‘The best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced,’ says Dr John.
The first half of this disc gathers all the sevens Booker cut under his own name at the start of his career, for labels like Imperial, Chess, Ace and Peacock, already evincing his inimitable blend of R&B, gospel, blues, boogie woogie and jazz. The second half features legends like Dave Bartholomew and Joe Tex, during the same period, with Booker as sideman. The likes of Lee Allen, Alvin ‘Red’ Tyler chip in.

The soundtrack to the French TV series adapting Henri de Monfreid’s account of his travels in the Middle East. The music for the first series in 1967 features various flutes and marine conches; for underwater settings a celesta or a crystal xylophone. For the later 1975 series, de Roubaix composed a new music score, mixing old and new sounds, his EMS VCS3 synthesizer subtly mixed with acoustic instruments.

The trio of Roland P. Young, Aisha Khalil and Glenn Howell, recorded in 1975 at 1750 Arch, in Berkeley, California.

“There was a vibe in the air that we connected with,” recalls Young, “along with other kindred spirits world-wide. What appeared to be ‘experimental’ was reaching for sounds and emotions that were unfamiliar. We often performed at rallies in support of various causes: Black Liberation, Women’s Movement, Anti-War Movement, Gay Liberation. While the music came out of the Black Liberation struggle our ultimate goal was a blending of cultures.”

‘A fascinating glimpse of the trio in action. It testifies to the energy that Infinite Sound channelled into their music, but also to their imaginative breadth and expressive versatility… with Howell’s buoyantly springy and resilient bass taking on a strong pivotal role around which Young’s horns and Kahlil’s voice dance and spar and soar and play. Well-defined rhythms dissolve into textures; melodic shapes soften into shadings of timbre or flare into exuberant bursts of tonal colour. The music’s mood swings unpredictably from flamboyance to introspection; pacing shifts spontaneously from languor to urgency. Moments of musical allusiveness, sly quotation or stylistic reference, mutate into passages of wild inventiveness.’

‘Deben Bhattacharya (1921–2001) was a highly influential field recordist, poet, filmmaker, musicologist and amateur ethnomusicologist, based in Calcutta and Paris. He produced a vast number of LPs, CDs, videos and radio shows of traditional music from India, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
‘Never before published, Paris To Calcutta features over four hours of music and is Deben’s impressionistic account of a 1955 journey overland, in a converted milk delivery van, from France to India, collecting and exploring music along the Desert Road.
‘With four CDs of recordings, photographs, Deben’s original recording notes, musical transcriptions and more. An amazing glimpse into a time long gone and essential listening for anyone interested in folk and world music traditions.’

The saxophonist of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood Of Breath, with pianist Misha Mengelberg, and Han Bennink on drums, trombone, clarinet and viola.
Originally released on ICP in 1979; an absolute classic of improvised music.

An anti-war garage-punk onslaught from 1966, doing Bo Diddley proud.
Backed here by The Leaves (plus drummer Don Conka from Love), BJ knocked around with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Frank Zappa.
Anyway… they brought it to Jerome.

Startlingly accomplished new jazz from South Africa, teeming with ideas, influences and idioms.
Maybe you remember Asher’s drumming on Angel Bat Dawid’s The Oracle.
Hotly recommended.