuller sound next to Polly's dusky vocals. Many titles are familiar, but they're recast in arrangements that have a slightly groovier 60s mode – one that further helps enforce the sound of the set! Titles include "The Continental", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Aren't You Glad You're You", "As Time Goes By", "Easy To Love", "Bye Bye Baby", and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredibly great live set from one of the most famous brother/sister teams in music! Maria and Caetano share the stage on about half the cuts, dueting in a way that's even better than we expected – especially because Caetano's warm fragile vocals are a perfect counterpoint to Maria's deep rich ones. The other tracks feature one or the other singing solo – and given the time of the recording, they're both in prime form, and the set's a delight to hear whatever the format. Titles include "Tudo De Novo", "Maninha", "Doce Misterio Da Vida", "O Que Tinha De Ser", "Numero Um", "Joao E Maria", and "Carcara". CD

During the 60s, the French loved to jazz up the classics – as can be heard often in the famous work of artists like Jacques Loussier or The Swingle Singers, not to mention Bolling himself, who made quite a career out of the form. Normally, we totally groove on these experiments – because they usually mix a boppish approach with the classics, creating some baroque yet jazzy lines that always sound groovy in a 60s kind of way. Unfortunately, Bolling goes more for a trad jazz approach – which sounds a bit cornier than we'd like, although still certainly better than on his later "classical meets jazz" albums for Columbia. Titles include "Mon Coeur Soupire", "Minuetto", "Allegro", and "Andante & Variations". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful US album that features some of Brel's most famous tracks, served up in a lovingly-packaged edition that includes a gatefold cover, and a handsome inner booklet with notes and translations of the songs. The whole thing's a great way to get into Brel's work – and was the record that provided the best introduction of his great talent to the American audiences of the 60s. Titles include "Le Moribond", "Ne Me Quitte Pas", "Marieke", "La Tendresse", and "La Valse A Mille Temps". LP, Vinyl record album

With Paul Desmond on also, Norman bates on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

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3 incredible albums from the British jazz scene at the end of the 60s – all together in one 2CD package! Down Another Road is incredible work from one of England's greatest jazz talents – bassist Graham Collier, a player with an amazing ability to absorb a lot of the modern and progressive influences of his jazz generation – but all without succumbing to the same indulgences as them – a fact which resulted in a razor-sharp style that forged some of the freshest jazz ever to come out of the UK. This 1969 album is a masterpiece – filled with a modal groove and a strident searching theme, yet also as tight and grooving as most of the best Blue Note sessions from the same time. Harry Beckett's on trumpet, Nick Evans is on trombone, John Marshall plays drums, and Stan Sulzmann handles the reeds. Tracks include "Down Another Road", "Danish Blue", "The Barley Mow", and "Aberdeen Angus". Songs For My Father is a masterpiece of modernist soul jazz, with a sound that recalls the best late Blue Note work by Lee Morgan or Hank Mobley. Alan Wakeman's tenor is perfectly pitched, and searingly searching; Harry Beckett's trumpet is round, lyrical, and filled with soul; and the piano of John Taylor comps along in chunky modal grooves that make the whole album fall together brilliantly. Tracks include "Song One", "Song Two", "Song Three", etc – and they're all fantastic! Mosaics is a wonderfully searching session – filled with warm McCoy Tyner-esque modal moments, and searing post-Coltrane solos! The album comprises one long piece – Collier's "Mosaics" – performed live by a group that includes Alan Wakeman on tenor and soprano, Harry Beckett on trumpet, and Geoff Castle on piano. "Mosaics" has that amazing mid 60s Coltrane quality of going out in a spiritual kind of way – yet always returning to the groove, never getting too free, and always remaining firmly focused on the direction ahead. All players are great, and the record crackles with the intensity of a classic session on Impulse! CD

One of the richest, most expressive albums ever from the great Gal Costa – a set from her immediate post-Tropicalia years, and one that shows that she's got a lot more to offer than just a wild sense of experimentation! Gilberto Gil is the musical director here – with help from Rogerio Duprat and Arthur Verocai – and the album's got the lofty feel you'd expect from all three talents – a rich blend of all the modern developments in Brazilian music that had taken place in the 60s, but infused with a newly rootsy sense as well – one that takes the whole thing back to a personal, expressive territory that's really wonderful. Instrumentationincludes work on keyboards by Wagner Tiso and Tenorio Jr, plus a bit of guitar from Roberto Menescal – and Gal does a great version of Caetano Veloso's "Relance" – alongside other tracks that include "Passarinho", "Da Maior Imortancia", "India", "Volta", and the funky "Pontos De Luz". The whole thing's incredibly beautiful – and it's got Gal in a wild bikini cover, too! CD

Essential early material by Gal Costa! The record is her first after the immediate Tropicalia years, and it's a stunning blend of styles that seems to draw heavily from changes going on in the American rock scene at the time. The core of the music is still steeped in Brazilian elements – but there's a lot of influences coming into play on the album, like bluesy rock phrasing, showy nostalgia-heavy arrangements, psychedelic production elements, and some of the baroque orchestrations that would show up on Gal's later albums in the 70s. Includes a wonderful version of Caetano's "London London" and "Dixa Sangrar", the moody bossa "Falsa Baiana", Gilberto Gil's "Lingua Do P" and "Mini Misterio", and the tracks "The Archaic Lonely Star Blues", "Love, Try, & Die", and "Hotel Das Estrelas". Great cover, too! CD

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... LP, Vinyl record album

One of Serge Gainsbourg's biggest international albums – and kind of an 80s update of his earlier erotic sound! There's something of a clubby vibe to the record – and most of the album was recorded in the US, with a fair bit of synthesizer and guitar, in kind of a colder post-new wave groove. Titles include a few great later classics – his remake of "Harley David, Son Of A Bitch", which really broke Serge to a whole new generation of listeners – plus his classic duet with daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg on the great "Lemon Incest" – one of the best songs ever about the virtues of father/daughter love! Other titles include "Sorry Angel", "I'm The Boy", "Kiss Me Hardy", "No Comment", and "Hmm Hmm Hmm". CD

France Gall won the Eurovision song contest with the title track of this one – and for good reason too, given that the tune is totally groovy! The rest of the work here really follows suit – romping, jerking, and grooving in that wonderful mix of mod rhythms that made France's 60s material so great – some of the best of the French pop scene at the time, with a sound that's really a cut above on all the numbers here! Backings are by the mighty Alain Gouraguer, who brings in a hip mix of jazz inflections, rocking rhythms, and some of the more sparkling soundtrack elements bubbling in the French 60s scene – all a perfect accompaniment for Gall's catchy girl pop vocals. Titles include "Poupee De Cire Poupee De Son", written by Serge Gainsbourg – plus "Le Coeur Qui Jazze", "Le Premier Chagrin D'Amour", "On T'Avait Prevenue", "Dis A Ton Capitaine", "Nounours", "Laisse Tomber Les Filles", and "Bonne Nuit". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare British recording from Gilberto Gil – sung completely in English, and recorded while living in London, in political exile along with Caetano Veloso! The album's somewhat similar to Veloso's famous London album from 1971 – certainly in structure, as the backings are relatively stripped-down, and mostly feature acoustic guitar, bass, and percussion, alongside Gil's English lyrics. But the record's somewhat different too – in that it's got a brighter, more redemptive feel – almost an indication that Gilberto's time abroad hadn't been such a terrible thing – especially given that the record is a new creative departure in his music! The English lyrics are really a treat – and are sometimes sung as a broken strand of familiar words, trying to work themselves together into a fragile tapestry of emotion – sometimes succeeding, sometimes not – but always beautiful, and always filled with the emotion of his experiences in exile! Titles include "Volkswagen Blues", "The Three Mushrooms", "Babylon", "Nega (Photograph Blues)", and "Mamma" – plus 3 bonus cuts: "Can't Find My Way Home", "Up From The Skies", and a great version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". US version also features great sound and new liner notes by Peter Margasak! CD

A rare 60s meeting of groovy talents from both sides of the Atlantic – and a record that matches the trumpet of Dizzy Gillespie with the hiply swinging vocals of The Double Six Of Paris! The group were a wonderfully groovy precursor to the Swingle Singers – and sung in a scatting approach to jazz vocals that was very much in the tradition of Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross – but also drew inspiration from the earlier work of Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, and others. Their sound is great – much more 60s groovy than some other vocal groups – and pairing them with Dizzy gives this record an added punch that some of their other sessions are missing! Backing is small combo throughout – with either Bud Powell or Kenny Barron on piano, Kenny Clarke on drums, and James Moody on tenor – and with the presence of Diz, most of the material here is of bop orientation – taken at a fast and lively clip! Lalo Schifrin arranged the whole session too – and titles include "One Bass Hit", "Blue N Boogie", "Emanon", "Groovin High", "Ow", "The Champ", "Tin Tin Deo", "Hot House", and "Con Alma". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album