Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint has been maintaining a busy 2025 schedule, with two new titles celebrating greats of jazz and soul.

A 5 Classic Albums on 4 Discs collection from late saxophone titan Eddie Harris (1934-1996) offers all of Harris' albums for the Atlantic label originally released between 1974 and 1976 (with the exception of his album of off-color, spoken-word routines).  Harris enjoyed a versatile career before signing with Atlantic in 1965.  His first albums as a leader were released by Vee-Jay, where he surveyed numerous standards and Hollywood classics (he even titled albums after Exodus and Breakfast at Tiffany's).  Columbia Records came calling, where a trio of albums produced by Tom Wilson (Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel) largely stayed on that same path.

Joining Atlantic in 1965, he introduced his own standard "Freedom Jazz Dance" - soon to be adopted by Miles Davis - before breaking truly new ground.  On 1966's The Tender Storm, he began using an amplified saxophone.  The approach would take flight, however, on 1967's The Electrifying Eddie Harris and the following year's Plug Me In.  His music was becoming heavier and more soulful with each subsequent album as he discovered his own, recognizable sound and voice.  Rock became an element of that sound, too, with one notable U.K. session yielding collaborations with the likes of Jeff Beck, Zoot Money, and Chris Squire.  1969's "Compared to What," with Les McCann, from the pair's Swiss Movement album, became a million-selling crossover chart success.  (It's included as a bonus track here.)

Robinsongs' set opens with 1974's Is It In, chockablock with funk grooves as well as spacey sci-fi outings, outré sonic experiments, and percussion-rooted explorations.  He took his electro-funk stylings even further on I Need Some Money (also 1974).  The tongue-in-cheek title reflected Harris' awareness that jazz purists felt he had gone too far and was "selling out" with his R&B and funk adventures.  He took the mic as a vocalist, too, most often adopting a quippy, droll persona on a series of humorous songs.  With such key sidemen as guitarist Ronald Muldrow and bassists Rufus Reed and Bradley Bobo on these albums, however, Harris never lost sight of his musicianship.

The comic stylings continued on his first of two albums released in 1975, Bad Luck Is All I Have.  It's of a piece with That Is Why You're Overweight, its title hinting at the larger ensemble employed by Harris for the sessions.  Its popular opening song, "It's All Right Now," was sampled in 1996 by Jamiroquai on "Alright."  The title track, "That Is Why You're Overweight," indeed took aim at the obese, though there appears to be an element of self-mocking for Harris.  Peaking just outside of the top 40 on the U.S. R&B chart, the album became a major success for Harris. 1977's How Can You Live Like That concluded the saxman's decade-plus on Atlantic.  Though the title could be construed as another jokey outing, it was actually a well-meaning rumination on inner city life.  Elsewhere, reggae, funk, Latin, soul, and bebop grooves dominate, with bassist Ron Carter, pianist Cedar Walton, and drummer Billy Higgins dropping in for four songs.

Robinsongs' clamshell package includes each disc in an individual wallet as well as a 20-page booklet with liner notes by Charles Waring.  Oli Hemingway has remastered this collection.

Four-time Grammy winner and nineteen-time nominee Larry Carlton remains one of the world's most renowned jazz guitarists.  The Southern California native, known for his sweet tone, made his debut as a leader in 1968 and went on to break new ground with The Crusaders and his volume-pedal technique as heard on that band's 1972 Blue Thumb album Crusaders 1.  Carlton became an in-demand player, supporting such artists across the pop-rock spectrum as Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Dolly Parton, Paul Anka, Herb Alpert, Sammy Davis, Jr., Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, and Steely Dan, for whom he supplied the memorable solo on "Kid Charlemagne."  As his time with The Crusaders was coming to an end, he signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977; he would remain with the label through 1983.  Robinsongs' The Warner Bros. Anthology offers 44 songs on three CDs from this prodigiously gifted musician and performer.

The Warner Bros. Anthology opens with selections from 1978's Larry Carlton.  Recorded at his own Room 335 studio in Hollywood, he was supported by keyboardist Greg Mathieson, bassist Abe Laboriel, drummer Jeff Porcaro, and percussionist Paulinho da Costa.  "Room 335," inspired by the chord progression for Steely Dan's "Peg" - on which Carlton didn't play! - wasn't only named for his studio but for the Gibson ES-335 which was the studio's namesake.  The album also featured a languid remake of The Crusaders' "Nite Crawler" and the boisterous "Rio Samba," a live staple of Carlton's, among the L.A. smoothness and lithe grooves.  1980's Strikes Twice welcomed back Mathieson and da Costa as well as new musicians including keyboardists Terry Trotter and Don Freeman; Carlton sang on three tracks and collaborated on the writing of two with John Townsend of the Sanford-Townsend Band.  On the closing "For Love Alone," Carlton played all instruments - guitars, piano, bass, drums, and percussion.  He later revisited the track on the soundtrack to Against All Odds.  In 1981, Larry earned a Grammy Award as the featured instrumentalist on composer-pianist Mike Post's instantly familiar theme to American cop drama Hill Street Blues; that's included on CD 2 of this set as a bonus track alongside three tracks by jazz supergroup Fourplay (in this iteration, Carlton, Bob James, Harvey Mason, and Nathan East) - one from each of the three albums Carlton recorded with the group.

The second disc opens with seven of the eight songs from Carlton's 1981 Sleepwalk including its AC hit title track, a cover of Santo and Johnny's golden oldie.  Though the guitarist abstained from singing on the album, he composed the rest of its material and surrounded himself with familiar faces from his past sessions (Mathieson, Laboriel, Freeman, Porcaro, Trotter, da Costa) as well as drummer Steve Gadd and saxophonist David Sanborn.  Larry's next Warner Bros. LP didn't arrive until 1983.  Friends continued in a breezy pop-rock vein but welcomed some distinguished guests including B.B. King ("Blues for TJ," named for Carlton's young son), Joe Sample (the gospel-flecked "South Town"), Al Jarreau (a cover of The Champs' "Tequila"), and Michael Brecker ("Friends").  Seven of its eight tracks have been culled for inclusion here, with only "Cruisin'" not making the cut.

Following Friends, Carlton decamped for MCA and GRP, but he returned to Warner in 2000 for Fingerprints, one of two albums represented on the third disc of this collection.  The LP fit into the smooth jazz format of the day and welcomed two more of Carlton's high-profile friends.  Old Steely Dan pal Michael McDonald brought his gravelly pipes to "'Til I Hurt You" while Vince Gill dueted on guitar for "Gracias."  Carlton's next LP, Deep Into It, revisited The Crusaders' "Put It Where You Want It" and added a touch of R&B vocal harmony to Eagles' ballad "I Can't Tell You Why," sung by the quartet Shai.

While it would take many box sets to do full justice to the breadth of Larry Carlton's career, The Warner Bros. Anthology is a compelling and compulsively listenable overview of his Warner Bros. years.  The 16-page booklet housed in an eight-panel digipak offers new liner notes from A. Scott Galloway; Oli Hemingway has again remastered the audio.

Both the Eddie Harris and Larry Carlton titles from Cherry Red and Robinsongs are available now at the links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.​

Eddie Harris, 5 Classic Albums on 4 Discs (Cherry Red/Robinsongs QROBIN4BX81, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1:

1. Funkaroma
2. Happy Gemini
3. Is It In
4. It's War
5. Space Commercial
6. Look Ahere
7. These Lonely Nights
8. House Party Blues
9. Tranquility & Antagonistic

CD 2

1. I Need Some Money
2. Get On Down
3. Time to Do Your Thing
4. Carnival
5. I Don't Want Nobody
6. Bumpin'
7. That's It
8. Get On Up and Dance
9. Bad Luck Is All I Have
10. It Feels So Good

CD 3

1. Why Must We Part
2. Obnoxious
3. Abstractions
4. It's All Right Now
5. Why Do You Hurt Me
6. Flowers
7. That Is Why You're Overweight
8. Tryin' Ain't Dyin'
9. Live Again
10. Ooh
11. Exempt

CD 4

1. How Can I Find Some Way to Tell You
2. Love Is Too Much to Touch
3. How Can You Live Like That?
4. Get Down with It
5. I'd Love to Take You Home
6. Come Dance with Me
7. Bird of Stone
8. Ambidextrous
9. Nothing Else to Do
10. Compared to What - Les McCann and Eddie Harris
11. Shorty Rides Again - Les McCann and Eddie Harris

CD 1, Tracks 1-9 from Is It In, Atlantic SD 1659, 1974
CD 2, Tracks 1-7 from I Need Some Money, Atlantic SD 1669, 1975
CD 2, Tracks 8-10 and CD 3, Tracks 1-3 from Bad Luck Is All I Have, Atlantic SD 1675, 1975
CD 3, Tracks 4-11 from That Is Why You're Overweight, Atlantic SD 1683, 1975
CD 4, Tracks 1-9 from How Can You Live Like That?, Atlantic SD 1698, 1977
CD 4, Track 10 from Swiss Movement, Atlantic SD 1537, 1969
CD 4, Track 11 from Second Movement, Atlantic SD 1583, 1971

Larry Carlton, The Warner Bros. Anthology (Cherry Red/Robinsongs QROBIN82T, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Room 335
2. Where Did You Come From
3. Point It Up
4. Nite Crawler
5. Rio Samba
6. (It Was) Only Yesterday
7. Strikes Twice
8. The Magician
9. In My Blood
10. Springville
11. For Love Alone
12. Charmed I'm Sure - Fourplay
13. Snowbound - Fourplay
14. Blues Force - Fourplay

CD 2

1. Last Night
2. Blues Bird
3. Song for Katie
4. Frenchman's Flat
5. Sleepwalk
6. Upper Kern
7. 10:00 PM
8. Breaking Ground
9. South Town
10. Tequila
11. Blues for TJ
12. Song in the 5th Grade
13. LA, NY
14. Friends
15. (Theme From) Hill Street Blues - Mike Post

CD 3

1. Fingerprints
2. The Storyteller
3. 'Til I Hurt You
4. Slave Song
5. Lazy Susan
6. Chicks with Kickstands
7. Gracias
8. Crying Hands
9. Put It Where You Want It
10. Deep Into It
11. It's a Groove Thang
12. Closer to Home
13. I Can't Tell You Why
14. Like Butta'
15. Roll with It

CD 1, Tracks 1-6 from Larry Carlton, Warner Bros. BSK 3221, 1978
CD 1, Tracks 7-11 from Strikes Twice, Warner Bros. BSK 3380, 1980
CD 1, Track 12 from 4, Warner Bros. 9 46921-2, 1998
CD 1, Track 13 from Snowbound, Warner Bros. 9 47504-2, 1999
CD 1, Track 14 from Yes, Please!, Warner Bros. 9 47694-2, 2000
CD 2, Tracks 1-7 from Sleepwalk, Warner Bros. BSK 3635, 1982
CD 2, Tracks 8-14 from Friends, Warner Bros. 23834, 1983
CD 2, Track 15 from Elektra single E 47186, 1981
CD 3, Tracks 1-8 from Fingerprints, Warner Bros. 9 47338-2, 2000
CD 3, Tracks 9-15 from Deep Into It, Warner Bros. 9 48006-2, 2001