Operating in mid-seventies Kingston, the Ultra label was owned by Alty East, spar of King Sporty (who co-wrote Buffalo Soldier and would marry Betty Wright). Splitting his time between Miami and Jamaica, Alty licensed Studio One sides for US release; and he brought the American soul singer Jerry Jones to perform in Kingston. Whilst he can’t remember anything about it now — he was so busy at the time — Boris Gardiner ran the house band (though a couple of these rhythms were probably recorded by Lloyd Parks’ Skin Flesh & Bones).
Haphazardly collecting Ultra dubs and instrumentals, and originally released in a tiny run, with handmade, silk-screened covers, Super Dub is a snapshot of the same Kingston-Miami nexus, infectiously blending roots and soul into tough nuggets of dub reggae.
As bassist, Boris Gardiner worked nine-to-five at Studio One in 1968 — that’s him on Feel Like Jumping, and The Heptones’ On Top LP. He was at Treasure Isle for its most celebrated recordings. He worked at Aquarius. Derrick Harriott’s The Loser is his arrangement. He was a mainstay of The Upsetters band in the mid-seventies (War In A Babylon, Super Ape, Police & Thieves, Heart Of The Congos etc).
Soul fans will revel in versions of Gene McDaniels’ A Hundred Pounds Of Clay, Gwen McCrae’s Rocking Chair, Otis Redding’s Nobody’s Fault, Betty Wright’s Tonight’s The Night. And reggae fans will treasure the canonical lineaments running through the mix, channelled through Boris: for example the ghost of The Upsetters in more stripped passages, in the tightness of the rhythm section (with organ), and also Lee Perry’s dubwise way with a vocal; the thorough-going presence of King Tubby — check the killer Freedom Roots, a dub of Tony Scott’s Freedom — and Niney’s way with a horn section, on Rider Roots.

With excellent notes.

Trane’s majestic debut for Atlantic, ushering in the 1960s. Refreshingly the CD-only alternates are intriguing (from several dates in 1959 with various pianists and drummers).

The bees-knees in heart-broken, close-harmony, symphonic soul; up there with the very best of The Delfonics, The Stylistics and co. Nearly all ballads, with Billy Brown’s falsetto in devastating form, though that’s Harry Ray leading their all-time-classic To You With Love — as sampled by Dilla at the end of Donuts — in all the straight-up glory of its original setting.

Riding in resplendently on the cassock tails of The Gospel According To Budgie mixtapes and The Good Books (with Alchemist): still deeper, giddier blends of nineties gospel and nu bounce. Back in.

The genre-slaying, polyharmonic, polyrhythmic ‘universal music’ of Hermeto Pascoal and his bassist Itibere Zwarg, performed in 2001 by a workshop comprising twenty-nine of Rio de Janeiro’s most exceptional young musicians.
An overlooked masterpiece amongst recent Brazilian recordings: invigorating and marvellous; warmly recommended.

The new LP is in the ‘Blue Note Classic Vinyl’ series.

‘Synth chutes, synth ladders, popcorn 808 beats, dirge-y chants and busted sub-woofer hums from inner-galactic soul pioneers Nathaniel Woolridge and Anthony Freeman intertwine to create this hypnotic, mythical 1984 LP from Newark, New Jersey. The most damaged party record ever set to black, or the most partied cry of the heart ever howled into personal space. Probably both.’

Singing and playing carillon, in 2017.
One of the songs is dedicated to Mika Vainio.

Killer, jostling lineup: Don Cherry, Grachan Moncur, Geri Allen, Charnett and Charles Mofffett.
‘Don has one of his best outings for years, bright, warmly antagonistic and full of melody. Moncur plays as well as ever, varying his slide positions and embouchure to just this side of multiphonics’ (Penguin Guide).
Warmly recommended.

Ace Ken Khouri productions for Federal, from 1964-5; beautifully repackaged.