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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: This is the second part of Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981and is again packed with tracks that are far more than unreleased findings from the cutting room floor. Each one serves as another feather in the bow of the virtuoso Ayers, who combined jazz, funk, soul and disco in magical and unique ways throughout his career. In doing so he laid down a precursor to acid jazz and hip hop. These are tracks that show off his dynamic, liquid rhythm sections and mellifluous keys, as well as the vocal talents of a range of collaborators who touch on soaring and sensuous highs as well as more gravel and earthy lows. Essential.

Review: BBE unearth another batch of rare and underexposed disco cuts on Off Track Vol 3. Compiled by the crate digging New York/Boston based duo Kon & Amir, the release gives an authentic representation of Brooklyn’s ghetto, funk and afro music scenes. Sophisticated tracks for real music heads

Review: The Grasso is greener in Bologna: home to two of the most well-connected collectors in Italy. Suppliers to the likes of Kenny Dope, Phil Asher and Dimitri, Gino and Federico have carved their crate craft to insane levels over the last 30+ years... As shown on this detailed, widescreen boogie, funk and disco collection for BBC. Splattering the vibrant collection with a handful of their own edits (TB Funk's salubrious struts on "Free Blow", fly-by boogie falsettos on Living Color's "Plastic People"), the Grasso bro's have put together a package that's eye-opening, enlightening and damn fine to party to. See you on the other side.

Review: One of the most remarkable things about Saturday Night Special, the 1975 debut album by the Lyman Woodard Organisation, is how two musicians - accompanied by various sessions drummers - could make such a rich and layered set. It still impresses that Lyman Woodard and Ron English could create so many superbly evocative and cinematic jazz-fusion workouts almost on their own. The set has long been regarded as one of the best musical commentaries on a particularly low period in Detroit's post-industrial history, and many of the tracks are suitably poignant - even those clearly aimed at the dancefloor. Critically, this reissue deals with one of the major issues with original copies - their poor pressing - by stretching the same tracks over two slabs of wax, rather than one.

Review: Most people will recognize Brian Jackson as the most important collaborator with Gil Scott-Heron - between them the pair laid down a mesmerising new kind of soul which resonates in its influence and brilliance to this day. Jackson went on to work with scores of legends of Black American music, but this new album is something altogether his own. Working with Daniel Colias from Phenomenal Handclap Band, Jackson revived a long-dormant solo project from the 70s and brought it to fruition in a set of ascendant soul cuts which speak to Jackson's mighty legacy while offering something wholly contemporary. 'All Talk' bursts with jazz funk and boogie flourishes, while 'Path to Macondo / Those Kind of Blues' takes a more introspective trip into Jackson's illustrious musicality. Forget reissue culture for a minute - here's a bonafide legend still doing it in the here and now.

Review: Massive reissue incoming! BBE have answered many of our prayers with this long awaited repress of Roy's 1983 disco funk excursion "Silver Vibrations". A record that's currently fetching triple figures, this is the first time it's been repressed since it was released. Opening with the iconic whispered message of "Chicago", Roy takes us on a trip through his funkiest of quarters; the salubrious slap bass of "Lots Of Love", the Afrobeat staccato vocals and glock rocking vibrancy of "Silver Vibrations" and the dreamy cosmic jazz trip of "DC City" are just some of the highlights, all shared across the 12"s with no more than two tracks per side. Vibes that can't be slept on.

Review: Capturing the essence and feels of the long-standing event he runs in his Swiss hometown of Lausanne, veteran digger and selector Attias presents a brand new compendium of sweet compositions that sum up he's at creatively and spiritually. Gems on gems on gems: highlights that we guarantee will appeal to your good tastes and dancefloor include the hypnotic vibraphone wash of Cro-Magnon's "Midnight Magic", the slept-on jittering funk of Tatham, Mensah, Lord & Ranks's "Cascade" and Material and Nona Hendrix's ludicrously funky, ultimately sleazy slinker "Over & Over". We suspect you'll be playing this record over and over, too...

Review: Soul Liberation was formed by a former gang leader turned preacher known as Tom Skinner. The band was born from his ministry having been a backing band for his revival style Crusades and this, Who Are You, is their second album. It's a direct lien to the soul sounds of the past but with modern produciton touches and is the sort of soothing, life enriching record that we all need in our lives from time to time. The band toured non-stop for two decades, channelling plenty of gospel influences and elements from their Christian music scene into universal songs of love with dashes of funk along the way. This is the first ever reissue of the record.

Review: Japan's revered DJ Muro has put together his first ever compilation for BBE. Diggers Dozen is a real gem with 12 tracks of Japanese jazz-funk and Latin-jazz goodness that fuse traditional instrumental with traditional melodies. These tunes were originally made for the 70s for Nippon Columbia by legendary composers of the time such as Kiyoshi Yamaya, Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Toshiyuki Miyama and more. Finding these cuts on their original pressings is rare and expensive so don't sleep on this real collector's essential.

Review: BBE continue their exploration of the imperious catalogue from Detroit-based jazz label Strata by unearthing a truly hidden gem. Sam Sanders' Mirror Mirror was never formally released, and that is in part because the legendary saxophonist's early brushes with the music industry inspired him to forge his own independent path. As such, some of his work never got the official release it deserved, and Mirror Mirror is a prime example. Even if the over-arching approach comes from jazz, there's a bias towards heavy grooves and song structures which makes much of the album land more as a deeply dug funk and soul classic. Just trip out on the melancholy beauty of 'Face At My Window' and you'll understand.

Review: Almost entirely ignored at the time of its original release, Nigerian drumming maestro Remi Kabaka's legendary original LP Son Of Africa has gone down in legend as the defining solo statement of an incendiary drummer, whose contributions to music across the jazz and rock spectrums is credited and felt strongly to this day. A founding member of Afro-jazz band Osibisa, Kabaka is credited for his work with many a Rolling Stone and Beatle, but it's his solo work on this Afro-funk rare gem that really gets the least easy to please among us going. An Afrofuturist statement to the core, its jubilant vocal chants and defiant trumpet lines are but mere pepperings over the boxy, banging body that is Kabaka's live Afrobeat quads.

Review: Rahaan is a Chicago legend and master of the most soulful sounds in the studio. His new EP for BBE, 'We Are The Ones,' sees him joining up with a whole host of top musicians such as Marcus J. Austin and Nancy Clayton on vocals, Carnell C. Newbill on keys, Todd Swope on guitar and Lou Terry on bass. Between them they bring real dance floor adventures that are steeped in proper musicality. Ohio Players' Kenny Anderson on the horns brings some real soul to these four-to-the-floor cuts which mix up disco and house in the finest of fashion.

Review: 'Strata Records: The Sound Of Detroit Volume 1' is a careful yet exquisite collection of soul, funk and jazz classics from Detroit's rich musical history, throwing back to a time before techno took the Motor City by storm. DJ Amir has curated a diverse selection of songs from the Strata Records catalog, showcasing the label's extensive roster of artists (the likes of Kenny Cox, The Soulmates, and Charles Mingus), and in some cases restoring tracks whose recordings have suffered a loss of quality over the years, for an ultimately soul-bearing listen.