HutchFan

A few more: "Groovy, baby." Rowles' self-portrait.

A few faves, off the top of my head: Betty Carter is so "photograph-able." She oozes charisma. I like simplicity of this. Strong colors tell the story. Just a fantastic painting (by French painter Raymond Moretti). Many of his album covers are fantastic, imho. Eugene Gregan did a series of album covers for David Liebman and Richie Beirach. You can stare at this for LONG time and keep finding more. So evocative!

I'm STOKED about this set too!

I put all of the discs in slim-line CD cases too. Much easier access off the shelf than out of the box also.

Pete - Thanks for the suggestion. Pages started coming out my book too. So this weekend I took the book to FedEx/Kinko's and they put a spiral binding on it for a few bucks. Works great. I actually prefer it to the original binding. When it's open, the book lays flat.

I think this a great record. There's more piano than organ on this one. But I love Goldings' organ playing too. I also dig Goldings' trio records with Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart, and I LOVE his work with Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts -- especially Wake Up to What's Happening. Goldings is definitely an underrated talent in my book.

When I was a young person, first getting into jazz, I became an immediate Jimmy Rowles convert after hearing his "Georgia on My Mind" solo on that ^ record. Such a distinctive sound. Made my jaw drop. Rest of the band was pretty good too.

Thanks soulpope!

I was happy to discover that Sony Japan is reissuing Richie Beirach's Ballads and Ballads II. According to Amazon, both discs are due for release on November 20, 2015. I have nearly all of Beirach's recordings, but I've never even heard these. I can't imagine that they'd be anything other than great. Anyone have any opinions?

Yep! With a Cedar Walton/Buster Williams/Billy Higgins rhythm section, you really can't go wrong.

Picking up another old thread... For starters, I'd recommend these: Plus the three in soulpope's initial post! Buster is THE MAN.

I enjoy Getz and I have quite a few of his records. It was fun scrolling through this old thread and seeing everyone's favorites. If I were forced to pick ONE Getz record, I'd probably go with Blue Skies. with Jim McNeely, Marc Johnson, and Billy Hart This is Getz at his most concentrated and intense. I'm sorta surprised that more folks haven't mentioned it! Some of my other Getz favorites (in no particular order): - Sweet Rain - Recorded Fall 1961 (w/ Bob Brookmeyer) - People Time - Voyage - Captain Marvel - Dynasty - Communication '72 Communication '72 was Getz's collaboration with Michel Legrand and the (uncredited) Swingle Singers. It's a strange record, a stylistic hodge-podge, downright odd at times. But, somehow, for me, it works. I think it's compelling, beautiful music. Obviously, it's not one for the purists, but I'm really fond of it. I even love the cover, which features a painting by Raymond Moretti.

The next set of Elemental's Xanadu reissues are due for release on December 11: Ronnie Cuber - Cuber Libre Dolo Coker - California Hard Al Cohn/Dexter Gordon - True Blue/Silver Blue I'm definitely getting the Cuber. Not sure about the others.

Surprising, isn't it? Because that trio with Jamil Nasser and Frank Gant was really, really, really good.

I recently got SOLID's reissue of Walter Norris' Drifting, a duo record with George Mraz. Beautiful music and excellent sound.

Some doozies in there.

Prompted by this thread, I re-listened to The Open Road during my morning commute. I really like it. Nothing mind-blowing. But solid. They play an ear-catching version of "Someday My Prince Will Come" with some nice Herbie-ish harmonies. They cover "Maiden Voyage" too. Can't go wrong with that tune. By the way, anyone besides me ever thought that Don Braden looks an awful lot like Harold Land??? Not quite "dead ringers." But close!

Cowell sounds good with Pepper on this record: Or were you referring to Cowell with Dexter?

I've enjoyed Don Braden's The Open Road for a long time. The record features a strong line-up -- with Tim Hagans, Kenny Werner, Larry Grenadier and Billy Hart. I especially like Braden's tune "Sundown." I haven't explored much of Braden's music beyond that one record though.

Picking up an old conversation... I've been on a bit of an Art Pepper kick lately, and I can't imagine a better match for Pepper than Cables. Along with the Vanguard recordings, there's No Limit -- with those raw ballads, "My Laurie" and "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men," and -- most especially -- the two final Pepper/Cables duet records, Goin' Home and Tête-à-tête. So I don't have don't have any trouble understanding why Pepper called Cables "Mr. Beautiful." I like Cables with Dexter too, especially Manhattan Symphonie. But I'm not nearly as familiar with those recordings as I am with the Pepper/Cables stuff. That said, I love reading all these disparate responses. Just goes to show: Beauty really is in the ear of the behearer. Lastly, on a slightly related note: I love the mid-70s Woody Shaw/Louis Hayes band, and I especially dig that band's pianist, Ronnie Mathews. I think he's WAY under-regarded. But I don't think that group -- and especially Mathews -- gel with Dexter. Too much rat-a-tat-tat-tat busy-ness. Dexter's at his best when he's got room to breathe. ...That's probably how many of you feel about Cables, eh?!?!?!

Justin, I was listening to Electric Byrd the other day, and I thought the very same thing. People talk about Electric Byrd being Byrd's response to Bitches Brew. But Pearson's fingerprints are all over that record just as much as Miles' (if not MORE than Miles'). Listen to The Phantom and then listen to Electric Byrd. You can't help but hear Pearson's influence THROUGHOUT Electric Byrd.

Ah. Didn't realize that it had already been released on the other side of the pond. Lucky you.

ECM is FINALLY reissuing the first three albums from John Abercrombie's late-70s/early-80s quartet with Richie Beirach, George Mraz, and Peter Donald. Rumors of this set's release have been floating around for years. According to Amazon, the release date is slated for December 4, 2015. If you've never heard this music before, I cannot recommend it strongly enough. The set consists of three LPs: - Arcade (1978) - Abercrombie Quartet (1979) - M (1980) For me, M is desert-island music, BEYOND five stars. Arcade is nearly as good, a strong 4.5 stars. Abercrombie Quartet has never knocked me on my backside like the other two -- but it's still a fine recording in its own right. I'd give it a solid 3.5 stars. I enjoy vinyl, but it will be nice to have digital versions of this music for on-the-go & at-work listening. I'm sure the remastered sound will trounce my own crudely-made needle drops. Anyone else looking forward to this set?

Found this LP today at Fantasyland, an Atlanta record store.

Nice. Would've been cool if they could have included Pepper Adams too. I'm just sayin'.