Raw, blue, and sensational, with Kirk playing the tenor sax, manzello, and stritch simultaneously. Originally released by King in 1956, entitled Triple Threat.

Bouncy Lady! The first of their six Fantasy albums via Wayne Henderson’s At Home Productions. Tasty jazz-funk and soul from the Portland crew.

Great band, Pleasure, and this is one of their best. The title track is a bona fide club classic.

More lovely funk, Latin jazz and soul, bridging the Dust Yourself Off and Joyous albums. Kicks off with a bumping collaboration with Wayne Henderson and Side Effect, much sampled — and features Ghettos Of The Mind.

His ambitious 1974 breakthrough as leader, superbly mixing funk and jazz improvisation on a major-label recording budget, with strong political and spiritual themes, even a nod to the Duke.

Titles inspired by Johnny Griffin’s sojourn in Pentonville nick (for outstanding income tax) at the start of a Ronnie Scott’s stint earlier in the year. With clarinettist Tony Coe on song; Sahib Shihab and co.

With bassist Roberto Miranda and drummer Sonship in 1981.
Featuring a tremendous, side-long reading of Dark Tree.

Her third Columbia, from 1970.
With Muscle Shoals crew on side one — Roger Hawkins, Eddie Hinton, Barry Beckett and co — and a lineup convening the Armenian oud-plyer Ashod Garabedian, Duane Allman and Alice Coltrane, on side two.
‘I love my country as it dies in war and pain before my eyes. I walk the streets where disrespect has been. The sins of politics, the politics of sin, the heartlessness that darkens my soul… on Christmas.’

Terrific big band music from 1970. What a lineup— built around a core of Tolliver, Stanley Cowell, Cecil McBee and Jimmy Hopps, but also featuring all-time greats like Clifford Jordan, Jimmy Heath and Curtis Fuller.

The great trumpeter with Cecil McBee, Stanley Cowell, and Jimmy Hopps, at Slugs’ nightclub in New York City, on May 1 1970.
‘Tolliver, McBee and Cowell (in that order) each contribute a composition to this superb, compelling set; though very much distinct, each is equally strong. Drought is the kind of dark-hued, well-honed burner which Tolliver routinely produced in his fertile years. Felicite is a more contemplative affair, a deeply felt and empathically performed piece. The unit here is in particularly sublime form, merging considerable skill with a staggering emotion. Orientale falls somewhere in between the pace of the two, with Cowell’s Eastern scales establishing an austere, industrious tone throughout its seventeen-and-a-half minutes.’

Hard bop from 1961: a quintet including Marcus ‘Gemini’ Belgrave, Ronnie ‘Doin The Thang’ Mathews, and Gene Hunt, from Horace Silver’s band.