VA The Soul of Spring

Though more often associated with the formation of the funky 70s, the Rifkind brothers (Roy & Julie) started Spring Records in the soulful 60s, cutting great soul music through to the early 80s. Evidenced here 23 times.

Twenty of the jazz world's greatest piano players with 20 of their most influential albums. The spectrum ranges from Bill Evans or Duke Ellington via Ramsey Lewis or Ahmad Jamal to Red Garland or Tommy Flanagan, through to Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, or the debut album's of Herbie Hancock and Cecil Taylor, or the first recordings of Thelonious Monk.

Back in the '80s, Paul Murphy developed a cult following as the U.K. DJ who fueled the parties at the WAG Club's Jazz Room. By drawing heavily on the soul-jazz and hard bop records of the '50s and '60s, he developed something of an underground dance craze, one that ran parallel to Northern soul and one that got big enough to attract patrons as prominent as Jerry Dammers of the Specials. A record called The Jazz Club presented highlights from these swinging parties and Murphy continued to DJ outside of the WAG Club, but the trend faded away by the early '90s and, along with it, so did Murphy. Many years later, producer Dean Rudland eventually reconnected with Murphy via Facebook, a rekindling that led to this Ace compilation from 2014. The Return of Jazz Club: Dancefloor Classics from the Original Jazz Dance DJ is a 15-track collection culled from the Prestige and Riverside vaults…