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The 2026 Big Ears lineup will be revealed Tuesday, September 9 at 9:00am ET.

Oh yeah. I LOVE The Almoravid.

I quite like the Richard Davis LPs on Muse, even As One (with Jill McManus, whose Symbols of Hopi album is also excellent).

FWIW, this material is very good, but, honestly, it's nowhere close to the intensity and creativity of the same band captured six months later at the Half Note, 2/18/66, playing four songs from he Cape Verdean Blues. A tape of this (from an Alan Grant radio broadcast) has circulated for some 40 years, which is how I first heard it. They were issued on an unautyorized CD, Horace Silver Featuring Woody Show -- Live at the Half Note. on the Hi-Hat label, and I think one tune ended up on the Emerald release. I'm glad Blue Note is putting out what they are, but it's a missed opportunity to not have found a way to include the 1966 Half Note broadcast, which has some of the best Woody and Joe that I know.

Brilliant track

also got that CD cheaply 15 years or so ago... musically, it's about what you'd expect... the CD does have about 20 minutes of bonus material... looks like buying the cd cheaply is no longer an easy option at this point

Not going in person, but I might tune in on one of the live streams at Smoke - https://tickets.smokejazz.com/shows/7570/?date=2025-08-15 (Eric Alexander & Vincent Herring Quintet “Split Decision” Record Release) The reason I bring this up is that Mike LeDonne and Eric Alexander are playing at Toronto's Jazz Bistro on Aug. 29 and 30th. I plan on making the Aug 30 show. I haven't seen Eric since I was living in Chicago and he played the Jazz Showcase, usually accompanied by Harold Mabern.

Wow - the clip sounds great. I love the cover, may drive me to the LP. The Penthouse is Seattle seems to be a fairly deep well.

I got the cd of this from Dusty Groove for $5. Dusty must have had a source from an old distributor or something, they seemed to have a ton of Muse cds for that price a few years ago.

I've never come across the Richard Davis Way Out West album. Awful cover, but a killer lineup! Would be nice if they did these:

Wow, what a line up! I will order this as well, probably on vinyl. Will wait for the initial fervor to die down and then prices will drop.

Carmen McRae “Carmen Sings Monk” Like Betty Carter Ms McRae recorded some amazing albums right before her passing, this perhaps the best of them. A perfect marriage of music and singer.

falls between his Half Note concert (same musician lineup) & the first Blue Note Cape Verdean session The Natives Are Restless Tonight : Carmell Jones (tp) Joe Henderson (ts) Horace Silver (p) Teddy Smith (b) Roger Humphries (d) Alan Grant radio broadcast "Half-Note", New York, April 16, 1965 Song for my father Emerald EMRCD-1003 [CD], 32 Jazz 32005 [CD] The natives are restless tonight - - Que pasa ? - - Note: 32 Jazz 32005 [CD] titled "Re-entry". All above titles also on Ram R-81002 [CD], DIW (Jap)DIW-130 [CD], Ezz-thetics (Swi)1137 [CD]. See February 11 & 18, 1966 for more titles from all issues. The Cape Verdean Blues : The Horace Silver Quintet : Woody Shaw (tp) Joe Henderson (ts) Horace Silver (p) Bob Cranshaw (b) Roger Humphries (d) Englewood Cliffs, NJ, October 1, 1965 1661 (tk 4) Pretty eyes (*) Blue Note BLP4220, CDP7-84220-2 [CD], 45-1923 1662 (tk 6) The African Queen - - , 45-1924 1663 (tk 16) The Cape Verdean blues (*) - - , 45-1923, BN-LA402-H2, (E)BNSLP-1, (G)BST84510, Blue Note CDP7-95590-2 [CD], EMI (Eu)493466-2 [CD], Blue Note 3-77398-2 [CD] Note: Blue Note (E)BNSLP-1, CDP7-95590-2 [CD] both titled "Blue bossa"; rest of LP/CD by others. (*) These two titles also on Blue Note CDP7-93206-2 [CD], (Eu)7932062 [CD].

I don't think I've heard any of Richard Davis' Muse LPs. I keep meaning to, but never go the extra step of acquiring any. Are they worth shelling out the money? I doubt I'd like "As One" very much.

A wonderfully cool morning after a hot day. Starting off with the second half of this release, didn’t get to fully digest it yesterday. Excellent music and sound. Joel Ross “Who Are You?” Blue Note cd

Supposedly Carmell Jones was heckled before (during?) the show and his playing was adversely affected. Michael Cuscuna gave the masters to Horace so there is a chance that they're out there somewhere. If someone knows Horace's son Gregory, maybe he has them... although I did read somewhere that Gregory may have also passed.

Agreed ...

I could understand the disappointment for those who prefer the cd format. I wish they just do both. No need to always place the vinyl listener in the audiophile loony camp though. I think it’s like Clifford mentioned: the vinyl market is more profitable at the moment. There aren’t a lot of labels that are lead primarily by the ideal of spreading the art. Most of them are just businesses who want to maximize their profits unfortunately.

Back to "great finds made" ... Here's a great music find not in the grooves but between the pages … The other day I met up with a high school classmate from our “Class of 79” who had told me she had started selling off the jazz record collection of her deceased father and wondered if I was interested. Purchases from that collection will be on the back burner for me for the time being, but in her dad’s jazz book corner the below item caught my eye … So I offered her 50 Euros outright for this book, which she was pleased to accept (in fact she had intimated earlier that she did not expect to make much money from disposing of her father’s books – jazz books included). As a bonus, a free copy of the “Eddie Condon Treasury of Jazz” (1st edition of 1956) came my way too. The Bird book is in NM condition (no scuffing to speak of, no splits of the box, no loose pages - which I understand can happen with this book), just some very minor fading of the box spine. I’ve now placed an order with a specialist shop for a premium cardboard archiving box of the right size to hold the book and maintain it in its current condition on my bookshelf for the rest of my days. Needless to say, I was (and am) pleased with this find – even if the vinyl part of my inspection of that collection should come to nought.

I have long wondered what is so awful about the 1964 Live At Pep's session that it was rejected.

The NYT obit was pretty eye-opening for me. I didn't know a lot about her early life. She was definitely a survivor! I was fortunate to see her in 2019 at SFJAZZ in their small Joe Henderson Lab space with Cameron Brown. A wonderful show. Sheila Jordan, Fearless Vocal Improviser, Is Dead at 96

Great front line. Will definitely stream it, and if it's as good as it appears to be will probably by the CD, too.

When Zev released this announcement on FB today I asked him if there would be corresponding CDs for this project. His response: "... this is an analog LP series. As of now exclusive to vinyl. Thanks for your support." Fortunately I have a number of Muse albums on CD - including some of the ugly 32 Jazz releases and Woody Shaw's Muse Mosaic box. Still have some good vinyl too, but my LPs are in storage.

Hello, all- I'm proud to present my last release of the year (and, hopefully, my last bit of member spam) - Bukas, releasing next Friday, August 22, on 577 Records. Bukas documents a band assembled for two Bay Area shows in May of 2023. This was my first major project after the birth of my child and the effective end of social distancing, and it serves as a celebration of the resilient free jazz music that helped me weather a difficult time in our lives. Using the words of John Coltrane as a conceptual tether, this album argues that Free Music can help to shape a world informed by conscience and decency. This is an idea of value, I think, at times like these. Bukas features the legendary Andrew Cyrille, playing some of his most incendiary drums of recent years. He's joined by Asian Improv aRts cofounder Francis Wong, Lewis Jordan (of the storied Bay Area band United Front), bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, and keyboardist Rei Scampavia (of Grex). The album may be pre-ordered/ordered here: https://577records.bandcamp.com/album/bukas And here's a quick video about the project: All the best to you all, K