Acid 7.0

Sonny Phillips is a decent, if derivative organist who recorded three albums for Prestige from 1969-70 and a pair for Muse in the mid-1970s. This 1997 CD reissue has all of the music from Sure 'Nuff and Black on Black, a couple of fine soul-jazz recordings. The earlier set is a quintet/sextet set with tenor saxophonist Houston Person, guitarist Joe "Boogaloo" Jones, electric bassist Bob Bushnell, drummer Bernard Purdie and sometimes trumpeter Virgil Jones. The later date features Phillips with tenor saxophonist Rusty Bryant, guitarist Melvin Sparks, electric bassist Jimmy Lewis and drummer Bernard Purdie. The music is blues- and groove-oriented, with "Oleo" being one of the few departures. Person and Bryant in particular have fine solos, while Phillips' chugging organ is appealing. This is his definitive set.

Anyone who likes the B-3 Hammond organ soul-jazz style and doesn't mind a bit of pop-lounge spice occasionally stirred into the sauce should check out this compilation. It combines Pitts' first two LPs, Introducing the Fabulous Trudy Pitts and These Blues of Mine (both from 1967) on one CD. Introducing is a strong debut, divided between covers of pretty mainstream standards ("The Spanish Flea," "It Was a Very Good Year," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker") and gutsier straight soul-jazz, including four originals by Bill Carney, whose "Organology" is a highlight for its nervous, bopping edge. The languorous swells of the opening number "Steppin' in Minor" make you think you're in for a set of swank lounge-jazz, but the pace quickly picks up, and Pitts really catches fire on "Take Five," jamming a lot of notes into her improvisation without sounding self-indulgent…

Franco-Algerian collective Acid Arab are releasing their third album: ٣ (Trois). The ten tracks on this eagerly-awaited record are serious dancefloor bangers, and will also be providing delightful private listening experiences, thanks to their sophisticated production and to the intriguing, diverse performances by eight guest vocalists from North Africa, Syria & Turkey: Wael Alkak, Cem Yldiz, Ghizlane Melih, Khnafer Lazhar, Sofiane Saidi, Fella Soltana, Cheb Halim & Rachid Taha.

The men behind the European downtempo outfit Zero 7 – producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker – launched their careers in the music industry as tea boys at a London recording studio. Shortly thereafter, however, both were in the thick of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the best part of the '90s honing their production skills behind the scenes. Then, after taking on the name of a nightclub in Honduras, the duo gradually began unleashing their own ideas onto an unsuspecting public.

The prolific and long-running De-Phazz (also known as DePhazz) is a contemporary lounge project led by Peter "Pit" Baumgartner, a German-Austrian producer who has surrounded himself with a shifting cast of collaborators that includes vocalists Barbara Lahr, Karl Frierson, and Pat Appleton. Beginning with Detunized Gravity (1997), Baumgartner and company have explored various forms of lounge music, much of it balancing samples with live instrumentation, with innumerable cross-sections of vintage jazz and soul, easy listening, and Latin music.