Blowing Up Paradise

Saxophonist and composer John Klemmer was restlessly following some inner call in the late 1960s through the late '70s. Aside from his big-boned tenor sound and his trademark unique Echoplex on certain tunes, he was making music that crossed numerous jazz, pop, rock, soul, and Latin genres. 1978's Arabesque is a case in point. Co-produced by the saxophonist and Stephan Goldman, Klemmer used a pool of studio players on this date in addition to a small band. Drummer Lenny White and bassist Abe Laboriel made up his trio, while pianists Roger Kellaway, Pat Rebillot, and Victor Feldman alternately held down the piano chair. The most telling thing about this date is Klemmer's employment of some of the best Brazilian percussionists in the game in Airto Moreira and Alex Acuña…

This 52 disc Ultimate Collection features music from the Delta to the Big Cities. This special first edition also includes a historic puck harmonica. How blue can you get? You will find your favorites here and discover some hidden gems, as the 'ABC of the Blues' brings together the best of the best.

KENSO is from Japan. The music combines a Progressive jazz-rock or a Progressive rock mixed with jazz. The emphasis is on performance and improvisation with complex themes, breaks, elaborated developments and arrangements remind HATFIELD AND THE NORTH and BRAND X. The musicianship is excellent…

Vanilla Fudge was one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal. While the band did record original material, they were best-known for their loud, heavy, slowed-down arrangements of contemporary pop songs, blowing them up to epic proportions and bathing them in a trippy, distorted haze…

The Complete Jan Akkerman is a new 26 CD box set which brings together all the studio albums (and more) of Dutch guitar legend Jan Akkerman, who found international success with the band Focus. The creative guitarist is well known for his individualistic style, combining rock, jazz, blues, and baroque into his solo projects. This 26-disc set includes the solo studio long-players, his most important live recordings and a CD of rare and previously unreleased tracks.
The booklet includes a biography, some unpublished photos and an album-to-album breakdown, featuring full credits (including never-before-published facts about who played what on specific albums) and Jan’s own memories about the 23 studio and live albums, taken from recent interviews with Jan…

Born in 1945 into a musical family, the daughter of big band leader and saxophonist, Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis, Beatrice Melba Smith adopted the stage name Melba Moore. Although she loved to act her first love was music and she later decided to focus on a recording career. During the time of releasing her first two albums Melba Moore picked up a Grammy Nomination for Best New Artist. 1978 saw the release of Melba Moore’s first album for Epic Records, MELBA. The production duties were left in the extremely capable hands of Philly Soul production duo, McFadden & Whitehead.

Avid Jazz here presents five classic Urbie Green albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “All About Urbie Green”; “Blues & Other Shades of Green”; “Urbie Green & His Band”; “Urbie Green Septet” and Urbie: East Coast Jazz”.
Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1926, Urbie Green began studying the piano at age seven before following his brother Jack and taking up the trombone in 1938.. Following stints in a number of New York bands Green joined the Woody Herman Herd and remained there for three years forging a reputation as a great band and session trombonist…