HutchFan

More late-70s Blakey: In This Korner (Concord, 1978)

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Reflections in Blue (Timeless, 1979) Excellent late-period Blakey!

This is a photo of me pointing at the "JAZZ" sign outside Jazz Standard a few years ago. My wife took the photo. We were in NYC for my birthday. Like many of you, I have nothing but positive memories of the place. So it's a big bummer that they're closing. Hopefully, they'll be back before too long in a new location. The pandemic won't last forever.

Real Gone Music CD reissue

David Liebman Trio + One (Owl, 1988) with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette + Caris Visentin

More Stoki. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, Egmont Overture / Stokowski, New Philharmonia O

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Stokowski, American SO (MHS, originally Vanguard)

Two Richie Beirach recordings from the mid-70s: Eon (ECM, 1975) with Frank Tusa and Jeff Williams ZAL (Trio, 1976) with Yoshiaki Masuo and Terumasa Hino

NP: Arthur Barron, Dave Liebman, Abel Pabon - The Miami Jazz Project (Zoho, 2014)

Art Pepper - No Limit (Contemporary, 1978) Terrific! That title ain't no lie!

Good stuff! Thanks, Mark!

No doubt! I love Sibelius recordings by Ashkenazy, Vänskä, Ormandy, and others -- but there's something special about Barbirolli's readings. For me, Barbirolli's Sibelius is like Kubelik's Mahler or Boult's Vaughan Williams. Old standbys for good reason!

I'm listening to this set too. Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4.

OK!

I dunno, Chuck. Is it fair to draw a conclusion that Jefferson was a less-than-ideal jazz producer because he was a car dealer? ... Are those two facts necessarily related? Charles Ives got wealthy selling insurance. The poet Wallace Stevens was a successful insurance man too. Even Franz Kafka (!) sold insurance. But I don't think it would be fair to say that we know anything about their art because these men happened to be insurance salesmen. Making art and making a living can be very different realms of life, no? ... Or maybe I'm reading too much into what you said! No disrespect intended, of course. Just kicking the can down the road a little bit.

I think our gripes with Concord are sometimes true. Maybe even often true. But they're not always true. (I, for one, love those Art Blakey Concords.) But I know exactly what you're talking about. What is that!?!? Interesting how much impact a producer, a label can have. Cool beans.

Yes sir. Sometimes strange things happen. Your comment raises another topic that I'd love to discuss when we get to the end of the survey: Jazz producers in the 1970s.

I agree completely on that. I think think that Ross Tompkins LP is a stealth Xanadu LP, despite the fact that it's on Concord. It's more in line with those Xanadu records like Play It Now. ... It's late-70s (Xanadu) Cohn, not 1980s (Concord) Cohn.

No. Unlike those Jazztimes polls (and so many others), my survey is not a list of "best" records of the 1970s. No, no, no!!! You won't find "best" or "most important" or any of that anywhere on my blog! My site is called Playing Favorites. That gives me all sorts of wiggle room to be idiosyncratic and partial. Hell, that's what the title means. Ross Tompkins and Good Friends is a terrific LP. I'm comfortable with calling it one of my favorite records. So yeah.

Agreed. Blythe had a HEAVYWEIGHT run on Columbia! He was killin' it! I will put late-70s Al Cohn up against all comers. Like I said, it's a cheat because I picked it the Tompkins for Al Cohn, not for Tompkins. But it is a fantastic record. I know you're NOT a Concord guy, Jim. But you should listen. I think you'll understand WHY I picked it.

Weekly Recap - PLAYING FAVORITES: Reflections on Jazz in the 1970s Bunky Green – Places We've Never Been (Vanguard, 1979) Steve Lacy Five – The Way (hat Hut, 1980) Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis – The Heavy Hitter (Muse/32 Jazz/Savoy, 1979) Poncho Sanchez – Poncho (Discovery, 1979) Daniel Humair – Triple Hip Trip (Owl, 1979) Denny Zeitlin – Soundings (1750 Arch, 1978) Ross Tompkins – Ross Tompkins and Good Friends (Concord, 1978) More amazing saxmen: Bunky, Lacy, Lockjaw, and Al Cohn. (Cohn's magisterial sound is the reason you need to hear that Ross Tompkins LP.) The Daniel Humair is a somewhat unconventional trio with David Friedman (vib) and Harvie Swartz (b). Very cool. The Poncho Sanchez is his debut disc, and Clare Fischer plays a prominent role. If you like Fischer's Latin Jazz (as a leader or with Cal Tjader), it's well worth tracking down. "Morning"!!! The Denny Zeitlin is an exploratory and thoughtful solo piano outing. I dig it. Chronology-wise, we're now into 1979. In the home stretch, just a few more weeks to go. As always, I welcome your feedback.

Horace Tapscott Conducting the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - The Call (Nimbus) Wonderful.

Rhino version with bonus cuts.

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