Featured

Remastered by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London. Pressed at Pallas in Germany!

This collection of classic jazz interpretations by Billie Holiday features all-star accompaniments from various sessions from 1935 to 1937. Tracks 5 & 6 on side A and tracks 4 & 5 on side B were taken from Billie's first and fifth sessions under her own name.

"When planning this album, I had a hellish time trying to choose what I thought were the absolute cream of Billie Holiday. In the course of this wrestling, it struck me that not only were Billie's vocals incredibly perfect, but that I could not remember a single instance of anyone playing a bad solo or even a bad phrase among the hundred or more performances I had to choose from in the golden period of her work. Checking over records (which was almost unnecessary, because I could still remember them almost note for note) was a rather beautiful and somewhat shattering experience. Jazz, a product of so many things - musical evolution, the social scene of a particular time, the economic atmosphere of the moment, what somebody had for breakfast that day - and none of those things will ever come together again as they did when these records were made." – Liner Notes

For the first time, the 1982 recordings in Groningen, Netherlands with Leo Bruin have arrived on vinyl. Here you find R.L. Burnside, alone with only his guitar and his voice. Showing off his skills even in his younger days, in the vein of John Lee Hooker and Fred McDowell. - Record Store Day

Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).

While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.

Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch. - Effecient Space

Possibly the greatest link between jazz/blues and rock and roll is Big Joe turner. A Kansas City native, Turner gained acclaim with Count Basie in New York. He collaborated with pianist Pete Johnson developing the boogie-woogie genre. Turner continued to play with jazz greats like Art Tatum. His exchanges or shouting at instrumentalists generated an indelible trademark.

When he signed with Atlantic Records in the early ‘50s, a legend was born. Many people consider Turner’s “Shake Rattle And Roll” to be the song that launched rock and roll (despite more popular versions from Bill Haley and Elvis Presley). He has been inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame and the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The Boss Of The Blues represents Turner’s debut with Atlantic Records in 1956. The title description is Joe Turner Sings Kansas City Jazz. That is exactly what the crux of this album is….the connection between blues and the singer’s Kansas City jazz roots. With a stellar ensemble (including piano, trombone, saxophones and trumpet) Turner deftly executes singing prowess and agility, with brilliant arrangements by Ernie Wilkins.

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Shirley Scott set an enduring standard for tenor saxophone/organ groups, beginning with this their first recording together. Davis' authoritative, hard swinging style came through his seasoning as a key player in the Count Basie band. Scott, an accomplished pianist, took up the organ when she joined Davis in 1955, emerging with her distinctive, driving yet subtle style virtually fully formed. The music on this 1958 date holds few surprises; it's meat and potatoes all the way, but it's made using the choicest ingredients. The barbecue sauce is applied in moderation, as the band steers closer to Basie-style swing than to overt R&B riffing. Davis and his working band -- Scott and drummer Arthur Edgehill -- are joined here by reed player Jerome Richardson and bassist George Duvivier. Richardson, playing flute on most tracks, provides a useful complement to Davis' tenor. Duvivier is indispensable in anchoring the music with a commanding walking bass. Edgehill's quick, light touch helps maintain the swinging, jazzy feel. The tracks comprise three strong Davis originals, two standards, including "But Beautiful," which ranks as a master class in ballad playing, and the CD's centerpiece, the 12-minute plus "In the Kitchen." – All Music

Classic post bop blues-jazz straight from 1962, beautifully remastered for today.

The incomparable and profoundly influential pianist/singer-songwriter Mose Allison – who’s inspired everyone from Georgie Fame, The Who and The Clash to Van Morrison and Pixies – developed his own unique, idiosyncratic style that melded an ironic sense of wit and humour with country-blues inflections and a bebop-esque vocabulary. Besides cool playing and his uniquely smoky singing, has great taste in material. "Hey Good Lookin'" fits right in with revisited versions of "I Love the Life I Live", "I Ain't Got Nobody" and "Baby Please Don't Go", complete with what the singer himself calls his distinctive 'involuntary groan' during the piano solo. Teo Macero's intimate production makes it feel like you're right there in the studio. - hhv

 Harrold has come through with a recording that is altogether more distinctive and contemporary, one that seems to reflect his range of musical interests. It contains some jazz, to be sure, but a dozen tracks feature vocals of one kind or another on eight tracks: found speech (a voicemail from the leader's mom), mock news reports, singing, and rapping. The purely instrumental tracks are not swinging or standards but, rather, atmospheric groove tunes of various stripes that act as a tacked-on echo ("Lullaby"), interlude ("Ethereal Souls"), or coda ("Bubba Rides Again"). 

The stylistic range is wide, though all the music is generally in the realm of soul and hip-hop. For example, "Stay This Way" begins as a kind of slow jam romance tune, except Bilal sings it with a wide range of idiosyncrasy, from a whisper to a snarl — accompanied by the leader's heraldic trumpet but also by some distorted organ. Then, boom, incomes Chris Dave on drums playing a super-hip-hop groove as Bilal plays call-and-response with background vocalists. Rapper Big K.R.I.T. takes a laid-back verse in the middle, and the tune goes out on Harrold riding above the groove, which is somehow slick and quirky at the same time. It is marvelous and unlike just about anything. - Pop Matters