@JSngry @Chuck Nessa @HutchFan So here is my Randy Weston Zulu album story.
I told the story in another thread about my negative university jazz experience, which made it difficult for me to listen to or enjoy jazz for a few years.
After I finished my BA (not in music), I was going through some heavy family stuff, and I decided that I was going to pack up and move to a strange city, make a fresh start, and leave behind any vestiges of my past that I did not want to revisit. I chose a city halfway across the country, where I had a single friend living. He was the only person I knew there.
If you've never packed up an moved to a strange place, with no connections and virtually no real reason for being there, it is very liberating, but because you have no familiar reference points, it also forces you to discover who you are and what you want, and it's not always easy.
I had packed a box of about 50 or so LPs to bring with me, and I deliberately didn't bring any jazz with me, because I thought I was finished with it. What was funny, was that after being there for only a few days, I suddenly wanted to listen to and play jazz. This snuck up on me from nowhere.
So I'm frantically going through my LPs, thinking, "Did you really not pack any jazz records, you idiot?" and lo and behold, I find Randy Weston's Zulu. I have no idea how it got in the box; it must have been accidental.
Anyway, I played that album to death for several weeks, as it was my only jazz album. I credit this album - and this whole experience - with reinforcing my love for jazz and getting me back into it.