Back catalogue: Funk Soul & Jazz

Review: Finally reissued for its 50th anniversary, Love In Us All is a cosmic, uncompromising statement from legendary jazz cat Pharoah Sanders. This vital piece of the free jazz canon was released as his final Impulse! album and starts with 'Love Is Everywhere' which radiates transcendent beauty with layered horns, cascading piano and a repeated vocal mantra evoking the spirit of Coltrane's seminal 'A Love Supreme'. The flip, For John' is raw, chaotic and a furious outpouring of free jazz energy. Long out of print but here remastered, this essential release showcases Sanders' vision in its most fearless, spiritual form.

Review: An uncompromising statement in the landscape of free jazz and released in 1968, the album's title track is an 18-minute tour de force. A relentless exorcism of sound driven by Shepp's feverish tenor sax and an army of percussionists, including Beaver Harris, Norman Connor, Ed Blackwell, Frank Charles and Dennis Charles. The piece never loses momentum, a hypnotic Afro-rhythmic foundation over which Shepp's saxophone howls, growls and shrieks with raw, untamed fury. The arrival of Martin Banks and Michael Zwerin's trumpets in the final minutes momentarily grounds the chaos before it collapses in exhaustion. The additional tracks take a more traditional approach, contrasting the firestorm of the title piece. Yet, Magic of Ju-Ju remains a defining moment in Shepp's career, marking his transition into deeper explorations of African heritage, gospel, blues and contemporary r&b. The album's title, drawn from Vietnam-era GI slang, hints at Shepp's engagement with the social and political turbulence of the time. Reissued as part of the Verve By Request series on 180-gram vinyl, this is a vital milestone in Shepp's radical, boundary-pushing career.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record slightly warped***


The sixth full-length from the incomparable Nina Simone was originally released in 1966 via Phillips Records, and was predominantly comprised of several recordings left over from sessions over the two previous years. Considered by many to be the jazz/soul goddess' most seminal work; the album features some of her most timeless renditions and contributions such as 'Lilac Wine' (later covered by Jeff Buckley), 'Wild Is The Wind' (covered by David Bowie), her definitive version of 'Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair', as well as the somewhat controversial 'Four Women', which was banned by New York jazz radio station WLIB due to their ironic misinterpreting of her skewing of black female stereotypes as racist.