These guys hardly need to get a grip, and they're also not graced with idle hands either – as the record flows with magical energy right from the start – served up by an array of all-star players you're likely to know from other great releases on the Posi-tone label! The record has all the best aspects of solo work by members from the group – including key use of their own original compositions – work from a lineup that includes Will Bernard on guitar, Behn Gillece on vibes, Donny McKaslin on tenor, Art Hirahara on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass, and EJ Strickland on drums! The combination of vibes and guitar is especially nice – much sharper than you'd expect, in part because the tenor of McCaslin keeps urging them onward – and titles include "Memphis Redux", "Presence", "Tomorrow Blues", "Show Of Hands", "Soho Down", and "Dream Of Life". CD

Will Bernard on guitar and Beth Custer on vocals and clarinets. CD

Will Bernard on guitar, Wil Blades on Hammond B3, and Simon Lott on drums. CD

Guitarist Will Bernard is in a mighty sweet trio here – one that features lots of excellent work on Hammond organ from Sam Yahel, plus tight drums from Donald Edwards! The vibe is great – as Yahel's got a far-reaching sound on the instrument that really pushes things past the obvious – maybe Larry Young as a jumping-off point, but a voice that's all his own – echoed chromatically and matched at a solo level by Bernard's work on guitar! Edwards has a nice crackle to his drums, but he's never locked in tight either – and really matches the energy of the other two, on a set that's filled with original tunes by Will – titles that include "Dry Land Tourist", "Stone Valley", "Five Finger Discount", "Right As Rain", "Temescal", "Wake Up Call", and "Trilobite". CD

A set that wasn't initially conceived as a full album by Gil Scott-Heron – but one that's come to be an essential part of his catalog, thanks to the always-relevant title theme! The album's actually a classic collection of work from the early years of Gil Scott-Heron at the Flying Dutchman label – a time when he was recording some of his most impressively righteous material ever – a hip mix of protest poetry and sweet jazzy numbers – played with great keyboard accompaniment from frequent partner Brian Jackson on keyboards on nearly every track – plus help from Hubert Laws on flute and sax, and Bernard Purdie on drums. Nearly all the famous classics by Gil are here, and the titles include some of Gil's best jazz funk groovers, including "Pieces Of A Man", "Lady Day & John Coltrane", "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", "Save The Children", "Sex Education Ghetto Style", "Whitey On The Moon", "Did You Hear What They Said", The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", and "No Knock". LP, Vinyl record album

A set that wasn't initially conceived as a full album by Gil Scott-Heron – but one that's come to be an essential part of his catalog, thanks to the always-relevant title theme! The album's actually a classic collection of work from the early years of Gil Scott-Heron at the Flying Dutchman label – a time when he was recording some of his most impressively righteous material ever – a hip mix of protest poetry and sweet jazzy numbers – played with great keyboard accompaniment from frequent partner Brian Jackson on keyboards on nearly every track – plus help from Hubert Laws on flute and sax, and Bernard Purdie on drums. Nearly all the famous classics by Gil are here, and the titles include some of Gil's best jazz funk groovers, including "Pieces Of A Man", "Lady Day & John Coltrane", "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", "Save The Children", "Sex Education Ghetto Style", "Whitey On The Moon", "Did You Hear What They Said", The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", and "No Knock". LP, Vinyl record album

Rob Vlack on samplers & wurlitzer, Keith McArthur on bass, Will Bernard on guitars & accordion, and Jan Jackson on drums & vocals. CD

Hammond player Jim Alfredson works here in a setting that's nicely full and rich – one that mixes his sharp work on the organ with just the right sort of horn contributions – in a mode that's got some of the best energy of the Lonnie Smith or Lou Donaldson late 60s organ years on Blue Note! Part of the record's strength comes from the wonderfully snapping drums of EJ Strickland, sounding even funkier than usual – and really providing the right sort of crackle to push lean and groovy performances from the trombone of Michael Dease, trumpet of Alex Sipiagin, and tenor of Diego Rivera – all players we're not used to hearing in such a setting! The group also features guitar from Will Bernard and percussion from Kevin Jones – on original titles that include "Foster Blues", "The Side Eye", "Reo Town", "Strange Matter", "For Miles", and "Verna". CD

American greatness from this seminal Dutch ensemble – a set recorded in the US when the group were really hitting on all burners – linking together rich strains of modern jazz in the course of a single performance! There's a great blend of tight concepts and freer solos going on here – and reedman Breuker is still very might at his most inventive – playing with a rich, feeling sort of tone, and moving through lots of new ideas – and never falling into some of the easier or more gimmicky modes that might normally hamper a project like this. Other musicians include Andre Goudbeek on alto, Maarten Van Norden on tenor, Andy Altenfelder and Boy Raaymakers on trumpet, and Bernard Hunnekink on trombone – and titles include "Women's Voting Rights", "Sylvia's Proposal", "Benares", "Kontrafunkt", "Song Of Mandalay", and "Amsterdam Rhapsody Overture". LP, Vinyl record album

Features Andy Altenfelder and Boy Raaymakers on trumpet, Gregg Moore and Bernard Hunnekink on trombone, and William Breuker, Andre Goudbeek, and Peter Barkema on saxophones – with Lorre Lynn Trytten on violin, Henk de Jonge on piano, Arjen Gorter on bass, Rob Verdurmen on drums. CD

Cuts from a 1933 session featuring Coleman Hawkins with Red Allen, JC Higginbotham, Hilton Jefferson, Horace Henderson, Bernard Addison, John Kirby, and Walter Johnson; plus a 1936 session featuring Mary Lou Williams with Booker Collins, Ted Robinson, and Ben Thigpen. LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of rare gems from the Studio One label – one that's filled with unusual material that we've not seen elsewhere! Some of the tracks are alternate mixes, some are unissued recordings – and there's also a nice range of material that goes past the more familiar early period of the label, which is normally the most reissued. Titles include "Hush Up (unreleased stereo mix)" by Larry & Alvin, "I Need You Girl (stereo mix)" by Larry Marshall, "Mr Moses (stereo mix)" by Lloyd Charmers, "I'm In Love With You (original JA mix)" by Lloyd Williams, "Freedom Justice Equality" by Alf & Teep, "Torture & Flames" by Jackie Bernard, "Mark I Word" by Winston Prince, "Give Me True Love (stereo mix)" by The Meditators, "Down In The Bone Yard" by The Three Tops, "Down By The Sore (7" version)" by The Silvertones, and "Jay Dip (stereo mix)" by Prince Jazzbo. CD

A genre defying meeting of NYC's out hop illbient impresario Paul Miller and members of that city's finest new jazz improvisors. Not too far off from the recent QPSM project, this finds a cast of characters, including Spooky, who'd previously been more known for dispensing with conventional rhythmic structure, dropping some tighter grooves, but never losing their more progressive identities. The core group is Spooky being Spooky, William Parker on bass, Matthew Shipp on piano and Guillermo Brown on drums, with appearances by Carl Hancock Rux an High Priest of Anti Pop Consortium on vocals, and fellow avant garde travellers Pauline Oliveros, Daniel Carter and Daniel Bernard Roumain. 12 tracks including "Ibid, desmarches, ibid", "Reactive Switching Strategies For The Control Of Uninhibited Air" and "Sequentia Absentia (Dialectical Triangulation I)". CD

Another nice collection of left-of-center jazz for the digital age from piano/synthesizer maestro Matthew Shipp & co. for his hungry Thirsty Ear label! This set features frequent collaborators William Parker on bass, Daniel Bernard Roumain on violin, Evan Ziporyn on clarinet and others. The feel here, and on some of the other Thirsty Ear releases is kind of a synthesis between live instrumentation and synthetic sounds. We like these guys because the goal seems to be to find an actual musicality between the disparate elements – not just a trail of noise that so many untrained dilettantes pass off as hip free noise in underground circles. Not that Shipp cops out, or goes for an easy listen. To put it simply, there's an identifiable trained musical core to the Thirsty Ear experiments – one we can always appreciate, even when the synthesis isn't entirely successful. Tracks include "Pulsar", "Keystroke", "Lightforms", "Urban Shadows", "Particle", "Last Chamber", "Mist" and more. CD

A full funky session from master drummer Bernard Purdie – a set that expands out his previous Prestige vibe, and almost goes for a soundtrack scope to match the record's Shaft title! The set leads off with a great take on the Isaac Hayes hit – one that follows in the same fully-flowing, slow-building mode as Ike's – but which comes across here as an instrumental with some great solo work from Houston Person – playing here almost in a Stanley Turrentine sort of mode! Other tracks continue the hip mix of jazz and larger backings – and feature a lineup of players that includes Neal Creque on electric piano, Gerry Thomas and Danny Moore on trumpets, Willie Bridges and Houston Person on tenors, Billy Nichols and Lloyd Davis on guitars, Gordon Edwards on Fender bass, and Norman Pride on congas. The sound is warm without ever sounding too smooth – and Purdie's funky drums at the bottom ensure that most tunes are nicely lively. Titles include "Shaft", "Butterfingers", "Summer Melody", "Changes", "Way Back Home", and "Attica". LP, Vinyl record album

2 funky classics from the legendary Pretty Purdie! Purdie Good is Bernard Purdie's first album as a leader for Prestige – cut right after he'd hipped up plenty of other sessions for the label with his famous funky drums! The groove here is very much in the best Prestige jazz funk mode of the early 70s – tightly vamping rhythms that draw heavily from Purdie's monstrous drums – and which also offer solo showcase space for Harold Wheeler on electric piano, Ted Dunbar on guitar, Tippy Larkin on trumpet, and Charlie Brown and Warren Daniels on tenor. Rhythm is augmented by Gordon Edwards on Fender bass and Norman Pride on congas – and the grooves hit a variety of modes that show that Purdie could sometimes be a more open-thinking rhythmatist than his funky contemporary Idris Muhammad. Titles include great instrumental versions of "Cold Sweat" and "Montego Bay", plus the originals "Wasteland", "You Turn Me On", and "Purdie Good". Shaft is a full funky session from master drummer Bernard Purdie – a set that expands out his previous Prestige vibe, and almost goes for a soundtrack scope to match the record's Shaft title! The set leads off with a great take on the Isaac Hayes hit – one that follows in the same fully-flowing, slow-building mode as Ike's – but which comes across here as an instrumental with some great solo work from Houston Person – playing here almost in a Stanley Turrentine sort of mode! Other tracks continue the hip mix of jazz and larger backings – and feature a lineup of players that includes Neal Creque on electric piano, Gerry Thomas and Danny Moore on trumpets, Willie Bridges and Houston Person on tenors, Billy Nichols and Lloyd Davis on guitars, Gordon Edwards on Fender bass, and Norman Pride on congas. The sound is warm without ever sounding too smooth – and Purdie's funky drums at the bottom ensure that most tunes are nicely lively. Titles include "Shaft", "Butterfingers", "Summer Melody", "Changes", "Way Back Home", and "Attica". CD

Gene Ammons on tenor saxophone – with Billy Butler, Candido, Ron Carter, Roland Hanna, Harold Mabern, Junior Mance, Idris Muhammad, Sonny Phillips, Bernard Purdie, Leon Spencer, Sonny Stitt, Buster Williams, and others! CD

Incredibly soulful work from 70s west coast player Hadley Caliman – a great talent on both sax and flute, and a player who only cut a very small number of albums under his own name! The album's got a really seductive feel – gently spiritual, with a style that bubbles with restrained energy, but which runs very very deeply through the length of the set. The album's really well put together – stuffed with original tracks, and featuring backing by Hotep Cecil Bernard on piano, David Williams on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. Both Caliman's tunes and playing have a lightly magical feel to them – a sadness behind the sun, done at a complicated level that we appreciate more and more over the years. Titles include "Gala", "My Marie", "Presenting Mr. Jones", and "Schyleen". CD

Monster funk from Hammond hero Reuben Wilson – an album of hard-burning, bad-walking tunes that are a fair bit different than most of his other work! Although Wilson recorded some pretty traditional organ jazz for the Blue Note and Groove Merchant labels, this album has him working with his "Cost Of Living" group – a combo who only recorded this one album, and which includes Richard Tee on keyboards, Bad Bascomb on bass, Bernard Purdie on drums, and both Houston Person and Pee Wee Ellis on tenor sax! Most cuts have some sort of vocals – sung by either Sammy Turner or Kenny Williams, both of whom really fit the badass spirit of the record, and bring in a nice range of deeper themes from the 70s. There's almost a blacksploitation funk feel to the record at times, although the set's also got more of a soul album focus too – a rare move for Reuben, but one that's made the album a favorite for years! Tracks include the rare groove classics "Got To Get Your Own" and "Tight Money" – plus "Together", "Stoned Out Of My Mind", "What The People Gon Say", "Back Rub", and "In The Booth In The Back In The Corner In The Dark". CD

The title's a reference to a Beatles' song – and the set brings together a range of classical and other styles of music that had a huge influence on the 60s pop scene – a number of sources that you'll definitely recognize in later work by the Fab Four, plus lots more important work as well! About eighty percent of the set is classical, in a mix of both avant/20th Century, and some warmer more sentimental modes – and the package also includes a few choice cuts from the world of jazz, European pop, and even global music – so that the 3CD set features this amazing mix of sounds from artists who include Charlie Parker, Jacques Brel, Bernard Herrmann, Yusef Lateef, Bruno Martino, Lucio Alves, Sun Ra, Ravi Shankar, and composers who include Berio, Bach, Xenakis, Stravinsky, Holst, Handel, Williams, Stockhausen, Ravel, and John Cage. 51 tracks in all – and notes that help guide you through this amazing musical journey. CD

A lost groover from this obscure soul jazz guitarist – recorded with some pretty interesting backing, and a firey guitar style that makes us wish he'd recorded more! The record sports two main groups backing up Forriest's guitar – one with Ernie Hayes on organ, Bernard Purdie on drums, Willie Rodriguez on conga, and Albert Winston on bass; the other with Grachan Moncur on trombone, Frank Haynes on tenor, Charles Davis on baritone, and Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammad) on drums. Sonny's guitar work is right out front – very complicated and bluesy, mostly single-note plucked, in the manner of Grant Green, but with a lot more inflection on the strings. Titles include "Minor Blast", "My Soul Is Happy", "Mashin It", "Steppin", "Miss Dee McC", and "Bitter With The Sweet". LP, Vinyl record album