Herbie Hancock's "The Prisoner" was one of his first records after leaving the Miles Davis quintet in 1968. The album was done in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, a musical social statement focused around civil rights while exploring the vastness of the new jazz form known as post-bop. The recording features Garnett Brown on trombone, Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone and alto flute, Johnny Coles on flugelhorn, Buster Williams on bass, and Albert Heath on drums. Although post-bop wasn't as conventional as jazz or bop, Hancock's challenging compositions invite listeners into his world of simple melodies and emotionally austere music.

Pianist Noah Haidu sees a certain irony in his current recorded output. “I love composing but improvisation has always been my greatest passion. When I started releasing music in 2011 I relied on my songwriting to make a unique artistic statement, but I’ve come full circle and realized that finding my own voice on a simple, unadorned standard is a rare and necessary endeavor.” Haidu embraced that endeavor on his 2023 release Standards, and on Standards II, due out April 12, 2024 on Sunnyside Records. The new album is a breathtaking masterpiece featuring Haidu with two of the music’s most esteemed players, Buster Williams on bass and Billy Hart on drums.

Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launching his solo career. All About Jazz's Jack Bowers stated "At age eighty-seven, saxophonist Benny Golson is one of the last surviving links to the Golden Age of modern jazz".

During his long career, Cedar Walton has been one of hard bop's most lyrical pianists. His funky touch and cogent melodic sense graced the recordings of many of jazz's greatest players. He was also one of the music's more underrated composers; although he was always a first-rate interpreter of standards, Walton wrote a number of excellent tunes ("Mosaic," "Ugetsu," and "Bolivia," to name a few) that found their way into Art Blakey's book during the pianist's early-'60s stint with the Jazz Messengers. On this album, Walton and his musician friends Buster Williams and Willie Jones II, have compiled an album of songs dedicated to the works of American composer Victor Young.

One of the great CTI recordings of alltime with a lineup that simply plays some of the best modern jazz you will ever hear. It was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in November 1971.

Denny Zeitlin is an American jazz pianst and composer. He's recorded more than 35 albums including more than 100 original compositions. On this release for Japanese Venus Records he's joins the bassist Buster Williams and drummer Al Forster to perform the Great American Songbook favorites and more jazz standards.

"Crossings" is jazz pianist Herbie Hancock's tenth studio album originally released in 1972. The record was the second during Hancock's Mwandishi period, which featured a string of albums that focused on experimental electronics. "Crossings" was the first album to feature the newest member to Hancock's group, synthesizer player Patrick Gleeson.

On the Wings of an Eagle is an album by pianist John Hicks, recorded in 2006. The album was recorded by the working trio led by Hicks, with bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Louis Hayes. The Penguin Guide to Jazz commented that "Hicks died eight weeks after the recording, which lends it a certain poignancy, but even without that association it would be a cracking set".

"Mwandishi" is one of the first albums on which Herbie Hancock departs from the traditional jazz idioms and pursues a new original style that would generate a wider audience appeal, most notably manifested in his 1973 album "Head Hunters".

Sally Night is on the Brink of Fame in the Jazz world. A superior singer & a songwriter who was born and raised in England but has performed often in New York during the past few years. Sally Night is an accomplished singer with a sultry, lissom contralto voice & sensuous delivery, who can also swing & put a fresh spin on old classics.

Following stints playing with Weather Report, McCoy Tyner and Wayne Shorter, drummer Alphonse Mouzon released this acclaimed debut album as leader in 1973. Long out of print, "The Essence Of Mystery" includes nine original songs performed by Mouzon and his band… Some frenetic drumming and good jazz/rock arrangments.

A decorated veteran of the Betty Carter Trio, pianist Cyrus Chestnut came out the experience relatively unscathed with a style and directive clearly his own. It's one steeped in the gospel church traditions of his native Baltimore, but also enlivened by an open ear aimed at a multitude of other influences. He has enjoyed stints with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Vanessa Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Joe Lovano. He also speaks fondly of his valuable tenures with vocalists Jon Hendricks and Joe Williams. With the fleetness of Bud Powell and his own distinctive two-handed lushly impressionistic harmonies, Cyrus offers an imaginative setlist with his long-time friends Buster Williams and Lenny White and together they breathe new life into the vernerable jazz piano trio format.

An incredible record - and virtually the blueprint for countless other keyboard records to come! At the height of his 70s powers, Herbie really takes off into space with this set - moving away from more commercial music, and hitting a groove that's totally righteous, totally electric, and completely mindblowing! The album's got a bit of a Headhunters vibe, but it also veers off into some very wild analogue electronics too - a mix of Fender Rhodes, clavinet, melotron, and echoplex processing - augmented by additional work on Arp from Patrick Gleeson. Other players on the set include Bennie Maupin on reeds, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Buster Williams on bass, and Billy Hart on drums, and the great Buck Clarke rounds out the combo on percussion.

Heads of State, featuring four of the most respected and admired jazz artists of our time, releases its first recording "Search for Peace". A band over 50 years in the making, Gary Bartz, Larry Willis, Buster Williams, and Al Foster had performed together countless times in different combinations and contexts over their storied careers, but it wasn't until September 2014 that they appeared as a quartet.

From his emergence in the mid-Eighties to the present, pianist Cyrus Chestnut has declared himself a committed stylist completely infatuated with his instrument and the art he's sworn allegiance to, jazz. Chestnut has consistently shown himself an improviser of rare ingenuity and grace, yet what most distinguishes him from other gifted pianists of our era may be the sheer pleasure that radiates from all that he plays. While the characteristic cheer that Chestnut displays on "Natural Essence" can be attributed to his undiminished vigor and attentiveness, the presence of his notable cohorts also contributes to the leader's focus. With the dynamic Lenny White on drums and the redoubtable Buster Williams on bass Cyrus & company breathe new life and vitality into that most venerable of jazz ensemble formats, the piano trio.