2006 two CD compilation series from the team that brought you the Blue Series, the biggest selling Jazz series ever. These compilations will all cover distinct historical and stylistic phases of the label's history, gathering together tracks that are rarely anthologized alongside some of the more well known cuts. Each one will then be housed in a distinctive sleeve that looks like a Blue Note compilation that was done at the specific period covered by the release. Sharp Shades & Finger Snaps features 19 tracks including cuts from Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Lee Morgan and others.

One of the most satisfying recordings to be released in 1980 (and since reissued on CD in the OJC series), this date by pianist George Cables (who contributed four of the six group originals) features trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (who brought in "Byrdlike") and tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts in fiery form; the two horn players took time off from their much more commercial efforts for other labels. Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson is also in the sextet/septet with bassist Tony Dumas, drummer Peter Erskine, and sometimes percussionist Vince Charles; the one departure is "The Stroll," which is an adventurous piano-vibes duet by Cables and Hutcherson. The solos overall are concise and make expert use of each note. Cables' tunes (including "Morning Song," "I Told You So," and "Inner Glow") are generally catchy and memorable while "Byrdlike" gives the virtuosos an up-tempo blues to romp through. This logically conceived and well-paced set is a gem that is highly recommended.

The cover image for Tensegridad, the second album from the Argentinian SLD Trio, looks like a dolmen and it fits the music that both feels ancient and modern. While some types of avant-garde music seek to re-invent the language of music to the point of total estrangement, the strength of the SLD Trio lies in its ability to make sounds, rhythms and melodies that are experimental and inventive and yet almost feel like old folksongs. A new inscription written on an old stone.

The Hammond organ mastery of Jimmy Smith is arguably nowhere as profound as on 1959's Home Cookin'. Support is provided by the formidable trio of drummer Donald Bailey, guitarist Kenny Burrell, and tenor Percy France. Here they couple a few understated cool R&B classics with their own originals. The almost dirge-like cadence of "See See Rider" is given a bluesy and low-key workout, featuring tasty interaction between Smith and Burrell. The languid pace churns steadily as they trade off impressive solos with almost palpable empathy. Burrell's "Sugar Hill" swings with a refined post-bop attack…

Barefoot Dances and Other Visions is a seven-part suite composed in 2014 for the Frankfurt Radio Big Band. Each piece expresses a different kind of fantasy. We performed it live in two concerts in Frankfurt February ’14, then recorded it in the studio in September of that year.

Never one to take lyricism for granted, trumpeter and composer Freddie Hubbard entered Creed Taylor's studio for the third time in 1971 with the express purpose of making a record radically different from anything he'd cut before; he was looking for it to use electricity and to be out of the soul-jazz mold, but was also more ambitious and wanted to push that envelope and himself. Taylor and Hubbard assembled a band that included Herbie Hancock on Rhodes, guitarists Eric Gale and George Benson, bassist Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Airto Moreira on percussion, and Richard Wyands on acoustic piano to back him.

Manuel Rocheman comes from a family of musicians. On his mother’s side, his grandmother is a piano teacher, his grandfather a flautist, his mother plays cello and viola and his aunt the violin. His father, Lionel Rocheman (guitarist and actor), created the “Hootenanny” at the American Center in Paris, where performers came from around the world. As a 10 year old his brother gave him a wonderful record of Oscar Peterson playing solo (it was ‘Tracks’); Manuel already had his own track-record of four years of piano.

One of the preeminent vibraphonist's in jazz, this CD contains two complete LPs from the onset of Gary Burton’s career. The trio album New Vibe Man in Town marks Burton’s debut LP as a leader, while the quartet album Jazz Winds from a New Direction showcase the vibraphonist in collaboration with celebrated guitarist Hank Garland. Drummer Joe Morello is featured on both albums.

Reissue with the latest remastering. Features original cover artwork. One of Art Blakey's final recordings as a leader features two separate pianists (Benny Green and Mulgrew Miller) and two bassists (Leon Lee Dorsey and Lonnie Plaxico) taking part, along with the guest appearance of former Jazz Messenger Freddie Hubbard. Blakey was going deaf near the end of his life and sounds a tad tentative at times, while Hubbard's return may have been more to improve his chops (which had been in question after his experiments with fusion). The trumpeter seems rejuvenated by working with his former boss and his latest crop of Young Lions, who also include tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson.

A fantastic live performance from Stan Getz – recorded in Paris at the end of the 50s, and with maybe a bit more of an edge than some of his other European concerts! One of the key factors here is the budding modernist Martial Solal on piano – who makes a nicely surprising partner for Stan – in a group that also features Jimmy Gourley on guitar, Pierre Michelot on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums – certainly something of a French pick-up group, but one that's top shelf all the way through! Stan's got a wonderful sharpness to his tone – with that growing sense of fullness that would mature in the 60s, but still also this link that maybe goes a bit back towards Lester Young too – spun out on long takes of familiar tunes, very well-recorded as on other selections in this series.

Featuring prime Latin jazz cuts from the heyday of the mambo, Afro Cuban Jazz: 1947-1960 is really a better than average showcase for one of the music's best: Machito. In fact, this disc contains 13 sides by Machito & His Orchestra, including two bebop gems featuring Charlie Parker ("Mango Mangue," "No Noise, Pts. 1-2"). That's not to overlook the presence of one of the supreme champions of Latin jazz, Dizzy Gillespie ("Manteca"), Stan Kenton and his mathematically frenetic bongo jams, and J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding teaming up for a couple of classics. Truthfully, however, the real meat here is heard on such Machito dancefloor fillers as "Oyeme" and "Minor Rama." So, when you've got a jones for jazz in a mambo mood, this disc will provide the needed salve.

Listening to this great album you will find that E.J. Strickland is not just an extremely talented drummer. His musical writing is visionary while retaining this typical know-how of New York clubs. In fact, the listener has no trouble accompanying in their musical quest these Warriors Of Peace that are the excellent artists that I must quote you: EJ Strickland (drums and songs), Goldwin Louis (alto saxophone), Jure Pukl (alto and soprano saxophones), Taber Gable (piano), Josh Ginsburg (double bass), not forgetting the collaboration of Uldrich Edorh (vocals), also remarkable, and present on the last track of the CD.

In music as in love, one + one can add up to not two but a new and greater one. On Heart Songs two of the world's greatest guitarists, Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles, make this clear. Both are masters of their instrument, honored by the iconic Chet Atkins with the rare designation of CGP (Certified Guitar Players). Emmanuel has twice been voted "Best Acoustic Guitarist" by readers of Guitar Player Magazine and honored as both a "Member of the Order of Australia" and an official "Kentucky Colonel". Knowles is a Grammy winner, a member of the National Thumb Picker's Hall of Fame, and editor of the respected FingerStyle Quarterly.