Interesting.. Did he identify himself as Black? Mixed-race children (especially of that era) often had the crappy choice of which side of their family to publicly identify with. There's a great movie in my Netflix queue called Passing, which kinda gets to that. I'm curious if he ever talked about it.
I was looking around on Bandcamp and found this group. I listened to their most recent record and was very impressed. I'm curious what you guys think.
https://charlesowens.bandcamp.com/album/the-music-tells-us
Never heard of most of these but based on the sample tracks there's a couple that interest me. I'm not real fond of the over-the-top reviews but... what can you do?
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2024/the-best-jazz-albums-of-2024
I purchased the download as there are three extra lengthy tracks in the download option. Having given the set a listen I completely forgot how beautifully Smith played. I went back to the Mosaic set and remembered why that was one of my favorite sets. I will definitely be purchasing the other Bandcamp title.
I caved and got the cheaper set (Classic Vanguard set) for my Black Friday present to myself. A $60 difference from the Byas. I hope to get the Byas another time. Maybe folks can help me remember something. Didn't Mosaic occasionally offer a discount when a set was running low or was it on last chance? I don't remember them doing that recently but I thought they had done it before.