Recordings that grabbed you and directed your life plan

sgcim · November 1, 2023

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

Is that Bill Perkins on alto?

Yeah, Bob Cooper Tenor Monte Budwig Bass, and Chuck Flores Drums.

Edited November 1, 2023 by sgcim

sgcim · November 1, 2023

14 hours ago, jazzbo said:

These three LPs got me started on a teenage through adulthood jazz journey. When my father was the first Director of the Peace Corps program in Swaziland (now Eswatini) Atlantic Records sent a care package to the 80 or so volunteers of varied records from their catalog, predominantly mono pressings. One volunteer showed up with a box at our house one day with a dozen records and asked we kids if we wanted any of them. I chose these three LPs, my brother chose three blues and R and B titles, my sister and my youngest brother were not really interested. (My brother who chose LPs says that he remembers the volunteer as Chris Matthews, the journalist, who was among the volunteers my father directed, but I don't remember him ever coming over to the house).

I played these records over and over on the Grundig big tabletop radio/record player we had bought in Ethiopia and then moved to Swaziland with us; I still have these LPs and won't part with them, still playable. Each one of these is a wonderful recording and the Leo Wright might be my favorite as each side had a different instrumentalist in the front line with Leo. I was fascinated with these and they prepared me for the jazz obsession to come when we returned to the US.

That's weird, man. That Charles Bell record was one of the first jazz records I listened to. My father used to buy any jazz record that had a guitar player on it, and that had a guy named Bill Smith playing guitar on it. When I was listening to it once, a kid named Bill Smith called me up for guitar lessons. I told him I was just listening to him playing with Charles Bell. He studied with me anyway.

They were talking about Jimmy Giuffre playing at some concert overseas on another website, and Charles Bell was there too. Someone wanted to know who the guitar player was with Giuffre, because it wasn't Jim Hall. Maybe it was the mysterious Bill Smith?

14 hours ago, jazzbo said:

These three LPs got me started on a teenage through adulthood jazz journey. When my father was the first Director of the Peace Corps program in Swaziland (now Eswatini) Atlantic Records sent a care package to the 80 or so volunteers of varied records from their catalog, predominantly mono pressings. One volunteer showed up with a box at our house one day with a dozen records and asked we kids if we wanted any of them. I chose these three LPs, my brother chose three blues and R and B titles, my sister and my youngest brother were not really interested. (My brother who chose LPs says that he remembers the volunteer as Chris Matthews, the journalist, who was among the volunteers my father directed, but I don't remember him ever coming over to the house).

I played these records over and over on the Grundig big tabletop radio/record player we had bought in Ethiopia and then moved to Swaziland with us; I still have these LPs and won't part with them, still playable. Each one of these is a wonderful recording and the Leo Wright might be my favorite as each side had a different instrumentalist in the front line with Leo. I was fascinated with these and they prepared me for the jazz obsession to come when we returned to the US.

That's weird, man. That Charles Bell record was one of the first jazz records I listened to. My father used to buy any jazz record that had a guitar player on it, and that had a guy named Bill Smith playing guitar on it. When I was listening to it once, a kid named Bill Smith called me up for guitar lessons. I told him I was just listening to him playing with Charles Bell. He studied with me anyway.

They were talking about Jimmy Giuffre playing at some concert overseas on another website, and Charles Bell was there too. Someone wanted to know who the guitar player was with Giuffre, because it wasn't Jim Hall. Maybe it was the mysterious Bill Smith?

Peter Friedman · November 2, 2023

This is close to impossible for me. There were probably at least 30 or 40 records that were highly essential to me back when I first became interested in jazz back in the 1950's.

Here are a few of them: Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

rostasi · November 3, 2023

Radio was the major influence for me,
but these were heavy hitters in jumpstarting
my interests (plus, I’d add “3 Compositions
of New Jazz” from Braxton).

Gheorghe · November 3, 2023

11 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

This is close to impossible for me. There were probably at least 30 or 40 records that were highly essential to me back when I first became interested in jazz back in the 1950's.

Here are a few of them: Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

It´s interesting that you also have the Miles Davis "Blue Haze". I think I also bought this in my first period of jazz listening, since I loved Miles Davis (starting with his rough bebop sides of the late fourties early fifties, which was available on several Italian bootlegs - to the then contemporanous electric style with the wah wah like on "In Concert" or "Dark Magus"...) . I think I got "Blue Haze" after some of the classic "First Quintet" stuff like "Round Midnite" or "Steaming", but found it outright tame for Miles or other featured artists like Max Roach or even Charles Mingus on one track on piano. It´s an interesting compilation, but I think it was more a period of transition for Miles, where he did not know if to play so called "Cool Jazz" or more the hard driving straight ahead stuff he did with Trane).

I think I also have the Jackie McLean album but don´t remember what title it had. Is this the one with "Bean ´n the Boys" ?

Yeah, the Jazz Messengers also was very important for me, I got the "Bohemia" later, but I think it would have been top for me as a kid.

danasgoodstuff · November 4, 2023

I don't think I ever had a life plan, but music did get me through some very dark times.

jazzbo · November 4, 2023

On 11/1/2023 at 2:46 AM, sgcim said:

That's weird, man. That Charles Bell record was one of the first jazz records I listened to. My father used to buy any jazz record that had a guitar player on it, and that had a guy named Bill Smith playing guitar on it. When I was listening to it once, a kid named Bill Smith called me up for guitar lessons. I told him I was just listening to him playing with Charles Bell. He studied with me anyway.

They were talking about Jimmy Giuffre playing at some concert overseas on another website, and Charles Bell was there too. Someone wanted to know who the guitar player was with Giuffre, because it wasn't Jim Hall. Maybe it was the mysterious Bill Smith?

That's weird, man. That Charles Bell record was one of the first jazz records I listened to. My father used to buy any jazz record that had a guitar player on it, and that had a guy named Bill Smith playing guitar on it. When I was listening to it once, a kid named Bill Smith called me up for guitar lessons. I told him I was just listening to him playing with Charles Bell. He studied with me anyway.

They were talking about Jimmy Giuffre playing at some concert overseas on another website, and Charles Bell was there too. Someone wanted to know who the guitar player was with Giuffre, because it wasn't Jim Hall. Maybe it was the mysterious Bill Smith?

Thanks for sharing that about your father playing "Another Dimension." I've not encountered anyone else with an early experience with that LP. I really like that LP.

Steve Reynolds · November 13, 2023

On 10/31/2023 at 7:54 PM, HutchFan said:

These two albums were my gateway to jazz:

First KoB and then Mingus at Antibes. I discovered both during my sophomore year in college.

Same 2 for me:)

Clunky · November 14, 2023

cannonball-adderley-quintet-in-san-franc

I was twenty and in my second year of medical school. I'd starting paying attention to JRR with the late Peter Clayton on BBC radio three. He played an Adderley track "Barefoot Sunday blues" which blew me away. This CD was the only Adderley I could find and was my very first modern jazz purchase. This lead to Somethin' Else and the rest is history.