One of the pioneering labels in the history of jazz is a logical entry in Jazzman's excellent Spiritual Jazz compilation series. Certainly, between the early 1960s and mid-1970s, the period covered here, Alfred Lion's imprint produced an inordinate amount of material by the leading lights of modern jazz who had the strength of character to match their abundant talent. Drawing on post-bop, modal and Afro-Latin vocabularies, the likes of Wayne Shorter, Bobby Hutcherson, Elvin Jones and Freddie Hubbard, to name but some, made music that still provides great pleasure to listeners, as well as a blueprint for any players looking for inspiration as well as integrity. A composition such as Pearson's ‘The Phantom’ is an object lesson in how to create the most resonant and affecting of ambiences by way of immense subtlety as well as emphasis, as the sotto voce of the rhythm section is perfectly complemented by the surges of the leader's fraught piano and Jerry Dodgion's willowy flute. American jazz of this kind is timeless. Then again the inclusion on this 2CD set of Nigerian hi-life master Solomon Ilori is a masterstroke insofar as it underlines the stature of non-western players in the Black Power era. Their place in history should not be overlooked.