Justin V

I received Amazon gift certificates and originally ordered the Pacific Jazz Piano Trios Mosaic Select. After the seller canceled that order, I ordered the Carmell Jones Mosaic Select, which arrived today. I don't have anything with Frank Strazzeri, so I'm looking forward to hearing him at length. It arrived today and it might just kill me having to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Two of my favorite trio albums have both of them: The Oracle (w/ Dave Holland) & The Essence (w/ Ray Drummond). Those are both excellent albums. The Essence is underrated. If you like Jones and Holland together, you can also hear them on Lew Tabackin's Desert Lady, with Victor Lewis on drums. Ray Drummond and Jones are also on Mark Elf's Eternal Triangle, with Jimmy Heath and Ben Riley. Note: Although The Oracle can be hard to find, there are four copies available for under $35 on Amazon.

I would say probably Hank Jones or Billy Higgins. Why? They're two of my favorite musicians, they were prolific sidemen and I seek out their recordings, which means that their work comprises a large chunk of my music collection.

I've been meaning to explore his work after enjoying what I've heard from him. RIP.

I never had the chance to see him in concert. I'll have to listen to Enrico Rava's Tati, with Motian and Stefano Bollani. It features a beautiful version of Motian's 'Birdsong'. RIP.

I like his arrangements on Ray Brown's Jazz Cello. RIP.

Has anyone noticed that Chick is playing all month at the Blue Note in a dizzying number of contexts: RTF Unplugged; the Five Peace Band; a trio with Gary Peacock and Brian Blade; duets with Bobby McFerrin, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Roberts and Gary Burton; with his Flamenco Heart group, a Miles tribute with Wallace Roney, Gary Bartz, Jack DeJohnette and Eddie Gomez; and, his Elecktric Band. That's a little bit of something for everyone. Is anyone going?

It's very sad to hear this. I discovered Norris' playing a few months ago upon buying Love Every Moment. I ordered his Elements in Motion from his website, and he included a postcard with a little note thanking me for my order and saying that he hoped that it'd give me listening pleasure (as a side note, he had beautiful penmanship). I enjoyed it, and found a copy of Live at Maybeck Recital Hall, Vol. 4, which is my favorite from what I've heard of the Maybeck series. RIP to an underrated master.

I was enjoying Kikuchi's playing on Paul Motian's Live at the Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 yesterday. I don't find Kikuchi's grunting distracting, although it might be if you were at the Vanguard sitting right behind him. I remember there being some kind of benefit for him last year or the year before. Does anyone know how he's doing now?

Howard Johnson - Gravity!!!

I listen to everything within a day or two of getting it.

I've caught Bruce a few times in my hometown of Erie. He's a monster player, and I'd love to see him put an album out of his own tunes.

Be on the lookout for an upcoming Francisco Mela giveaway at AAJ...

Happy belated birthday to Sam Rivers. I'll be giving Fuchsia Swing Song a listen soon.

DiRubbo's duo album with Larry Willis, Four Hands, One Heart, is one of my favorite albums of the year. I also enjoyed Chronos, which is an organ date.

I've seen David Wong with the Heath Brothers and Roy Haynes. It seems that he's becoming as ubiquitous as Peter Washington.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I double-checked the email from three years ago, and Santisi did mention that Zitano died in Texas. Do you have any more details?

Runner-up might be Jimmy Zitano. A couple years ago, I was curious about Zitano and emailed Ray Santisi to find out his whereabouts. Apparently, he died while on stage with Al Hirt.

I purchased a new copy of One for Namesake a few months ago for less than $2 from gohastings.com. It is a pretty democratic trio outing. I didn't realize that Hurst was playing so much this weekend. Although it pains me to have to miss him with the Drum Ensemble on Friday, I hope to at least catch him with Karriem Riggins, who is another underrated player.

Happy birthday, Mr. Shorter. I saw him for part of a set at the Detroit Jazz Festival two or three years ago. I had to leave after about half an hour to catch the Heath Brothers. I've been waiting to see him again in concert, but he hasn't hit Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo or Pittsburgh since.

I have the Mosaic reissue, and there is no explanation offered for the track's absence.

Be on the lookout for a Gigi Gryce giveaway at AAJ in the near future.

Great news! I recently checked on Amazon to see whether it was available for a reasonable price, but the domestic release wasn't listed yet.