Justin V

This is some top-shelf Hodges and it's nice to have some other great Mercer Records material all in one place.

Happy Birthday to the great Mr. Haynes!

This arrived yesterday.

I'm just bouncing around some sessions with Ellingtonians. This set is a treasure trove.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Coleman!

Ha. I am listening to the Musicraft sides via this reissue on Discovery, which arrived today.

When you commented on his breath control, it made me think of his circular breathing on The Hawk Flies High.

Yeah, Amy's work with Bryant is excellent, as is the rest of that Select. I like the use of upright bass with organ as well, like Shirley Scott's Great Scott! (the Muse one with the great Buck Hill) or Ike Quebec's Heavy Soul. Off of the top of my head, I think I've only seen upright bass with organ twice, though (Reginald Veal with Joey D and Larry Grenadier with John Medeski).

Without reports from a reputable publication, I had been hoping that the news of his passing was false, but I have confirmed with his label that Carl Saunders has left us. I was surprised to learn that I have more albums with him than I had thought, although the only leader date I have of his is the fine Baker tribute he co-led with Phil Urso. Thank you for the music, Mr. Saunders, and rest in peace.

Organ, bari, vibes, guitar and drums. Oooh, baby.

Of all of the musicians on this one, I'd only heard Ian Hendrickson-Smith before and he is on bari here. The combination of bari, organ, guitar, vibes and drums makes for a unique vibe.

I really enjoyed seeing Rickey Woodard live last year with an orchestra presumably assembled by John Clayton.

After recently acquiring the Capitol Mosaic and playing it several times, I went back to this. I hadn't spent much time with it when I bought it 3 years ago for around 6 bucks, so I was excited to realize it is from the Capitol era.

I like his playing with Andrew Hill and never got around to his leader dates. Rest in peace, Mr. Garnett, and thank you for the music.

I'm grateful for the several opportunities I had to see him perform and the legacy of recordings he has left us. Between his sideman work with Blakey and Miles, his years with Weather Report and his incredibly rewarding career as a leader, it's difficult to fathom it all being the work of only one remarkable person. Thank you for the music, Mr. Shorter, and rest in peace.

Man, I am so glad I snapped up 6 live Woody Shaw dates during the Qobuz sale. I miss Larry Willis. I saw him play 4 months before he died and encouraged him to return and play a solo gig. He replied, 'We'll see what the future holds.' What a marvelous pianist! Regarding the other sidemen, I hope Victor Lewis is on the mend. I plan on finally seeing Steve Turre for the first time next month. I've never seen Stafford James, who might be living in Europe now.

Ooooh, that sounds like an interesting one!

It's a cruel twist of fate that this discussion has been so active and the wonderful Eckstine-Basie album somehow never was ripped and uploaded to my YouTube music collection. I'll have to spin it somehow soon.