Recorded live at The Fox Venice Theatre, Venice, Calif. CD

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Solo recordings by Newton at the San Lazzaro degli Armeni church in Venice, Italy, including the traditional Spiritual Suite, Syrinx by Claude Debussy, and a number of Newton's own compositions. CD

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Beautiful early work from Cannonball Adderley – and a record that's quite different than most of his better known sets from the time! The album's more spare and stripped-down than usual – with Cannon's alto in a quartet alongside Bill Evans on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. The style is almost more that of Evans than it is Cannonball – lightly lyrical, with a good sense of space – in a way that has Adderley playing out front very strongly, cutting some beautiful lines with his solos, in a really unfettered way! Titles include versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful early work from Cannonball Adderley – and a record that's quite different than most of his better known sets from the time! The album's more spare and stripped-down than usual – with Cannon's alto in a quartet alongside Bill Evans on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. The style is almost more that of Evans than it is Cannonball – lightly lyrical, with a good sense of space – in a way that has Adderley playing out front very strongly, cutting some beautiful lines with his solos, in a really unfettered way! Titles include versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

Like so many Milestone 2-fers from the 70s, this set combines two excellent 60s hard bop LPs into one nice set! Both sides feature Adderley's trademark soul jazz hard bop hybrid, but in contexts that add a twist to the settings you might otherwise have heard Cannonball in. The first album's a quintet side featuring brother Nat, Wynton Kelly, Victor Feldman, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes with Feldman playing vibes on the tracks that feature Kelly, piano on the ones that don't – and includes "Arriving Soon", "New Delhi", "Winetone", and "Lisa". Cannonball's soulful alto meets the cerebral piano of Bill Evans in a more stripped down setting, with the group filled out by Percy Heath and Connie Kay, for a set that's filled with surprises, and some nice modal moments. The set includes versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful early work from Cannonball Adderley – and a record that's quite different than most of his better known sets from the time! The album's more spare and stripped-down than usual – with Cannon's alto in a quartet alongside Bill Evans on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. The style is almost more that of Evans than it is Cannonball – lightly lyrical, with a good sense of space – in a way that has Adderley playing out front very strongly, cutting some beautiful lines with his solos, in a really unfettered way! Titles include versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". CD features 2 bonus tracks too. CD

Beautiful early work from Cannonball Adderley – and a record that's quite different than most of his better known sets from the time! The album's more spare and stripped-down than usual – with Cannon's alto in a quartet alongside Bill Evans on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Connie Kay on drums. The style is almost more that of Evans than it is Cannonball – lightly lyrical, with a good sense of space – in a way that has Adderley playing out front very strongly, cutting some beautiful lines with his solos, in a really unfettered way! Titles include versions of two of Evans' tracks – "Waltz For Debby" and "Know What I Mean?" – plus nice moody takes on other material, like John Lewis' "Venice", Clifford Jordan's "Toy", and Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye". Remastered edition with 2 bonus tracks: "Who Cares (Take 4)" and "Know What I Mean? (Take 12)". CD

Tim Buckley live – in a really amazing performance from 1969 – one that really shows how much jazz impulses he had in his music! The tracks here are all quite long – and although in the folksy mode of Tim's studio work, also seem to have more improvisation too – both on the guitar and the vocals – especially when Buckley gets going in those eerie wordless ways that are almost his take on scat styles from jazz! Buckley's guitar almost takes on these Sandy Bull-type tones – very harmonic, and perfect not just with his vocals, but also the electric piano work of Lee Underwood – which underscores some of the jazzier elements in the music. The basslines are subtle, but beautiful too – really structuring the sounds in these warm currents that are always moving forward – on long takes of titles that include "Venice Mating Call", "Nobody Walkin", "I Had A Talk With My Woman", "Chase The Blues Away", "Buzzin Fly", "Gypsy Woman", "I Don't Need It To Rain", and "Driftin". CD

Recorded live at the former Villa Venice club just outside Chicago. CD

No standards here, as the tracks are all originals – written by reedman Ralph Thomas and the rest of his group – to create the sort of unique little record that really keeps us digging for rare jazz over the years! Thomas grew up in Chicago, where he soaked up the soulful sounds of both the west side and the AACM – but the set was recorded after he'd moved to Los Angeles, at the suggestion of some of his contemporaries – where he was able to bring together some equally inventive players, while also working as part of the same hip scene that included Horace Tapscott and Nate Morgan! Some of the rhythms here recall some of Morgan's music on the Nimbus label, but there's maybe a bit more of a soul current too – with Thomas on alto, tenor, soprano, and flute – amidst guitar, keyboards, drums, flute, and some especially nice percussion – all to craft rhythms that move between spiritual, modal, and more conventionally soulful styles – a vibe that's maybe a bit like some of the 70s Detroit work on the Strata label. Titles include "Spellbound", "Cafe Phillipp", "Big Spliff", "Venice", "EST", "Deloreso", and "Muscavado". LP, Vinyl record album