While Sam Phillips of Sun Records is known as one of the architects of rock and roll, he also dabbled in other genres - 1960's The Martini Set is a great example of his jazzy side. Featuring pianist Graham Forbes and his trio, this midcentury lounge music gem has interpretations of standards like "Autumn in New York" and "The Lady is a Tramp." Fans of romantic jazz can raise their glass to the shimmering version of "Adios" that provided the soundtrack to an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

A mainstay of the Memphis blues, R&B and soul scenes from the mid-1940s until his death in 2001, the sometime DJ who billed himself on radio as 'the world's oldest teenager' was the only man to record for the Bluff City's three major independent record labels (Sun, Stax and Hi) and a lot more besides. With daughter Carla, Rufus Thomas more or less started the Stax label on it's road to success, being one of the first and indeed also the last people to have a 45 issued by the label. Prior to that he'd built a career that began as a tap dancer in the 1930 to a point where he made his first records in the late 1940s. In this collection you can hear just about everything Rufus cut between our title track - his first release - up to his first Stax solo hit 'The Dog' in 1962. Rufus' musical journey up to that point and beyond mirrors the evolution of the black American music scene in the south across the same time frame. Only a few of these records were anything more than local hits, but they all contribute significantly to a much bigger catalogue that is one of the most consistent of any artist whose career stretched across eight decades! If you want to find out where The Memphis Sound (of soul, anyway) began, this is a very good place to start looking.

MIKKOU

MOVIE SINFONICA

AFHGAN WOMEN

Dave Digs Disney is a 1957 studio album by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. It features jazz renditions of songs from the animated Disney films Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is one of Brubeck's most popular albums. The album was reissued in 2011, with remastered recordings and two bonus tracks: "Very Good Advice" (from Alice in Wonderland) and "So This Is Love" (from Cinderella).

The Kuss Quartet and violist Muriel Razavi embark on a three-volume traversal of the six Mozart String Quintets. The first of these works dates from 1777 and was closely modeled on the contemporaneous quintets by Michael Haydn. The G minor, the 4th of the quintets was composed in 1786. It is dark, turbulent and melancholy, typical of the composer's G minor works. It is composed on a large scale, especially the opening movement, something it shares with the Prague Symphony No. 38 and the 25th Piano Concerto in C composed at the same time. The Kuss Quartet include two short works for string quartet by contemporary composers to place in between the two quintets and to round the album off.

From the lyricism of Bloch's Schelomo to the modernity of Lutoslawski's Cello Concerto, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Gustavo Gimeno explore the cello's lyrical side, revealing itself as prayer, lament, or murmur. In contrast, the Polish composer's Concerto for Orchestra celebrates vitality and collective energy. This program is a journey from inner song to orchestral power.

MINUTIAE

BARCODE

Louis Armstrong's career began nearly 15 years before Ella Fitzgerald's. In fact, Louis was one of Ella's first musical idols. Although both Ella and Louis had probably met and performed together previously, they wouldn't be heard on record together until January 18, 1946, when they waxed a single 78 rpm disc coupling "The Frim Fram Sauce" with "You Won't Be Satisfied". They wouldn't record a lot together until 1956, when producer Norman Granz reunited them for three memorable albums: Ella & Louis (presented here), it's sequel Ella & Louis Again and the selection of tunes from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy & Bess. The results: some of the most fascinating jazz music ever produced. THE COMPLETE LP - 180-GRAM VIRGIN VINYL - LIMITED EDITION

Celebrating Fran�oise Hardy's indelible mark on the history of modern music. � Comprehensive collection of Fran�ois Hardy's English-language studio recordings. Fran�oise Hardy's Vogue years have left a mark on the history of French and international music. Even today, the 5 years between 1962-67 remain an exceptional moment in her career, the ones when she exploded in the eyes of a generation that was born during or just after the World War II, the generation that would be part of the May 1968 Paris protests. Hardy exploded not only in France alongside her fellow "Y�y�s," but also internationally, where she became the symbol of French elegance, talent and charm. The United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain-no one could resist Fran�oise, who recorded most of her hits in English, Italian, and German. In English collects her English-language studio recordings. All tracks have been fully remastered.

Released in 1962, Jazz Samba is a landmark collaboration between saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd that effectively launched the bossa nova craze in the United States. The album features a smooth blend of cool jazz and Brazilian rhythms, highlighted by the classic hit "Desafinado," which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance.

Recorded between January and October 1960 and released on Argo Records (part of Chess Records) in 1961, "At Last" was Etta James' debut studio album.

Adouna (Life) by Senegalese singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Cheikh Ibra Fam is a rich and deeply personal album that reflects on knowledge, faith, unity, migration, love, and the courage to transform one's circumstances. Recorded between Reunion Island, Senegal, France, and Canada, the album blends Afro-pop, soul, and the traditional musical languages of West Africa with a modern sensibility shaped by Cheikh's extensive travels and spiritual perspective. Cheikh describes Adouna as "a mirror of life's beauty and struggle," and each song offers a different facet of that reflection. The track, "Xam Xam," honors the influence of his uncle Coly Ciss�, the beloved guitarist who first awakened Cheikh's artistic curiosity. Built on a shimmering foundation of kora, zouk, and Angolan kizomba rhythms, the song celebrates knowledge as the key to empowerment-an idea that has guided Cheikh since childhood. From there, the album moves into tender territory with "Sali," a celebration of African femininity and grace that features warm mbalax rhythms infused with funky interwoven guitar lines. As Adouna unfolds, Cheikh expands his storytelling into larger social themes. "Gnou Mbollo," meaning "Let's Unite," is a resounding call for connection across the African diaspora, weaving together rhythms and imagery that travel "from Congo to Panama, from Gor�e Island to Brazil." Musically, it draws inspiration from James Brown's classic funk and mixes it seamlessly with West African guitar lines and grooving drums. "Amoul Solo" speaks to the strength that emerges when individuals and communities refuse to face adversity alone. Musically, the song reflects Cape Verdean inspirations with it's lilting swing buoyed by Wilfrid Zinsou's captivating trombone lines. Elsewhere on the album, Cheikh reflects on faith and perseverance in "Weurseuk," urges the power of communication in "Wakhtane," and honors the strength, dignity, and essential role of African women in "Mama Africa." Together, these songs form a cohesive mosaic-one that captures both the complexity and the hope of modern African life. After releasing several albums under the stage name Freestyle, Cheikh joined the legendary Orchestra Baobab, a turning point that awakened a deeper connection to his African heritage. Touring the world with Baobab inspired him to embrace singing in Wolof and Bambara and to align his music more closely with his cultural roots. "Baobab awakened the Africa that was sleeping in me," he recalls, reflecting on the mentorship of figures like Balla Sidib� and Issa Sissokho. The making of Adouna reflects both Cheikh's nomadic life and his collaborative spirit. He began shaping the songs in his home studio on Reunion Island, sketching out melodic ideas, rhythmic frameworks, and vocal arrangements before inviting musicians from Senegal, The Gambia, France, Rwanda, Canada, and Reunion Island to contribute their parts. A crucial creative partner throughout this process was producer and arranger Hakim Abdulsamad, an American producer living in Rwanda whose deep musical intuition and attention to detail helped refine the album's sound and bring Cheikh's vision into focus. Together, they crafted a collection that feels grounded in West African heritage yet expansively connected to the broader African world.

ETERNAL BIRTH

Blue Hour is Nick Schofield's first foray into ambient jazz music. The album is an ambient ode to Miles Davis' In A Silent Way, and opens up Schofield's sonic palette to introduce his childhood instrument, drums, with his contemporary ambient-electronic practice. Blue Hour features the intuitive, and totally improvised, trumpet playing of Scott Bevins (No Cosmos, Busty and the Bass). Schofield grew up playing drums, but turned to creating experimental-electronic music when studying Electroacoustics at Concordia University. Well-known for his signature ambient aesthetic, Schofield has been called a "dazzling electronic artist" by Aquarium Drunkard and a "synth maven" by Constellation Records. Blue Hour marks the first time that he has merged his percussion practice with his ambient electronic explorations, and it is all in the service of reinterpreting Miles Davis' 1969 watershed recording In a Silent Way. Schofield improvised all of the drumming and main synthesizer parts over the course of a single day, recording in a church in Ottawa. These foundational layers comprise tender Moog pulses and Roland Juno-6 pads, some of which would not be out of place on the back half of Another Green World or Music Has the Right to Children. If this was to be a reflection of In a Silent Way, of course there would need to be trumpet. Schofield invited Bevins to record the missing piece of the album during a one day recording session, where Bevins improvised all his trumpet parts having never heard the songs before. Scott Bevins' contribution gives the music a leading instrumental voice, and his intuitive approach shows a perfect understanding of how to both integrate and elevate the compositions. Blue Hour is itself a profound reference, an ambient adaptation, a dream realized and an uncanny synthesis of sounds, styles, and personal history.

20 hits from the legendary "El Mero Leon Del Corrido".

In the rapidly shifting tectonic plates of the global Afrobeats scene, few arrivals have been as seismic as that of Ahmed Ololade-better known to the world as Asake. With his breakout project Mr. Money With The Vibe, the artist didn't merely debut; he effectively recalibrated the tempo of the Nigerian pop soundscape. The EP functions as a masterclass in synthesis, pulling from the ornate, percussive history of Fuji music and grafting it onto the driving, bass-heavy architectures of contemporary Amapiano. It is a calculated, deeply rhythmic hybridization that manages to feel both nostalgic and jarringly modern. From a critical vantage point, Mr. Money With The Vibe is defined by it's brevity and density. Asake treats each track as a focused vignette, utilizing a vocal delivery that oscillates between a melodic, almost liturgical chant and the staccato urgency of a Lagos street orator. The production-characterized by sharp, frenetic percussion and deceptively simple melodic loops-creates a high-intensity atmosphere that mirrors the relentless pace of urban life. He avoids the pitfall of bloated experimentation; instead, he doubles down on a "street-pop" ethos, prioritizing accessibility without sacrificing the complex rhythmic interplay that gives the genre it's distinctive texture. Ultimately, Mr. Money With The Vibe stands as a pivotal document of the current era, capturing the transition of Afrobeats from a regional powerhouse to a dominant global force. By blending the aspirational "hustle culture" narrative with an increasingly sophisticated sonic palette, Asake established a blueprint that has since influenced a new wave of artists. The project is a testament to the idea that authenticity, when paired with relentless precision, remains the most effective currency in contemporary music. Includes the singles, "Sungba (Remix)," "Peace Be Unto You (PBUY)," & "Terminator."

Two CDs. Harold Melvin's four albums for Philly International Records, dating from 1972, '73 and '75. All four albums were Billboard Top 100 with 'To Be True' and 'Wake Up Everybody' No. 1 RnB albums. These recordings produced the huge hits of 'If You Don't Know Me By Now', 'Bad Luck', 'The Love I Lost', 'Wake Up Everybody' and 'Don't Leave Me This Way', When Melvin left Philly, and with Teddy Pendergrass also going solo, the band were unable to replicate their earlier success; however, these recordings are some of the finest black music ever. Digitally remastered and slipcased, and with extensive new notes.