Joe

Revealed! Thanks for the thoughts! #4 does not feature Paul Chambers. But it features players from a city he famously visited. #5 You've IDed the clarinet player. #8 Would agree that the tenor player takes the honor here. The alto player is (or was) a topic of some debate on this board. #9 Trane is not only an influence... there's a label-mate situation (sort of) in play here. #12: totally agree about the brass soloists, but, for me, that's part of the charm. This is from a date that, as far as I know, has been been made available digitally.

Not Sonny Cox, and not Chicago. The saxophonist's roots run further east (but they don't leave the lower 48). Thanks! 8 is not Mingus, but there are Mingus connections threaded throughout this playlist. Garbarek is a good guess on 11, and most everyone has pegged that this is an ECM recording. But its not a high-profile ECM recording. Bingo on the overall sensibility and orientation of the band on 13. "Pop"... only in a very broad sense. They did have some hits, but they were mostly known for their albums.

Indeed!

Correct on #7!

It is! Ya'll have ID'ed #5. That's an alto on #2. There's not explicit Sun Ra connection to #3 that I know of, but the circumstances of the personnel are such that Ra could be in the mix somehow. #4 is not a Prestige production. Not Herb Ellis on #7. Not Buddy Rich on #8. Not a household name, either. In fact, the ensemble is an iteresting mix (to me, anyway), of known and lesser names.

Best track on the LP from which it originates, IMO. All players are Americans (as far as I know).

12 tracks +1 bonus (meaning, if you don't care about discussing track 13, feel free to skip it). No theme discernable to me; just some selections from my recent-ish listening which I thought might also be of interest to this group. https://thomkeith.net/2026-organissimo-blindfold-tests/ Enjoy!

I learned some things from this BFT! Thanks!

ICYMI. "Alone Togerher" from Quiet Kenny serves as the soundtrack for the opening of last night's final episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO). Spoilers and confirmation here. https://www.tvline.com/2106429/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-1-finale-recap-episode-6-the-morrow/

Sad news, but what a life and career! If producers had a career batting average, his would flirt with .400. (Heck, it might be north of .400.)

Tight! In memory of.

Thanks! Reading back through others' observations, I see a theme that I missed emerging. So could 6 be Dorothy Donegan? And could 12 involve Jane Ira Bloom in some capacity?

Looking forward to the reveal! 1. I’m easily won over by bass clarinet. This player is particularly plummy, James Newton on flute? The technique and trills sound Newton-esque to me. Could this be from his Blue Note Ellington songbook record? (The brass feels like it’s drawing from an Ellingtonian palette). But this doesn’t sound particularly like an 80s production. Things seem to have stabilized with the head statement. I’m now getting Andrew Hill DUSK vibes…. could the tenor be Greg Tardy. In any event, there’s a kind of organic/protoplasmic looseness to the tempo here that reminds me of the ensemble work on DUSK. Suddenly the tune sounds more Iberian or even Latin that it did at first. Definitely not that Newton record, I’d wager. Could it be the drummer’s record/gig? Seems to me it could. Intriguing opening. 2. Joni Mitchell, SHADOWS AND LIGHT, surely, with Metheny and Jaco. Can’t remember who the sax player is on this one. Michael Brecker? Sounds like him for sure. I like about 3/4s of his solo, which is usually how it goes for me with breaker. So I’m considering my bias as to who this is confirmed. Digging most how the arrangement here differs from the studio version. And the rougher quality of Joni’s voice. Superb. 3. Hard-hitting. Sounds like it could come from the contemporary British jazz scene (if I can call it that) that’s produced the Sons of Kemet. The drumming probably too busy for some, but I appreciate how there’s a reckoning here with hip-hop, jungle, techno - other beat-centric innovations that Black musicians have driven. could this be Makaya McCraven? I know the name but not the work. I like how the trumpet player drops the temperature a bit, takes their time, navigates the bar lines differently. Channeling some Kenny Wheeler almost. 4. Tick-tock, you don’t stop! The vibes popping in kind of surprised me. And strings?!?! This less indebted to Zappa in some ways… not quite “The Black Page”. “The Charcoal Page”? It’s colorful, as track 1 was, but, if this were a painting, it would be more Hard-Edge than Post-Impressionist. Now it sounds almost like several different music streaming services playing different selections simultaneously. Not necessarily unengaging; that is, I don’t mind commentary with my music. Maybe if Mingus were around today, he’d be offering commentary not unlike this? 5. Could this be a LIVE FROM MAYBECK series recording? I like this player’s left hand. The figure played there is almost Tyner-esque. Also reminds me of some figures you hear in Chris McGregor’s playing. This is not Chris McGregor AFAIK but there is something about this that feels uncannily familiar. Around the 2:50 mark, the music veers more toward harmonies I’d call “classical”. Could this be Richie Beirach? Or maybe Denny Zeitlin? One of those “trained” players who were also fluent in musics we might describe as more “vernacular”? Nice resonances around the 4:45 mark. Now it’s almost Terry Riley-esque! 6. Speaking of left hands! The bassist is the hero of this track. No idea, but ti sounds like a reinvention of a pop tune of its time (late 60s/early70s if I had to guess). Not Ramsey Lewis, but kind of in that vein. I mean, I guess that could be the great Cleveland Eaton on bass… The pianist does feel a bit like a weak link here. But the groove is still strong. Block chords always welcome. Transition at about 4:30 a little rocky. OK, a live performance. Junior Mance? 7. The great Jeanne Lee (probably my favorite jazz vocalist ever) with Ran Blake and George Duvivier. Geniuses at work. 8. The Jack McDuff band with Red Holloway, Pat Martino, and Joe Dukes, perhaps? Guessing just based on the intro and the audience’s level of participation. But I want to say that’s a different tenor player. I almost hear some Clifford Jordan in his playing (though it’s not Clifford Jordan)… something about the way he bites into certain notes. Well, that’s because it’s Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott - I think. From those Impulse live dates. I’ll know more, I think, when the organ solos. Shirley being a master colorist. Candy Finch on drums? Yep, the organist immediately changes to a different voicing that I very much associate with Shirley. This is all incredibly tasty. 9. Betty Carter? Chances taken for sure. And what she’s doing with the lyrics. Master class. I’ve never understood while some listeners are left cold by Carter. I don’t know who’s in the band, but A+ for the drummer and their cymbal work. 10. The return of the left hand. Etude-like, this performance. Very after-hours. Is that a muted Diz? No idea on the guitar player or pianist though. Impeccable vibes, and there’s lots here that’s unexpected; over too soon! 11. Helen Merrill and Clifford Brown. The shading and nuance of this her performance. It’s like something of a Hitchcock movie. I don’t listen to this record often; I think I need to remedy that. 12. There’s a Steve Lacy influence at work here, I think, but the tone is not Lacy’s. More Euro-centric, if that makes sense. I mean, there are times when this almost sounds like a more chill King Crimson. John Surman. Accordion, eh? Could this be the Claudia Quintet with Ted Reichman? If so, I can hear how the horn player might be Chris Speed (fine player). But I don’t know about the other winds, or the percussion. I do like how this darts around. Even more intriguing than track 1. 13. A rather contemporary rhythm. Nice massing of horn sounds, though the tenor player to me has the same kind of undistinguished tone a lot of younger payers seem to have adopted. But the intensity picks up. The vibes make me wonder if this is Joel Ross, whose work I only know by reputation. It’s a bit lacking in excitement for me. But maybe excitement isn’t what they’re going for, the surge in tempo now and then notwithstanding. It does serve well as a closing track… that last note!