John Tapscott

That's a good one. Sharp Nine is still around and it looks like you can still buy their CD's. Just no new releases in quite some time. But they made a number of fine recordings. https://www.sharpnine.com/#Home.php Now: The music is good, but the sound is mediocre at best. The sound seems flat and dull. There have been lots of recordings at the Vanguard with decent sound, so it's not the room at fault.

This morning while driving: Joe Farnsworth is outstanding on this recording. Joe has become one of my favorite drummers over the past 10-15 years. His presence almost guarantees a high quality session.

Listening now; a fine session with Jim Rotondi, trumpet; John Allred Trombone; Frank Basile, baritone; Jeff Rupert, tenor; Richard Drexler, bass, Todd Coolman, bass, John Jenkins drums, Vinnie Colauita, drums, Jimmy Hall, vocals.

That's a wonderful record. Now

Apparently the photo of Bud was taken at Birdland where the Stan Kenton Orchestra was appearing at the same time. The saxophone belongs to one of Kenton's musicians. You can see a bit of the music stand in the lower left corner.

I like these two which are the first and last CD's the group made for the Sharp Nine label: Listening now:

Now: This is an excellent entry in the Maybeck series. I've always liked this one a lot.

Now:

It's available directly from the label right now. That's how I acquired it. It's a real winner. All - Cellar Live

That may be my favorite Blakey album. Now: My first copy looked like that, too. I played it a LOT! It's a fine album, still sounds good. As one wag put said, it could have been titled "Bruce Johnstone and His Orchestra." The amount of solo space Johnstone gets is really apparent when you listen to the whole thing right through on CD. The tenor player Ferdinand Povel is impressive, too.

It's available now from the label. That's how I acquired it. It's excellent BTW. https://cellarlive.com/collections/all Now:

Must listen to that one again. Recently: