John Tapscott

. That one is SO well recorded. Like you are in the front row table at Birdland. And of course, the Basie Band was on fire. Now: Disc 1

Now:

Now:

That one caused me to think of this one which I believe was Phil's last official recording.

Very good. I like Sam's guitar playing very much. Now: This is a very strong recording. All players unknown to me, other than the great Joe Farnsworth. But they all play very well. Lots of fire.

He does seem to squeak a little more often than expected (there's nothing like a baritone squeak), but I kind of enjoy it in that live setting. Sure keeps a listener alert, plus it indicates that Pepper was really going for broke and not just going through the motions.

Now:

Really good stuff.

So there is a Newport 2! I've never seen that one anywhere until now. I have the Big Apple set and knew that there was supposed to be a second set, but I figured it was never released. This TALT band which recorded for RCA was their best, IMHO. I never found the subsequent recordings to be quite as compelling (with the exception of the brilliant "Farewell to Mingus" session). Now: