So for the first time in a long time, my son and I made a trip to the Princeton Record Exchange (PREX) I believe it’s our first of 2020. Of course, the pandemic was a major reason for the length of time between our visits! Anyway, the five albums shown above are part of of the haul I brought home. All total, I bought eight albums for less than twenty dollars!
Four of the albums are from jazz greats from the past. One album is from saxophonist Tim Warfield, who is still making great music. His latest release Jazzland was released in 2018.
Of the four classic jazz artists, I have various albums from both Art Blakey and Wynton Kelly in my music library. I have more music from Wynton Kelly, because he played extensively with Wes Montgomery. As for the other two artist Horace Silver and Bill Evans. Their music should be in my library.
A random side note.
The other night I was going through random Roku Channels and came upon Tune In, which I have never used. It is a collection of radio stations and podcasts covering all genres of music. I tried a jazz station 24 Jazz. The second song that was played was a jazz version of “Moon River” from the Art Blakey album. The funnier thing was, I had just listened to ithe album earlier in the day!
One of the aspects of a jazz album that I always look for when I’m purchasing an album is the other musicians playing on the set. In most case one musician does not make an album! Here are some of the other musicians on these albums!
The Five Jazz Albums from The Princeton Record Exchange
Buhaina’s Delight- Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers- (**** from AllMusic)
Freddie Hubbard – trumpet, Wayne Shorter – tenor sax, Curtis Fuller-trombone, Cedar Walton piano, Jymie Merritt- bass and Art Blakey drums.
What a line-up! And they all shine at various times on this album! A particular highlight is Blakey’s drum solo on “Bu’s Delight” The engineer on the album was Rudy Van Gelder enough said!
Gentle Warrior – Tim Warfield (**** from AllMusic)
Nicholas Payton – trumpet, Terrell Stafford- trumpet, Cyrus Chestnut – piano, Taurus Matern -bass, Clarence Penn- drum and Tim Warfield Tenor Sax.
Another powerful line-up for this 1997 release. Music from Payton, Stafford and Chestnut can be found in my music library.
Last Trio Session – Wynton Kelly (2.5 Stars Allmusic)
This is the last session for the trio that included:Kelly on piano, Jimmy Cobb on drums and Paul Chambers on bass. The trio played with Miles Davis and on many of Wes Montgomery‘s albums. The AllMusic reviewer felt the album included too many covers of pop hits. Consequently, he gave the album only 2.5 stars. While that is probably a valid criticism, pI have enjoyed the album!
Songs for My Father – Horace Silver Quintet (Five Stars at All Music)
The Quintet included: Horace Silver piano, Carmell Jones trumpet, Joe Henderson tenor saxophone, Teddy Smith bass and Roger Humpheries drums. Blue Mitchell played trumpet on a few of the tracks. And yes it deserves the rating and I need to add more Horace Silver recordings to my library!
Sunday at the Village Vanguard – Bill Evans Trio (Five Stars at AllMusic)
Produced by Orrin Keepnews this album is certainly a jazz classic and I probably don’t like it as much as I should. Frankly, I don’t really know why I don’t love it. Maybe with a few more liatens it will grow on me.
The trio included: Bill Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro – bass and Paul Motian on drums.
Here‘s a short playlist with one song from each of the five albums I found on my last trip to the Princeton Record Exchange.
