In 1799, archaeologists in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone, the key to deciphering the mysterious hieroglyphs of the pyramids. If you are looking to navigate the overwhelming world of music, then our Rosetta Stone is your key to enlightenment. Let the Stone guide you to the sounds that will magically reverberate in your head for years to come. Whether you're putting together the nucleus of a solid collection or you're just interested in validating what you already know, the time has come to get Stoned.

Picks A-L | Picks M-Z | MustHear.com

	HERBIE MANN LIVE AT THE WHISKEY A funky, swirling, heady pair of side-long grooves from one of the most soulful jazzmen to ever record on the Atlantic label. Check out some of the assembled talent on this classic late-60s live date—Roy Ayers, Sonny Sharrock, Miroslav Vitous—whew!!!
	HERBIE MANN STONE FLUTE A startlingly original departure from the trademark soul-jazz sound of Herbie Mann, this spacious and atmospheric 1970 recording flows within the vein of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew era explorations. Throughout the record, Mann's flute floats in and out over sparse string arrangements, a light and airy gust of psychedelic bliss...
	HERBIE MANN AT THE VILLAGE GATE This live disc was recorded before jazz clubs were like museums, before musicians were like curators. Listening to it, you feel the crowd at the Village Gate always evident behind the music, a low hum
	PAT MARTINO BAIYINA Adventurous fusions of Indian, psychedelic, rock, funk, and jazz music by one of the great risk-takers of the electric guitar. Baiyina features fluid guitars, exotic Indian percussion and drone instruments, unique time signatures, swirling flute and sax, deep grooving bass, and in-the-pocket drumming, making it one of the most unique acid-drenched albums to come out of the late '60s...
	HUGH MASEKELA INTRODUCING HEDZOLEH SOUNDZ Recorded in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973, Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz represents the culmination of Hugh Masekela's career-long efforts to fuse the improvisational drive of jazz with the ageless rhythms of Africa. No real equivalent of this record exists anywhere. It is one of the most perfectly realized excursions by a notable jazz musician into an authentic form of African music. And no other indigenous Afrobeat or Afro-jazz-funk album surpasses the musicianship and creative...
	JOHN McLAUGHLIN MY GOAL'S BEYOND Surprisingly, this acoustic album was recorded at the exact moment when John McLaughlin was a key player in Miles Davis' rock-influenced electric jazz revolution. While McLaughlin plays unplugged here, none of his characteristic intensity is lost...
	HUGH MASEKELA THE LASTING IMPRESSIONS OF OOGA-BOOGA Funky acoustic jazz from the African mainland.
	CHARLES MINGUS MINGUS AT ANTIBES Mingus at Antibes sustains a miraculous and exhilirating momentem. Throughout the album, all hearts and ears are in tune, with Mingus' guiding fingers remaining firmly on the pulse (and on the strings), hitting us again and again with the staggeringly expressive power of jazz...
	WES MONTGOMERY FULL HOUSE One of the most electrifying sessions of Wes’ career, Full House documents a magical, one-night only encounter in 1962 between the guitarist, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, and the Miles Davis rhythm section at the Tsubo nightclub in Berkeley, California. In a stroke of luck, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb just happened to be in town, playing with Miles across the bay in San Francisco. They took advantage of a night off to lend their support to Wes on his very first live recording. Proof of their explosive chemistry can be found all over this album...
	OCHO OCHO 1 One of the defining bands of the "black and proud" NuYorican scene of the early 1970s, Ocho masterfully fused elements of Latin, funk and jazz. From 1973-75, they recorded four LPs (all reissued by Soul Jazz Records) that are on par with almost anything released by Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, and Eddie Palmieri from that same era...
	EDDIE PALMIERI LIVE AT SING SING - VOLUME 1 This album perfectly combines Eddie Palmieri's experimentalism with the heavy rhythms that kept him ahead on the street. Playing for the toughest of crowds imaginable--the inmates of New York's notorious Sing-Sing prison--Palmieri and band tore through an ambitious and aggressive set of funky salsa tunes that had the guards dancing in their towers...
	CHARLIE PARKER JAM SESSION Charlie "Bird" Parker was a peerless musician who needs no further introduction. Despite his vast discography, there are few good-sounding recordings where the majority of the tunes run any more than 5 minutes in length. Jam Sessions is one of the notable exceptions...
	CHARLIE PARKER (THE QUINTET) JAZZ AT MASSEY HALL Bird's performance is surely worth the price of admission. Even the most dedicated ornithologist could not tell that Bird was playing a stranger's plastic horn. He sounds clearer than he himself probably was at that point. He takes astounding, exhilarating chances, toying with melodies, tinkering with the songs, but never losing the line or abandoning the tune for abstraction...
	HORACE PARLAN A THE COMPLETE BLUE NOTE HORACE PARLAN SESSIONS Horace who? Not Horace Silver, another Blue Note star, no, not him. Don’t fret. I had never heard of Parlan either, not until the founder/publisher of this site sent me this box set to review. I was a little distrubed after hearing this box that I hadn’t heard of him. I don’t blame myself, of course. There must be some reason why is this amazing virtuoso has drifted in the outer darkness despite his proximity to many of the brightest stars of the jazz universe...
	OSCAR PETERSON THE NIGHT TRAIN Soul-blues with a feeling.
	BERNARD "PRETTY" PURDIE PURDIE GOOD! / SHAFT Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie's impeccable beats have dominated hundreds of great soul, R&B, funk, jazz, and pop records. A legendary and versatile drummer, he began pounding on pots and pans at the age of six, graduating to drums a few years later...
	PHARAOH SANDERS DEAF DUMB BLIND (SUMMUN, BUKMUN, UMYUN) A passionate recording from the greatest disciple of John Coltrane. The two side-long performances of "Summun, Bukmun, Umyon" and "Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord" stetch and flow forward in spirited abandon...
	PHAROAH SANDERS WISDOM THROUGH MUSIC Living up to the promise of its title, Pharoah Sanders' WISDOM THROUGH MUSIC delivers just that. Although he made a name for himself as a fiercely expressionistic, almost anarchic tenor saxophonist in John Coltrane's later bands, the music on this album is guided by gentler passions...
	GIL SCOTT-HERON PIECES OF A MAN Pieces of a Man is poignant, potent music--tight, propulsive jazz-funk bringing vividly to life the visions and confessions of a poet observing his country destroy and rebuild itself all at once...
	RAVI SHANKAR THE SOUNDS OF INDIA East 6th Street in New York City is one of the stranger places in the city. There are about 15 Indian restaurants on one block. Barkers stand out front of the restaurants announcing that their restaurant is the best. The food at all of these restaurants is alarmingly similar; the joke goes that there is really only one kitchen in the back, spanning the length of the street. We usually go to a place called Panna II, which is unrelentingly garish: chili pepper Christmas lights hang from the ceiling in the hundreds so you have to bend down to walk. They play what is called "modern Indian music," which sounds like old Indian music with a backbeat and electric guitars. It's a music as garish as the decor. And if I haven't listened in a while, it always sends me running back to Ravi Shankar...
	HORACE SILVER RE-ENTRY Rare and essential live recordings that capture the great Horace Silver Quintet in action at New York City's Half-Note. Always a force to be reckoned with, Silver's mid-60s band was consistently adventurous, original, and funky, anchored in the steady rhythms of bassist Larry Ridley and drummer Roger Humphries, and steeped in the passion of Joe Henderson's tenor sax...
	FRANK SINATRA SONGS FOR SWINGIN' LOVERS Forget the Rat Pack, forget the kitschy, forget Caesar's Palace, forget the whole mob-delivering-the-1960-election-in-Chicago-for-Jack-Kennedy-on- Frankie's-say-so thing, forget that Mia Farrow abusiveness thing. Take that all away and you still have the voice. Man, that cat could sing.
	GABOR SZABO BACCHANAL Gabor Szabo is one of those gigantically influential guitarists whose name or music few have ever heard. Carlos Santana, John McLauglin, Robbie Krieger, and Larry Coryell all seem to have spent some serious quality time soaking in Szabo's hypnotic sound. Largely self-taught, Szabo's playing brilliantly fused...
	LEON THOMAS ANTHOLOGY Leon Thomas possessed a voice that went far beyond what was once thought possible in singing. His trademark yodeling (for lack of a better term) turns jazz "scatting" on its head, transforming the art of song into a deeply cosmic exploration of the soul. On Anthology...
	CAL TJADER & EDDIE PALMIERI EL SONIDO NUEVO (THE NEW SOUL SOUND) The incandescent musical meeting of Cal Tjader and Eddie Palmieri produced an invigoratingly new soul sound that was a hugely influential precursor to salsa, Afro-Latin funk, and Latin-Rock. El Sonido Nuevo is intoxicating...
	VARIOUS ARTISTS NIGERIA 70: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF 1970's FUNKY LAGOS Nigeria 70 appropriately kicks off with a track from the mighty Nigerian who gave Afrobeat its name, defined its sound, and brought it worldwide fame: Fela Kuti. For those already familiar with the shamanistic brew of this musical powerhouse, the remaining tracks on these two discs will offer a sonically stunning alternative to Fela's distinct brand of Afrobeat. While hugely influential on his fellow countrymen (particularly in raising their political consciousness), his musical virtuosity remained unchallenged, as few imitators could afford to employ large ensembles of talented musicians, let alone play with that same black magic stirred up in Fela's marathon improvised jams. But instead of trying to approximate Fela's massive Afro-jazz-funk grooves...
	VARIOUS ARTISTS OUELELE: ANOTHER COLLECTION OF MODERN AFRO RHYTHMS The Funk goes native on this heavy back-to-Africa collection of rare Afro-grooves from around the globe. Ouelele is an eclectic mixture of African and African-derived music from 12 different artists who deliver some of the heaviest rhythms known to man. Nothing hits harder than the hardcore Afrobeat of Smahila & The S.B's epic "African Movement," a 19-minute Fela Kuti derived groove that keeps you spellbound with its endless energy. Soul-jazz meets South Africa in Letta M'Bulu's swinging cover of Hugh Masekela's "What's Wrong With Groovin'." All the intensity of free-jazz is channeled into the percussion heavy groove of Philip Cohran & The African Heritage Ensemble's "Unity," a tribal-funk jam built around a hypnotically droning violin line and a wall of drums. Henri Guedon's "Volcano" is a highly danceable obscurity that skillfully combines jazzy flutes and horns with raw Afro-Latin percussion and pure funk bass...
	VARIOUS ARTISTS SABROSO! THE AFRO-LATIN GROOVE Eighteen sizzling Latin grooves with the power to put some spice back into your life. The tracks collected here were recorded between 1954 and 1972, and range from classic mambo and Latin-jazz to funk and salsa. This collection contains only the hottest tracks from such major Latin artists as Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Machito, Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, and others. There are also a number of obscure and less-obvious selections, including songs by Ocho, Kako & His Orchestra, and the ever-funky Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers, making it a well rounded and totally enjoyable introduction to this diverse genre...
	TOM WAITS NIGHTHAWKS AT THE DINER A timeless live-in-studio performance by one of the most original artists of the past 30 years. This album has the distinctly bohemian feel of a smoky Greenwich village café transplanted onto the blooming desert wasteland of the Los Angeles metropolitan region...
	BEN WEBSTER SOULVILLE Ben Webster was a master of the ballad, blowing with a distinctively breathy, warm-toned, soulful and sensitive voice. On this 1957 session the great tenor-saxophonist met up with the Oscar Peterson's group, which included bassist Ray Brown, guitarist Herb Ellis, and drummer Stan Levy.
	STEVIE WONDER TALKING BOOK What happened to Stevie Wonder? The second-coolest blind piano-playing soul singer in rock history, he was also one of the smartest, most talented and engaging songwriters this side of John Lennon, and he wasn't, and still isn't, self-absorbed and egotistical. (And unlike the first-coolest blind piano-playing vocalist, Ray Charles, Stevie never shilled for the state lottery.) After being a Motown prodigy and, among other things, co-writing "Tears of a Clown" with Smokey Robinson, Little Stevie Wonder came into his own. In a brilliant stretch from 1971 to 1976, he made six albums...