HutchFan

Disc 5 Music arranged for and originally released under the leadership of Jimmy Smith.

That's so much fun -- like revisiting old friends.

Duke Ellington & Count Basie - First Time! The Count Meets the Duke (Sony Legacy) I listened to this last night and again earlier this morning. It's really not a promising concept, putting two big bands together. But I think it comes off astonishingly well here. It's strange and fascinating to hear the overall and individual personalities of the bands in "conversation." The interplay between Basie's and Ellington's piano is especially wonderful. Or how about Jimmy Hamilton's clarinet contrasting with Frank Wess' flute? And Paul Gonsalves doing his thing and then... Frank Foster! The two bands are like sounds from different but somehow parallel universes -- like superheroes from the Marvel and DC worlds somehow meeting up and doing their thing together. I love it. NP: I'm not listening to the original King of America record; it's the bonus disc that came with the Ryko reissue. It's an EP, a live recording of Elvis Costello & the Confederates from 1986. Anyone who's a fan of guitarist James Burton (or EC) should hear it.

and

Oh man, I SCREAMED at the TV when I saw that play. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Horrible idea. Horrible execution. To lose two years in a row to Alabama is completely understandable. But to lose two years in a row the way that we did. . . it's a tough pill to swallow.

I second the love for Bunky's Places We've Never Been.

and

Bob Wilber on tenor. Hmm. Didn't know he'd ever played that horn.

pounds per square inch.

I'm connecting with Night Passage much more than I ever have in the past... to the point that I think this may be their strongest studio record. Until recently, I'd been a strong proponent of the first version of the band and less impressed with the later groups. My Weather Report benchmark has long been Live in Tokyo. I still love that record -- but I think I may have been selling this Pastorius/Erskine version of the band short. I'd always associated WR's Jaco-era music with Heavy Weather and 8:30, but I think Night Passage is MUCH more interesting and improvisatory than those records. Also, after listening to the live bonus tracks on Night Passage, I'm sorely tempted to spring for the Erskine-produced Legendary Live Tapes.

Bert Jansch & John Renbourn - After the Dance (Shanachie) This music -- folk? jazz? whatever-it-is! -- swings like crazy.

Steve Wilson - Generations (Stretch)

Hardbop, a few years ago, I read Wayne's biography by Michelle Mercer, Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter. It's a fascinating book, and it goes into those sorts of life-events that have informed his music. I'd recommend it to any fan of Shorter's music. (And who isn't?!?!?) BTW: Shorter collaborated with the author; it's an "authorized" biography.

soulpope, I'm not familiar with this live recording, only Kubelik's DG studio version. Are there significant differences? Here's an irony: Horenstein was probably most famous for his M3 and Kubelik for his M1 (on DG). But I prefer Kubelik's M3 over Horenstein's, and Horenstein's M1 over Kubelik's. That said, I'm glad to have heard them all -- and many others besides.

That's my desert-island Mahler 1st. 100 stars for Horenstein & the LSO! On the way into work this morning: David Oistrakh - The Complete EMI Recordings Disc 6 - Brahms - Violin Concerto: Otto Klemperer / Orchestra National de la Radiodiffusion Française - Double Concerto: Pierre Fournier (vc) / Alceo Galliera / Philharmonia Orchestra I could listen to Oistrakh forever. But, ironically, today it was Fournier who grabbed my ear in the DC.

That's a bummer. IIRC, I only have one Clean Feed release -- Malaby's Tamarindo. Obviously, that wasn't enough for me to detect any sort of pattern. I may roll the dice regardless . . . who knows.

Various Artists - New Orleans: The Cradle of Jazz 1917 - 1946 (Charly) Disc 1

and Disc 1

Wessell Anderson - Warmdaddy in the Garden of Swing (Atlantic)

Trio da Paz - Partido Out (Malandro) Duduka Da Fonseca!

Baseline [Hein van de Geyn, John Abercrombie, Joe LaBarbera] - Standards (Challenge) and David Liebman - Trio + One (Owl) with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette + Caris Visentin