Date: 17-Dec-1998 15:07:37
From: Henry Koch ( hkoch@coqui.net )
Here are three recordings which may not be timeless "greats," but neither do they deserve to be out of print.

1) Charles Lloyd Quartet: Of Course, Of Course

Lloyd's second record for Columbia made in the mid 60's. A tight, working quartet including Ron Carter, Tony Williams, and Hungarian Gabor Szabo on guitar. All originals.

2) Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet: Song Everlasting

This is my favorite recording by this band and I can't understand why Blue Note dropped it from the catalog. I've been trying to find their first Blue Note "BreakThrough" which has been widely reccommended and haven't located it.

Joe Turner/Count Basie: The Bosses

A very good time was had by all including a Norman Granz all star sextet with Harry Edison, Zoot Sims, Ray Brown and Eddie Davis. Joe Turner in fine shouting form. Don't know if this is out of print, but I never see it mentioned anywhere and it is really a good time record.

Date: 17-Dec-1998 21:41:36
From: John MacLeod
Here are some that *I* think are relatively obscure [no Bird, Monk, Miles, Billie, Duke, Trane, Metheny, etc.] but I keep returning to them over and over:

- TOSHIKO MARIANO QUARTET: a very young Toshiko Akiyoshi on piano and then-husband Charlie Mariano on alto. Brilliant playing, excellent songwriting, a flawless album.
- FAREWELL TO MINGUS [Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band]: some of my favorite compositions, arrangements, and performances on any TA/LT album, and that's saying a lot. If you haven't heard Toshiko's arrangements here, you simply have not heard what a big band can do.
- JAZZ FOR MODERNS [Duane Tatro]: very harmonically advanced and structurally unusual, like Bob Graettinger or Boyd Raeburn, but this nonet also swings hard and memorably. I believe this is Tatro's only album, which is a shame cuz he's a fascinating composer. Also check out Art Pepper's SMACK UP for a Tatro cover that's simply gorgeous.
- SPIRIT IN THE AIR [Sonny Greenwich]: combines the spirituality and adventure of Trane with the linear intensity and approachability of Grant Green.
- LIVE AT BOURBON ST. [Lenny Breau]: if Art Tatum at his prettiest and most accomplished knew how to play guitar, he'd be Lenny.
- BRIDGES [John Hart]: intriguing compositions, interesting angular playing, and Chris Potter!
- UNSPOKEN [Chris Potter]: see above.
- PURE DESMOND [Paul Desmond]: or any other album Desmond recorded with Ed Bickert, yet another Canadian who plays guitar like God....
- SEEKING [New Art Jazz Ensemble]: free, beautiful, breathtaking technique. The equal of classic Ornette.
- URBAN BUSHMEN [Art Ensemble of Chicago]: the AEC run the gamut of musical sound and human feeling, in dazzling audio fidelity.
- PLAYS J. WYZUTY [Paul Pacanowski & R.S.P. Jazz Quartet]: Pacanowski lives in my region and released this CD himself—great sound, excellent musicians, and his mentor Wyzuty's compositions are uncommon and haunting. And one of them ["I Love Your Smile"] is a certifiable classic on a par with "Funny Valentine."
- LET'S EAT HOME [Dave Frishberg]: Frishberg's combination of vulnerability, humanity, romanticism, and worldly-wise wit are unique. He also writes a mean tune and plays a mean 88.
- V.S.O.P., THE QUINTET: Miles' classic mid-60s quintet, with Freddie Hubbard subbing for Miles, playing live in the late 70s. They didn't get older, they got better. A peak for all involved.
- REDISCOVERIES [Art Pepper]: quartet and quintet dates from the early 50s, with some of Art's best compositions. He burns throughout.
- TIME WARP COLLECTION: 15-year retrospective of Toronto quartet Time Warp, as eclectic and rooted as Mingus.
- GETTING PERSONAL [Nelson Symonds]: Montreal guitarist waited nearly 40 years to lead a date. An injustice, but possibly worth the wait.
- LYLE MAYS: first solo outing is wide-ranging, daring, and unfailingly beautiful. Sometimes I put the CD on repeat and leave it there all evening....
- SCOTT HAMILTON WITH STRINGS: Scott's tone is perfect here, his solos are meaty, and Alan Broadbent's string arrangements are the best ever heard on a jazz date, intelligent and inventive. (A close second is Robert Farnon's arrangements for J.J. Johnson's TANGENCE, another frequent guest in my stereo.)
- AFTER THE RAIN [Terje Rypdal]: between his early free-jazz and later trance-drones, Terje created some breathtakingly exquisite melodies and harmonies, exemplified in this beautiful masterwork.
- PLAYING [Old and New Dreams]: Ornette-style music played live with ECM sonic perfection. And the divine rhythm team of Charlie Haden and the late, more-than-great Ed Blackwell.
- THE GUITAR MASTERY OF ED BICKERT: like it sez.
- BALLADYNA [Tomasz Stanko]: criminally underrated, Ornette-style European freedom. Other Stanko albums also rule.
- CERBERUS [Om]: free quartet from Germany, every musician kills!

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