HutchFan

For sure. ... Just don't expect it to sound like his BN stuff. Very different style-wise.

Bobby Hutcherson - Farewell Keystone (Theresa/Evidence) with Harold Land (ts); Oscar Brashear (flgn, tr); Cedar Walton (p); Buster Williams (b); Billy Higgins (d) Hard to imagine a more sympathetic ensemble. Wish I could have been at the Keystone Korner to hear this one being made! No doubt. Both of those are wonderful.

Three Al Grey albums featuring Bobby Hutcherson:

It's a rock-solid recommendation. You could do a lot worse!

Groovin' Blue was the first full-length album that Bobby Hutcherson appeared on. I'm now listening to more early (1962-63) Hutcherson sideman work: Bobby Hutcherson - The Al Grey & Dave Burns Sessions (Lonehill) Originally released as three Al Grey albums on Argo: Night Song, Snap Your Fingers, and Having a Ball

Speaking of J.J. with Bags: Solid. EDIT: I was just now re-reading this thread, and I see that Dmitry had already mentioned this. Oops. Double-post!

Yep! I've heard Warriors, but -- surprisingly, given the line-up -- it's never grabbed me. Along with The Outside Within, I'd probably go with Peaceful Heart, Gentle Spirit (1980) as my top-of-the-heap Chico F. picks. Oh and The Pied Piper on Blackhawk. Another excellent record.

Yes !!! Lots of quality music on that label that's largely "off the grid": Chico Freeman, Anthony Davis, James Newton, David Murray, Cecil McBee, Arthur Blythe, and others. Does anyone know if India Navigation records are owned by the artists -- like Strata-East -- or are they owned by a single party? Bob Cummins started the label. He died about 20 years ago. No idea what's happened since then.

Arthur Blythe - Lenox Avenue Breakdown (Columbia, 1979) and Chico Freeman - The Outside Within (India Navigation, rec. 1978) Two of the albums I added to my 70s Jazz blog this week.

I just finished reading this for the second time: I'm re-reading this one next:

Weekly Recap - PLAYING FAVORITES: Reflections on Jazz in the 1970s Chico Freeman – The Outside Within (India Navigation, 1981) Arthur Blythe – Lenox Avenue Breakdown (Columbia, 1979) World Saxophone Quartet – Steppin' with the World Saxophone Quartet (Black Saint, 1979) Philip Catherine, Charlie Mariano, Jasper van 't Hof – Sleep My Love (CMP, 1979) John Abercrombie Quartet – Arcade (ECM, 1979) George Coleman – Amsterdam After Dark (Timeless, 1979) Jimmy Forrest with Shirley Scott – Heart of the Forrest (Palo Alto/Muse, 1982) A strange but delightful coincidence: Aside from one, every album this week features a saxophonist in the leading (or co-leading) role. Saxists by the bushel-full! They span a range of styles, but all of them are terrific. ... That said, don't overlook the one exception to this week's sax-a-thon, John Abercrombie's Arcade. It's been ignored for too long, and it's one helluva record. What say you?

Graham Collier Sextet - Down Another Road (Fontana/BGO)

Two outstanding discs. NP: Disc 2 Earlier:

Joe Henderson - Black is the Color (Milestone, 1972)

Bill Carrothers - Keep Your Sunny Side Up (Pirouet)

O.K. I think I hear what you're getting at, Jim. You've pulled the viewfinder WAY back. Really wide angle here, map-of-the-world sorta view. You're talking about life that isn't structured around measurements, quantifiable things (whatever they may be), the most obvious of which is dollars. Either the things that cannot be measured are the most important things person's in a life ... or they aren't. Right? That is a difficult row to hoe. But I'm trying to do it. ... Sometimes, successfully. Sometimes, not so much.

That's a good point, Rab. It seems like during the 70s anything that wasn't "New!!! Today!!! Now!!!" was shunted off to the side: Mainstream jazz, bop, soul jazz, swing, all of it. Even "new-ish" jazz, evolving out of what came before it, wasn't new enough. (Your examples of Woody Shaw and Billy Harper are case in point.) On the other hand, ECM and CTI both fit the "new" bill, so they got the headlines and they sold. Even the avant-garde was able to garner sales on Impulse from artists traveling in Coltrane wake: Pharoah, Shepp, Barbieri, Rivers, etc. Because it was sufficiently new (AND heavily marketed; think about those ubiquitous compilation records.) But, if a jazz record didn't have some relationship to rock or pop in the 1970s -- if it wasn't new enough as defined by the broader popular culture -- then it wasn't going to get released on a major label. So the indies had to step in. And they did. How much of this is a function of demographics? A lot. Maybe even the majority of the story. Boomers sending a message to their parents: "We're not like YOU!" It happens in every generation, but the boomers were such a gigantic wave. Jazz sorta got swamped by it.