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A 2LP set that compiles early recordings made by Getz for Prestige – about half of them titles that were issued on early singles, combined with material from the album Stan Getz With Cal Tjader. The early singles feature a few tunes with the 'brothers' style sound – Brew Moore, Allen Eager, Zoot Sims, and Al Cohn on tenor with Stan – plus some other quartet sides. The Cal Tjader album is killer record from the late 50s – and one that hints at all the sides Stan would take in later years: his bossa sides, his vibes quartet with Gary Burton, and the playful lyricism of his recordings with Chick Corea. The set was recorded in San Francisco, when Stan had that great bassist Scott LaFaro in his group, and when he was brought into the studio by Fantasy to meet with local talents like Cal Tjader, Eddie Duran, and Vince Guaraldi. Billy Higgins is also added on drums, giving the set a lively songlike sound that's just great. The group works incredibly well together, and it's a shame they only really gelled for this rare non-Verve session. Titles include 'Big Bear', 'Crow's Nest', 'Lady In Red', 'Prezervation', 'Five Brothers', 'Crazy Chords', 'Long Island Sound', 'My Buddy', and 'Ginza Samba'. LP, Vinyl record album

A hell of a record – and one that's not just noteworthy for being one of the rare few sessions as a leader from pianist Dolo Coker – but also for the sideman work by Art Pepper and Blue Mitchell! The pairing of Mitchell and Pepper is an unusual one, but it works wonderfully here – as Art's got a crisp, soulful tone on both alto and his newly-acquired tenor, and Mitchell blows in a real back-to-basics hardbop mode that's much more similar to his Blue Note work than his other electric sessions of the mid 70s! Yet Coker's also a cooker too – and his deft phrasing and soulful currents really make the session move – set fire by the work of Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Frank Butler on drums. Titles include 'Roots 4FB', 'Mr Yohe', 'Tale Of Two Cities', 'Jumping Jacks', and 'Gone Again'. CD features the bonus track 'Round Midnight'. CD

A real enigma from Miles Davis – rare material from the Blue Note vaults, issued here for the first time ever – and done as a totally sweet 10' album! The cover and package are great – and the music is even better – very much in the most sparkling spirit of Davis' early 10' albums for Blue Note – with a lineup that includes JJ Johnson on trombone, Jimmy Heath on tenor, Jackie McLean on alto sax, Gil Coggins on piano, Percy Heath or Oscar Pettiford on bass, and Art Blakey or Kenny Clarke on drums! Titles include 'Enigma (alt take 1)', 'Kelo (alt take 1)', 'Chance It (alt take 3)', and 'Chance It (alt take 4)'. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful way to hear the genius of Ella Fitzgerald at its best – as the set features all tracks that just have the first lady of jazz singing alongside a piano – spare, open, and in a way that really lets you get all all the care and nuance that Ella can bring to a tune! Most of the recordings here are from the 50s – quite unusual for the time – and they're matched with one more set of duets that Ella Recorded for Pablo Records in the 70s, at a time when she was exploring more intimate modes in a really great way. There's a host of great surprises along the way – and the set begins with 8 tracks from the album Ella Sings Gershwin, with Ellis Larkins on piano – then moves to another Decca duet with Larkins on the album Songs In A Mellow Mood. The set follows with two spare numbers from the Songbook recordings for Verve – one with Oscar Peterson on piano, one with Paul Smith. Then, Smith returns on another set of 13 tracks taken from the rare Let No Man Write My Epitaph album for Verve – then adds in a spare duet with Tommy Flanagan from the 1964 A Juan Les Pins album – before ending with the full set list from the wonderful Ella & Oscar album from 1976 – 7 more duets with Oscar Peterson on piano. (Vocalists, Jazz)CD

An unexpected treasure – like so many of Art Farmer's later albums! The record is ostensibly a tribute to the music of Billy Strayhorn – which might make us expect some soporific Ellington cliches – but the session's really just a small group one, played by Art with a quintet that includes Clifford Jordan, James Williams, Rufus Reid, and Marvin Smitty Smith – all coming together in a fluidly soulful style that's really great. Farmer's work on flugelhorn seems even more inventive than ever – and titles include 'Bloodcount', 'Johnny Come Lately', 'Isfahan', 'Raincheck', and 'Upper Manhattan Medical Group'. CD features a bonus track – 'Daydream'. CD

Four soulful fusion classics from keyboardist Rodney Franklin – all together in a single set! First up is In The Center – wonderful keyboard work from the amazing Rodney Franklin – a player who sounds equally great on acoustic and electric piano! This album does a wonderful job of mixing them both – showing Rodney's more sensitive side on a few acoustic numbers, but then really taking off in a much more groove-based mode for the electric ones – which have a soaring, spacious style that's in that best blend of fusion and soul that was going down at Columbia in the late 70s – but with some spacier Bob James touches too! Most of the cuts were arranged by Byron Olsen, who's got an equally sensitive ear as Franklin – and although there's a bit of vocals on the record, most of the focus is on instrumental grooves – especially Rodney's work on the keys. Titles include the classics 'I Like The Music Make It Hot', 'Spanish Flight', and 'On The Path' – plus 'Yours', 'Life Moves On', and the extended 'Spring Suite'. You'll Never Know is fully-formed genius from the amazing Rodney Franklin – one of the best keyboard stars to emerge from the late 70s scene! Franklin's got a great talent for balancing influences from jazz and soul in ways that are similar to contemporaries George Duke and Bobby Lyle – and like both of those players, he still stands strong in jazz, but makes some key nods to soul music on this set – adding in a bit of vocals where needed, and moving into some R&B-drenched fusion lines that all sound pretty darn hip! As on previous records, Rodney plays both acoustic and electric keys – blending them wonderfully for a very deep sound – and the group behind him features some especially nice work on reeds, which bring sharper edges to some of the best tracks on the set. There's a wonderfully deep feel to the whole thing – way more than you'd expect for a major label release at the time – and titles include 'Felix Leo', 'The Watcher', 'The Groove', 'Journey', 'You'll Never Know', 'Return', and 'Parkay Man'. Next is the self-titled Rodney Franklin – tremendous work from Rodney Franklin – one of our favorite soulful fusion players from the end of the 70s! The album's a keyboard delight through and through – and Rodney plays both acoustic and electric piano, often on the same track – which creates this nicely expanded sound that works well with the album's tight arrangements! There's a fair bit of soul in the mix too – some rhythms that make a few numbers great groovers, courtesy of Tom Tom arrangements – and some other full moments handled by Patrick Williams. Titles include a wonderful version of 'Windy City' – the cut you might know from a classic Carl Davis recording – plus 'On The Path', 'I Like The Music Make It Hot', 'Life Moves On', 'Creation', and 'In The Center'. Endless Flight is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and fusion – smoothed together nicely, but never in a way that's slick or commercial! Franklin's got a keen ear that lets him sit on both sides of the fence wonderfully – in a way that so many other players tried in later years, but never managed to do without losing their groove or selling out too much. Part of the strength of the album is the way that it mixes together acoustic and electric keys from track to track – deepening the spirit of the album through a good sense of pacing and mood, and also offsetting vocal tracks with some key instrumental numbers. Tom Washington produced and heavily helped in the arrangements – and titles include 'Vibrations', 'Benetta', 'Cancion Para Mi Mama', 'Dance Tonight', 'Endless Flight', 'Return To The Source', 'Mensaje De Dios', and a surprisingly great funky take on 'Hill Street Blues'. Includes one bonus track – 'The Groove (single version)'. CD

Erroll Garner gets a great added boost here – thanks to Jose Mangual Jr, who plays congas on this great date from 1971! The presence of Mangual's congas make the album sound a bit like some of the George Shearing Amigos albums on MPS – a sound that still echoes the older modes of the players, but which has a slightly more contemporary groove – one that's almost slightly funky at points. The whole thing is key proof that, even when he wasn't at the top of the jazz charts, Erroll Garner could still deliver the goods – in a way that takes his already-rhythmic style of piano work into a whole new generation! Titles include 'Eldorado', 'Something', 'Gemini', 'How High The Moon', 'It Could Happen To You', and 'These Foolish Things'. CD

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A limited vinyl collection of work from the legendary Chicago pianist Muhal Richard Abrams – one of the founding members of the AACM, a hell of an improviser, and a musician who's also featured here with a focus on both his larger compositional vision, and some of his rare electronic performances! Side one features the classic 'The Bird Song' from the late 60s – a long piece that features Anthony Braxton on alto, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre on tenor, Leroy Jenkins on violin, Thurman Barker on drums, and Abrams on piano and clarinet – plus some vocals from David Moore. Next are two shorter electronic pieces from 1989 and 1995 – 'Conversations With The Three Of Me' and 'Think All Focus One'. The set finishes with the title track of Abrams' great album 'Spihumonesty' – with Muhal on piano and electronics, Amina Claudine Myers on electric piano and organ, Roscoe Mitchell on alto and flute, Yousef Yancey on theremin, and George Lewis on trombone and electronics. LP, Vinyl record album

A really fantastic album from Jaimie Branch – one that's even more powerful than the first Fly Or Die set – which is saying a heck of a lot, given that that record hit most of us with a pretty hard punch! The sound is even more groundbreaking than before – moving well beyond jazz, although there's plenty of that in the mix too – to reflect Branch's connection to so many different musical communities in the contemporary scene! Jaimie brings a lot of anger and frustration at the current political situation into the music – a great reminder that with the right focus, jazz can be used for so many different cultural aims – especially when handled this well, in a lineup that features Jaimie on trumpet, electronics, and a bit of voice – with Lester St Louis on cello and percussion, Jason Ajemian on bass and percussion, and Chad Taylor on drums, mbira, and xylophone. The record also features guest work from Ben Lamar Gay and Marvin Tate on voice, Matt Schneider on 12 string guitar, and Dan Bitney on percussion and synth – and titles include 'Prayer For Amerikkka (parts 1 & 2)', 'Lesterlude', 'Love Song', 'Simple Silver Surfer', 'Bird Dogs Of Paradise', 'Nuevo Roquero Estereo', and 'Twentey Three N Me Jupiter Redux'. CD

Beautiful solo sounds from Angel Bat Dawid – a Chicago clarinetist who works here with the same inventive spirit as the other contemporary artists on the International Anthem label! By that, we mean that although Angel's music starts in jazz, it quickly becomes something else – as she assembled the record not from a solitary solo performance, but by overdubbing sounds she'd recorded around the globe, and back home in Chicago – mixing her own very beautiful reed lines with a variety of other instrumentation – all recorded on cell phone, which gives the whole thing a wonderfully fresh feel! Don't worry about the album being too gimmicky, or too DIY – as it's got the same appeal as a studio-recorded spiritual session by a larger group – and there's plenty of focus on Dawid's incredible solos on her chosen instrument, with a vibe that's likely to have her rising to the level of clarinet giants like Jimmy Guiffre or John Carter. Titles include 'Black Family', 'Capetown', 'The Oracle', 'We Are Starzz', 'London', and 'What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black'. LP, Vinyl record album

An amazingly simple – but amazingly satisfying session from Dexter Gordon! The group's a totally solid quartet with Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums – and the groove is right in the pocket with a solid solid soulful feel that you don't always get on Gordon's other Blue Note albums! There's a simple elegance here that's really beautiful – Gordon at his post-bop best, but without any of the over-extended modes of his too-long solo years – a mix that's really rare, and carried off impeccably for this set. The record starts with the amazing 'Soy Califa', a nice hardbop number with a good Latiny feel, then slides into lots of other nice ones like 'McSplivens', 'The Backbone', and 'Don't Explain'. LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work from funky Lou – unreleased for years! This is an excellent live set that was recorded in 1970, when Lou was at the height of his Blue Note powers, and working with a group that included Idris Muhammad (drums), Melvin Sparks (guitar), and Leon Spencer (organ). Recorded live at the Cadillac Club in Newark, New Jersey, this set's a perfect document of what a funky lounge gig was like in the era of the organ/tenor combos. The group swings hard and funky, with a sound that's like their best Blue Note recordings, and the track list includes 'Peepin', 'The Scorpion', 'Alligator Boogaloo', and 'Footpattin' Time'. CD