HutchFan

But is that cover so bad that it's good??? It sorta reminds me of those odd-as-hell MPS album covers. Like the designer/photographer is going after that same strange, eye-catching effect intentionally. Also, I wonder if they stole those boots from Alphonse Mouzon.

Carmen McRae - For Lady Day, Vol. 1 (Novus, 1995; recorded 1983) Phew! Good.

Oh yeah. I get that. I'm sure that's true of many of us music lovers/obsessives here on the forum. Hard to put it into words without getting "stinky," as Ellington would say. But it's a thing. No doubt.

Ayler's album title is true: Music is a healing force in the universe.

Anita O'Day - My Ship (Emily, 1979) and Anita O'Day - Recorded Live at the Berlin Jazz Festival (MPS, 1971)

Nice! NP:

The Curtis Peagler 4 - I'll Be Around (Pablo, 1988)

Now on my 'table: Etta Jones - Fine and Mellow (Muse, 1987)

Sarah Vaughan with Quincy Jones: Not the highest jazz quotient -- but still... that voice!

Helen Humes - Swingin' with Humes (Contemporary, 1961)

A few LPs that are due to arrive in the mail today.

Earlier this morning:

Disc 2

This LP -- with the same band, except for Jabali instead of Mel Lewis -- is similarly excellent, IMHO.

Fair enough. I've heard both of those before, but it's been years. Maybe it's time to circle back 'round again.

Next up: Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand (Mainstream, 1972) Legrand's arrangements oscillate between the extremes of intensely baroque and just-too-damn-much. I wish he would've throttled it back, if only a little -- because Sassy sounds divine and the songs suit her. Lateef's best record of the 1970s, I think.

I listened to these 3 albums while drafting their entries for my 80s jazzblog:

It's one of my (many) Beirach favorites.

Here are my 80s jazzblog selections for this week: - Sonny Rollins - Reel Life (Milestone, 1982) - Richie Beirach - Breathing of Statues (CMP/Magenta, 1982) - Bennie Wallace - Big Jim's Tango (Enja, 1983) I've included brief write-ups and YT sound clips for each post. Discussion is always welcome. I'd be interested to know what you think.

Arrived in the mail recently: Friedwald is an interesting author, always enjoyable. Our musical temperaments and assumptions are very different, but -- even when I disagree with him -- I find that his enthusiasms are so enthusiastic that I can't help but get carried along. It's just a matter of ignoring the differences -- for example, how does he not get Jackie and Roy!?!?! -- and focusing on the common and/or "new" ground. Also reading this: Sheed was a novelist, so his writing often crackles pleasurably. Plus, he shares the same sort of no-holds-barred enthusiasm for his subject as Friedwald, and it's similarly catching. ... As a "jazz person," it's fun to approach & read about this music from the perspective of a songwriter rather than one of a musician. Very different animals.

Jutta Czurda, Richie Beirach, Gregor Hübner, Veit Hübner - Lonely House: Kurt Weill Songs (Laika Records, 2005)