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The two Paris concerts by the Charles Mingus Unit with Eric Doply of 1964 are etched in my memory as some of the very best musical events I attended. And the Dolphy-Booker Little recordings are the some of the most mesmerizing albums I keep returning to.

Hampton Hawes 'For Real!' (Contemporary, mono)

And now it's the Paris Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Elysées avenue that seems to be about to be closed after the building that houses the store has been aquired by the Qatar Investment Authority, the wealth fund that bought London's Harrods store. A couple of decades ago, the Champs-Elysées Megastore was the best place to buy jazz albums. The jazz section was never the same after Daniel Richard who was in charge of the jazz dept. left the Virgin conglomerate.

Uptown is one of those rare labels whose releases are ALL worth investigating. Not a bad one in their lot. Beside those mentioned, I am a great fan of the Jimmy Gourley, Carl Fontana (both), Don Joseph, Sonny Clark, Lucky Thompson, Kenny Dorham 'Flamboyan', Pepper Adams (both). To make it simple, I recommend all Uptowns.

Art Blakey 'S Make It' (Limelight Japan)

Have they ever competed, i.e., released the same album? From FreshSound http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/search.php?artist_string=irene+kral&method=by_artist&action=search&artist_id= From Solar

Elvin Jones 'Midnight Walk' (Atlantic, stereo)

Ed Blackwell was a unique, vitalizing drummer. The Ornette Coleman albums from the early 60s were my discoveries of his talent. The Eric Dophy at the Five Spot were confirmations (still my favorite albums with Blackwell), then the duo sides with Don Cherry on Actuel-Byg. So many more... Heard him live with Don Cherry on a couple of occasions.