So once again I must confess to not wrting many new posts. One of my excuses is I am still trying to fully recover from the ankle sprain that occurred on my May 28th run! In order to facilitate that recovery, for the last several weeks I’ve been going to Physical Theraphy twice a week. Additionally, I’ve been working more at Target.Finally, last week in an attempt to get myself to write more I bought a new laptop.
Only I shopped price and bought an HP Chromebook. And while it works fine for using the Internet, which means it works well for most of my uses. It doesn’t play nicely with my iTunes music library. Now because not all of my music was recorded by iTunes and moved right into iTunes my albums and recording are located in various folders on various storage devices! So what I’ve beem doing is relocating them to devices where I know what I have and where they are located! I actually bought a 256 GB microSD card that I think will hold my whole library.
In the midst of all this my wife did make a trip to the NJ State Archives in Trenton on Wednesday of this week, That means that I get to head further north and visit The Princetion Record Exchange! Now because I’m still dont know how to rip CDs using the Chromebook, I only bought vinyl albums, which is actually what I wanted to buy anyway.
My LP Haul from The Princeton Record Exchange
Jazz
Master of the Art – Woody Shaw
I confess I didn’t know anything about Woody Shaw until I started to listen to more jazz in the middle 2010s. I only gave this album a quick listen but I likes what I heard…..from AllMusic
Master of the Art is the studio companion to the album Night Music, also reissued on Wounded Bird records from the original Elektra Musician masters, with the same band as on the live date, but with completely different songs and a short interview from the trumpeter. At a time when Shaw was one of the most consistently brilliant trumpeter’s of the modern era, this effort did nothing to hurt that estimable reputation.
Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and trombonist Steve Turre being on the front line made for an arresting sound, while the emerging pianist Mulgrew Miller was asserting himself as a major force, with drummer Stafford James and drummer Tony Reedus sounding like they had worked together for decades Read more at AllMusic
High Energy – Freddie Hubbard
Now Freddie Hubbard is someone I have know for longer and at least one cassette tape is in my collection. Again after a listen last night I liked what I heard.. The first time I heard Ernie Watts he was playing with John Mayall in the early 1970 from AllMusic….
One of Freddie Hubbard’s few decent efforts during his very commercial period with Columbia, this LP found his quintet (with tenor-saxophonist Junior Cook and keyboardist George Cables) joined by a small orchestra and a string section on a set of potentially dismal material….The leader/trumpeter is in good form and there is solo space given to Ernie Watts (on bass flute, soprano and flute) and tenorman Pete Christlieb…. Read More at AllMusic
Rough House Blues – Lou Donaldson
Like Woody Shaw I didnt know a lot about Lou Donaldson until several years ago, I really like hus album Alligator Bogaloo. I listened to this album as I was writing this post and I think I may like it the most of any of the albums I bought ! While AllMusic gave the album thee stars they didn’t have much to say about it…..
Best and most ambitious of mid-60s Argo albums. Oliver Nelson supplied the arrangements for this nine-piece band.
I am familiar with the work of Oliver Nelson through his work with Wes Montgomery in the 1960s. You cant go wrong iif he’s doing the arranging!
The Milt Jackson Big 4 at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975 – Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Niels Pederson and Mickey Roker.
Sadly, I discovered that I already have this album in my music library. But I say you can never have too much Milt Jackson….the presence of Oscar Peterson on the album made it a no-brainer when I saw it, From AllMusic,,,,,
This is the only album of my haul that got 4 stars from AllMusic,,,,,,
Vibraphonist Milt Jackson teams up with pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Niels Pedersen and drummer Mickey Roker for this particularly appealing set. There are many exciting performances (particularly Blue Mitchell’s “Funji Mama,” “Speed Ball” and “Mack the Knife”) and some emotional ballad statements (“Everything Must Change” and “Like Someone like Love”). Bags and O.P. always bring out the best in each other and this well-conceived set is no exception. Read More at AllMusic
Folk
Today is the Highway – Eric Andersen
I bought my first Eric Andersen album Blue River in the early 1970s when it came out. I know that I went out and bought some of his prior albums quickly thereafter, However, I never bought this one. He’s had a strange career he spent most of the later 70s through the 1980s in Europe, He reemerged in 1989 with a new album, Ghosts Upon the Road. Since 1998 he’s been very active producing a numnber of outstanding albums. From AllMusic
Andersen’s debut album presented him playing in a folkie style that was just starting to become passé upon its release in 1965. It’s an inoffensive set of originals (except for a cover of “Baby Please Don’t Go”) in the early-’60s Greenwich Village style, accompanied only by his own guitar and harmonica (and, on two songs, by Debby Green on second guitar). Read More at AllMusic
Here‘s a baker‘s dozen playlist with random tracks for each album with the exception of The Milt Jackson Big 4…. I did include as the thirteenth track …. „On Green Dolphin Street“ by Milt and Oscar!
