Pharoah Sanders

Track: "Japan" (B1)
Album: Tauhid
Format: LP
Label/info: Impulse AS-9128 stereo, 1967. Inspired by the Tokyo concert trip with Coltrane in the summer of '66.

Caught the man himself this summer at the Atlanta Jazz Fest. Still a major musical and spiritual presence.

Clifford Jordan Quartet

Track: “Dear Old Chicago” (A2)
Album: Bearcat
Format: LP
Label/info: OJC-494 reissue. Originally Jazzland LP 69 mono/969 stereo, 1962. Four city cats caught in their prime - with Jordan as the gifted, unsung composer. Clifford Jordan (ts), Cedar Walton (p), Teddy Smith (b), J.C. Moses (d).

Aretha Franklin

Track: "Baby, I Love You" (B5)
Album: Aretha Arrives
Format: LP
Label/Info: Atlantic 8150 (mono) / SD 8150 (stereo), 1967. Also Sundazed reissue, LP 5136. Pure happiness in a song, and a family affair with background vocals from sisters Carolyn and Erma -- and of course all that Atlantic magic: Muscle Shoals musicians and Tom Dowd engineering.

Archie Shepp

Track: "There is a Balm in Gilead" (B1)
Album: Blasé
Format: LP
Label/Info: BYG Actuel 529.318 - 180 Gram. Recorded in Paris in 1969 with Art Ensemble of Chicago stalwarts. Jeanne Lee on vocals. Truly sublime.

Johnny Hartman

Track: "Charade" (A1)
Album: I Just Dropped By To Say Hello
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse! AS-57 (Stereo) 1964. A particularly tasty track featuring guitarist Kenny Burrell. Up there with with the audiophile ear candy of Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love."

Can

Track: "You Doo Right" (side B)
Album: Monster Movie
Format: LP
Label/Info: Liberty/United Artists reissue UAS 29094. Originally released 1969. "Made in a castle with better equipment" in a world and time all its own. Great blindfold test for the uninitiated.

Them

Track: "I Can Only Give You Everything" (A6)
Album: Them Again
Format: Anything you can find.
Label/Info: Original UK release on Decca; US release on Parrot PA 61008 (mono); PAS 71008 (stereo), 1966. Most will recognize the open-string riff (E-E-A-D) as "Devil's Haircut," but these Irish protopunk lads deserve all the credit for Odelay and bunch of other later influences.

The Kinks

Track: "Stop Your Sobbing" (B5)
Album: You Really Got Me (1st US release)
Format: LP
Label/Info: Reprise R-6143 (mono); RS-6143 (stereo), 1965.
I've always wanted my own '60s cover band just so I could play this. A great British pop song.

Margo Guryan

Track: "Sunday Mornin'" (A1)
Album: Take a Picture
Format: LP
Label/Info: Bell Records 6022 (1968); re-released as Sundazed 5195 (2006)
The inaugural post on a Sunday morning.  Works so well as a single, but even better as the sweet and groovy intro to an under-rated/stated album.