Jeremy Strachan and Gus Weinkauf surely burn in mere duo format (the configuration they mainly use live for practicality's sake, although arrangements have been charted for guest horns on special occasions), but the heft at hand on record, thanks mainly to the magic of overdubbing and Strachan's schooled ear, transforms the work of this erstwhile Rockets Red Glare rhythm section into something closer to the big-band buoyancy of Moondog at his most swingingly symphonic. Check out their live in-store set on Wed. Jun 25 at 6pm. 

Heady, jammy jazz-funk not unlike what Miles Davis concocted one year earlier with Bitches Brew (as much admitted by Cosby himself in the enjoyably digressive liners), the reverberating parade drum left to boom by itself at key passages of "Martin's Funeral" is the one instrument here evoking the players' alias (only Bill's named outright, but perhaps counting The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band among them?), augmented by timbales and trap kit. Guitars dryly scratch akin to what McLaughlin and Sharrock were dishing out at the time, as dual basslines weave around a four-chord electric piano vamp, sampled in '93 by A Tribe Called Quest for "We Can Get Down".

Jazzman follows the successes of such series as Sister Funk and The World's Rarest Funk 45s with another considered compilation of the hard-to-find, this time focusing on their namesake genre. James Tatum's "Introduction" kicks it off with a cool, Oliver Nelson-style horn chart, but the Persian zither of Lloyd Miller's "Gol-E-Gandom" soon takes us into the out and exotic, with other unexpected flavours including the funked-up African choir on Mor Thiam's "Ayo Ayo Nene", the baritone narration recounting The Positive Force's tale of "The Afrikan In Winter", and Frank Derrick and Ronnie Boykin's forays in 7/8.

It may not feature Your trickster Host intoning his hand of tall tales (most of which are true), but unlike another such compilation of tracks broadcast on Dylan's idiosyncratic and enormously popular satellite radio show, this new ACE collection comes fully licensed and approved by its producers. With liners by a crack team of writers that are nearly as entertaining and authoritative as the tangents dispensed on Dylan's Hour itself (and that's no mean feat), any fan of American music is going to find many a mind-blowing piece of the past here.

Started in 2006 and running for 50 episodes, the first season of Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour confirmed a few things: he has a great affinity for the early country/blues/folk/jazz artists that shaped him as a youth; and he is a keen observer of modern culture, as evidenced by the occasional LL Cool J, Blur or Streets tune tossed into the mix. This 2CD, 52 song release takes at least one song from each of the programs, covering themes like Hair, Coffee, Weather, and The Devil. As a collection of the roots of American Music, it's dead-on and nicely balanced between the well-known and the obscure.

Although now a resident of St. John's, Nfld., Strachan has been a Toronto fixture for years. Whether as a bassist in Sea Snakes, an indie-rock sax-for-hire, or in woodwinds n' buckets duo, Feuermusik, he is an endlessly capable musician. This 36-minute solo album stretches those capabilities to their furthest yet; a four piece suite in response to the paintings of Toronto artist, Katie Bond Pretti, The Heart Of The Matter is an enthralling listen. Recorded in a T.O. art gallery and emboldened by the room's natural reverb, Strachan's sax and clarinet sing with intelligence, reserve and emotion.

Blue Note producer Michael Cuscuna has done it again. Having uncovered a long-lost Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall duo back in 2005, his archival talents return with this monster double-disc set, recorded on March 18, 1964 at Cornell University and only recently found by Mingus' widow Sue Graham. With Eric Dolphy's untimely death mere months away, Cornell 1964 captures Mingus' core workshop, unbeknownst to itself, sending off one of its most distinct and distinguished soloists.