OnMilwaukee.com's music madman Bobby Tanzilo selects six new records he can't stop listening to.

Jazz fans rejoiced when Blue Note started reissuing the treasures in its vault in the '80s. When the CD era really kicked in and the Connoisseur Series upped the ante, it was even better. But now Blue Note is really digging deep as part of the more inexpensive RVG Series and our appetites are getting quenched.

The latest batch of reissues includes the much-sought after "Smoke Stack," Chicago pianist Andrew Hill's second session for the label -- recorded in 1963 -- although released as his fourth LP for Blue Note (in 1966).

Like Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols before him, Hill wowed label boss Alfred Lion with his groundbreaking compositions and his ceaseless exploration. That's why Lion had Hill in the studio so much that he could barely afford to keep pace with releasing them.

On "Smoke Stack" Hill built an unusual combo, arming himself with drummer Roy Haynes and two bassists: Eddie Khan and Richard Davis (who taught for many years at UW-Madison). Without the presence of a horn player or vibist Bobby Hutcherson, Hill's own piano skills are up front here and the bass players take turns in support roles and featured positions.

Wrapped in one of Blue Note's finest sleeves -- which is really saying something -- "Smoke Stack," which is augmented here with the same four alternate takes that were added to the 1995 Connoisseur Series version, remains a jazz masterpiece and an enthralling collection.

A couple other gems have also arrived from Blue Note: Stanley Turrentine's orchestrated "Joyride" and Horace Silver's swingin' "Horace-Scope."

The first was a 1965 session that combined soul jazz stars Turrentine, guitarist Kenny Burrell and drummer Gray Tate with pianist Herbie Hancock and bassist Bob Cranshaw. But this was far from a normal funky outing as arranger and conductor Oliver Nelson led an orchestra that created an almost big band/soul jazz hybrid that would also serve organist Jimmy Smith well during his stint at Verve Records.

Clearly, this funky, bluesy and slick sound was meant to expand the popularity of Turrentine's music beyond the jazz hardcore, as is evidenced by the inclusion of pop material like "A Taste of Honey." But before you scoff, give "Joyride" a spin. As Bob Blumenthal writes in the notes, "Strange as it may seem, 'Joyride' has to be the album representing the single most radical departure in Blue Note's storied history. More than the sessions by Monk and the other modernists ... this classic collection ... was a departure from the Blue Note norm."

And, it swings!

Four years after Silver left the seminal Jazz Messengers, he recorded "Horace-Scope" with his quintet, which featured trumper Blue Mitchell and tenor man Junior Cook out front.

Mixing new material and familiar originals like "Nica's Dream," the title track and "Yeah!," "Horace-Scope" may not represent the apex of Silver's writing skills -- in that nearly half of the set was previously recorded -- it captured Silver's longest-running quintet at the peak of its powers.

Like Hill's "Smoke Stack" band, Britain's short-lived Delta 5 also featured two basses. Emerging from the same Leeds scene that served up Gang of Four and The Mekons, Delta Five issued but a handful of 45s and an LP before vanishing. But tunes like "Mind Your Own Business" and "Try" remain some of the quirkiest and most engaging of the post-punk music created at the close of the '70s.

"Singles & Sessions 1979-81" (Kill Rock Stars) collects the band's three 45s and some radio sessions to remind us of an undersung band that pushed the margins mixing punk, rock, funk and reggae into a pleasing whole.

Cesare Basile isn't a household name in Italy, so it can hardly be expected to be one here. But on his latest disc, "Hellequin Song" (Mescal), he straddles the rock and singer/songwriter scenes in such a compelling way that we can only hope that changes.

Calling on friends like John Parish, The Bad Seeds' Hugo Race, The Jains' Kris Reichert and former Deus bassist Stef Kamil Carlens, Basile crafts lovely, at times intimate, at times epic music that is part Paolo Conte and Gianmaria Testa (vocally) and part Nick Cave or Tom Waits (for its eclecticism).

Finally, from France comes Seven Dub and its "Dub Club Edition (Rock With Me Sessions" (Collision). A pair of Parisians crashes house, pop, world music and jazz with dub reggae to construct a club-friendly sound bolstered with vocal performances by veteran Jamaican chanter Lone Ranger and Paul St. Hilaire, who sang on great tunes from Rhythm and Sound.