Rabshakeh

It's as good a line up as I have ever seen.

Great record. Close enough to European progressive rock from the time (particularly the German "krautrock") that I often recommend it to non-jazz friends. George Russell - Listen to the Silence (1973) My first ever listen to this rather odd one, a sort of jazz secular mass. Very much of the early 1970s, with references to Nixon, 'metanoia', Vietnam and everything else, including a Maoist / Nietzschean digression on the real message of the gospel being the rejection of "slave morality". Plus all the musicians were to achieve fame and remuneration mining the ECM vein. It is so of it's time that it makes Escalator over the Hill look like Oasis. Strangely enjoyable though.

Is it a Canadian film? We may have found another section. Back in my CD days, I used alphabetical, but my collection was too diffuse. It was seeing the black and orange Coltranes next to Company Flow and Converge that made me reorganise by genre.

I briefly got excited, but I assume that this is Henderson rather than Harris. Where is Big Band Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones filed?

What goes in a Zodiac section?

Eddie Harris - I Need Some Money (Atlantic, 1974)

I would be interested to know how much of the suddenly explosion in more original sounding European and Japanese jazz in the late 60s and 70s was spurred by precisely this, somewhat ridiculous in retrospect, rejection of Jazz's American origin. Teruto Soejima's book on Japanese jazz obliquely references the importance of the student protests against the US-Japan Security Treaty as being part of the formation of the Japanese free jazz scene. I wonder whether this went for other forms of jazz too, like parts of the British jazz scene's turn to pastoralist and (British) literary themes.

Same. No 1970s 'The wife' humour here. The non-Evil Jazz and Not Jazz sections of my collection are bought and maintained with my wife in mind. If she doesn't like or doesn't play a record, and there's no strict sentimental attachment to it, then it's on the Out pile. The Evil Jazz section is really there to make sure that she doesn't accidentally put Nonaah on during a dinner party.

Basso-Valdambrini Octet – New Sound From Italy (Jolly, 1960) Budd Johnson has been a late discovery for me, but I'm pretty addicted at the moment.

Same, although I add a third: Evil Jazz, which is the part of the jazz collection my wife knows to stay away from. With the three sections the records are organised by when I last listened to them.

Freddie Hubbard - Keep Your Soul Together (CTI, 1974)

Sam Newsome - The Straighthorn of Africa: A Path to Liberation - The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 2 (2014) My third listen to this one (not third today); I like it a lot. Avant whilst fresh and listenable and 'world' fusion without being cheesy. Having just finished: Chet Baker - Chet Baker & Crew (Pacific, 1956) The funnest Chet record, thanks to a large extent to the presence of Bobby Timmons and Phil Urso

Paul Bley - Solemn Meditation (GNP Crescendo, 1958) First ever listen to this. A lot more fun than the title suggests. Sort of a Dave Pike record, I guess.

These are great stories. They don't seem that far away.

There'd be an interesting thread to be had considering which album people would pick if they had to pick one album per artist (or period, for those whose work does periodise).

Do you differentiate labels by period? Blue Note 1962 is quite a different fish to Blue Note 1974.

Like what? Sounds interesting I think that this is an issue for jazz as a whole. Dual leader dates and records by named groups appear to have a substantially lower presence than records by single leaders. (Some obvious exceptions like AEC, Massey Hall, etc., excluded).

I certainly agree that Its not all there is. I listen to Gordon a lot on Spotify. I just no longer own many of his records. Those are a great four records. I know the first two records you named pretty much by heart, and love the Steeplechases. If it had more space I certainly would own Our Man In Paris, which is a great favourite of mine. But with Gordon, style-wise, I think that there’s the earlier bop sides, his long middle period, and then the later records that stand out partly due to Woody Shaw’s involvement (my own opinion only). I’m not sure that Our Man In Paris is so different to e.g. Swiss Nights that I need to own both. I take the point that Manhattan Symphonie is different to those two records, but I don’t love it enough to want to own it. My Gordon choice is slightly idiosyncratic, to the point of being silly, and probably not helping the point. My favourite Gordon record is Tower of Power, which no doubt isn’t his best but which for some reason hits everything I like about Gordon in the strongest possible way. I’ve never found it in the wild though (I generally prefer to buy second hand and from shops), so the Gordon I still own is its sister record More Power. That record has the benefit of James Moody, plus interesting programming due to the presence of a bossa on the second track. On top of that, I think that the Schlitten / Prestige cover design suits Dexter’s style. Basically though it is the one that puts the biggest smile on my face. Edit: I should add that my interest in Dexter Gordon is perhaps not super strong, and even with more space I would not necessarily have a large Dexter Gordon collection. For whatever reason I never had a huge bond with him that would make me want to own his LPs physically (although I did own them on CD).

Stanley Turrentine - Tender Togetherness (Elektra, 1981)

It's not a Mary Kondou thing so much as a reflection of listening habits and space. I tend to see an artist as representing a sound or, for more multifaceted artists, sounds, and then just try to own the record that I enjoy the most that most represents that sound. If I want to listen to Dexter Gordon over breakfast then owning one Dexter Gordon record is the same as owning a shelf of Dexter Gordon records. On the other hand, I own a few Coltrane records because Johnny Hartman versus Ascension over breakfast is a bit more of an either / or situation.

I am the opposite. I try to have only one record by an artist. I will stretch if the artist clearly has periods or if the records are stylistically different enough. So for example I have two Stanley Turrentine records, one from CTI (Salt Song) and one Blue Note (Never Let Me Go), and I own several Miles Davis records, since he worked in different styles, but only one Dexter Gordon. I also "collect" a few artists: Lee Konitz, Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton, for which I allow a dispensation, and enjoy buying on sight. But otherwise, I get anxious if I have more than one, and will sell a record if I buy a new one by the same artist. The test is whether each record is sufficiently separate conceptually that I don't think that I am just duplicating. I should add that this is from the last ten years. When I was younger I wanted all "classic" works by an artist on CD. But now in the era of YouTube I prefer to go as light as possible, and an more subjective in the record that I chose per artist and less interested in the "classic".

The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis ‎– A Love Supreme (Palmetto, 2004)

Scott Rosenberg – Creative Orchestra Music, Chicago 2001 (New World, 2003)

They were spaced out, I promise. Yeah, the first one is not that great. Very of its time. I like his playing a lot on this one, but I'm perhaps a bit less impressed by the more "composed" tunes.

Funk Inc. – Chicken Lickin (Prestige, 1972)