jeffcrom

Gil Evans Plus Ten, from this 1975 Prestige two-fer. Inspired by Bev's comments in the soprano saxophone thread, which made me remember that this was my introduction to Steve Lacy. A really beautiful album.

All of Lacy's solos from Gil Evans Plus Ten are great, but particularly "Just One of Those Things" and the more abstract "Ella Speed." And that Evans album was my introduction to Lacy - and I didn't even want it, really. As a teenager, I read Ira Gitler's Jazz Masters of the 40s, and was intrigued by the Tadd Dameron chapter. So I bought The Arrangers' Touch, a Prestige two-fer with one disc by Dameron and one by Evans - the Ten album. I had never heard of Steve Lacy, but after "Just One of Those Things," I asked myself, "Did I really just hear what I thought I heard?" After that, I bought a then-recent Lacy album - the solo Clinkers. Quite a contrast, but I liked it just as much.

Dude can play anything.

Looks like this one crossed the Atlantic twice. It has a UK copyright import label. Not my copy - just a picture I found on the web. I wondered what the sticker was. Jeff brought this out to taunt me. :-) Not to taunt, but partially in protest. And to see if I was crazy in remembering it to be pretty good. I don't like everything I've heard by Wilber (or Davern), but the best is pretty good, in my opinion. I think I have owned five Soprano Summit albums at various times, and divested myself of all but two of them - their first, pictured above, and a live album from a British tour, with Dave Cliff and Peter Ind. The three I got rid of didn't move me, but I really like the two I kept. I think I've loosened up a lot over the years. There used to be a lot of jazz artists I just didn't like at all. As I have gotten older I have found that I like some of their recordings (while not accepting everything they've done), or just like them for what they are, without expecting too much. Sometimes I want profound expression; sometimes all I want is pleasant musical diversion. And sometimes I want something in between, which is where the best parts (not all) of the above album fall.

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond (BN mono). Second spin in two days of this recent find.

Atlanta has some great record stores, but I seldom see original-press Blue Notes here. But this afternoon I found a mono copy of Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond for six dollars. The cover is pretty beat, but the record sounds very good - just the slightest surface noise in quiet passages.

Yes! http://smile.amazon.com/MCCOY-TYNER-Giants-McCoy-Tyner/dp/0793507472/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419086199&sr=1-1&keywords=mccoy+tyner That's not the autobiography - that's a collection of transcribed scores.

Looks like this one crossed the Atlantic twice. It has a UK copyright import label. Not my copy - just a picture I found on the web. I wondered what the sticker was.

Candido Camero Chano Pozo Parker Posey

Bob Wilber/Kenny Davern - Soprano Summit (World Jazz). Really enjoyed this one tonight.

Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Pie DeSanto Sugar Boy Crawford

I took my daily dose of Louis in convenient 45 RPM form today, with a stack of little records. A highlight was (believe it or not), a 1952 Decca with Gordon Jenkins' Orchestra, "Listen to the Mocking Bird." (How did he make such a lame song sound so good?) I've always liked the picture sleeve of a single from the B movie The Beat Generation, from 1958. The title song is just ridiculous; I'm not sure who decided that Louis Armstrong would be the person to sing it. Then, Air - 80 Below '82 (Antilles)

I wasn't good to post here, but I've got to say that I find some of the comments here baffling. Sonny Rollins, at any stage of his career, can play stuff that makes my jaw drop. Not saying that it happens all the time, but it still happens. I thank the universe for Sonny Rollins.

Dizzy Reece Select. Thanks, Face of the Bass!

Tonight's Louis: Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers 1924-1930 (Charly). Disc 5, accompanying Baby Mack, Hociel Thomas, Sippie Wallace, Nolan Welsh, and Butterbeans & Susie.

For "straight" Christmas music, I love Robert Shaw's choral arrangements - but I admit that it's in my blood. This was some of my parents' favorite Christmas music, in various incarnations - my mom had the 78 albums by the Robert Shaw Chorale back in the day. That was before my time, but I remember the mono LPs, followed by the stereo versions. Shaw's last version of these arrangements (I think) is from 1994, by what was basically the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus - Songs of Angels on Telarc. It's beautifully recorded, and includes some haunting, unusual repertoire along with the usual stuff. I particularly like this arrangement of "O Come, O Come Emanuel," the English "The Boars Head Carol" and "The Coventry Carol," "The Cherry Tree Carol" from Kentucky, and the odd, medieval "My Dancing Day."

Never seen that one. Looks great. Reissued on Jazzology as part of Four Jazz Greats.

Earl Hines - My Tribute to Louis (Audiophile). A Chuck Nessa recommendation.

That took less than 30 minutes - Condons are gone!

Two duplicates from my shelves, free to anyone in the world: Eddie Condon - Town Hall Concerts, Volume 2 Eddie Condon - Town Hall Concerts, Volume 6 These are two-CD sets on Jazzology. Each contains four 30-minute radio broadcasts. Shipped "as is" in the US; without jewel cases outside the US.

Archie Shepp & Philly Joe Jones (Fantasy), with basically the same cover as the America issue shown here.

I'm still spinning 78s several times each week - sometimes almost every day. I just love the little buggers. But posting here in detail takes time, and sometimes I don't feel like it. But I don't want this thread to go dormant. So some recent highlights: One day, all my Original Indiana Five records. They were a decent little jazz band in the twenties, and I'm up to five of their discs on various labels. Another day was devoted to dixieland on Commodore - Eddie Condon, George Brunies, Jack Teagarden, and The DeParis brothers were the leaders. That was the day that I discovered, alas, that my 12" Commodore "At Sundown/When Day is Done" was broken. No idea how it happened. Lots big bands - Ellington from 1926 to 1946, in particular. I don't know why I chose today to post in detail, since I just listened to classical shellac, and classical 78s are probably the least interesting to most folks here. But these were all great (they're all 12-inchers): Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra - Rimsky-Korsakov: Festival at Baghdad from Scheherazade (Victrola one-sided, 1919) Wanda Landowska - Bach: English Suite No. 2 in A minor (two British HMVs, 1936) Heddle Nash with the Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra/Marice Miles - Handel: Comfort Ye and Every Valley from Messiah (British HMV, 1945) And a gorgeous record I found on Friday: Lina Pagliughi - arias from Rigoletto and L'Elisir D'amore on a British Parlophone, from the mid 1930s, I think. I'll post about some jazz soon.

Flattered, and in for a DL. I'm also at several points along the scale lower than 9. It's all meat off the same bone.

Happy Birthday 2014! May you find nine good reeds in every box.

Paul Bley/Bill Connors/Jimmy Giuffre - Quiet Song (Improvising Artists). A source of wonder to me for many years.