A brief listen with a coffee and yogurt prior to heading into the city for the day. As I listen to disc 2/4, I realize a phenomenal performance.
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Starting off with a 25 degree morning, and will get warmer this evening. . .above the freezing point a few degrees!
Starting off with disc 8 from this box set. Dexter is often addictive to me. . . can’t listen to just one. . . He had such a distinct musical personality.
The Complete Prestige Recordings of Dexter Gordon
And on to
Johnny Summers Baker’s Dozen “Celebrating Chet Baker” Cellar Door cd
Nice!
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A nice warm 36 degree morning, but it will be below freezing again by 5:00 p.m. Still, some snow has melted!
Starting off with a strong pairing:
The George Shearing Quintet With Nancy Wilson “The Swingin’s Mutual!” Capitol cd
That great Capitol sound!
On to
Micah Thomas “Mountains” Artwork Records cd
This recent release sounds great. . . and the great Immanuel Wilkins makes it for me.
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Ah Micah Thomas and Immanuel Wilkins, a nice pairing.
A warmer day ahead–into the forties! Wow!
The last few days the snow has been melting a bit. There is still about 7" on the ground and some 2’ and 3’ icicles hanging off the rooftop. That will soon change. . . I think. Going to get in a long walk today.
Starting the listening off with
Ike Quebec “Easy Living” Blue Note Japan cd
Ike was very important to the Blue Note label. Had he lived longer we would have had more interesting work from him as a leader, sideman and A&R man. . . but then we would have not had the same Duke Pearson albums we did or the same albums he arranged and co-produced.
He had such a great sound. Here he has great players with him.
Ike Quebec - tenor saxophone
Bennie Green - trombone (tracks 1–5)
Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone (tracks 1–5)
Sonny Clark - piano
Milt Hinton - bass
Art Blakey - drums
Then on to
Orrin Evans “The Magic of Now” Smoke Sessions cd.
Orrin with Immanuel Wilkins. A great listen.
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The Ike Quebec line-up is most enticing. I’ll need to dig into that one.
Double posting, but this double LP merits a repeat post, as well as a repeat listen. Details @ Strictly Jazz Sounds.
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Technically not today’s first listen. This has been sitting in the first listen queue of mine since Sunday. Life seems to get in the way of a proper listening window. This morning I carved one out. Of all of Ludwig Beethoven’s Ninth Symphonies this stands out as most special. What more can I say, CSO led by Solti recorded at the University of Illinois’ Krannert Great Hall. This isn’t going back on the shelf anytime soon.
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Warmth continues. Thank goodness.
There’s something about family. This is a nice listen.
The Marsalis Family “Music Redeems” Marsalis Music cd
Music does redeeem, rejuvenate, relax.
On to something different that I have been meaning to revisit.
Bob Dylan “The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997)”
This is a fascinating box set. I’m listening to the remix of “Time Out of Mind” in this set at the moment. This opinion runs contrary to most that I read but I prefer the original mix. . . though I can like this one as an alternate window into the music. The original has a magic that drew me in and revived interest in Dylan’s music for me though, it will always live in my heart as a masterwork.
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My copy looks very much like that one. An outstanding performance and recording. To this day it’s still my favorite 9th. The Great Hall is an incredible space acoustically. When I lived in Champaign, my wife and I went constantly. That was back in the day when Ian Hobson and his Sinfonia da Camera were artists in residence and we saw them a lot. We lived in downtown Champaign and could get from our loft apartment to our seats in the hall in about 10 minutes flat. We were supposed to see Solti and the CSO there one season, but that year was interrupted by the musicians’ strike and it was canceled.
BTW, a reasonably good digital transfer is available in one of Decca’s budget lines, or it was a few years ago. Doesn’t have the magic of the old LP, but it’s decent.
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Cold again. We’re back to yo yo weather, up and down.
Starting off with some big band comfort food, Count Basie in Paris 1960.
Count Basie and his Orchestra “En Concert Avec Europe1” 2 cd set, disc 1
Followed by
Toni Lee Scott “Vol. Lonely” Ava/Muzak Records Japan cd
1961
Bass – Red Callender, Wilfred Middlebrooks
Drums – Jackie Mills
Guitar – Howard Roberts
Piano – Don Abney, Gerald Wiggins
A recent Verve Acoustic Sounds reissue with the Kevin Gray treatment. Easy on the ears, not an essential Hodges pick, but the opener I Don’t Know About You is certainly fun.
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For those seeking clear, clean, lifelike piano and bass and drums, this Analogue Prod reissue LP is a must have.
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The OG Pablo sounds really good as well.
(Antonio Carlos Jobim) Nova Banda “Família Jobim”
This is beautiful music. I appreciate these final Jobim albums more and more.
This is a differently sequenced version than:
On to
The unique voice and styling of Shiela Jordan is a great fit for this morning. I’m just glad that the system is up and running. We lost power to half the house (including heat and water) last night for a couple of hours. Happened a few months ago exactly the same way. The power company came out–the guy touched the box where the power came in and the power came on and he left saying “should be okay now.” Well we were talking of getting an electrician out but. . . we didn’t follow through. This time the power company came and before they arrived I touched the power inlet box and the power came back on. This fellow shut power down, looked inside the box, said there was a bad connection inside, tightened that up and now says we shouldn’t have that problem. Hope not! This box is only two winters old–we had a wind storm (what we would call a “twister” in Texas but we never have gotten those here til this century) pull the power pole down in the vacant wooded lot next to us, and all our wiring and boxes off the wall. Luckily the power company reinstalled them–though probably with this loose connection.
Anyway, glad to have heat, water and my system running.
This Sheila Jordan album was 'lost" from 1960 on and is really nice. The notes say:
This music was found by two collectors on a test pressing recorded in 1960. The rhythm section is unconfirmed.
Sheila Jordan “Comes Love: Lost Session 1960” Capri Records cd. Possibly only 500 made?
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