HutchFan

On most days, my faves are Judgment and Passing Ships.

Next up: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - In My Prime, Vol. 2 (Timeless, rec. 1977) Solid/Ultra-Vybe reissue -- with two bonus cuts

It's exceptional. No doubt about that. ... OTOH, if I were forced to pick just one of Hill's BNs, I'd probably go with Judgment. But you can hardly go wrong. Just throw a dart at the wall. His entire discography is an "embarrassment of riches."

R.I.P. Thank you, Mark, for sharing your memories.

This is one of the very best Blue Note covers, IMO. So many things to love about it. In fact -- aside from the unremarkable Andrew!!! -- the design of Hill's BN album covers is consistently inspired. Just like Hill's music.

Reading another novel by Robert Penn Warren:

Carmen McRae - Torchy! and Blue Moon (MCA/Universal; originally Decca)

Such a great record!

Carmen McRae - Live at Sugar Hill San Francisco (Time Records, 1963)

More from J&R: Jackie and Roy - Sing! Baby Sing! (Storyville, 1956)

Now on my turntable: Jackie & Roy - S/T (MCA) 2-LP reissue that compiles cuts from J&R's four ABC-Paramount albums, 1956-59

Next up: Scriabin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 5, 6, 8, and 10 / Igor Zhukov (Angel/Melodiya)

Thank you, sir!

One of the first classical LPs I ever bought -- and I still treasure it.

Renee Rosnes. NP:

Tempus fugit! I still haven't posted last week's (or this week's) picks. I guess I'll go ahead and share them here now... and then post them on the blog this weekend. My selections for last week: ******************************************************************************** - Steve Lacy Trio - The Window (Soul Note, 1988) - Richard Davis, Sir Roland Hanna, Frederick Waits - Persia My Dear (DIW, 1987) - Henry Threadgill - Easily Slip Into Another World (Novus, 1988) My selections for this week: ******************************************************************************** - Hilton Ruiz - El Camino (The Road) (Novus, 1988) - James Williams - Magical Trio 2 (EmArcy, 1988) - Batacumbele - In Concert: Live at the University of Puerto Rico (Montuno, 1988)

The Braves just extended the contract on another talented young player, Michael Harris II: Braves’ new contracts set them up for long-term success Also: After losing 4 games out of 5 to the Mets in NYC, they Braves beat the Mets 3 times out of 4 in Atlanta. They really needed that to have any hope of catching the Mets in the division race. The Braves play the Mets three more times -- in the final week of the season (in Atlanta, thankfully!). The division championship could well come down to those 3 games. In less happy news, Braves outfielder Marcel Ozuna got arrested for DUI last night. Ugh. Not good.

Weather Report - The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981 (Legacy/Columbia, 2015) Disc 3 - The Quintet: 1980 + 1981 Phew. Good.

Eddie Palmieri - Solito (Musica Latina International, 1985)

You'll get no disagreement from me on that. But I would suggest that there's an element of laziness involved too. It's like going to eat at restaurant specializing in a cuisine that's new to you. It's different; therefore, it tastes "bad" -- even though you have no real understanding of it. It's a sort of parochialism, and it's lazy. By the way, I'm not suggesting that everyone should like everything. I'm only suggesting that it's better to make informed judgments, approach things with an element of openness and curiosity. Some things will "take," and some things won't. But, in either case, we won't be making judgments based on complete ignorance. Calling Cannonball "neurotic"? That's ignorant.

Speaking of Wayne . . .

That's funny! I never in a million years could imagine Cannonball's music as "neurotic"!

I'm digging into Cleo Laine's back-catalog: I think Laine and her husband, John Dankworth, made some interesting and unique music. I like how they often used poetry as a jumping-off point. Of course, that's been done many times before, but not exactly with their combination of ingredients. Their music is not exactly jazz. It's not exactly art songs. It's not exactly theater singing or cabaret. It's not exactly pop. It's an odd-but-pleasing mix of all of them, particularly during their peak years. (And what exactly were those 'peak years'? The 60s and early-70s, I think -- but I'm not sure. That's something I'm figuring out now.) Anyway, as someone who's just discovering their music, it's sideways and unexpected. Good fun. All of these LP were very inexpensive. Apparently, Laine's stock isn't on the rise with others as much as it is with me.

Me too. I was hoping Oleo would be in the same league as the Milestones albums from around that time: Peacemeal, Spirits, and (most especially) Satori. IMO, the Sonet set doesn't quite reach the level of those. But it's still prime LK.