Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Game-changing samba king Jorge Ben's 1963 debut album Samba Esquema Novo marked the beginning of a legendary career in Brazilian pop. Featuring the iconic tracks like the oft-imitated but never bettered 'Mas Que Nada' and 'Chove Chuva,' the agenda-setting album showcases Ben's early blend of vibrant bossa nova rhythms, rich choruses and his distinctive minor-key guitar style. While not yet embracing the Afro-rock influences of his later work, this release highlights a light yet energetic sound with big-band arrangements adding punch to the infectious melodies. It's a timeless album that remains a joyful and essential listen and captures the roots of a unique musical voice destined to shape Brazilian music for decades.

Review: A striking departure from the classic piano-bass-drums format, this 1962 session brings together a rare quintet configuration, weaving trumpet and guitar into the fabric of post-bop elegance all based around New Jersey-born pianist Evans. The interplay is both literal and musical between the musicians. With trumpet lines that alternate between burnished lyricism and bursts of fire and guitar passages that glide with subtle precision, the ensemble creates a sound that is both spacious and tightly knit. The repertoire leans into standards, yet each tune is rendered with a fresh rhythmic spark and harmonic sophistication. 'I'll Never Smile Again' shimmers with wistful melancholy, while 'When You Wish Upon a Star' is recast with a gentle yet cerebral charm. Fans of more intimate trio settings might initially find the added instrumentation unfamiliar, but there's an undeniable allure in the expanded sonic palette. The drummer drives the group with crisp energy while the bassist anchors with subtle authority and the collective chemistry elevates the session beyond typical quintet fare. This is a bold, beautiful detour in the legacy of modern jazz and one that rewards the listener. A reissue worth revisiting, or discovering anew.

Review: The New Jersey-born pianist returns to the studio here for the first time since the sudden loss of bassist Scott LaFaro, whose death in 1961 marked a devastating rupture for one of jazz's most intuitive trios. Now joined by Chuck Israels on bass, Evans leads with a newfound clarityiless conversational, more contemplative. Recorded in 1962, this was the group's first step into a quieter but no less daring phase. 'Re: Person I Knew' (an anagram of producer Orrin Keepnews) sets the tone: ghostly, elliptical, and harmonically dense. 'I Fall in Love Too Easily' and 'Polka Dots and Moonbeams' drift by in breathy half-light, while 'Very Early', a waltz penned by Evans, closes the set with delicate finality. In the absence of LaFaro's dancing counterlines, Evans doesn't fill the space, but lets it speak. The result is a study in restraint: American post-bop pared down to its emotional core. Not a debut, nor a reinvention, this is a quiet reckoning and a beautifully unresolved response to loss.

Review: The Blackbyrds, Washington Direct-Current pioneers of jazz-funk from the early 70s, overloaded the jazz circuit with City Life, a hair-frying album renowned for its flowing, fulminous rhythms. Core tracks 'Happy Music' and 'Rock Creek Park' set the stage for a long sampling legacy: the latter was famously sampled by both De La Soul and Nas, on 'Bitties In The BK Lounge' and 'Fried Chicken' respectively. This reissue, cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, reupholsters the Blackbyrds' debut worm-catching funk pecks for the world's ears to witness once more.