HutchFan

More Fatha Hines: One for My Baby (Black Lion) More irrepressible vitality.

This was the first Hutcherson-as-a-leader recording I ever heard. I was prompted to find it after seeing the "crown" rating it was given in the Penguin Guide. Bobby quickly became -- and still is -- one of my very favorite artists. (I guess that's sorta obvious, given my avatar name. ) But what an INCREDIBLE debut. Talk about a strong start! Andrew Hill composed most of the tunes, so I think it's a little bit less representative than the music that would follow. (If I'd written the Penguin Guide, I'd give the crown to Happenings, which -- to my ears -- is more thoroughly Bobby's record.) OTOH, any way you slice it, Dialogue is a stunner, an amazing record. I'm still sad that he's gone. But I'm grateful for the music. What a gift.

Four Jazz Giants: Earl Hines Plays Tributes to W.C. Handy, Hoagy Carmichael, Louis Armstrong (Solo Art)

Chuck - I know practically nothing about Desmar, other than the fact that they made a few recordings with Stokowski. Did they record classical music exclusively?

Earl 'Fatha' Hines - The Father of Modern Jazz Piano (M.F. Productions) LP 5: Cavernism -- with Budd Johnson (ts), Bill Pemberton (b), and Oliver Jackson (d) Hines & Budd Johnson always sound great together.

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 / Stokowski, National PO (EMI; originally issued on Desmar)

NP: Dick Wellstood - Live at Hanratty's (Chaz Jazz, 2 LPs) Superb.

Jack Walrath - Neohippus (Blue Note) with Carter Jefferson (ts, cl); John Abercrombie (g); James Williams (p); Anthony Cox (b); Ronnie Burrage (d)

Been a nice evening of music listening: Bill Carrothers - Shine Ball (FSNT) Tom Harrell - Trip (HighNote)

Gary Foster - Make Your Own Fun (Concord) Stephane Grappelli & Martial Solal - Happy Reunion (Owl) Larry Coryell & Philip Catherine - Twin House (Elektra)

Horace Parlan - Frank-ly Speaking (SteepleChase)

I like it very much. If you happen to have Amazon Prime, you can stream it for free. (Or at least you can if you're on this side of the pond. Not sure about over there. ) NP: Mal Waldron - Plays the Blues: Live at the Domicile (Enja) So good.

Andrew Hill Trio and Quartet - Shades (Soul Note) Everyone sounds terrific on this date -- but today I couldn't help but notice Ben Riley's perfect drumming.

Michal Urbaniak, Tomasz Stanko, et al - We'll Remember Komeda (MPS)

Ray Barretto's "Lucretia the Cat" from The Other Road (Fania, 1973)

Ray Baretto & New World Spirit - Ancestral Messages (Concord Picante) Ray Vega's excellent trumpet playing on Dave Samuels' Birds of a Feather prompted me to pull this off the shelf -- since Vega plays on this CD too.

Más Mongo: Mongo Santamaria - Sofrito (Vaya/Fania)

Mongo Santamaria - Dawn (Amanecer) (Vaya/Fania)

One of Solal's very best, imho. Five BIG stars. Last night: Shorty Rogers with Orchestra & His Giants - Short Stops (RCA Bluebird, 2 LPs) Side 1 of 4 - These tracks originally released as a 10" LP simply titled Shorty Rogers & His Giants. This morning: Caribbean Jazz Project / Dave Samuels - Birds of a Feather (Concord Picante) A recent junk store find. Features two terrific trumpeters: Ray Vega and Randy Brecker.

Absolutely. The music on this set is sublime! To me, Ellington is the greatest of them all. Wow. That sounds great, Buddha. I'm going to have to check that out. You can hardly go wrong with a Buster Williams / Freddie Waits rhythm section!