One of the most righteous albums ever issued by the always-righteous Tribe Records label of Detroit – a really collective effort, one that features ensemble vocals and spiritual jazz – all pulled together by pianist Harold McKinney! The album showcases a group named Voices Of The Creative Profile – formed by McKinney to accompany his Creative Profile instrumental group – and the overall style is a great blend of spiritual soul jazz that gives equal time to the voices and instruments in the set. Gwen McKinney heads up the vocal ensemble, and other players on the set include Wendell Harrison on flute, Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Billy Turner on percussion, and Ed Pickins on bass. Also features some cool moog from Darryl Dybka – and titles that include "In The Moog", "Freedom Jazz Dance", "Dolphin Dance", "Heavenese", "Ode To Africa", "Out Of The Blues", and "Cornerstone". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most righteous albums ever issued by the always-righteous Tribe Records label of Detroit – a really collective effort, one that features ensemble vocals and spiritual jazz – all pulled together by pianist Harold McKinney! The album showcases a group named Voices Of The Creative Profile – formed by McKinney to accompany his Creative Profile instrumental group – and the overall style is a great blend of spiritual soul jazz that gives equal time to the voices and instruments in the set. Gwen McKinney heads up the vocal ensemble, and other players on the set include Wendell Harrison on flute, Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Billy Turner on percussion, and Ed Pickins on bass. Also features some cool moog from Darryl Dybka – and titles that include "In The Moog", "Freedom Jazz Dance", "Dolphin Dance", "Heavenese", "Ode To Africa", "Out Of The Blues", and "Cornerstone". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the all-time classics of early 60s mainstream jazz – and a beautiful record that showcases writing and arranging talents of Oliver Nelson! Nelson had been bumping around a variety of sessions before this one – as a leader, sideman, and arranger – but it was with this album that his true talents really unfolded – sparkling with a depth of imagination and expression that marked him as one of the greatest artists in 60s American jazz! The group on the set is an all-star sextet – featuring Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Roy Haynes, and Freddie Hubbard – a disparate group of players who manage to come together with Nelson and find a unique voice that's rarely been duplicated again! The album features 6 fantastic compositions by Nelson, including "Stolen Moments", "Hoe Down", and "Yearnin". A fantastic record – and one that you can't go wrong with! LP, Vinyl record album

Richie Cole on alto saxophone with Henry Johnson on guitar, Dick Hindman and Rich Kuhns on piano, Frank Passantino and Seward McCain on bass, and Scott Morris on drums and percussion. CD

Includes the songs "Baby's Minor Lope", "My Little Suede Shoes", "Go Down Moses", "Takin' About J.C.", "Somewhere In The Night", and "My Favorite Things". CD

... CD

One of THE Brazilian funk classics of the 70s – the debut album of soulful singer Emilio Santiago! The sound is a wonderful blend of samba, soul, and some of the electric jazzy riffing that was big in Brazil at the time, and which showed up in the styles of groups like Banda Black Rio or Unaio Black – and Santiago's vocals are tremendous, equally at home with a hip grooving soul tune as they are with some of the album's mellower, jazzier tracks. Guest artists on the set include Brazilian jazz luminaries Joao Donato, Victor Assis Brasil, Ivan Lins, and Aecio Flavio – and the album includes the funky breaking classic "Bananeira", an amazing version of a song written by Donato and Gilberto Gil, served up by Santiago in a version that's easily the best ever! Other tracks include a great version of Jorge Ben's "Brother", plus "Quero Alegria", "Depois", "Doa A Quem Doer", and "La Mulata", a Latin groover by Marcos Valle! LP, Vinyl record album

A 60s LP that brings together work that Thad recorded with the Charles Mingus groups of the mid 50s – originally issued on 10" LPs in the 50s, but brought together here in a full LP that combines some excellent tracks! The material is played by 2 small groups – one with Jones, Mingus, John Dennis, and Max Roach; the other with Jones and Mingus, plus Hank Jones, Kenny Clarke, and Frank Wess. The overall feel is less experimental than later Mingus, but still has an arch edge to it that keeps things compelling. Titles include "Elusive", "Sombre Intrusion", "Bitty Ditty", "Get Out Of Town", and "More Of The Same". LP, Vinyl record album

A cool 70s album from the Modern Jazz Quartet – and one that has John Lewis playing a bit of electric piano, in addition to his usual acoustic keys! At some level, it almost feels like the group's working off the lessons learned during their Apple Records years – and are also picking up some elements of Milt Jackson's work on other projects in the late 60s – as the record has a soulful groove you might not normally expect from the MJQ, and less of the more academic tones that had marked some of their earlier 60s recordings for Atlantic. Tunes are really nicely focused, but still have that strong sense of space and sound that's the Lewis' hallmark – and Jackson's nicely-pointed vibes sound really great next to Lewis' keys, whether acoustic or electric. Titles include "The Legendary Profile", "Valeria", "Misty Roses", "The Martyr", and "What Now My Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Early early work by Duke Pearson – and one of his few trio sessions ever! The album's a great way to hear Pearson's lyrical soulful style at work, as he's playing in an unfettered setting with Gene Taylor on bass and Lex Humphries on drums – really stretching out on piano, in a way that you don't often hear on some of his larger group albums – a much more intimate side of this great pianist, before he rose to become an important arranger and producer at Blue Note during the late 60s. The album features two of his own compositions "Gate City Bop" and "Two Mile Ride", plus versions of "Black Coffee", "Taboo", and "Witchcraft". CD

Jimmy Rowles on piano and Michael Moore on bass. CD

12 tracks: Run DMC "Sucker MCs", Word Of Mouth "King Kut", Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde "Genius Rap", the Showboys "Drag Rap", Pebblee-Poo "A Fly Guy", Spyder D "I Can't Wait to Rock The Mic", Rammelzee Vs. K-Rob "Beat Bop", Pumpkin & The Profile All Stars "Here Comes That Beat!", Run DMC "Rock Box", MC Dollar Bill "Lifestyles Of The Fresh & Fly", Fresh 3 MCs "Fresh" and Dana Dane "Nightmares". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records ever cut by pianist Dick Katz – a player who first hit vinyl in the late 50s for Atlantic Records, then only got sparing space in the studio until a revival in the 90s! Yet this record's a great island in that longer space of time – and a stunning example of what Katz had been up to – as his sense of arrangement and solo performance is wonderful throughout – with modes that balance some modern impulses with a richer 50s piano tradition – carried off superbly in two different settings. Half the work is trio material – with Al Harewood on drums and Marc Johnson on bass – and the other half of the titles add in Jimmy Knepper on trombone and Frank Wess on flute and tenor – both players who really know how to fit Dick's moods, but also bring their own voices into play too. Titles include "A Few Bars For Basie", "Laverne Walk", "Crazy She Calls Me", "Cousin Mary", "No Matter What", and "Lament". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most righteous albums ever issued by the always-righteous Tribe Records label of Detroit – a really collective effort, one that features ensemble vocals and spiritual jazz – all pulled together by pianist Harold McKinney! The album showcases a group named Voices Of The Creative Profile – formed by McKinney to accompany his Creative Profile instrumental group – and the overall style is a great blend of spiritual soul jazz that gives equal time to the voices and instruments in the set. Gwen McKinney heads up the vocal ensemble, and other players on the set include Wendell Harrison on flute, Marcus Belgrave on trumpet, Billy Turner on percussion, and Ed Pickins on bass. Also features some cool moog from Darryl Dybka – and titles that include "In The Moog", "Freedom Jazz Dance", "Dolphin Dance", "Heavenese", "Ode To Africa", "Out Of The Blues", and "Cornerstone". Features a bonus 7" single – with the tracks "Ode To Africa" and "Jelly Loa". LP, Vinyl record album

That's Ken Rhodes, not Fender Rhodes – but the acoustic pianist is more than funky enough on his own – even without any electricity in the mix! The set's got this wonderful rhythm duo – drummer George Greene and bassist Joachim Knauer – who often come on with this really full, frenzied approach – leaping forward along with Ken's tightly comping style on piano, so that the tunes almost hit this funk-modal style that's really unique – and completely sublime all the way through! A few mellower moments round things out nicely – and give the album a depth that recalls some of the Jazz Hip Trio records from the European scene of the same time. Titles include "The Profile", "Stay Be Me", "The Journey", "Triangle", "Eigoob", and "Nothing New". CD

Titles include "Plain Jane", "You Stepped Out Of A Dream", "Reflections", "Sonnymoon For Two", "Four", "All The Things You Are", and "Blues For Philly Joe". CD

With the title track, "Good Groove", "Power Move", "Bad Young Brother", "We Got The Juice", 'All City", "Rock The Beat", "Human Time Bomb", "Get Down" and "Success". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the old school tracks based around Tom Tom Club's "Genius Of Love". 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The massive third album from Run DMC – a set that was done at a time when the duo were totally at the top of their game – and broke out big to a much wider audience than the usual hip hop crowd! Part of the album's strength is its guitar-heavy sound on some of the grooves – produced by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons with a classic early Def Jam vibe, in the same manner that helped the Beastie Boys get their records in the hands of folks who'd never buy hip hop otherwise! And that sound comes to culmination on the album's hit collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of "Walk This Way". But apart from that rocker, most of the rest of the set also shows an increased complexity in both the lyricism of the pair, and the way Jam Master Jay serves up their beats – which makes for a stone classic all the way through, on tracks that include "Peter Piper", "It's Tricky", "My Adidas", "Proud To Be Black", "You Be Illin'", and "Walk This Way". Bonus tracks on this expanded edition include "My Adidas (acapella)", "Walk This Way (demo)", "Lord Of Lyrics (demo)", "Raising Hell Radio Tour Spot" and "Live At The Apollo Raw Vocal Commercial". CD

A once underappreciated later effort from the mighty Run DMC – with slightly harder hitting beats, and an overall tougher style – and it's ultimately the crew's last solid beginning-to-end LP! A worthy set that includes "Mary, Mary", "Beats To The Rhyme", "Run's House", "They Call Us Run-DMC", "Papa Crazy", the title track and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

If 2 mixes of the seminal electro/jazz classic "Rain Forest" isn't enough to sell you on this album, you might like to know you'll really get your fix for 808 and 909 on these nice jazzy tracks, that really did sound like the future of music to us back in the 80s. Also includes "King Tut", "Sound Chaser", "Loitering With Intent", "Panic", "Forest Fire" and "AM". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice instrumental/scratch tracks from Pumpkin, who provided beats for early Run-DMC and other early/mid-80's Profile artists. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of Dana Dane's biggest cuts. Hurby Luv Bug produced. Sounding alot like Slick Rick. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

The classic debut of Poor Righteous Teachers – a creative benchmark for the Five Percenter movement – and one best records to come from the dawn of the 90s hip hop scene! Tight group rap of the highest dawn of caliber – with a distinct approach, courtesy of leader and lyricist Wise Intelligent. He is both! Genuine intellect on display, but it's playful and accessible, too, with timeless blueprint production all the way. Includes "Rock Dis Funky Joint", "Time To Say Peace", "Can I Start This?", "Butt Naked Booty Bless", "Shakiyla", "Strictly Ghetto", "Holy Trinity", "Style Dropped/Lesson Taught", "Word From The Wise", "Poor Righteous Teachers" and more. CD

One of the first hip hop singles that really made the crossover to dancefloor play. By this point, everyone's heard the sample three million times, but it's still holds up better than most of the uptempo cuts from that era. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The classic self-titled debut LP from Run-DMC – one that not only changed hip hop, but much of modern pop and rock forever! There's little we can add to the canon for this record, but the way Run-DMC ushered in a new era in contemporary urban culture, a harder hitting style of rap that managed to bust out of the inner cities and into consciousness of an entire generation, was unforeseen and never to be duplicated to say the least. You can literally call this album revolutionary without sounding heavy handed, it's something very few artists can ever hope to achieve. Amazing! Tracks include "It's Like That", "Sucker MC's", "Rock Box", "Jay's Game", "Hard Times", "30 Days", "Hollis Crew", "Wake Up", and "It's Like That". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The Cold Crush Brothers were a seminal force in New York hip hop in the mid 80s – thanks to singles on Tuff City, Profile, and B Boy – but this is the first full album the group ever issued, and really the only one until later collections of their work! The vibe here follows from the B Boy years – the lineup that has Tony Crush on the turntables, post-Caz – still rocking it hard with great use of samples from that time when the early groups were really starting to change things up! At a time when hip hop was starting to creep into the major labels, these guys still keep it nice and raw – on tracks that include "Feel The Horns", "She's No Good", "My Guitar", "We Can Do This", "Cold Crush", "The Bronx", "Troopers", and "Pump It Up". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful coffee that lives up to its name – roasted especially by the folks at Chicago's Dark Matter for our coffee drinking needs here at Dusty Groove! The base component to this blend is a coffee from Mexico and grown and milled at a cooperative called El Eden – very unique for a Mexican coffee, with a flavor profile that includes blueberry, banana, and baker's chocolate to give the blend a bit of depth. This base is then highlighted with a coffee from Guatemala grown by Finca San Jeronimo Miramar – which adds both body, and some lighter notes of toffee and praline – to give the whole thing a wonderful sun-drenched finish! Misc

A fantastic live performance from Charles Mingus – recorded in Detroit, with a slightly unusual group – and done with the more open, freewheeling quality that grace his live recordings of the early 60s! The set was recorded at the Strata Gallery – and has some of the deeper spiritual currents of the work on Detroit's Strata label – as the quintet burns beautifully with contributions from Don Pullen on piano, John Stubblefield on tenor, Joe Gardner on trumpet, and the great Roy Brooks on drums! It's interesting both to hear Mingus without Dannie Richmond on drums – and Brooks at a time when he was at his most righteous – and the pairing really seems to bring a lot of the best energy out of the other players too. The super-expanded set features material from a few nights of performance, with a few alternate takes – and titles include "The Man Who Never Sleeps", "Pithecanthropus Erectus", "Peggy's Blue Skylight", "Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress Then Blue Silk", "Dizzy Profile", and "C Jam Blues". CD

A fantastic live performance from Charles Mingus – recorded in Detroit, with a slightly unusual group – and done with the more open, freewheeling quality that grace his live recordings of the early 60s! The set was recorded at the Strata Gallery – and has some of the deeper spiritual currents of the work on Detroit's Strata label – as the quintet burns beautifully with contributions from Don Pullen on piano, John Stubblefield on tenor, Joe Gardner on trumpet, and the great Roy Brooks on drums! It's interesting both to hear Mingus without Dannie Richmond on drums – and Brooks at a time when he was at his most righteous – and the pairing really seems to bring a lot of the best energy out of the other players too. Titles include "The Man Who Never Sleeps", "Pithecanthropus Erectus", "Peggy's Blue Skylight", "Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress Then Blue Silk", "Dizzy Profile", and "C Jam Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare and exceptional vocal jazz LP – cut by the obscure Marilyn Moore, then the wife of Al Cohn – who's pictured in profile on the cover of the record! Marilyn's got a style that's somewhat raspy – clearly inspired by Billie Holiday at times, and not what you'd expect in comparison to some of the cooler, clearer female singers who worked on Bethlehem in the 50s. The backing is in a small group mode – with Cohn on tenor and bass clarinet, plus Don Abney on piano, Joe Wilder on trumpet, Barry Galbraith on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums – all in a nicely relaxed mode to fit the mellow, moody sound of the record. There's a nice sense of darkness throughout – a bit more edge than you might expect – and titles include "Trouble Is A Man", "Ill Wind", "Born To Blow The Blues", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "You're Driving Me Crazy". CD

The most extensive Sammy Davis Jr. discography/filmography/TVography/bibliography ever published – with over 1,000 reviews of Sammy related material. To make the package more surreal, the issue looks like an 80s issue of the "punk bible" Maximum Rocknroll, with Sammy essays by MRR columnists Rev. Norb, Eugene Chhadbourne, Lali Donavan, Mike (Gearhead) Lavella, Jeff Bale, Vic (Articles of Faith) Bondi, George Tabb, Dr. Dante and Mark Murrman. Previous knowledge of Sammy or MRR not required! Articles include a profile on Grande Otello (the Sammy of Brazil), an interview with Mark (Unrest) Robinson on his Sammy collection, The Millionaire (Combustible Edison) discussing Sammy clothing he bought at auction, Cynthia Plaster Caster describing her session casting Anthony Newley's penis, a critical breakdown on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis' "Colgate Comedy Hour" appearances, an illustrated catologuing of every Sammy appearance ever in Mad Magazine, plus comics and features about Sammy, Sinatra, The Rat Pack, Blowfly, James Brown, HR, Miles Davis, Reagan, De La Soul, AC/DC and more. Cover by Damon Locks! Magazine

An overlooked treasure from Archie Shepp – a set recorded for the Enja label with a profile that's not as bold as some of his other albums, but a great later session that has some surprisingly wonderful moments! Perhaps the best of these is the album's long workout on "Mama Rose" – done here as a free-flowing modal number with some great soprano sax lines from Archie – blown beautifully over soaring rhythms from Kenny Werner on piano, Santi DeBriano on bass, and the great Marvin Smitty Smith on drums. The track really cooks wonderfully – and is followed by the more sensitive "Soul Song", the hard-blown tenor cut "Geechee", and a laidback take on "My Romance". Both "Geechee" and "Mama Rose" dominate the record – and are perfect examples of the later soulful sound of Shepp in the post-Impulse years! CD

Fantastic sounds from the years before reggae became the international sound of Jamaica – music from the island nation's jazz scene, which was at the crossroads of so many different styles of music – jazz from the north, Latin rhythms from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and a fair bit of other Caribbean sounds too – all of which filter through the wonderful collection of music on the set! The title breaks down the different genres featured – but there's often a surprisingly unified feel to the whole record too – one that stands partly as a testament to the musical strengths of all the performers involved! In the days before Trojan and Studio One, Federal Records was an important Jamaican label – and did an especially great job of capturing some of the sounds that were part of that nation's club culture and resorts in the 60s. Titles include "Angelima" and "Like Falling In Love" by Ernest Ranglin, "Profile Cha Cha" and "Rhumbina" by Cecil Lloyd & The Starline Troubadors, "Estrellita" and "I Love Paris" by The Lennie Hibbert Combo, "Tis Wonderful" by Eric Grant, "Linstead Market" by Baba Motta & Ernest Ranglin, "Wheel & Turn Me" by Bertie King, "Go Fife Go" by Count Owen, "Mango Walk" by Bertie King & Ernest Ranglin, "String Of Pearls" by Auldey Williams & His Orchestra, "Solas Market" by Baba Motta, and "Monday Monday" by Winston Turner Quintet. LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing record – quite possibly one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, and a session that has Charles Mingus stepping boldly forward in a whole new direction! The album shakes loose the sometimes too-academic modern tones of Mingus albums from the previous year or two – and unleashes the bold, raw emotion that would drive him firmly into the 60s – a new sense of freedom in music, filled with poetry, anger, joy, and life! The tracks are all quite long – and played by a sharp quintet with Mingus on bass, Jackie McLean on alto sax, JR Monterose on tenor, Mal Waldron on piano, and Willie Jones on drums. Titles include "Pithecantrhopus Erectus", "A Foggy Day", "Love Chant", and "Profile of Jackie". The whole thing bubbles over with an anger and intensity that you hardly find in other Mingus albums, and if you've ever heard a weak Mingus album, and wondered what all the fuss was about, you owe it to yourself to own this one! We promise that it will never ever let you down. CD

Includes a cover profile on Makoto Ozone, record reviews, interviews, a Masabumi Kikuchi disc guide, and more. Book

Includes a cover profile on Rudy Van Gelder, articles on Samara Joy and Brad Mehldau, record reviews, interviews, the magazine's own Japan Jazz Awards, a 2022 disc guide, and more. Book

Indie rock elders Sonic Youth's first high profile album on an indie label in about 20 years – the group's first for Matador, and a skillful mix of insistent, exciting melodic precision, barbed lyricism, random bursts of noise, and enough layered hypnotic guitar errata that you'll hear something new each time you come back to it! Through the years they continued to be pretty exciting, and for the most part managed to avoid repeating themselves, while still working in something of a comfort zone – once throwing a screwdriver in the old noise rock guitar neck with the addition of Jim O'Rourke to the group, and with O'Rourke's departure, former Pavement player Mark Ibold on bass. Kim Gordon is now freed up to be play guitar, making for a triple threat along with Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo – and it's a riveting sound. They don't reinvent the wheel on The Eternal – but they steer into adventurous waters – and as long as they're making records this good we're hoping they live up to title! Includes "Sacred Trickster", "Anti-Orgasm", "Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)", "Antenna", "What We Know", "Calming The Snake", "Poison Arrow", "Malibu Gas Station", "Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn", "No Way", "Walkin Blue", "Massage The History". CD

Comprehensive set that covers the full range of Mingus' great recordings for Atlantic, including stuff from many hard to find albums that you won't find easily on LP. The track list is virtually a catalog of his greatest recordings, 6CDs worth of tracks including: "Pithecanthropus Erectus", "Profile Of Jackie", "Haitian Fight Song", "Reincarnation Of A Lovebird", 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting", "Cryin' Blues", "Devil Woman", "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am", "Passions Of A Woman Loved", "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love", "Better Git Hit In Your Sould", "Tonight At Noon", "Sue's Changes", "Canon", "Free Cell Block F, 'Tis Nazi USA", "Goodbye, Porkpie Hat", "Passions Of A Man" and the spoken word number "Mingus On Mingus" which is Mingus himself looking back on his career. Well done liner notes, too, in a nice tri-fold gatefold package. CD

Comprehensive 3 LP set that covers the full range of Mingus' great recordings for Atlantic, including stuff from many hard to find albums that you won't find easily on LP. The track list is virtually a catalog of his greatest recordings, with 18 tracks in all: "Pithecanthropus Erectus", "Profile Of Jackie", "Haitian Fight Song", "Reincarnation Of A Lovebird", 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting", "Cryin' Blues", "Devil Woman", "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am", "Passions Of A Woman Loved", "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love", "Better Git Hit In Your Sould", "Tonight At Noon", "Sue's Changes", "Canon", "Free Cell Block F, 'Tis Nazi USA", "Goodbye, Porkpie Hat", "Passions Of A Man" and the spoken word number "Mingus On Mingus" which is Mingus himself looking back on his career. Well done liner notes, too, in a nice tri-fold gatefold package. LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing record – quite possibly one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, and a session that has Charles Mingus stepping boldly forward in a whole new direction! The album shakes loose the sometimes too-academic modern tones of Mingus albums from the previous year or two – and unleashes the bold, raw emotion that would drive him firmly into the 60s – a new sense of freedom in music, filled with poetry, anger, joy, and life! The tracks are all quite long – and played by a sharp quintet with Mingus on bass, Jackie McLean on alto sax, JR Monterose on tenor, Mal Waldron on piano, and Willie Jones on drums. Titles include "Pithecantrhopus Erectus", "A Foggy Day", "Love Chant", and "Profile of Jackie". The whole thing bubbles over with an anger and intensity that you hardly find in other Mingus albums, and if you've ever heard a weak Mingus album, and wondered what all the fuss was about, you owe it to yourself to own this one! We promise that it will never ever let you down. LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked treasure from Archie Shepp – a set recorded for the Enja label with a profile that's not as bold as some of his other albums, but a great later session that has some surprisingly wonderful moments! Perhaps the best of these is the album's long workout on "Mama Rose" – done here as a free-flowing modal number with some great soprano sax lines from Archie – blown beautifully over soaring rhythms from Kenny Werner on piano, Santi DeBriano on bass, and the great Marvin Smitty Smith on drums. The track really cooks wonderfully – and is followed by the more sensitive "Soul Song", the hard-blown tenor cut "Geechee", and a laidback take on "My Romance". Both "Geechee" and "Mama Rose" dominate the record – and are perfect examples of the later soulful sound of Shepp in the post-Impulse years! LP, Vinyl record album

Indie rock elders Sonic Youth's first high profile album on an indie label in about 20 years – the group's first album for Matador, and a skillful mix of insistent, exciting melodic precision, barbed lyricism, random bursts of noise, and enough layered hypnotic guitar errata that you'll hear something new each time you come back to it! Through the years they continued to be pretty exciting, and for the most part managed to avoid repeating themselves, while still working in something of a comfort zone – once throwing a screwdriver in the old noise rock guitar neck with the addition of Jim O'Rourke to the group, and with O'Rourke's departure, former Pavement player Mark Ibold on bass. Kim Gordon is now freed up to be play guitar, making for a triple threat along with Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo – and it's a riveting sound. They don't reinvent the wheel on The Eternal – but they steer into adventurous waters – and as long as they're making records this good we're hoping they live up to title! Includes "Sacred Trickster", "Anti-Orgasm", "Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)", "Antenna", "What We Know", "Calming The Snake", "Poison Arrow", "Malibu Gas Station", "Thunderclap For Bobby Pyn", "No Way", "Walkin Blue", "Massage The History". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare and exceptional vocal jazz LP – cut by the obscure Marilyn Moore, then the wife of Al Cohn – who's pictured in profile on the cover of the record! Marilyn's got a style that's somewhat raspy – clearly inspired by Billie Holiday at times, and not what you'd expect in comparison to some of the cooler, clearer female singers who worked on Bethlehem in the 50s. The backing is in a small group mode – with Cohn on tenor and bass clarinet, plus Don Abney on piano, Joe Wilder on trumpet, Barry Galbraith on guitar, Milt Hinton on bass, and Osie Johnson on drums – all in a nicely relaxed mode to fit the mellow, moody sound of the record. There's a nice sense of darkness throughout – a bit more edge than you might expect – and titles include "Trouble Is A Man", "Ill Wind", "Born To Blow The Blues", "Lover Come Back To Me", and "You're Driving Me Crazy". CD

Wes Montgomery joined by Ray Barretto, Kenny Burrell, Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Jimy Cobb, Victor Feldman, Tommy Flanagan, Johnny Griffin, Albert Tootie Heath, Percy Heath, Lex Humphries, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Same Jones, Wynton Kelly, Buddy Montgomery, Monk Montgomery, Mel Rhyne, and others. CD

... CD

A heady helping of work from Booker T & The MGs – the Memphis combo who redefined the sound of instrumental soul for a whole generation! The package actually features cuts by the group picked by Elvis Costello – almost an unlikely choice for such a project, yet given the strength of the group's work, it's hard to go wrong, no matter what you pick! There's loads of great Hammond work from Booker T himself, searing guitar from Steve Cropper, and massive drums from Al Jackson – and the set features 15 burners in all – cuts that include "Time Is Tight", "Soul Clap 69", "Something", "Sunday Sermon", "Green Onions (live)", "Fuquawi", "Over Easy", "Lady Madonna", "Boot Leg", "Heads Or Tails", "Chinese Checkers", "Jellybread", and "Hip Hug Her". CD

... CD

... CD

A great snapshot of Joe's electric years at Milestone, music that is quite different than Joe's earlier work for Blue Note! Titles include "Black Narcissus", "Mamacita", "Black Is The Color (Of My True Loves Mind)", "Gazelle", and "Canyon Lady". CD

Tracks include "This Here", "Nardis", "Jive Samba", "African Waltz", and "Star Eyes". Bonus disc includes music by other Riverside artists including Bobby Timmons, Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, and Art Blakey. CD

With Vic Dickenson, Tommy Flanagan, Wendell Marshall, Osie Johnson, Kenny Burrell, Ray Bryant, Pepper Adams, Jerome Richardson, Idress Sulieman, Ronnell Bright, Ron Carter, Major Holley, Eddie Locke, Red Garland, Doug Watkins, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and others. CD

Includes bonus disc of other Specialty artists. CD

A lengthy discussion with Chris James of the stellar seventies sweet soul act The Natural Four, Nardwuar vs Queens of the Stone Age, interviews with the last living brother of The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Mark Ridlen of 70s/80s Texas punk/psych band Lithium Xmas (also a member of Rapid Fire, the evil band from Ron Howard's "Cotton Candy"), New Orleans musical eccentric Quintron on his return to his ravaged city, Brazilian guitar legend Toquino, and Beach Boys' biographer Domenic Priore. Also, the scrapbook of Black punk legend Neon Leon, a Clancy Eccles tribute, hundreds of novelty celebrity records profiled, and a history of Diabolik. Plus, lots of great comix, including Freaky Bear by Plastic Crimewave, an incredible recreation of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" starring Batman by K. Thor Jensen, and lost comics and 70s rock writing by Funkadelic's Pedro Bell. Magazine

A cool little retrospective of 50 years worth of manufactured pop music – one that starts out with the earliest roots of the genre in rock and roll, and follows it right up to present-day boy bands and studio acts! The book moves forward decade by decade, focusing on group after group – presenting them in mini-profiles that sometimes exposes hidden sides of the artists – especially those you might not normally think of as bubblegum acts! Obvious schlock is stacked next to more serious artists – in a unique take on the evolution of pop on both sides of the Atlantic. Artists include The Crystals, Ricky Nelson, Tommy Steele, Billy Fury, The Bay City Rollers, The Osmonds, David Cassidy, Bow Wow Wow, MC Hammer, Bucks Fizz, and a heck of a lot more! 167 pages, softcover, with images in color and black and white. Book

Includes artist profiles, record reviews, interviews, a 2022 Japanese and import disc guide, and more. Book

Includes artist profiles, record reviews, interviews, a Carmen McRae disc guide, and more. Book

Includes profiles on Sadao Watanabe and Charlie Haden, record reviews, interviews, a Sadao Watanabe disc guide, and more. Book

With selections by The Three Friends, Raindrops, Jimmy Jones & The Jones Boys, Calendars, Hi Tensions, Upfronts, Caleb & The Playboys, Temptations, Five Chestnuts, Memories, Gabriel & Angels, Catalinas, Squares, Joey Dee & The Starliters, Montereys, Profiles, and Nicky St Clair & The Five Trojans. LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool collection of rare soul material – one that brings together obscure tracks from a variety of different sources – then packages them together in a heavy, hardcover book – with a presentation that's a bit like the Motown Singles sets from a few years ago! The book alone is plenty cool – over 100 pages with loads of color images, especially of the rare labels of the originals – plus track-by-track notes on every selection, a surprising amount of detail throughout! CDs are divided up into thematic territory – Urban Soul, Group Soul, Southern Soul, and Funky Soul – but things are pretty unified throughout, and all these numbers share a fair amount of grit in the grooves. The set features a whopping 110 tracks in all – and titles include "Funky Bandwgon" by The Essene Brotherhood Band, "FLA" by Noble Watts, "Can You Handle It" by Pep Brown, "I'll Pay You Back" by Magic Sam, "Hep Squeeze" by Mad Dog & The Pups, "The James Brown Bougeloo" by Little Genie Broosk, "I Can't Stop Crying" by Sam Hutchins, "I'm Telling You" by Buddy Grubbs, "Every Ounce Of Strength" by Carla Thomas, "Understanding" by Jackie Avery, "You're Good Enough For Me" by The Versatiles, "She's The One I Love" by The Delacardos, "Got To Be Your Lover" by The Profiles, "But Then You Left Me" by Shades Of Sensation, "Peace Of Mind" by The Vontastics, "My Baby's Gone" by Donald Height, "Do You Know What Life Is All About" by Hoagy Lands, "Love That Guy" by Jackye Owens, and "Love On A Two Way Street" by Lezli Valentine. CD

The first book we've ever seen to fully do justice to the world of porn paperbacks in the 60s – that insanely profitable underground that existed in a space between girlie mags and cinematic pornography – when words enough were plenty to titillate the libido of a reader! Many of the publishers were secretive, distribution was often controlled by the mob, and some of the writers were bigger stars working under fake names for ready cash – all to create a surprisingly rich tapestry of work that's mostly been lost to the shifting sands of time! The large volume features many essays on different topics within the field – alongside an insane amount of full color images reproducing the paperbacks in all their glory – images that are far wilder than the one on the front of the book, and which make reading the text a complete delight throughout. The whole thing is way more than the usual fluff books that just present lurid paperbacks – as the writing is great, full of knowledge, and really gets at the heart of the matter – with profiles on writers that include Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, Eric Stanton, Gene Bilbrew, Ron Haydock (aka Vin Saxon), and even Ed Wood – and contributions from Miriam Linna, Lydia Lunch, Robert Silverberg, and others. 327 pages, softcover, and full color throughout. Book