The Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series is an album-centric program focused on delivering the best possible listening experience. From the quality of the music to the sonic purity of the pressing, we aim to deliver a hefty dose of aural couch-lock. Highlighting complete original albums from the Jazz Dispensary vaults with a focus on rare and previously unavailable titles, each album is pressed on 180-gram audiophile quality vinyl and housed in a faithfully reproduced old-school style jacket.

Each album is also available digitally: Mastered for iTunes, streaming, and in Hi-Res audio formats (96/24 and 192/24).

An unsung monster in the pantheon of exceptional soul-jazz outings from the Prestige catalog, Fire Eater finds Rusty Bryant grooving hard in a combo that featured Idris Muhammad on drums, Wilbert Longmire on guitar, and both Bill Mason and Leon Spencer Jr. on organ. Included in this stretched-out, funky set of four originals is the title track, “Fire Eater,” which was sampled for “Swing Set” by Jurassic 5 (2000) and appeared on the 1999 collaboration between DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, Brainfreeze. While not as instantly recognizable by name as other greats of the tenor saxophone such as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Bryant’s fiery and athletic approach on this set sets him apart from his peers as a force to be reckoned with. In the strident groove and funky underpinnings of Fire Eater is the blueprint for generations of future groovers and funkateers. Essential.