Found this while everyone else was piling up for RSD. Best 7€ spent on a flea market ! This is a quality book from 2011 with a super high-end production value, detailed story of 8 key Jazz artists illustrated with superb photography on really nice paper.
And while the title is in French, there is an English translation on every page.
The extra 8 bonus CDs are the icing on the cake.
While everyone else is spending their hard earned money on RSD material, I'll go the other direction and warmly recommend you a few records that are really, really cheap and well worth your time.
- Freddie Hubbard - Skagly : Not every Hubbard album on Columbia is a dud. The title tune on this is a funky bomb with no strings (or cheese) attached. All of it is at least, really good. The year was 1980; 10 years earlier would have made it a $30 record today. Get it, if you're in the US, you probably should find it for next to nothing. It won't be on the RSD list in 2027, 2028 or even 2057.
- Dee Dee bridgewater - Just Family : If you'll accept a bit of soul music in your jazz, then you'll love this one. A great voice of the 70's with tight arrangements and a secret sauce on the "rare groove / jazzdance" scene. Nobody is looking for this LP, and I still can't understand why. It's a treat.
- Hubert Laws - Say it With Silence : Post-CTI Hubert Laws has a few good surprises. Despite minor incursions in what could be called smooth jazz, this album keeps a strong groove throughout. Great lineup of sessions musicians here. Already available in the "dollar bin" next to you.
- Tom Scott & the L.A Express : Delightful album from the session saxophonist. This one and his next (Tom Cat) are so cheap you wouldn't even care to pay attention to them. And it would be a mistake. "Sneakin' in the Back" is the source sample from a very famous Massive Attack tune, and probably a few others. Diggers material there. The groove is tight, the musicians are on their A game (especially the great Joe Sample !). It's a delight. But it will never be reissued by RSD.
- David Matthews - Big Band Live At The Five Spot : This one is probably not a very common sight. Yet it's tremendously cheap and groovy. Furious playing on this "big band meets funk" live album from the CTI arranger, who had a few other albums under his belt. Released on Muse in 1975, the RSD sharks will never steal that one from you. Go for it.