At The Five Spot, Vol. 2

This is the second volume that document the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little quintet's playing at the Five Spot. It features a group made up of pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Ed Blackwell really stretching out during long versions of Little's "Aggression" and the standard "Like Someone in Love." Dolphy's playing - whether on alto, bass clarinet, or flute - always defied categorization, while Little (who passed away less than three months later) was the first new voice on the trumpet to emerge after Clifford Brown's death in 1956. An excellent set that records what may have been Dolphy's finest group ever, as well as one of that era's best working bands.

After having left the ensemble of Charles Mingus and upon working with John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy formed a short-lived but potent quintet with trumpeter Booker Little, who would pass away three months after this recording. Despite all of the obstacles and subsequent tragedy, this quintet became legendary over the years - justifiably so - and developed into a role model for all progressive jazz combos to come. The combined power of Dolphy and Little - exploring overt but in retrospect not excessive dissonance and atonality - made them a target for critics but admired among the burgeoning progressive post-bop scene. With the always stunning shadings of pianist Mal Waldron, the classical-cum-daring bass playing of Richard Davis, and the colorful drumming of alchemistic Ed Blackwell, there was no stopping this group…

The Perfect Jazz Collection, 25 historic full length album recordings from the vaults of Columbia, Epic, RCA Victor and Bluebird labels. Remastered CD versions with extra tracks were available. Each album is packaged in a card wallet, in a nice facsimile vinyl format. If you want a history of Jazz, this is a bargain. Classic albums included are Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, Dave Brubeck's Time Out, Billie Holiday's Lady In Satin, Nina Simone's Sings The Blues, Erroll Garner's Concert By The Sea, Charlie Parker's Bird and many more!

A prolific electronic producer and keyboardist from London, Paul Hardcastle has enjoyed over three decades of popularity with his varied dance-, R&B-, and jazz-influenced albums. Although often associated with the smooth jazz genre, Hardcastle's synth-based style is more akin to instrumental dance music and electro-R&B with the occasional vocal and saxophone flourishes. Initially emerging with his breakthrough single "19" off 1985's Hardcastle, he gained wider success with the launch of his crossover Jazzmasters album in 1993, which hit number one on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart. Over the years, he has continued to diversify his offerings, issuing regular volumes across several series including Top 20-charting albums like 2002's Hardcastle 3, 2013's The Chill Lounge, Vol. 2, and 2014's Movin & Groovin.

Back in the late 1960s, Solid State put out four LPs in their series Jazz for a Sunday Afternoon. The five titles with Dizzy Gillespie have been more recently reissued on a two-CD Blue Note set titled Live at the Village Vanguard. Laserlight improves upon the packaging by including two additional titles (from Vol. 3) on their first two CDs; unfortunately, the two lengthy songs ("Satin Doll" and "Straight No Chaser") from a Harry "Sweets" Edison date that comprised Vol. 4 remain out of print. The first disc of this three-CD set has a very interesting, if sometimes erratic date matching Gillespie with violinist Ray Nance (sometimes replaced by trombonist Garnett Brown), baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Richard Davis, and either Mel Lewis or Elvin Jones on drums. Nance's violin playing is adventurous and eccentric, and there are some loose moments, but Dizzy holds the music together and Pepper Adams is in top form.

Awakenings 2007 Vol. 1: New Worlds (2007). Brendan Pollard donates his awesome twenty-minute 'E-Live 2006 Rehearsal' to get this double CD set underway. The initial sounds are as if vast objects are being hurled into the sea accompanied by all sorts of weird whooshes and twitters. A superb combination of sequences emerge from the aquatic depths. These meld rapid melodic runs as well as bass pulses. It is all underpinned by some wonderful mellotron. In other words Berlin School Heaven. More sequences are added accompanied by a flutey lead line. In the seventh minute things subside to more thick analogue sonic effects, coming out of it with a decidedly 'Ricochet' sounding collage of sounds. Very impressive indeed…