With Gerry Mulligan on bariont sax, Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, Red Mitchell on bass, and Frank Isola on drums. Tracks include "Bark For Barksdale", "Motel/Utter Chaos", "Walkin' Shoes", "Bernie's Tune", and "Five Brothers" – 14 tracks total. CD

With Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax, Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, Red Mitchell on bass and Frank Isola on drums. Tracks include "Laura", "Soft Shoe/Utter Chaos", "Lady Is A Tramp", "Love Me Or Leave Me" and "Lullaby Of The Leaves". CD

With Kenny Dorham on trumpet and James Moody on tenor! LP, Vinyl record album

Double-length brilliance from the mighty Sahib Shihab – a set that collects a number of killer 60s sessions with members of the Clarke Boland Big Band – all of them great! The small combo work here is amazing – hard-hitting modal jazz that matches, if not tops the best MPS/Saba sounds of the time – all produced to perfection with a really sharp edge, and a cutting approach to jazz that's gone onto inspired countless others in the current scene – including artists on Schema and Ricky-Tick Records, as well as most Japanese club jazz combos! But long before any of those cats started copping his groove, Sahib Shihab had it all totally together – a great ear for his own amazing solos on baritone and flute, and a way of hooking up with players like Francy Boland on piano, Fats Sadi on vibes, Benny Bailey on trumpet, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. All players here were Shihab's partners in the Clarke Boland Big Band, and they use these small combo sessions to explore some great new ideas – stripped-down groovers that are heavy on rhythm, and really allow full expression from all the players involved. Titles include "Companionship", "Om Mani Padme Hum", "Bohemia After Dark", "Serenata", "Yah Yah Blues", "Balafon", "Talk Some Yak-ee Dak", "The Turk's Bolero", "CT + CB", "Jay Jay", "Stoned Ghosts", "Just Give Me Time", and "Dijdar". CD

A rare gem from Zoot Sims – a slightly obscure session issued in the early 60s by United Artists! Producer Alan Douglas put together the record – and as with most of the Douglas-produced albums of the period, the set's got that little "something extra" that makes it stand apart from a lot of other albums by the artist from the time. The whole package isn't too complicated, and just features Zoot blowing easy with a laidback (unnamed) quartet in what seems to be a live session. The solos come fast and free, and with a strong uncluttered sensibility that you don't often hear on other Sims records from the same period. Titles include "Zoot's Blues", "On the Alamo", "A Flat Blues", and "You Go To My Head". CD

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A French group from the 70s, but one with a lead singer from Tunisia – the freaky-looking Mahmoud Ayari, who's got his feet up on the cover! The group are fiercely jamming – with a really heavy, driving percussion approach, and lots and lots of freaky guitar fuzz – often used in these really dark ways, which then seems to bring out even more darkness from Ayari's vocals – which act almost like loud calls to action than standard lyrics! A number of tunes are heavy on the instrumental section – which makes for even more great focus on the excellent guitar – and titles include "To Where I Belong", "Lot Of Things", "Explosion", "We All Come & Go", and "My Sorrow" – plus two tunes with really great special effects from Jean Pierre Massiera – "Pop Orbite" and "Pop Pull Hair". LP, Vinyl record album

Some nice mid-career work on the Japanese Vogue label by pianist Earl Hines and his orchestra, at the time featuring Wardell Gray on tenor sax, Benny Green on trombone, Fats Palmer on trumpet, Bill Thompson on vibes, Chick Booth on drums, and vocalists Delores Parker, and Essex Scott. The tracks are mostly short and sweet Hines compositions, and include "Let's Get Started", "Blue Keys", "Spook's Ball", "Margie", "Throwing The Switch", "Rosetta", "At El Grotto", and "Nonchalant Man". LP, Vinyl record album

A collection of recordings pulled from mid-40s sessions – with personnel including Charles Mingus, Bill Doggett, Trummy Uoung, Freddie Green, Leo Parker, Joe Newman, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few albums as a leader from pianist Jimmy Jones – a musician who was best known for his backing work for a few famous singers – but a player who really shines on this rare French session from the 50s! Jimmy's got a really great command of the keys – still that rhythmic vamp that made him nice and soulful when working with a vocalist – but also a really open, lyrical groove on the melody – one that has some surprisingly deep touches at times, this level of sophistication that we might never have expected otherwise. The trio features Joe Benjamin on bass and the great Roy Haynes on drums – and titles include "Lush Life", "Squeeze Me", "Good Heartache", "Easy To Love", and "Little Girl Blue". LP, Vinyl record album

Duke Jordan on piano, Gene Rame on bass, and Lee Abrams on drums. Bud Powell on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. CD

Fantastic pop from The Matchmakers – a group who only went by that name on some of their records – as they were more of a studio project from UK producers Mark Wirtz and Kris Ife, and also issued work as The Guards, Fickle Finger, Krimson Kake, Happy Confusion, Cellophane Mop, Father's Brown, and Astronaut Alan & The Planets! Yet despite all those many names – which all appear here in the credits for the songs – the group had a unified sound in their unabashed love of a good hook, and the genius production they received on their tunes – often in that groundbreaking style you'll know from other Wirtz work of the 60s, with a compressed quality that's a strong precursor to the direction UK rock production would take in the 70s – peppered with just a touch of the American bubble gum pop sound of the time. Titles include "Fantastic Fair", "Turn Me On"," Two Timing Man", "Wooly Wooly Watsgong", "Tell Me A Secret", "Goody Goody Goody", "Cellophane Mary Jane", and "This Time It Must Be Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary album from saxophonist Sahib Shihab – a record that's gone onto become the birth of all things modal and club jazz in the current scene! Shihab always sounded great, no matter what the setting, but there was definitely something magical going on with this session – a one-of-a-kind energy that made his baritone and flute work sound incredibly soulful, searching, and searing – set up with a tight small combo that includes Francy Boland on piano, Fats Sadi on vibes, Jimmy Woode on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – a hip slice of the Clarke Boland Big Band that works beautifully together! Every tune here is wonderful, and you're bound to recognized a few covered or sampled classics over the years – on cuts that include "Seeds", "Peter's Waltz", "Who'll Buy My Dream", "Another Samba", "Jay Jay", "Uma Fita De Tres Cores", and "Mauve". LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime sounds from the legendary Jonny Teupen – the harpist best known for his freaky sides for MPS, heard here in an earlier set of bossa nova tunes! The approach is quite unique, and really warmly wonderful – Jonny's sweetly lyrical lines on harp, mixed with gentle bossa rhythms, and topped with cool vocals that often have a breezy, scatting sort of sound! Rob Pronk plays piano on the set, and also sings a bit too – and the female vocals are handled by Blanche Birdsong, who's got a nicely sweet sound. The great Shake Keane is also on the album, playing a bit of flugelhorn – although the notes credit him as Leonard Blech – and the whole thing was produced by German groovemeister Berry Lipman! Titles include "La Mucura", "Mody", "Jonny & Blanche", "Linda", "Jonny's Harp", "Sambleebloo", "No Name Samba", and "Ding". CD