The Great Jazz Trio - Milestones

I have company coming soon. Putting this record on while I tidy up the place a bit. The GJT albums always have fun album covers, which makes them much nicer to pull out and put on the turntable.

Here's the bass solo - I'm testing myself... I know one of the MJT albums I have has Buster Williams, but I think this has gotta be Ron Carter (he and Tony are distinct). Also, I think they played 81, a Ron Carter blues...

And... Checked the liner notes, it is Ron on bass. I guess the next one will be with Buster...

Harmone is such a good song. I forgot about this. It sounds like something I've heard sampled in some hip hop... but I can't identify what.

Tony really plays with the time on Harmone... :)

Herbie Hancock - VSOP

The album cover is so joyous. It's like a freeze frame shot of Herbie doing that thing at the end of the breakfast club:

Herbie deserved to be pumped up. This double record features some of Herbie's best ensembles of then recent time (circa 1976). This includes the Miles Davis Quintet, The Mwandishi group, and "Return of the Son of The Headhunters" (That last name is not the official name, but my own monster movie type name for the group.

So I just got this album with Elvin Jones Live at the Lighthouse and the David Murray record, which is why these recent entries are somewhat out of order. In listening to the record, I was thinking what is up with Herbie's piano? It sounds like it has a tremolo effect going on. In the liner notes he is credited as playing the Yamaha Electric Grand Piano. My wikipedia brown internet sleuthing has lead me to believe that Herbie was performing on a Yamaha CB70. I guess my biggest question is why? Wouldn't the venue (this is live at the Newport Jazz Festival, arguably the biggest Jazz Festival) have a nice acoustic Grand Piano for Herbie to use? 

But, as you can see in the above image, maybe the answer is that Herbie wanted to be able to stack all of his synths so he could have his keyboard world (What a great idea for an amusement park...)

Anyways, I definitely prefer the sound of Herbie on the Rhodes. I wish he would have had a chance to use the Rhodes more with Miles quintet (I think he uses it on "Stuff" from Miles in The Sky).

Time to relax and enjoy the music, and finish up my laundry too!

Elvin Jones - Live at the Lighthouse

This is a somewhat highly regarded album, especially amongst saxophonists. This is a live recording of Elvin Jones' band including Gene Perla on bass, and Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman on saxophones. This was Liebman's (and I think Grossman too) gig before he joined Miles Davis fusion band (On the Corner).

Heck, someone has even transcribed all of the solos from this record and called it the Lighthouse Omnibook:

The record has a lot of good jamming. I'm still listening to it. It is a double album. I find it interesting that side 1 and 4 are on one of the records, and the other record is side 2 and 3. Hey, it's a blue note record!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a wild album cover. Check out all the crazy fishes hovering around that there lighthouse!

David Murray - Low Class Conspiracy

I think this is David Murray's first record. I just picked this up for 7.99. I feel like if a record has David Murray and Fred Hopkins and it's under $10, I can not justify passing it up. Philip Wilson is the drummer in this trio. I'm giving it a spin for the first time, and I'm enjoying it. Liner notes by Stanley Crouch (David Murray's former drummer)

Great Jazz Trio - At The Village Vanguard

I think I've mentioned that Ron Carter sometimes makes me seasick. This record is another good example. This is jazz at a very high level, with three masters: Tony Williams, Hank Jones, and Ron Carter. I like the album covers that they come up with. I have two more GJT albums, all have unique album covers, which many modern album covers lack.

Genesis - A Trick of the Tail

Back when my name was Proggy McProggerson, I bought this Genesis album on a whim. I noticed it didn't have Peter Gabriel, and I thought that they were only proggy with Gabriel. Boy was I wrong. The opening track apparently does not have a measure of 4/4 (that would be passe?). Yet there is a strong hint of the poppiness that Genesis would go for in the future.

I think this is the first album that Genesis had Phil Collins (drummer) sing lead vocals. They had a long tryout process, only to discover that the best replacement for Peter Gabriel was already in their band.

Here is the full album.

Some of the slower songs on this record are clutch make-out songs, if I do say so myself ("Entangled" and "Ripples")

I'm surprised this is the only Genesis record (CD, casette, etc.) that I own! And I call myself a recovering prog addict... Uh-oh, I maybe relapsing here!

Benny Goodman - Swing Into Spring

A good compilation of Benny Goodman big band throughout the years. Oh I wish it was spring. The weather forecast for tomorrow has a high of -10 degrees fahrenheit.

Some songs including Red Norvo on vibes, another one with Terry Gibbs on vibes. This is a great Sunday morning record, which is prepping me for Dewey Gill's Sunday Big Band Show on WMSE.