Mad About Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Christian Gaubert's 'Last Exit' is a French soul masterpiece. It has been carefully remastered from the original tapes and reissued here so standout rare groove gems 'Sweet Maryline' and 'Sweet and Fool Like a Child' sound better than ever. It's an album that showcases the great skills of the prolific arranger and composer Gaubert alongside guest spots from some of the key contemporaries in the French jazz scene of the 70s. Boogie and funk help colour the grooves with the likes of 'Going Ups & Coming Downs' being deep down and delicious jams with killer baselines and lavish strings that cannot fail to light up your life and swell your heart.

Review: Mad About Records officially reissues super rare private press Quintessence's 1981 LP. Surprisingly for the level of talent and production / recording wit that it flaunts, Quintessence was one of many original jazz LPs to remain in private circulation and thus completely wanting of the public ear. Led by Ron Ancrum, with George Sovak, David Gaedeke, Winston Johnson and Steve Muse, the band nonetheless recorded an exceptional slice of artistic pie here, bringing Rhodesy, tritoning sundowners to the then already well-fleshed milieu of 80s jazz, an unmistakably bulbous and gaudy sound to which Quintessence do much justice; our favourite here by far is 'In My Apartment', a tssking blue-jazz suite for boughed double bass and noir piano.