Back in stock: Jazz

Review: The legendary Roy Ayers has a wealth of great material to his name but Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981 might just be the cream of the crop. It's packed with gold that fuses soul and funk, jazz and disco into a load of killer cuts that never got their own release. There are husky vocal tracks featuring Merry Clayton on "Oh What A Lonely Feeling," "I Really Love You" and "What's the T?", sensual soul stirrers from Carla Vaughn such as "Mystic Voyage" and "Together Forever" and of course liquid synths and rhythm sections underpinning each of the tracks.

Review: Chris Bangs' varied and eclectic musical journey is a key reason he was chosen to curate a compilation for Ace. With a background ranging from space rock with The Mighty Om to DJ residencies across London, Bangs' career spans numerous genres, from jazz, funk, to soul. Bangs' DJ sets and parties - in such time-honoured venues as Special Branch in Brentford, London - were seminal in the evolution of the acid jazz genre alongside Gilles Peterson, where "acid jazz was never meant to be more than a pisstake". His foray into production, such as the proto-acid jazz classic 'Psychedelic Jack' with Peterson on vocals, cemented his legacy, but it's curation highlights such as this that really get our gears going. Hold tight as we scour early acid jazz brilliants from Gunky to Vera Cruz to Brazilian Skies to Jubilation.

Review: Sol Set is a Detroit-based collective, an amalgamation of composers, musicians, artists and vocalists brought together by producer John Beltran, whose new label All Good Music chooses its debut album for its inaugural release. John Beltran and Shane Donnelly preside over seven sumptuous and confident slices of modern, sub-kissed soul and Latin sure to put a smile on anyone's face, even those of us faced with an altogether more British summer. Influences range from the Steve Wonder-style double vocals of 'Bliss Mode' to the South American 'Rhythm of the Sun', which echoes the beach bum haziness of Jorge Ben, but the vibe remains joyful and skillfully yet effortlessly executed throughout. Gorgeous.

Review: Brazilian Jorge Ben, you could say, is a musical equivalent to football superstar Pele. He is known around the world, is hugely prolific and had a style all his own. A Tabua De Esmeralda is the 11th album the great singer-songwriter and guitarist recorded and it came back in 1974. It was soon lapped up by fans and critics alike for its timeless blending of samba rock with his unique alchemy and sonic satire and found Ben redefined the vocal style he has showcased on previous work Forca Bruta. This time his vocals occasionally go off-grid and sit behind the beats to make for an alluring effect, while the album was also the last to use guitar quite as extensively.

Review: Donald Byrd's Kofi, part of the esteemed Tone Poet Vinyl Series, presents a compelling snapshot of the trumpeter's transition from hard bop to fusion. Recorded in December 1969 and December 1970 but only released in 1995, this LP captures Byrd at a pivotal moment in his career, straddling the line between traditional jazz and the emerging fusion genre. The 1969 session features Byrd's originals 'Kofi' and 'Fufu,' with Duke Pearson's electric piano adding a shimmering layer to the complex arrangements. The ensemble includes notable musicians such as Lew Tabackin on flute and tenor saxophone, Frank Foster on tenor saxophone, William Campbell on trombone, Ron Carter on acoustic bass among other strong musicians. The 1970 session continues this exploration with tracks like 'Perpetual Love' and 'Elmina,' featuring Wally Richardson on guitar and Mickey Roker on drums, along with Moreira and Dom Um Romao adding percussion. This reissue, curated by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog tapes, is pressed on 180g vinyl and housed in a deluxe tip-on jacket. The Tone Poet Series ensures exceptional quality in both sound and presentation, offering a definitive version of Byrd's adventurous work.

Review: Jazz fans take note: Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album more than lives up to its name. It features previously unreleased recordings by the late, great John Coltrane and his regular accompanying players (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and Drummer Elvin Jones). The reels of tape the tracks were salvaged from were dated 1963, around the time that the quartet laid down some of its most forward-thinking work for the legendary Impulse label. Much of the material consists of original Coltrane compilations, though there are a few notable covers (including a great version of jazz standard "Nature Boy") dotted throughout. As you'd expect, Coltrane's performance is incredible from start to finish.

Review: New Zealand-born Lance Ferguson has been the beating heart of Melbourne's modern funk and soul scene for the best part of two decades. It's this that allowed him to gather many of the city's best musicians together to record "Rare Groove Spectrum", an album of fresh covers of rare and classic funk, soul and Latin jams. There are some killer versions to be found amongst the 11 tracks on offer. We're particularly enjoying the collective's riotous instrumental revision of Pleasure classic "Joyous", the strutting deep funk heaviness of "Egg Roll" (a similarly restless cover of a mysterious but much-played cut that should be familiar to dusty-fingered diggers and knowledgeable dancers) and the sumptuous summer breeze that is the combo's meandering take on Earth, Wind and Fire staple "Brazilian Rhyme". It is, though, all superb.

Review: Master drummer and producer Alexander Flood debuts his rhythmic first record on Atjazz, following up the sumptuous first single 'Life Is A Rhythm'. A truly exciting record on foliate green vinyl, this LP packs a production paradox, bringing both boomy bodyweight and a shape-cutting, 2-stepping sense of ease at the same time. With extra layers of perc in the rhythm section, with Brazilian percussionist Aduni on congas and Cuban percussionist Alexander Scull Castillo on bata, it's actually really the dance-flooring production that grabs us here, heard best in the plum chords and erratic pianos of 'Don't Wait For Me', and/or the live bruk ghost dance 'Sidestep'.

Review: James Gallardo & Sol released their collaborative debut album in 1975 in a burst of bright colour and next-level musicianship. There's a fiery, rockist spirit running through the over driven guitar cartwheeling through "Maranatha", but there's equal space for measured grooves and Gallardo's expressive horn playing. Mellower moments like "Patrice" let in a more soulful side of the project, while "El Que Se Fue" nods to the Latin roots of Sol. Expansive, bold and inventive, this is a treasure for jazz funk heads, marking the first official repress since the first copies slipped out many moons ago.

Review: Since bagging the 2014 Mercury Music Prize for sophomore set V.20, GoGo Penguin has become one of the most talked-about outfits around. The self-confessed "very modern piano trio" has succeeded largely due to their far-sighted ability to fuse more traditional jazz and classical music sounds with a surprisingly wide palette of influences, most notably dancefloor-focused 21st century electronic music. On A Humdrum Star, their fourth full length, the Manchester threesome has decided to take a "freer" and more "liberated" approach. The resultant music is every bit as exciting, entertaining and beguiling as you'd expect, with the full-throttle, high-octane dancefloor jazz of "Raven", atmospheric and undulating "Bardo" and gently jazz-funk influenced brilliance of closer "Window" amongst the highlights.

Review: Nina Simone has rather been written out of popular music history because of quite how confrontational and proudly Black she was. She was just as far ahead of her times musically too and this legendary album Baltimore shows why. It arrived with no promotion and no lead singles and so it was an utter commercial failure, but the sleuths of the internet have rediscovered it over the 45 years since its release and helped to make it a cult favourite now regarded as one of the best in her oeuvre. It has distinctive reggae production and of course plenty of beautiful vocals from Simone as she tackles songs written by Judy Collins, Hall & Oates, and Randy Newman.

Review: Stray Voltage is not for the faint of ear. This is triple-A rated Sun Ra at their best, namely audacious, aggressive and adventurous. Forget melodies or sing-along hooks-this collection dives deep into Sun Ra's unissued electronic explorations from the 70s and 80s when, using synths and keyboards as his tools, the one and only 'Ra didn't just play, he assaulted, provoked, and moulded raw sound into wild and unimaginable sonic landscapes. These are not songs in the traditional sense, but abstract journeys full of texture and tension that make for a thrilling glimpse into Ra's boundary-pushing experiments where structure gives way to sensation and the sheer power of cosmic expression.

Review: This double LP compilation from Jazzman Records unearths a wealth of spiritual jazz gems from the SABA and MPS labels, spanning the 1960s and 70s. Showcasing a diverse array of international artists, the collection features American heavyweights like Elvin Jones and Nathan Davis alongside European innovators like Pedro Iturralde and Jef Gilson. The music traverses a wide spectrum of styles, from soulful ballads and fiery modal explorations to avant-garde excursions, reflecting the labels' commitment to releasing exciting and innovative jazz. Highlights include the adventurous sounds of the Joachim Kuhn Group, Nathan Davis's soulful 'Evolution', and Pedro Iturralde Quintet's 'Veleta De Tu Viento'.

Review: Once again landing in the mitts of jazz remastering master Kevin Gray, yet another milestone in the genre from Blue Note gets reissued. Louisiana tenor saxophonist Don Wilkerson made his debut on the label in 1962 with Preach Brother!, which featured Grant Green on guitar, Sonny Clark on piano, Butch Warren on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. The foursome lend fearsome talent to Wilkerson's vision, which is a playful exercise in soul-jazz homing in on various vibe studies - loneliness filtered through the shake of a tambourine, city bustle conveyed via tss-tssing rides and swing.