Peter Friedman

Count Basie and His Orchestra Play Neal Hefti Complete Studio Sessions 1951-1962

Cedar Walton Trio - Manhattan Afternoon - Criss Cross with David Williams and Billy Higgins A fine session by one of my favorite jazz pianists.

Brahms - Piano Quartet No.2 - Derek Han, Isabelle Faust, Bruno, Giuranna, Alain Meunier

Thelonious Monk - Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960

Truth be told, I found most of the CTI cover very unpleasant. Too bright and glaring and with nothing at all to do with the music. My taste in jazz covers leans to photo’s of the musicians or at least with a direct link to the music being played. i suppose the covers on CTI albums share with the music inside that overproduced quality which fits well as an entire pqckage.

Doing some traveling this summer. Listened to the following two below on my iphone while out walking in the Colorado Rockies. Wheatleigh Hall - one of the great Sonny Rollins solos. Full of creativity and swings like mad. from The Eternal Triangles session. Sighin’’ and Cryin’ - this track from the Song For My Father album is all Horace Silver on piano with some horns in the background. The playing here by Horace is so damned good that I want to keep playing this track over and over again.

Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra - All My Yesterdays

Never cared for most CTI albums. Contrary to what many others have said, Milt Jackson’s Sunflower album is not to my taste. At one time I had both Sunflower and Goodbye and disposed of both. I love Milt Jackson and have countless other of his recordings I like a great deal. Though I am not home to check, my recollection is that the only 3 CTI albums I have and enjoy are : Paul Desmond - Pure Desmond Stanley Turrentine with Milt Jackson - Cherry Jim Hall - Concertierto

Buck Clayton and his Swing Band - A Swingin’ Dream - Stash Records

Johnny O’Neal - In The Moment - Smoke Sessions with Roy Hargrove, Grant Stewart, Ben Rubens, Itay Morchi

Eddie Daniels Quartet - Mean What You Say - IPO

To be honest, Pony Poindexter has never been a favorite of mine. One I do like is Pony’s Express mainly because it has many other saxophone players I like, and the arrangements are good. When I think of the alto sax players I like, Pony comes far far down the list. I sense a certain shrillness to his sound, and I don’t find his solos to be interesting, though there are likely a few exceptions. My comments are not in line with what others here have said, but it is just my personal opinion.

Claire Martin - Make This City Ours - Honest

Ruby Braff Trio & Quintet - You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me - Arbors

Dado Moroni, Eddie Gomez, Joe La Barbera - Kind Of Bill - Zenart Records

Molique - String Quartets Vol.1, Op.18/1 & Op.18/2 - Mannheimer Streichquartett

Tardo Hammer Trio - Simple Pleasure - Cellar Live

Susannah McCorkle - From Broken Hearts to Blue Skies - Concord

I avoid McDonalds as much as possible. But if I can hear some decent, if not outstanding, jazz while drinking a cup of coffee, I may give it a try.😋

Steve Kaldestad - New York Afternoon - Cellar Live

I have always believed that being able to identify a soloist was a positive thing. It means that the player has an individual sound or style of phrasing that makes him ( or her) stand out from other players.

NY4 - Sweet And Lovely - Warren Vache, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Bunch, Jay Leonhart

Art Farmer - Ph.D - Contemporary

Not home to check my discographies, so don’t have the dates when Red recorded a number of things for Galaxy. He also did a couple of sessions for MPS.

Jim’s most recent post made a point that with which I am in total synch. Listening to one Monk quartet album with Rouse is fine, but if I was to play many albums by that quartet within a short time frame they become rather tedious for the reasons Jim mentioned. I can’t comment on how to rate Ben Riley with Monk without doing some back to back comparisons of the drummers who played in the Monk / Rouse group. But have greatly enjoyed Ben Riley’s playing in piano trios with Kenny Barron and a variety of others. Along with Billy Higgins, Ben Riley was my favorite living jazz drummer for many years. His sensitive fours and solos had that tap dancing quality I have long found gave me great pleasure. Riley did not try to demonstrate his technical prowess through lengthy solos to wow the audience. Rather it was highly musical very tasteful playing that fit perfectly with Kenny Barron and others that I enjoyed.