Rabshakeh

It seems like quite a weak list, especially the fiction. I'd wager that more than 3/4 of these will have dropped out by the time we get to a 2050 list, assuming there are still such things by then. Not that I have many nominations with which to replace them. A comparison between any list of great books of the first half of the 21st century and any equivalent lists that might have been created for the preceding quarter centuries is going to be a sobering one.

He's had to cancel his upcoming Proms appearance due to ill health. Quite worrying but hopefully something passing only.

Now spinning this: Fred Anderson - The Missing Link This one was my own birthday present to myself.

Jesse Fuller - San Francisco Blues Found yesterday in the market.

Katsumi Odagiri Trio - Assault Kamikaze Squadron

Turk Murphy And His Jazz Band – At The Roundtable This one seems to have been a really big seller, given its presence in the bins. First listen to it, and probably last too. I can handle early Lu Watters but this is just too slick.

Agreed on SRH. I also cannot put my finger on it.

I do see what you mean with the Bobby Hackett vibe on some Kaempfert records, like Wonderland By Night. Moody stuff. My first reference point was also the Hackett records A String of Pearls and That Midnight Touch, although I like those much more than Kaempfert's stuff in that vein. This one is different to that. It is more like a Herb Alpert Tijuana Brass record, but it is pennywhistle rather mariachi. Very upbeat and packed with corny hits. Like with the TJB it is stupid fun music and I can't claim not to enjoy it a lot in a visceral dumb way. As a disclaimer I should add that pennywhistle was basically the only music that my parents played growing up (they were born in SA, but left in 1960s), so even this very fake stuff has an oddly nostalgic effect on me. I've been having a bit of an explore recently of jazz adjacent big band music produced by the studios or by easy listening brand orchestras. There are plenty of kernels of goodness out there. Not an easy task to sift the wheat from the chaff so any recommendations are welcome.

Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra – A Swingin' Safari What is this one?

Albrecht Maurer Trio Works – Movietalks

Benny Golson – Tune In Turn On - To The Hippest Commercials Of The Sixties Another studio big band record.

Hugo Montenegro & Orch. – Bongos And Brass Listening to this for the first time. Presumably something TTK knows well. A studio big band stereo record that really does try everything.

John Buzon Trio – Inferno! Some hot stuff here.

Charles K. Noyes And Owen Maercks With Henry Kaiser And Greg Goodman – Free Mammals

This is a really good one. A big favourite around here.

Howling Wolf A present that my kids bought for me on my birthday. My six year old had seen the cover of the first comp and thought that the howling wolf on the cover looked cool, so I sent my wife off to buy it with them "secretly". They came back with the second comp instead, and sadly, a euro-boot. I craftily bought a Chess reissue and substituted it without them knowing, during a period when my record player was being repaired. This morning was the first time the "present" was played. Everyone very happy. I underrate this record among Howling Wolf's, and didn't like it as a kid, but listening to it now I am glad for the mix up, because it might be my favourite on re-evaluation. Hubert Sumlin does make a difference here. The kids also bought me a copy of Abbey Road on vinyl for some reason. I'm not sure why but perhaps I had played them Beatles songs in the past. It does sound good though.

Death – Human

I like that one. Dionysiac jazz flute.

Henry Mancini – Combo! I'm not about to suddenly become a lounge guy but this is really a very good, creative record, with all the usual West Coast guys hamming it up, and only a few swinging funky bach harpsichord jams. I am surprised that it doesn't get mentioned more alongside the likes of Quincy Jones. Perhaps it is too jazzy for the easy listening fans but too easy listening for the jazz fans.

Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra – Wonderland By Night Now on the less enjoyable Kai Winding – Modern Country

Great record. My favourite Bang album.

Stan Getz - West Coast Jazz Having just finished: Sunny Murray Trio - Live at Moers Festival

I am primarily thinking of used record shops. I am also not suggesting an actual "booth" (which may be what is being referred to above), so much as an area for customers to listen to the vinyl. But most ones to which I go have a turntable set up with headphones for you to listen. As someone mentioned above, it is inevitably a Technics deck, and battered. I would go so far as to say that I consider the idea of having a record player set up for customers to be absolutely unremarkable in 2024. Hence my surprise at the reminiscing above. My parents were shopkeepers who sold womenswear. They always jokily remarked on how important it was to have "good mirrors", by which they meant that the lighting and angling of the mirrors in the changing room was key to whether you actually made the sale, almost more important than the shop decor, staff attentiveness and the clothes themselves. I always saw the record shop turntable in the same light. Shabby as they are, you bet that those headphones and that old Technics turntable are going to make the record you're sizing up sound incredible. They never sound that good on my home system. My kids recently bought me a record for my birthday (a Howling Wolf record that my 6 year old son had seen and liked the look of). My wife not-so-subtly let me know and I directed her to a shop which I knew had it in stock. I said to make sure that the kids listened to it beforehand to make sure that it was good - to add to the pomp and ceremony of them buying their first record in a shop.

Did he play these a lot when you grew up? As in, were you already familiar with this great music as a kid?

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss Spinning this given the recent mention of Black Root Strata.