ou Can Count On Me! City Soul Sound & Jazz Licks For Hipsters (2003)

Mose Allison - The Sage Of Tippo (1998) {2CD Set, Atlantic–32 Jazz 32068 rec 1961-1968}
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© 1961-68, 1998 Atlantic / 32 Jazz | 32068
Jazz / Blues / Hard Bop / Jazz Blues / Vocal Jazz / Piano

As someone once said, Mose Allison songs are like haiku – each very much like another, and yet each with their own qualities. So you can pretty much get any Mose album, and get a fair sampling. There are a few outliers: his 50s albums only had one or two vocals per album, but this collection is past that. Swinging Machine has horns, and that is included here. Western Man and Middle-Class White Boy favored electric piano, but neither of those are here. Down-home jazzy piano, wry lyrics, easy-going vocals, and an attentive rhythm section – that's basically any Mose album from 1960 onward, and four of them are here.

Rhino continues with their admirable excavation of the Atlantic vaults with this, their second round of some of the label's '60s jazz highlights. In the spotlight are such instrumental heavyweights as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Eddie Harris, Charles Mingus, Hank Crawford, and Yusef Lateef, and on the vocal end there's fine work by Betty Carter and Mose Allison. Yes, this album might have a tough time competing with similar collections from the Blue Note and Impulse! imprints. But then again, those labels would be hard-pressed to come up with a selection as varied as this: From the truly idiosyncratic Ellington musings of Kirk ("Creole Love Call") to a taste of Aquarius age jazz by Charles Lloyd ("Dreamweaver: Meditation/Dervish Dance"), this 14-track disc truly runs the '60s jazz gamut.

This studio session from 1977 features Count Basie in a quintet with vibraphonist Milt Jackson and guitarist Joe Pass. The predictably excellent group performs spirited versions of some of Basie's "hits" (including "Jive at Five" and "One O'Clock Jump"), some blues and a few standards. It is always interesting to hear Basie in a hornless setting like this one where he gets opportunities to stretch out on the piano.

Various Artists - Move On Up: The Very Best Of Northern Soul (2015) {3CD Universal 5358725}
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© 2015 Universal Music | 5358725
Rhythm and Blues / Soul / Northern Soul / Motown

3CDs, 75 songs, and a set list that definitely lives up to the title – a collection that not only brings forth the best of Northern Soul from the glory days of the 60s, but also features lots of tracks from that time that have only been discovered in recent years too! Northern Soul isn't just a static concept on UK dancefloors – and instead has been driven by decades of record collectors and DJs with an ever-shifting ear for a groove – one that's lead to a nicely expansive version of the music that's really continued to thrill us with collections like this.

Four albums dating from 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 from legendary blues singer Bobby Bland, originally released on MCA. Bland had a long and influential career with the ‘Dreamer’ album (BGOCD63) and ‘His California Album’ (BGOCD64) both creating great critical and commercial acclaim. Rock artists such as Van Morrison, Mick Hucknall and David Coverdale are all disciples of Bland. Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes.