HutchFan

I like Jack Wilkins. I think Windows is his best work -- but his Chiaroscuro LPs are solid too. (IIRC, the Chiaroscuro CD compiles two LPs.) I've also enjoyed this Arabesque release: I've also dug Wilkins' playing with singer Nancy Harrow. Her excellent and under-appreciated album Anything Goes (Audiophile, 1979) features Wilkins (instead of a pianist) with Rufus Reid and Billy Hart: Harrow & Wilkins also released a duo album -- Two's Company (Inner City, 1984) -- that's on my to-get list: I've never heard it (since it's not on the web, never been released digitally) -- but I bet it's good.

That's absurd.

I received my annual bonus, so I'm celebrating. Yesterday, I went to a record show & found some jazz LPs. Today, I ordered a bunch of classical stuff from philadelphiamusic on Discogs: - Beethoven: The Late Quartets, Vol. 2 / Quartetto Italiano (Philips, 2 CDs) - Brahms: Symphonies 1 & 2; Serenade No. 2 / Kertész, VPO (London, 2 CDs) - Brahms: Symphonies 3 & 4; Serenade No. 1 / Kertész, VPO (London, 2 CDs) - Brahms: Complete Trios / Beaux Arts Trio, et al (Philips, 2 CDs) - Copland: Symphony No. 3; Quiet City / Bernstein, NYPO (DG, CD) - Copland: Sextet; Piano Variations; Piano Quartet / BSO Chamber Players, Gilbert Kalish (Elektra-Nonesuch, LP) - d'Indy: Symphonie No. 2 / Plasson, ON du Capitole de Toulouse (La Voix de Son Maître, LP) - Dvořák: The Symphonies [Complete] / Kertész, LSO (London, 6 CDs) - Haydn: Symphonies No. 6 Le Matin, No. 7 Le Midi, No. 8 Le Soir / Marriner, ASMF (Philips, LP) - Liszt: Liebestraum, Favorite Piano Works / Jorge Bolet (London, 2 CDs) - Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony / Ozawa, Toronto SO, Yvonne Loriod, Jeanne Loriod (RCA, CD) - Mompou: Cançons I Danses; Suburbis; Cants Mágics / Jean-François Heisser (Apex, CD) - Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 27 / Clara Haskil, Ferenc Fricsay (DG, CD) - Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 6, 17 & 21 / Géza Anda, Camerata Academica Salzburg (DG, CD) - Mozart: The Great Violin Sonatas, Vol. 2 / Henryk Szeryng, Ingrid Haebler (Philips, 2 CDs) - Schubert: Complete Trios / Beaux Arts Trio, Grumiaux Trio (Philips, 2 CDs) - Schubert: Sonata, D. 960; Wanderer-Fantasy / Alfred Brendel (Philips, LP) - Schumann: Scènes d'enfants; Scènes de la Forêt; Variations "Abegg" / Clara Haskil (Philips FR, LP) - Villa-Lobos: Instrumental & Orchestral Works / Cristina Ortiz, Angel Romero, Ashkenazy, et al (EMI, 2 CDs) If you look in the right places, you can find used classical music for remarkably low prices. This entire lot only set me back about $80. That's nuts!

Yes, Happy Birthday to EKE. I can't even begin to say how much my life has been enriched by Duke's music.

Now spinning this LP: Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Mehta, LAPO (London, 1975) A terrific performance enhanced by typically exquisite Decca AQ. For this listener, Scheherazade is one of those works that never fails to cast its magic spell. Absolutely.

NP: Art Farmer - Yesterday's Thoughts (East Wind/Test of Time, 1976) with the "Magic Triangle" rhythm section: Cedar Walton, Sam Jones & Billy Higgins

Now spinning:

I went to a local record show today & came home with a nice haul. All vinyl, all used (except for one). The three that I'm most excited to have found: Harold Ousley - The People's Groove (Muse, 1977) Promo copy Toquinho - Tocando (Philips, 1977) Brazilian release Sunny Murray's Untouchable Factor - "Apple Cores" (Philly Jazz, 1978) Sealed reissue

Continuing my Brahms run with this:

Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op.34 Yes, it's magnificent.

CD compiles two Fantasy LPs recorded in 1960 in Havana: Our Man in Havana and Mongo in Havana Bembé!

Agreed. I'd put it right up there with I Need Some Money.

More from the same Beethoven set. This time it's LvB's last Piano Sonata, No. 32, Op. 111, performed by Wilhelm Kempff.

I'm now listening to Géza Anda's wonderful performance of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations. It's sides 5 & 6 in this 5-LP set: Beethoven Bicentennial Collection: Music for Piano, Vol. VIII (DG, 1971)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 1 as heard on this set: Containing three TOP-TIER symphony cycles -- Beethoven's (with the LSO), Brahms' (with the LPO), and Bruckner's (with the Staatskapelle Dresden) -- this set is heard often at my house.

Copland performed by his foremost advocate.

Ugh. Sorry to hear that. Hopefully, it'll be a quick fix. I actually think I'm going to get these RSD releases on CD. I love vinyl too. But the RSD CDs are less expensive. (Most of the vinyl that I buy is used.) Occasionally, I'll plop for a new LP if it's the only option -- like last year's RSD reissue of Black Renaissance - Body, Mind, Spirit. I also have a few Pure Pleasure LPs in my collection that aren't available in any digital format.

Pat Martino - Live at Yoshi's (Blue Note, 2001) with Joey DeFrancesco and Jabali Billy Hart Pat was such a badass. And when I'm listening to his records -- like I am right now -- he still is. Amen to that!

Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band - Moliendo Café (Sunnyside, 1993) Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Congas, Bajo Quinto – Jerry Gonzalez Tenor Saxophone – Carter Jefferson Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Joe Ford Piano – Larry Willis (!!!) Bass – Andy Gonzalez Drums, Claves, Guacharaca, Guiro, Congas – Steve Berrios

Hermann Scherchen - The 1950s Haydn Symphonies Recordings (DG, 2003) Recordings originally made for Westminster with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Wiener Symphoniker Disc 3: Symphonies No. 93; No. 94 "The Surprise"; and No. 104 "London" I was reading in the liner notes that, at the time of their release, musicologist H. C. Robbins Landon described these recordings as "brilliant, intellectual, honest, uncompromising, and eccentric." I'd say those words sum up Scherchen's music-making in general.