Here's some of the PVC treasure that's arrived recently, most of it reissues of classic jazz, soul, rock and roll, and more, with a couple newly recorded gems in the mix, too.

A little vinyl taster to keep you going until the next Record Store Day, which is slated for April 20.

Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series (Craft) Phineas Newborn – A World of Piano! and Ornette Coleman – Tomorrow is the Question!

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Craft Recordings’ ongoing Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series – which reissues West Coast jazz classics cut by Bernie Grundman, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged in tip-on sleeves (which you know I love!) – will have 12 releases in 2024, including LPs from Art Pepper, Shelly Manne & His Men, Harold Land, Hampton Hawes, Howard McGhee, Prince Lasha Quintet, Ben Webster, Helen Humes, and Sonny Rollins. The two here are from the 2023 series releases and offer a taste of what’s to come. Other than the poly inner sleeves, these are surely how such LPs looked when they first appeared in 1959 (Ornette) and 1962 (Newborn). The pressings and sound are great, and it goes without saying that the performances are top-notch. The Coleman record, his second, sounds liminal to our ears today, because we know things would continue to go further out, but it must have sounded absolutely incendiary when it was released. The energetic Newborn record is a testament to the pianist’s enthusiastic approach. It’s thrilling to think of a whole new generation meeting this music for the first time, like I did in the 1980s.

Aretha Franklin – A Portrait of the Queen 1970-1974 (BMG/Omnivore Creative)

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My friend and Milwaukee native Cheryl Pawelski has been raking up the GRAMMY Awards for her incredible reissues and this is another of her recent projects: replica versions of five early 1970s Aretha LPs plus a sixth disc of demos, outtakes, alternate takes and B-sides. Starting with 1970’s “This Girl’s In Love With You,” which still rocks that classic late ‘60s Aretha sound and running through to the funk and proto-disco of 1974’s “Let Me In Your Life,” this set resuscitates some great LPs that are generally unheralded these days, despite being among her absolute best work. These records show not only Franklin’s vocal skills, but her versatility and adventurousness. And, of course, there are hits here, like “Son of A Preacher Man,” “Rock Steady” and “Young, Gifted & Black,” to name a few. The LPs come in their original sleeves in a slipcase box with a 12x12 full-color booklet with an essay, track-by-track commentary, photos, label designs and more.

Dhani Harrison – Innerstanding (Hot Records/BMG)

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Speaking of GRAMMY winners, Dhani Harrison’s first solo record in six years has a title his dad, George, would surely approve of. But this album – spread across two neon yellow vinyl LPs in a gatefold sleeve with a 12x12 lyric and photo booklet – is thoroughly modern and, to his credit, makes no effort to recreate anything Dhani’s dad did. Heavy beats, effect-laden guitars and vocals create a thumping, hypnotic vibe on tracks like the single “New Religion,” while others, like “Ahoy There!,” feel almost cinematic. There are guest appearances by Blur’s Graham Coxon, Australian singer Mereki and Liela Moss of The Duke Spirit.

Joe Henderson – Power to the People (Milestone/Jazz Dispensary)

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I’d say that jazz fans ought to thank their lucky stars for Craft Recordings, which has a number of incredible jazz reissue series going, but, really, the label has been bringing back great music on top-quality reissues in a wide variety of genres. But another of its jazz series (one is mentioned above and another will be discussed below) is Jazz Dispensary, which digs up extreme rarities and presents them anew to a new generation. Albums like saxophonist Joe Henderson’s 1969 “Power to the People,” which bridges the fading hard bop era with the new revolution in music – jazz and rock – to create music that is at times almost straight-ahead bop, and at times moody and ethereal, bringing in electric instruments like Fender bass and Fender Rhodes electric piano. Ten years after the Coleman record mentioned above was liminal in its way, this one tests the borders again in new ways. Mastered by Kevin Gray, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a tip-on gatefold sleeve.

Various Artists – Let’s Go Dancing Said the Firefly to the Hurricane (Tasty Goody)

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Last spring I told you about an upcoming series of tributes to Milwaukee native Kevn Kinney (of Drivin N Cryin) and later gave you a heads up on the tracklisting of the first of four planned LPs. Well, here, finally, is that first disc, on translucent green vinyl, which features covers of Kinney tunes by Gordon Gano and Boy Dirt Car, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, REM’s Peter Buck, Great Lake Swimmers, Wreckless Eric and others. Not only a labor of love and a tribute to a great talent by some famous friends, the LP is also a great listen. Plus you get a 12x12 art print by project organizer and artist Anna Jensen, who is also Kinney’s wife.

Fred Locks – Black Star Liners (VP/17 North Parade)

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I’d call Fred Locks’ 1976 LP a forgotten classic, but it’s never gone off the radar of devout roots reggae fans. However, for newbies or those who let it slip from memory, the 10-track LP, reissued by VP Records, just may be a revelation. The title track – with its at times chaotic, almost avant garde guitar playing – made Locks’ name all those years ago in reggae communities in Kingston, London, New York and Toronto, but, honestly, it’s not even the best tune on this set, which is heavy, but accessible, roots reggae through and through. Pop crossover? Not for a second.

Bob Marley & the Wailers – Catch a Fire 50th Anniversary (Tuff Gong/Island)

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On the other hand, this now-50-year-old classic – truly a legendary and groundbreaking record – did use some crossover elements, but with great success. The first Island Records LP by Bob Marley & the Wailers – which then still included the original Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer – infused Rasta-fueled roots music with American blues and rock influenced guitar and keyboard to create the perfect entry into Jamaican music for rock fans, and that’s exactly what happened, setting Marley off on his trajectory to global superstardom. This lovely set, housed in a gatefold slipcover, has the original UK/US release on one LP, the full 1973 Paris Olympia concert on a second disc, a third LP of Jamaican versions and a one-sided fourth disc with three tracks recorded live in Edmonton, England in May 1973, plus a 12x12 booklet with photos, images of original tape boxes, essays and more. An ace reissue, though the one-sided disc seems a little weird when there were other tracks from the era that surely could’ve rendered that blank wax useful.

Paul McCartney & Wings – Band on the Run 50th Anniversary (MPL/Apple)

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Uncannily announced the day before the passing of Wings’ Denny Laine, this set is seen (by me, at least) as a tribute to his contribution to one of the biggest bands of the 1970s, though, of course, the timing is in celebration of the hit album’s 50th birthday. The first LP of this slipcased two-record set is the original LP in its U.S. version, which means it has “Helen Wheels,” which was a single release only in the U.K. – cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road and pressed at Optimal in Germany. One of the most familiar records of its time, “Band on the Run” – recorded rather legendarily in Nigeria (Google it) – hardly needs describing here. It has some of McCartney’s best post-Beatles songs, like the title track, “Jet,” “Let Me Roll It” and “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five.” The second disc is an “underdubbed” or “naked” rough mix version of the LP and is interesting, though, I’d argue, not entirely essential. Having said that, the packaging on this reissue is really exceptional. The original LP has its Linda McCartney Polaroids poster and inner sleeve and the underdubbed also has a poster of more Polaroids, in a textured sleeve and reproduction of a Nigerian passport visa affixed to it. The images on the matte slipcase are glossy and all of the the text is embossed.

Wes Montgomery – The Complete Full House Recordings (Riverside/Craft)

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Last autumn I raved about the release of guitarist Montgomery’s unreleased live recordings with pianist Wynton Kelly from the Half Note Cafe in New York and now I’m back to rave some more about this triple-LP of live recordings from three years earlier with Kelly on the opposite coast. This stunning set in a two-fold gatefold includes stellar performances by Montgomery and Kelly alongside bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb and tenor man Johnny Griffin that were released on “Full House” in 1962. But here, they’re augmented with eight more performances from the shows, including two never before released. One of them is the full unedited take a the title track with Montgomery’s original guitar solo restored (this performance was edited and his solo replaced for the original release). Pressed at Optimal on 180-gram vinyl on lacquers cut by Kevin Gray.

Original Jazz Classics (Craft) The Tony Bennett / Bill Evans Album; Tommy Flanagan, John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell and Idrees Sulieman – The Cats’; Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers – Caravan; and Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans – Know what I mean?

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In the mid-1980s, I found jazz thanks to two sources: a newly jumpstarted Blue Note Records reissue program and Fantasy Records’ insanely ambitious and relatively budget priced Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series that brought records released by labels like Prestige, Riverside, New Jazz and others back into print in their original sleeves. Thankfully, Craft has revived OJC and has even elevated it with tip-on sleeves that mimic the earliest issues of these records, 180-gram vinyl and cuttings by Kevin Gray. These four examples include two I owned in their earlier Fantasy-era incarnations – the incredible meeting of the minds that was “The Cats” and Blakey’s brilliant outing built around a high-octane reading of Ellington’s “Caravan” – as well as two I hadn’t had: both featuring introspective pianist Bill Evans, one with my favorite jazz singer, Tony Bennett. These remind me of what I love about OJC, and that’s rediscovering brilliant music and meeting some of its for the first time. Now, in even more lovingly curated reissues.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel – Desire and Dissolving Men (High Water Music)

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Before there was The Night Sweats, there was Nathaniel Rateliff, who made emotive, intimate, hard-hitting modern folk records. While I got there pretty early (seeing him for the first time at Club Garibaldi), I didn’t get there early enough to know his 2007 solo debut, recorded mostly in Rateliff’s living room in Denver and issued on vinyl here for the first time. Fans of his 2010 “In Memory of Loss” and its followups will love every second of this quiet, reflective set. Night Sweats fans will be warned that this is not a modern soul house party, rather an impromptu late-night session with friends and a couple acoustic guitars and a vibraphone.

Omar Sosa’s 88 Well-Tuned Drums (Ta)

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This LP of music from the 2022 film of the same name, collects eight examples of the Afro-Cuban jazz of Cuban born pianist Omar Sosa, whose music is vibrant music that embraces styles from around the globe. Though I haven’t seen the film, hearing this infectious, music with its fabulous percussion, its harmonic improvisation and its just plain joie de vivre has led me to add it to my watch list. It also makes me a little embarrassed to think that Sosa has recorded more than 30 albums and I’d never heard any of his music until now. That will change. Pressed on eye-catching bright red vinyl.

Spiritualized – Amazing Grace (Fat Possum)

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As part of the ongoing Spaceman Reissue Program curated by J Spaceman for Fat Possum Records, this reissue – on grey or black vinyl – of the fifth Spiritualized album, released in 2003, comes in its original sleeve with original tracklisting. This disc is crunchy but with some intimate moments and perhaps unexpected nods toward American gospel music, including on the opener “This Little Life of Mine,” “Lord Let It Rain on Me” and on the mellower country-inflected section of “Hold On,” for example. Firmly rooted in its era, “Amazing Grace” still somehow sounds fresh and exciting 20 years later.