This remastered two-fer combines guitarist Mel Brown's second Impulse release from 1968, The Wizard, with Blues for We released the following year. The Wizard is a straight-ahead soul-jazz date picking up where Chicken Fat left off with a few originals alongside funky renditions of “Ode to Billie Joe” and Pee Wee Crayton’s R&B hit of the late '40s “Blues After Hours.” Blues for We relies more on an interesting selection of cover versions ranging from “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Son of a Preacher Man” to the bubblegum staple by the 1910 Fruitgum Company “Indian Giver” and Acker Bilk’s “Stranger on the Shore,” which was the theme of a BBC television drama. Brown’s guitar work on both sessions is fluid and greasy, as are the funky drum licks, but occasionally, the arrangements drift into superior background music. New liner notes are absent, but the original packaging - front and back cover art and liner notes - remain intact.

Comin' Your Way is an album by jazz saxophonist Stanley Turrentine recorded for the Blue Note label. With Tommy Turrentine (trumpet), Horace Parlan (piano) George Tucker (bass), and Al Harewood (drums). Recorded at Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Small group. 1995 reissue of a sumptuous '60s Soul Jazz date. Horace Parlan at his bluesy best.

As part of Blue Note's Finest in Jazz series, guitarist Grant Green is spotlighted on six tracks recorded between 1969 and 1971, along with his first release for the label, "Miss Ann's Tempo," in 1961. This set is aimed at the casual funk and acid jazz fan, which is the reason his earlier hard bop material is substituted with later groove tracks like "California Green," "Cantaloupe Woman," and "Down Here on the Ground" (which was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest for their track "Vibes and Stuff"). These performances provide a decent snapshot of the guitarist's later recordings.

Midnight Ramble, released in 1983 on Milestone, was saxophonist Hank Crawford's return to recording after a four-year break following his departure from Kudu. It was the beginning of a decades-long relationship with the prestigious jazz label. Crawford, a veteran of Ray Charles, had long been associated with soul-jazz groove-oriented music. On this date, he delivers a solid, straight-ahead session with some notable surprises. The first is that he plays not only his trademark alto saxophone, but also electric piano. Next is his rhythm section: Dr. John on piano and organ, Charles "Flip" Greene on bass, guitarist Calvin Newborn (brother of Phineas), and stone-cold soul-jazz drummer Bernard Purdie. But that isn't all. Crawford also includes five other horns: two trumpets, trombone, bass saxophone, and David "Fathead" Newman on tenor. Needless to say, Crawford's idea of "straight-ahead" still contains plenty, plenty soul. The program is solid, top to bottom; it's amiable, relaxed, and deeply rooted in the blues.

Organist John Patton is featured on this set in a stripped-down trio with Harold Alexander (on tenor and flute) and drummer Hugh Walker. Patton's one-chord funky vamps are fine in small doses, but the endless repetitions on these rather simplistic originals may drive alert listeners batty after awhile.

By the time John Patton recorded Along Came John, his debut as a leader, he had already become a familiar name around the Blue Note studios. He, guitarist Grant Green, and drummer Ben Dixon had become the label's regular soul-jazz rhythm section, playing on sessions by Lou Donaldson, Don Wilkerson, and Harold Vick, among others. They had developed an intuitive, empathetic interplay that elevated many of their sessions to near-greatness, at least in the realm of soul-jazz. That's one of the reasons why Along Came John is so successful - the three know each other so well that their grooves are totally natural, which makes them quite appealing. These original compositions may not all be memorable, but the band's interaction, improvisation, and solos are…

Taking in Horace Silver's fertile '50s stretch (volume two covers the '60s), this Blue Note best-of disc is the perfect introductory set for listeners new to the hard bop giant. One of the first of the soul-jazz innovators (listen to that gospel-fired left hand and all that dancefloor-friendly material), Silver also wrote some of the most original cuts of the period and – like Art Blakey – provided a home for many of the best young players of the era. In fact, Silver headed up the first incarnation of the Jazz Messengers with Blakey, some of the fruits of which are heard here ("Preachin'," "Doodlin'," "Room 608"). Moving on to such classic LPs as Six Pieces of Silver ("Cool Eyes," "Senor Blues") and Blowin' the Blues Away ("Peace," "Sister Sadie"), Silver delivers some of the most sophisticated modern swing around with help from the likes of Hank Mobley, Junior Cook, Donald Byrd, Blue Mitchell, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes. A jazz primer with plenty of memorable tunes to boot.

Hummingbird were a British band, formed in 1974 by Bobby Tench of The Jeff Beck Group. The band recorded three albums which were released by A&M Records in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe and employed Ian Samwell as their producer. The original line-up included members of the second Jeff Beck Group, vocalist and guitarist Bobby Tench, keyboardist Max Middleton, bassist Clive Chaman, drummer Conrad Isidore and second guitarist Bernie Holland. At the start of sessions for their first album they were joined by Jeff Beck for a brief period but he did not contribute to the album and left to work on his own project. After the first album Bernie Holland was replaced by guitarist Robert Ahwai and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie replaced Isidore on the next two albums, vocalists Madeline Bell and Liza Strike were brought in to complement the band.

Rusty Bryant, a veteran R&B tenor player, was somewhat forgotten at the time of his debut Prestige album, but due to the commercial success of this recording, Bryant would record seven more sessions for Prestige during the next five years. Actually, this date is a bit surprising, with Bryant sticking exclusively to alto and sometimes using an electrified model similar to what Lou Donaldson was playing at the time. The music (mostly blues-oriented originals) is enjoyable, with plenty of boogaloos and soulful vamps. In addition to Bryant, the main soloists are guitarist Grant Green, in excellent form, and organist Sonny Phillips.

This was, in fact, the second release by the spin-off of the 2nd Jeff Beck Group. Keyboardist Max Middleton, bassist Clive Chaman, and Vocalist, Guitarist Bobble Tench remain from that wonderful band. On this 2nd release, they have a new drummer in seasoned funk, R&B, and jazz drummer Bernard Purdie, and add guitarist Robert Ahwai. This is a solid session of funkie, jazzie rock, but the drop off from the 1st self titled, Hummingbird release, is in the songs. The primary songwriter on that 1st release was the drummer, Conrad Isadore. Without his tropical vision, style and imagery, we are left with a fairly mundane R&B Rock workout. But these guys are great musicians, and they take this so-so material and make it fun and powerful.

Pianist Gene Harris' 1992 quartet (with guitarist Ron Eschete, bassist Luther Hughes, and drummer Harold Jones) explores ten wide-ranging selections on this CD. But despite the very different chord changes, they are able to infuse the music with so much soul that the results are consistently bluesy. Among the tunes that Harris and his group explore are Horace Silver's "Strollin'", "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," "Jeannine", "You Make Me Feel So Young", and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams". An excellent effort.

Today, the inimitable jazz vocalist, activist, and nominal godfather of the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible, returns with the announcement of his new album “Ancient Future”. Out 17th March via London jazz aficionados and analog specialists Gearbox Records , the new record follows his critically acclaimed album “Mothership”, which was released in 2019 and saw him collaborate with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and more.

This CD was the first of the "Trip Tease" collections, of which there are three volumes. This is not to be confused with the "Blue Note Trip" series which does include remixes of songs. So, these are the originals, not remixes. The earliest track on here is "I'll Remember April," a 1953 piece by Lee Konitz & Gerry Mulligan. There are a handful of other tracks from the mid to late 1950s, including Kenny Dorham's fabulous "Afrodesia" from 1955 or Chet Baker's & Bud Shank's "Jimmy's Theme" from 1956, but most of the material on these discs comes from the fertile 1960s and 1970s era, when many Blue Note artists fused elements of soul and funk along with traditional jazz.