Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Woody Shaw was one of the more influential jazz musicians of his time. This album was recorded in 1985 and finds him in full flow with his Tone Jansa Quartet. The American jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, and band leader very much shows off his improvisational skills on flugelhorn and trumpet while his sidemen Renato Chico on piano, Peter Herbert on bass, Dragan Gajic on drums and Tone Jansa on tenor sax do not disappoint either. This is the first time the album has been reissued since its original release and comes in limited quantities.

Review: Irma Thomas, born Irma Lee in New Orleans, is routinely hailed the Soul Queen of the city. Once billed among Aretha Franklin and Etta James, Thomas eventually found her own recognition as an originary light repping New Orleans, less an international, commercial success story. Beginning her career in 1959, she was one of many voices who sung for a watershed moment r&b and soul, as labels like Minit and Imperial helped solidify the genre's identification with Louisiana, with its designs on the Southern soul genre at large. In 1966, Thomas released her second solo album, now reissued here through MOV. Including the iconic song 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)', which was co-written by Randy Newman and country star Jeannie Seely, the track became a hit, finding a toehold on the Billboard Hot 100. Beyond its commercial success, the ballad has garnered widespread recognition, notably appearing in several episodes of the hit series Black Mirror. But it's the record as a whole that really stirs our guts, obviating Thomas' early-career openness to romance and excess: "oh-oh, take a look at this girl, I'm the girl that wants you..." goes the title track...

Review: American r&b and funk band Tower of Power hail from Oakland, California and have had several lead vocalists, the most notable being Lenny Williams. Their most successful album was their self-titled third long player in 1973 - the first Williams featured on. It went gold in the US and has their most well-known single 'So Very Hard to Go' alongside plenty of other silky soul sounds that go from the downbeat and string-laced wallowings of 'Will I Ever Find A Love?' to the more funky and upbeat grooves of 'Get Yo' Feet Back On The Ground.'