The Dizzy Gillespie Sextet   “Jazz Time Paris”   French Vogue Records   (1952) NAT PECK – WADE LEGGE – ARNOLD ROSS – LOU HACKNEY – JOE BENJAMIN – AL JONES – BILL CLARK – JOE CARROLL – BILL GRAHAM

(44 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)

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James Moody BE BOP “Tomorrow’s Music Today”   Metronome Records (From Lp cover lover, Mika)

(30 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)

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Graphic designer, musician and lp cover lover Mika of Finland writes us:   Hi There!   The LP Cover Lover site is fabulous! I decided to send you some record covers, mostly for their nice graphics. CHUBBY JACKSON – LEMON DROP   Rainbow Records.   Cover Design: Leonard Besser

Try a Lemon Drop tonight!

(24 votes, average: 3.96 out of 5)

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Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins and Frank Foster (1954)   Prestige 7053     Designed by the esteemed Reid Miles with Andy Warhol.   (Warhol’s mother actually supplied the hand-written script)   A lesson in graphic design.

(43 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)

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Harold Ousley “Sweet Double Hipness”   (1972)   Muse Records   (To hear this one, check out Kathleen Loves Music)

(55 votes, average: 4.04 out of 5)

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Discipline 27-II   Sun Ra     (Recorded during the same 1972 sessions as Impulse’s “Space Is the Place”)   A tough one to find and well-worth seeking out, especially for those who like “Space Is the Place.”   (This post courtesy of lp cover lover Charles Bass who wrote “Why is this my favorite cover?   The life it portrays is fascinating and inexorable.   It’s also one of my favorite albums”)

The title cut is a side-long space chant number, presumably recorded as one lengthy piece, although the tune itself is divided into three sections.   Lyrics to Discipline 27-II:

What planet is this?   (repeat)

What planet is this?   (repeat)

Is this a planet of life?   (repeat)

Is this a planet of life . . . or death?   (repeat)

If this is a planet of life, why are people dying here?   (repeat)

This is not life, this is not life . . . this is death disguised as life.   (repeat)

If this is a planet of life, why do people die here?

I . . . I roam the cosmos . . . I know what life is . . . Life is splendid.   (repeat)

Why don’t you . . . why don’t you seek to know the mysteries of the greater universe?   Why do you want to stay on just one isolated little planet?

(Why . . . why don’t you want to seek the greater mysteries of the universe?

Why . . . why do you want to stay on this one little isolated planet?)

Are you afraid? . . . What is it you want to know? Do you want to know where the universe came from?   I’ll tell you.   At first there was nothing . . .

At first there was nothing . . . then nothing turned itself inside out and became something.   (repeat)

Why don’t you turn yourself inside out?   (repeat)

Come with me . . . come with me . . . to the outer planets.   Why do you want to stay here?   What do you have to lose here?   You have nothing to lose . . . except your death.

(Come . . . with me to the outer planets.   Why do you want to stay here?   You have nothing to lose . . . but your death.)

(56 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)

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“The Rumproller”   Lee Morgan Joe Henderson Ronnie Matthews Victor Sproles and Billy Higgins   Blue Note 4199 (1965)   Reid Miles cover design.   Rudy Van Gelder produced.   Photo by Blue Note founder Francis Wolff. Liner Notes by Leonard Feather. Listen up: “The Rumproller”   “Desert Moonlight”

Lee Morgan had two albums in the can when “The Sidewinder” became the surprise hit of 1964, making the Top 100 pop album charts. Blue Note brought Lee back into the studio for a follow-up album with Joe Henderson and Billy Higgins reprising their roles. The kick-off funk tune “The Rumproller” was written by Andrew Hill and proved a worthy successor to “The Sidewinder”. But Lee’s beautiful “Desert Moonlight”, in time, became regarded as this album’s classic performance. The ballad “The Lady” offers a rare appearance by Lee with muted trumpet. (True Blue)

(66 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)

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Roy Eldridge “Collates”   Mercury Records (Supervised by Norman Granz) Illustration by David Stone Martin.

Instead of other Collates series, this album is NOT a collection of Roy Eldridge’s previously-released 78rpm/45rpm single tracks, but two different sessions aimed for this LP album.

Roy Eldridge (tp) Buddy Tate (ts) Teddy Brannon (p) Clyde Lombardi (b) Charlie Smith (d)   NYC, August, 1951

Roy Eldridge (tp) George Williams (dir) unidentified orchestra   NYC, December, 1951

** also issued on Clef MGC 113

(58 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)

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“Louis and the Good Book”   Louis Armstrong with the Sy Oliver Choir and the All-Stars   (1958) Decca Records

This is a collection of gospel songs, spirituals, homilies, and comic vignettes.   This is Armstrong at his most essential. It’s the real honest him. Armstrong takes a few trumpet solos, but his voice is what is showcased, and God is honored here.

Personnel includes: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Sy Oliver Choir (vocals); Trummy Young (trombone); Hank D’Amico, Edmond Hall, Dave McRae (clarinet); Billy Kyle (piano); Nickie Tragg, Harry Mills (organ); George Barnes (guitar); Joe Benjamin, Mort Herbert (bass); Johnny Blowers, Barrett Deems (drums).   Backed by a gospel vocal group led by   jazz arranger Sy Oliver.

Recorded in August 1950 in New York, New York.   Produced by Mort Gabler. Liner notes by Martin Williams.,

Includes:   “Ezekiel Saw De Wheel,” “Going to Shout All Over God’s Heaven,” and “Didn’t it Rain,” as well as “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” from GUYS AND DOLLS.     Also “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Shadrack,”   “Go Down, Moses,”   “Rock My Soul,”   “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel,” “On My Way,” “Down by the Riverside,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Jonah and the Whale,” and “This Train”

(36 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5)

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Vic Feldman on Interlude Records

(64 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)

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