... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A very cool little set – maybe not the deepest dive into the decade of the 70s, in that the package isn't full of unissued tracks or super-rare singles – but it does represent a great look at the decade that goes way past the hits, and much farther than the charts – including the sort of material that was slightly ignored at the time, but has gone on to be really appreciated in more recent years! The book-style set is filled with great choices and unusual tunes – work from both the US and UK scenes, some of it by bigger names represented here by more unusual cuts – some by others who barely cracked the mainstream, but did some great work at the time. There's one full CD of female artists, and a pretty unusual mix of titles – 71 titles in all, by artists who include Murray Head, The Records, Ronnie Lane, Terry Reid, Sandy Denny, Wendy Waldman, Freddie King, Montrose, Tim Buckley, Don Nix, Jerry Williams, Big Star, Tony Joe White, Delaney & Bonnie, John Prine, Michael Franks, Bobby Charles, Andy Pratt, Hirth Martinez, Robert Palmer, Jess Roden, Roy Harper, Patto, Sharks, The Roches, Linda Lewis Valerie Carter, and many others! CD

Music from Randy Newman, Marc Cohn, Aimee Mann, Fred Schneider, Joe Ely, Ringo Starr with Stevie Nicks, Beckley/Lamm/Wilson, Laverne Baker, Steve Forbert, Peter Wolf And the Houseparty 5, Jennifer Trynin, Al Kooper, Victoria Williams, Marshall Crenshaw, Brian Wilson, Jellyfish, Bill Lloyd, Ron Sexsmith, Adrian Belew, Richard Barone, the Roches with Mark Johnson), John Cowan, and Jimmy Webb. CD

A later Warner label compilation – with material by Tin Huey, Alice Cooper, Michael Franks, The Roches, Chaka Khan, Mary Russell, Gary Wright, Bob Marley, George Harrison, Rickie Lee Jones, Osiris, Ashford & Simpson, Lowell George, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Features Roy Campbell Jr. on trumpet, Mark Whitcage on alto sax, Joe Fonda on bass, and Lou Grassi on drums. CD

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

This is a five-part piece for 2 amplified pianos and percussion. It is performed by the same people who premiered the work in 1974, a year previous to this recording. LP, Vinyl record album

An insane treat for any fan of the early years of the P-Funk empire – that time when George Clinton and crew were taking in plenty of trippy influences from the heady Detroit scene of the time – and fusing it all into their own really unique blend of soul! The set features the group playing live, in relatively familiar territory of Michigan – crafting these grooves that are filled with as much fuzz as funk, and really working as an incredible live representation of all the mad genius they brought to their first few studio albums for Westbound! The whole thing's very well-recorded – as strong a live album as any label would have issued at the time – and titles include very long versions of "Maggot Brain" and "All Your Goodies Are Gone", both a fast and slow take of "I Call My Baby Pussycat" – and the tracks "Alice In My Fantasies", "I Got A Thing You Got A Thing Everybody Got A Thing", "I'll Bet You", "You & Your Folks Me & My Folks", and "Good Old Music". CD

... CD

Two wonderfully fresh works for orchestra – both conducted with plenty of inventive touches by Howard Hanson during his tenure with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra! "The Black Maskers" is a piece originally penned for a production of the dramatic work by Leonid Andreyev – but it works beautifully here on its own, in theses very vivid passages on woodwinds and percussion – recorded superbly, so that all of Hanson's energy from the stand flows through the playback of the performance. The flipside features "Tabuh Tabuhan" – a toccata for orchestra by Colin McPhee, done in a very modern sort of mode – one that mixes work on percussion that's almost gamelan-like at times, with brightly vivid orchestrations. The piece is beautiful – and almost seems like a precursor to later work by Lou Harrison, but mixed with some of the energy of the early century Russian composers. This CD version also includes Virgil Thomson's "Symphony On A Hymn Tune" and "The Feast Of Love". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Ron Holloway on saxophone, Ed Cherry on guitar, John Lee on bass, Ignacio Berroa on drums, with John Dankworth conducting the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. CD

One of the last bold statements made by the Music Revelation Ensemble – recorded at the end of the 80s, but still very much in an angular mode that's somewhere between the Ulmer/Ornette experiments of the 70s, and some of the post-no wave jazz in New York! Neither of those comparisons are a surprise, given that the group had strong New York roots – and a lineup that includes James Blood Ulmer on guitar, David Murray on tenor sax, Amin Ali on electric bass, and Cornell Rochester on drums. Tracks are sharp-edged and freewheeling – sometimes with a ferocity that was a bit more common in the Naked City generation – and titles include "Exit", "Inter City", "Big Top", "Tap's Dance", and "No More" – all written by Ulmer. CD

Excellent work from the trio of Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Kent Kessler! The 2CD set features tracks from two different live shows – one recorded in Rochester, the other in Kalamazoo, both during the group's 2001 tour of the US. Vandermark is ever-brilliant – still growing mightily as a player, and in a perfect power trio format here, working with Kessler's strong bass lines, and Drake's assorted percussion techniques. Includes a huge amount of Don Cherry tunes – such as "Brown Rice", "Awake Nu", "The Thing", and "Elephantasy" – plus readings of Sonny Rollins' "East Broadway Rundown", Joe McPhee's "Goodbye Tom B", and Ayler's "Love Cry". CD

The Music Revelation Ensemble gets some great work here on horns – as the album features guest work from both John Zorn on alto and Pharoah Sanders on tenor! Main sounds are by the core trio of James Blood Ulmer on guitar, Calvin Jones on bass, and Cornell Rochester on drums – all working in a mode that's definitely a 90s extension of Ulmer's harmelodic legacy from decades past. Sanders and Zorn each alternate tunes – so that between them, there's a sax on every number – making the album a quartet date in execution. Zorn's sharp edges are what you might expect in the setting – and Sanders takes on a bolder, less earthy quality in the group – in ways that really differ from his usual sort of guest appearance. Titles include "Law", "Suspect", "Devotion", "Sweet", "Proof", "My Prayer", and "Evidence". CD

Bold tones from the Music Revelation Ensemble – a group that's heavy on guitar work from James Blood Ulmer, but which also features some great guest reeds from Arthur Blythe, Sam Rivers, and Hamiett Bluiett! The core trio features Amin Ali on electric bass and Cornell Rochester on drums – moving in somewhat harmelodic formation – echoing Ulmer's styles of the decade before, but perhaps pushing his sound with a more forceful feel, possibly to showcase his crossing over to bigger audiences at the time. But the real charm here is the reed work – contributions that include alto from Blythe, baritone from Bluiett, and either soprano, tenor, or flute from Rivers – players that are heard separately from track to track, but who really help bring a deeper sense of spirit to the record. Titles include "The Dawn", "Mankind", "Purity", "Abundance", "In Time", and "Non-Believer". CD