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Well, that was relatively quick. Just a collection of stuff that either caught my ear or was new to me within the last year. Track 01 - Page 44 (Arbuckle) Les Arbuckle The Bush Crew (1994) Les Arbuckle - tenor sax; Mike Stern - guitar; Essiet Okon Essiet - bass; Victor Lewis - drums Les was my sax tech until he left the Boston area for San Diego. Every visit to his shop included some small lesson, just in passing conversation. I appreciate those visits more than I can ever express, because I learned so much in a few short minutes. The 10M I play is Les' old horn which had been set up by the late, great sax tech Ernie Sola. Les can play his ass off, and even though the feel of this album isn't really my bag, I love to hear Les play. Track 02 - Waltz For Trane (Goumas) Nick Goumas Perseverance (2002) Nick Goumas - tenor saxophone; Waldron Ricks - trumpet; Rick Peckham - guitar; Greg Burk - piano; Larry Roland - bass; Peter Moutis - drums Nick is a contemporary of Jerry Bergonzi who taught music in the Nashua, NH school district for ages. He retired a few years back, and I've gotten to know him a bit through a local jam session. We played Lonnie's Lament together the night he laid these two discs (the other is elsewhere in this test) on me. The guy is about 80, still blowing his ass off, and is just another of those pieces in the greater puzzle that it's fun to check in with. Track 03 - Painless (McAll) Barney McAll, Badal Roy, Rufus Cappadocia Vivid! (2017) Barney McAll - keys, kalimba; Rufus Cappadocia - cello; Badal Roy - tabla; Fred Wesley - trombone; Peck Almond - flute, trombone, trumpet; Lefteris Bournias - clarinet; Matt Darriau - kaval; Famoro Dioubaté - balafon; Daniel Moreno - percussion; Mike Sim - tenor/baritone sax; Vishal Vaid - vocals I found my way to McAll's extensive Bandcamp site because he was selling a Billy Harper set. I ended up culling a few things, including this one. The guy is different. He's from Australia, and my introduction to him was a record he did featuring Billy Harper. I later picked up a couple of used discs, one featuring Harper, the other featuring Peter Apfelbaum and Gary Bartz. Both are worth it. This one trends towards afrobeat, but I love Fred Wesley and had to include it. Track 04 - Moon Alley (Tom Harrell) Nick Goumas Moon Alley (2012) Nick Goumas - tenor saxophone; Steve Hunt - piano; Bruce Gertz - bass; Jack Diefendorf - drums Another from Nick. I chose this tune because I learned it in the past year but had never heard anyone cover it (other than the composer, and then just to help me learn it). Figured some would get the tune. Track 05 - Avars (Rocky Boyd) Blue Mitchell Blue's Moods (1960) Blue Mitchell - trumpet; Wynton Kelly - piano; Sam Jones - bass; Roy Brooks - drums You just can't go wrong with Blue Mitchell. Heard this one in the car and had to pull over to make note to include it on this year's test. I was late to the Blue Mitchell game, but he kept cropping up as a sideman in my collection and always had me saying, "Who IS this guy?" So, I added. Track 06 - #20 Ladbroke Square (Tate/Edwards) Buddy Tate Tate-a-Tate (1960) Clark Terry - trumpet; Buddy Tate - tenor saxophone; Tommy Flanagan - piano; Larry Gales - bass; Art Taylor - drums Again, hard to go wrong with Buddy Tate. Not exactly a pick-up band with him, here, either. My introduction to Tate was a record with Warren Vaché in the late 70s, still my favorite version of On Green Dolphin St. Shortly after that, I discovered the Meets Dollar Brand album, and fell in love with HIS work, as well. This tune just grabbed me and said, "Put this in your BFT, MF!" Track 07 - Wide And Blue (Harold McKinney) The Tribe Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990-2014 Wendell Harrison - tenor saxophone; Marcus Belgrave, Jimmy Owens - trumpet; Kiane Zawadi - trombone, euphonium; Harold McKinney - piano; Reggie Workman - bass; Gayelynn McKinney - drums; Francisco Ali Mora - percussion Tim introduced this one to me. I've always been a sucker for The Tribe, and this disc is no exception. With apologies, I'm sure I stole his preferred track to include in his test later this year. Sorry, man. Track 08 - Le Clit (Redman) Dewey Redman Dewey Redman Quarttet - Live Archival Recording (2002) Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone; Barney McAll - piano; John Menegon - bass; Matt Wilson - drums Another one I picked up from McAll's Bandcamp site. This was his own recording of the date, released with permission of Dewey's family. I wouldn't say there is new ground here, but it's sure good to hear Dewey at this point in time, in this setting. The dude was all about soul and it comes across here. Track 09 - Calvary (trad., arr. by Lewis) James Brandon Lewis Red Lily Quintet For Mahalia, With Love (2023) James Brandon Lewis - tenor saxophone; Kirk Knuffke - cornet; William Parker - bass; Chad Taylor - drums; Chris Hoffman - cello I came to JBL by way of his work with William Parker and was immediately impressed. I got the notification about this release, listened to a couple of tracks and pulled the trigger immediately. This guy is the real deal, and he's in great company here. For me, this guy and Isaiah Collier are the guys right now (for that "next-gen" grouping, anyway). Track 10 - In The Beginning GOD (Ellington) Dwight Trible Cosmic (2011) Dwight Trible - vocals, percussion; John Beasley - piano; Kenneth Crouch - organ; Trevor Ware - bass; Dexter Story - drums, background vocals This is a weird record. I love Trible, and this album has moments, but it's odd. And while I'm not invested in the subject matter here, myself, he certainly seems committed and that's what struck me and led me to include it here. I'm glad to see this guy getting SOME attention recording, but I sure wish there was more of it. Track 11 - Character Building Blues (Kohlhase) Charlie Kohlhase Explorer's Club A Second Live (2024) Charlie Kohlhase - baritone saxophone; Seth Meicht - tenor saxophone; Dan Rosenthal - trumpet; Jeb Bishop - trombone; Josiah Reibstein - tuba; Eric Hofbauer - guitar; Tony Leva - bass; Curt Newton - drums Another local-ish connection here. Charlie is one of the worlds funniest people, and an absolute MF of a composer and saxophonist. The backstory of this recording is epic in its own right (check out Charlie's Bandcamp site), and his writing here shows he's still in top form. If you have the chance, see this band live. Charlie is always entertaining, and Seth Meicht was a bit of a discovery for me -- absolute monster! I know there were lots of exchanges I should have addressed here and didn't, so perhaps we can continue the convo in this thread.