Justin V

I'm enjoying this for the second time. Cleanhead and Sweets drew me to this one, with Joe Pass being the clincher. However, I'm quite enjoying this edition of the Oscar Peterson trio with Dave Young and Martin Drew.

Another purchase from today. I've been enjoying Cleanhead on the Cootie Williams sides from the Capitol Mosaic, so this one jumped out at me.

Red Allen Plays King Oliver, from the Swing Trumpet Kings compilation: I just purchased the compilation today. Although I already had the Eldridge tracks from the Mosaic, I wanted to hear this and the Sweets/Clayton album. It is pretty surprising that the orphaned alternate from the Sweets/Clayton album is still only available from the Verve Elite Edition Collector's Disc compilation.

The Classic Capitol Jazz Sessions Mosaic, the Cootie Williams sides: Although this is a set that has some music that I won't need to revisit often, if ever, I am quite enjoying these Williams sides. I paid 80 bucks for a discs-only set years ago and there's more than enough music to make it worth keeping.

Disc 2: Between having the flu a few weeks ago to being on a Duke kick, I"be played this set more in the past month than I had in the previous 6 years (or whenever I bought it). What a way to experience these musicians.

Brother, can you spare a roll?

What was going to be a great month has been wiped out. The Roy Haynes and Norman Simmons gigs that I had planned on attending in New York have been canceled. Before making plans to visit New York, I had a ticket for a Charles Lloyd/Gerald Clayton and Alfredo Rodriguez/Pedrito Martinez double bill that has now been canceled. Although it was going to be hard for me to attend, Brotzmann's solo stop in Buffalo has been canceled. Locally, gigs by Vandermark/Lytton/Wooley, Jaimie Branch, Joe Daley/Scott Robinson/Warren Smith and Simone Baron have been canceled. John Clayton was scheduled to appear at 4 area venues with a local symphony orchestra to perform a commissioned work. I caught the world premiere on Wednesday and the other 3 performances were canceled. It is a shame because Clayton's writing and soloing were at a high level. Here's hoping for a better and healthy April.

My wife works in healthcare and deals with many international patients. With a toddler at home, I am obviously concerned about my wife bringing her work home with her. My wife and I each survived the flu within the past 6 months without infecting the other 2 people in the house, so I am hoping that we can keep the baby virus-free at the very least. It was like the zombie apocalypse at the local stores yesterday. We stocked up on food that would keep us during a quarantine, but we are hoping to shop like normal tomorrow. I may have to start a thread here offering CDs for toilet paper, though.

Yeah, I saw that after posting and I just called to confirm. Here's hoping that Roy stays healthy. In the meantime, I'll keep playing his music and looking forward to his next concert.

Roy Haynes is 95 today. I have no idea what the status of my longstanding plan to see him next week is, but I'll be listening to his music frequently. I'm currently listening to Andrew Hill's Smokestack. With Haynes' crackling drums and Richard Davis and Eddie Khan playing off of each other, this is becoming my go-to Hill session. Like many albums, it's hard to imagine it without the inimitable Haynes. Happy Birthday, Mr. Haynes!

It happens often around here that people post inappropriate things when people who aren't jazz-related die. Just because it may have been a hoax this time doesn't mean that the post wasn't boneheaded and disrespectful. Imagine if Jim had posted that on a thread about any number of jazz giants who have died recently. There would have been an uproar. Because it's Kenny Rogers, he's an acceptable target, I guess. Then again, when Lawrence Leathers was murdered, Jim 'joked' about domestic violence being the new heroin for jazz musicians. It's kind of like when Mick Jagger was having heart surgery and Jim said something like, 'The funny thing is he's just going to die eventually.' Sure, on some cosmic level, it is funny that we just are delaying the inevitable, but you don't say stuff like that. I didn't see Jim make a similar comment when Brad's wife had heart surgery. Why not? Jim could seriously write a fascinating book simply by collecting many of his thought-provoking posts. I have learned a lot from reading his posts over the years, but he shouldn't be excused for being insensitive. That people are okay with it is mind-boggling.

Jim, stop posting 'clever' posts on obit threads.

Disc 2: Having listened to the OKeh box several times over the last week, it is fascinating to hear the difference a decade made.

I'd planned on listening to Duke and my toddler asked for Pass. You can please everyone.

It had been a few years since I'd heard this one, but I have been on a Duke kick and just finished Disc 1 of the '80s Blanton-Webster box. Blanton was unreal.

Within seconds of putting this on, my daughter wanted to dance. 'Passion Dance' became 'Daddy Can't Dance'.

It is a mystery how I don't have that one. I'm a big Haynes fan, and with McCoy and Grimes? How could you go wrong? Leading into:

I have around 30 Ellington discs and still feel like a neophyte. I've grown so used to Mosaic sets that a two-disc set feels bite-sized. At any rate, this has been getting played frequently.

I found this while boxing up some CDs and don't know how I got it or if I ever listened to it. I've long meant to check out her music, so this was a nice surprise.

Disc 4

Disc 1: Whenever I think that the financially smart thing to do would be to downgrade to the earlier Columbia sets, something grabs me and I know I am keeping this. Yesterday it was the way the group hits with Blanton and Strayhorn's arrangements on Disc 7. Today it is the opportunity to hear these soloists trade solos in such a loose setting. The addition of Ceele Burke on steel guitar is brilliant. This is a set that will continue to pay dividends the more I revisit it.

Disc 1: This set arrived today. It's hard to believe that I paid just under 6 bucks after shipping and tax. It is pretty fascinating to hear this after listening to a chunk of the Reprise box earlier today.

Duke Ellington - The Orchestral Ellington: With The Okeh Ellington set to arrive today, I'm feeling kinda Dukish.