Weekend Playlist

“You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly.” ~ Hank Williams

Hank Williams | 40 Greatest Hits

Duke Ellington | At Newport

The J.J. Johnson Sextet | J.J. Inc.

Donald Byrd | Long Green: The Savoy Sessions

Arnett Cobb | Smooth Sailing

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry | Chicken Scratch

Eugene McDaniels | Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse

Moby Grape | The Place And The Time

John Mayall | Blues From Laurel Canyon

The Modern Lovers | The Modern Lovers

Black Uhuru | Black Sounds Of Freedom

Freddie King | Texas Cannonball

Bonniwell Music Machine | Ignition

Gilles Peterson & Patrick Force | Sunday Afternoon At Dingwalls
[Album cover not pictured]

Lyrics Born | Everywhere At Once

Fania All-Stars | Live At Yankee Stadium, Vol. 1

The Art Farmer Quintet | Blame It On My Youth

Miles Davis | Nefertiti

Dave Alvin | Public Domain

Bo Diddley | The Chess Box

De La Soul | 3 Feet High And Rising

Kris Kristofferson | The Silver Tongued Devil And I

The Meters | Look-Ka Py Py

Iron & Wine | The Shepherd’s Dog

Weekend Playlist

“Me, I’ve concentrated on music pretty much to the exclusion of other things.” – Lou Reed

Freddie King | Hide Away
[Album cover not pictured]

Jerry Lee Lewis | Live At The Star Club, Hamburg

Shawn Phillips | Second Contribution

John Lee Hooker | Free Beer And Chicken

Instant Funk | Instant Funk

Soundgarden | Louder Than Love

Rodriguez | Cold Fact

INXS | Shabooh Shoobah

Various Artists | Journey Into Paradise: The Larry Levan Story

Calexico | The Black Light

Jackson 5 | Greatest Hits

Miles Davis | ‘Round About Midnight

Horace Silver | Silver’s Blue

Donald Byrd | Mustang!

Alabama 3 | Outlaw

Gram Parsons | Grievous Angel

Basement Jaxx | Remedy

Radiohead | In Rainbows

Mylo | Destroy Rock & Roll

Gomez | Bring It On

Ben Charest | Triplets Of Belleville Soundtrack

Various Artists | More Oar

Neil Young | Sleeps With Angels

Minutemen | Post-Mersh Vol. 3

Barry & The Remains | Barry & The Remains

Various Artists | Brothers On The Slide: The Story Of UK Funk

Gift Of Gab | Fourth Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up

Culture | Trod On

Led Zeppelin | Coda

Stevie Ray Vaughan | SRV (Box Set)

Black Sugar | Black Sugar

Weekend Playlist

Here’s a look at some of the albums that kept me and The P company over the weekend…

Death | …For The Whole World To See

Buddy Guy | This Is Buddy Guy!

Thelonious Monk | Thelonious Monk Quartet Plus Two At The Blackhawk

Booker Little | Booker Little

Art Pepper | Intensity

Van Morrison | Veedon Fleece

Little Feat | Little Feat

Dexter Gordon | Our Man In Paris

Frank Morgan | Lament

Jimmy Rogers | Chicago Blues Masters: Volume Two

Steve Earle | Great American Music Hall – 1/17/96
[Album cover not pictured]

John Lee Hooker | Chill Out

Various Artists | Pasión Mexicana
[Album cover not pictured]

The Black Keys | Attack & Release

Led Zeppelin | Houses Of The Holy

Stephen Stills | Just Roll Tape

The Beatles | Meet The Beatles!

The Kinks | Kinda Kinks

The Temptations | Puzzle People

Brazilian Girls | Brazilian Girls

Deep Purple | Deep Purple In Rock

Donald Byrd | Long Green: The Savoy Sessions

The White Stripes | The White Stripes

Madeleine Peyroux | Half The Perfect World

M. Ward | Transfiguration Of Vincent

The Mighty Imperials | Thunder Chicken

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss | Raising Sand

Taj Mahal | Giant Step/De ‘Ole Folks At Home

The Billy Cobham – George Duke Band | “Live” On Tour In Europe

Cal Tjader | Soul Sauce

Talking Heads | The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads

Miles Davis | ‘Round About Midnight

Stanley Turrentine | A Chip Off The Old Block

Coleman Hawkins | Soul

Lyrics Born | Everywhere At Once

The Jam | Beat Surrender (EP)

The Incredible String Band | The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion

Weekend Playlist

Here’s a sampling of what passed over our turntable this weekend:

Art Pepper | Intensity

Lee Morgan | Tom Cat

Miles Davis | E.S.P.

Donald Byrd | Long Green: The Savoy Sessions

Duke Ellington | Ellington At Newport

Dexter Gordon | One Flight Up

Johnny Griffin | The Little Giant

Roy Eldridge | Heckler’s Hop: 1935-1940

Booker Little | Booker Little

J.J. Johnson | J.J. Inc.

Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker | Mulligan/Baker

Thelonious Monk | Monk’s Music

Clark Terry | Serenade To A Bus Seat

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers | Like Someone In Love

Hank Mobley | The Turnaround!

Charles Mingus | Mingus Ah Um

Masterpiece: Long Green

[Today: Donald Byrd hits a home run on his first swing...]

Donald Byrd’s 1955 debut is one of the most spacious jazz albums ever recorded. Byrd sounds for all the world like he’s playing his trumpet at full blast on the other side of town from his band, but he plays each note with such full-throttle power that his sound flows perfectly into the rest of the group. Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who engineered many of the classic Blue Note albums of the 1960′s, was just the man to pull off such a trick.

When you listen to the MP3 below, imagine Byrd blowing his top about 25 yards away from the rest of his group – because this is undoubtedly how many of the numbers on this session were miked up. It’s only when Byrd pulls back on his trumpet that the space between him and the band becomes obvious, but once it does, it’s like listening to jazz in HD.

Here Byrd is still a young player trying to find his sound, which is a good thing, because the sound he eventually found was more Pop than Bop. But in September of 1955 he floated somewhere between bebop and cool jazz, emulating the sound of Miles Davis, yet falling far enough astray of that mark to keep things interesting. He’s helped out here by a number of other young players trying to make their mark, including bassist Paul Chambers, who would go on to make many great recordings with John Coltrane.

Byrd himself would record a number of noteworthy albums with Blue Note during the 1960′s, and he would become closely identified with the fusion jazz movement of the 70s. But for sheer atmosphere and pure blowing, nothing else he ever recorded comes close to Long Green.

Listen: Winterset

Masterpiece: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 2

[Today: Taking shelter from the storm...]

The Bay Area is currently being battered by relentless rainfall and hurricane force winds. It’s pretty cold, wet and miserable outside, which makes being inside and warm just that much better. The P and I spent our evening running around doing errands in preparation for a weekend shuttered in. After the last bag of groceries had been hauled inside, we lit a fire and sat down to some reading, enjoying the clown-like antics of our two 6-month old kittens, Oscar and Willie. We’ve got a big stack of jazz records that are just begging to be listened to, and what better possible evening to take on such a project?

Sonny Clark set a pretty nice mood for a while, via Sonny’s Crib (thanks Dusty Groove/Chicago), and then Donald Byrd weighed in with Long Green – one of the great trumpet albums – the cat just blows. Then we heard from the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker quorum – and a fine pair they are. Mulligan/Baker was my “morning album” that I listened to every day for about 2 years straight (I could usually get through three sides of vinyl before scurrying off to work). Art Farmer held court for awhile with his excelllent collection Farmer’s Market. And then Jay Jay Johnson took the needle of our record player and made it swing. The guy plays slide trombone, but makes it sound like a muted trumpet – good good good.

Where our house sits, it sometimes feels like the winds are forming a giant cartoon fist and pummeling our sides, rattling windows, as well as people and animals. But tonight we’re all pretty cozy and content. The way 2007 flew past, the days kind of start blurring together and few stand out. So thanks for humoring me while I take a few hundred words to etch down one day and keep it for myself.

Listen: Pennies From Heaven (Alternate Take)