Two lost jazz treasures, resurrected courtesy of Mike Gavin's Cadillac label (which incidentally celebrates its 50th anniversary this year). Led by the late great Billy Bang, the Jazz Doctors were grizzled veterans of the avant-garde with an admirably open attitude to accessibility. Intensive Care boasts a cover photo (taken in a pre-gentrified Hoxton) and sleeve notes by Jazzwise contributor Val Wilmer and features recordings made in London.

The first six tracks are the original 1984 LP, while the CD (subtitled Prescritions Filled) features an additional five previously unreleased tunes. The album features a mix of originals by Bang and Lowe and engaging takes on classics such as Ornette's ‘Lonely Woman’ and Jackie McLean's ‘Little Melonae’. If you're looking for the intersection between free jazz and fun, here it is.

The Joy album was completely unknown to me before I got my review copy, but boy am I glad I’ve heard it. A product of the fertile London scene of the 1970s, Joy were a hip, young multicultural quintet featuring London-based musicians from South Africa, the Caribbean, the US and UK.

This, their only album, was first issued in 1976 and is presented here in a new version – two tracks, ‘Forbidden Flight’ and ‘Tribute’ have been extended - curated by drummer Keith Bailey (the CD contains exra tracks). The tunes, all self-composed, are exceptionally strong and the playing – and interplay – superb. The band plays in the then-contemporary style but with their own approach. The opener ‘Martini Sweet’ sets the tone for the rest of the album: insistent, funky beats (Bailey and Mothle are a briliantly effective but unobtrusive rhythm section) with exquisitely-toned, perfectly-judged blowing from Francis and Dvorak and dancing, light-touch piano from Roberts. On the lithe ‘Do You Know The Way’ the band demonstrate their virtuosity without ever descending into empty technique, showing confident restraint and appealing to the feet and heart as much as the head. If ever a band and an album were aptly-named, it's Joy.