McCoy Tyner—"Sahara": Tyner has released many excellent albums over the years. This one features everything from a solo piano song for his family to cuts featuring the Japanese koto—which I believe is what he's holding in the striking cover photograph (which, like so many good old album covers, is greatly diminished by its condensation for CD).

Randy Weston—"Little Niles": This Blue Note double LP, a 1979 reissue of most of three late '50's sessions, is excellent. Look also for Weston's recent Verve release of Ellington numbers, "Caravan"; I love to play the opening drum sequence on the title track really loud as I drive home from work on Fridays. Weston's integrations of African musics and jazz are always great.

Gerald Wilson—"Theme for Monterey": Among many highlights, Wilson's big band does a great reworking of "Summertime" with lots of crisp guitar.

Jack Wilson—"Ramblin,'" "Something Personal": A cool California pianist with bass, drums and Roy Ayers on vibes tackles Ornette Coleman, Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder," Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" and other interesting choices. These make great late night music.

Larry Young—"The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Larry Young": Another Mosaic set, 6 great CDs, but sadly out of print. The early sets with Grant Green are great organ/guitar combo jazz, but the later ones are even more interesting, like no other jazz organist's work, forward-looking without becoming inaccessible or amelodic. Blue Note has reissued some of these as single CDs, including Young's "Unity" with Woody Shaw.

Whew!! Thanks, this was fun!

Date: 15-Jan-1999 21:42:31
From: zan ( mizzan@yahoo.com )
Who among you has listened to the great jazz guitarist George Barnes? Among the 30-plus recordings he made under his own name, MOVIN' EASY with the Jazz Renaissance Quintet (Jack Lesberg on bass, Cliff Leeman on drums, Billy Bauer on rhythm, the amazing Hank D'Amico on clarinet) is one of the best—he was a fascinating compsoer/arranger. If you find it in a rare records website, don't hesitate to get it. His guitar duo work with the inimitable Carl Kress in the 60's was unparalleled—even when he teamed up with Bucky Pizzarelli later that decade on GUITARS, PURE AND HONEST in '69 and a guitar summit recorded at New York's Town Hall by Columbia in 1971 (theirs was a very different, and fine, partnership). But George & Carl were kindred musical spirits and you can hear it in the handful of albums they produced together (GUITARS, ANYONE?, SMOKY & INTIMATE with Al Cohn's vocalist wife Flo Handy), TWO GUITARS AND A HORN (with Bud Freeman, still in print), THE TOWN HALL CONCERT and a still-available Music Minus One album. The most currently-available stuff with George is on Concord Jazz (the Gershwin album with Ruby Braff, GEMS with Joe Venuti, two releases with the acclaimed quartet George had right before his death with three wonderful Bay Area players). There's also LIVE AT THE NEW SCHOOL by the Braff-Barnes Quartet on Hank O'Neal's Chiaroscuro label. They were especially great live; blew Benny Goodman's band reunion out of the water at the Newport Jazz Festival/New York at Carnegie Hall in 1973; also recorded on Chiaroscuro.

Also, look for anything by vocal group THE DOUBLE SIX OF PARIS, especially the first album, produced in 1961 (I think) by Quincy Jones. Michael LeGrand's sister, Christianne, is one of the astounding voices.

Date: 21-Jan-1999 03:55:18
From: Peter Kenyon ( kenyonp@cbs.curtin.edu.au )
Oh and one or two more (To be added to my list above)!

Tina Brooks—Back From the Tracks
Freddie Hubbard—Open Sesame

I would love to get hold of Tina Brooks' 'True Blue' but it is out of print. However, I did see Chick Corea's 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' and given the comments above, I think I will pick it up.

Date: 28-Jan-1999 23:00:17
From: Benj ( btmoony@aol.com )
from a (mostly) swing lover's perspective—all but one reissued on CD

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