HutchFan

Jaki Byard - Solo / Strings (Prestige) 5 stars.

Sonny Stitt Quartet featuring Jimmy Jones - The Sonny Side of Stitt (Fresh Sound, 2 CDs) Now streaming selected cuts via Amazon Prime. This set collects four LPs originally released on Roost. I've been on a Stitt kick lately. Feel like I've sort of "broke through" with him. In the past, I'd never given much thought to Stitt one way or the other. Wasn't a fan, wasn't not a fan. Now, I'm definitely a fan. ...I also discovered that I like Stitt's music best when he's NOT playing super-fast, boppish lines. Plus, I'd rather hear him play tenor rather than alto. Anyhow, it's fun to discover someone "new" when they've been sitting under your nose in plain sight for forever.

Marzz, that looks interesting. I wasn't even aware of it. Good stuff? NP:

A most excellent tradition. NP:

Bill Barron - Variations in Blue (Muse) Sonny Stitt - So Doggone Good (Prestige) James Moody - Heritage Hum (Perception) The Dizzy Gillespie Reunion Big Band - 20th and 30th Anniversary (MPS/Verve)

Superb. NP: I think this is what Ellington had in mind when he described the very best music & musicians as being "Beyond Category."

Sonny Stitt - It's Magic (Delmark, 1969) Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt - For Musicians Only (Verve, 1958)

Reminds me of Junior Cook.

More Chico Hamilton: Chico Hamilton - The Chico Hamilton Special (Columbia, 1961) Not as powerful as Chic, Chic, Chico -- but it's still damn good music. This is another one that's never reissued in digital format. It's now January 31, and 2019 is nigh! Best wishes to my fellow jazz-brothers and -sisters on organissimo.com. I hope that every one of you have a fantastic new year.

Oh yeah.

EDIT: This is a damn fine record. So glad I happened to stumble across the LP. ... I'm still surprised that it's never been reissued in any digital format. Very odd.

George Shearing Quintet - Shearing in Hi-Fi (M-G-M, 1955)

Shirley Scott - The Dedication Series, Vol. III / The Great Live Sessions (ABC-Impulse, 2 LPs) with Stanley Turrentine, Bob Cranshaw, and Otis "Candy" Finch

Ketil Bjørnstad - Finnes du noensteds ikveld (Philips Norway, 1976) with Knut Riisnæs (sax), Arild Andersen (b), Pål Thowsen (d)

Prompted by some "Groove" talk on another thread: Richard "Groove" Holmes - Groove's Groove (32 Jazz) Excellent single-disc overview of Holmes' Muse recordings.

Red Allen!

Recapitulation has two more never-before-released cuts from the Vanguard also. I believe they've now all been issued on a single CD. ...That geeky-ness that you mention, I think many of us 'round these parts have that particular affliction.

Jim, I don't have Cool Cookin', so I can't really say. ...I just took a look at the Cool Cookin' track listing on discogs, and it looks like there's some overlap between the two albums. But not a lot, only a few songs. One thing that I do like about the Recapitulation set: Richard Evans' 17-minute "Suite for Guitar & Orchestra" is unabridged. On the Cool Cookin' set, they only excerpt two sections from it.

Kenny Burrell - Recapitulation (Chess, 2 LPs) An excellent overview of Burrell's Cadet recordings, 1959 to 1967.

Mickey Tucker - The Crawl (Muse, 1980) Good stuff.

Monty Alexander - Here Comes the Sun (MPS) I was reading the sleeve notes and noticed that Don Schlitten produced this LP. I was aware that Schlitten had produced for MPS in the early-70s, but I didn't realize that he had worked with Alexander. ...Turns out, Schlitten produced a couple other Alexander MPS LPs as well. I only know now because I just checked on discogs.

Willis Jackson - West Africa (Muse, 1974)

Sir Roland is in an Erroll Garner-ish mood on this one, a bit more florid than usual. (Not a criticism; I love EG. Just a note.)

I'm no expert but I've never heard better.