“The Thing To Do”   Blue Mitchell with Junior Cook, Chick Corea, Gene Taylor and Al Foster   Blue Note Records 4178     (1964) What a beautiful cover!   Classic Blue Note aesthetic.   The running type.   The cropping, the elegant light and a monochromatic blue help capture the expression of the music in Mitchell’s taut hands.   When Horace Silver disbanded his quintet of six years in 1964, Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook and Gene Taylor decided to stay together and form the nucleus of the Blue Mitchell Quintet.   The band took shape that summer with newcomers Chick Corea (only his second recording and first Blue Note session) and Al Foster. Mitchell learned well from his former employer – check the groove on the title track!

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(63 votes, average: 3.97 out of 5)

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“Hot Dog”   Lou Donaldson   Blue Note Records   (1969)   One of the funkiest Blue Note albums ever with Lou on electrified alto sax, Melvin Sparks on guitar, Charles Earland on organ,   Ed Williams on trumpet and the super-tight drumming of a young Idris Muhammad (still billed under his birth name of Leo Morris) “who hits the kit with a snapping, post-Popcorn style!   A hard and heavy groove from the very first note with killer remakes of “It’s Your Thing” and “Who’s Making Love” – plus Donaldson originals “Hot Dog” and “Turtle Walk”.”

(39 votes, average: 3.41 out of 5)

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“Wein, Women & Song”   George Wein Sings   Atlantic Records     (Personal note:   I went to Miles Davis’s 60th birthday with George Wein and his wife Joyce at the boat house in Central Park.   Miles handed each guest a slice of his cake. My friend Scott, who wrote a book with Miles, was there too!)

(41 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)

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The “Pres” and the “Bean”   (Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins)   Savoy Records   Burt Goldblatt cover art.  Mid-twentieth century jazz and it’s culture coined colorful slang and dubbed it’s players affectionate, funny nicknames such as “Bird”, “Hawk”, “Bags”, “Count”, “Pops”, “Duke”, “Lady   Day”, “Dex”, “Dizzy”, “”Toots”, “Fatha”, “Cannonball”, “Cootie”, Monk”, “Sassy”……

(34 votes, average: 3.74 out of 5)

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This one’s for Tito: “All the Cats Join In”   A Buck Clayton Jam Session   Columbia Records   1956.   All of the Buck Clayton Jam Sessions were swinging affairs of the highest order!   These were some of the best musicians in the land, many having served Count Basie for many years.   Included with Trumpeter Buck Clayton are stalwart swing soloists Joe Newman, Joe Thomas, Billy Butterfield, and Ruby Braff on trumpets; trombonists Urbie Green, Benny Powell, Henderson Chambers, Trummy Young, Bennie Green, Dicky Harris, J.C. Higginbotham, and Tyree Glenn; altoist Lem Davis; tenors Coleman Hawkins, Al Cohn, and Buddy Tate; Julian Dash doubling on tenor and alto; baritonist Charlie Fowlkes; several rhythm sections with pianists Sir Charles Thompson, Jimmy Jones, Billy Kyle, Ken Kersey, and the forgotten Al Waslohn.

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(41 votes, average: 3.98 out of 5)

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A prime example of David Stone Martin at his best!   “Groovin with Jacquet”   (1955) Illinois Jacquet and his Orchestra   Clef Records (MGC 676) Also issued on Verve MGV 8061 entitled “Illinois Jacquet And His Orchestra“.

Harry “Sweets” Edison (tp) Illinois Jacquet (ts) Carl Perkins (p) Gerald Wiggins (org) Irving Ashby (g) Curtis Counce (b) Al Bartee (d)

Includes tasty standards like “Love is Here to Stay”; “East of the Sun”; “Stardust”; “Learnin’ the Blues”; and “Honeysuckle Rose.”

(35 votes, average: 3.89 out of 5)

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Van Wood   “Intorno al Mondo”   Fonit Records (Italy)   (Special thanks to Ulf in Sweden)   Love it!

(31 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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HUSH!   The Duke Pearson Quintet   Donald Byrd, Johnny Coles, Bob Cranshaw, Walter Perkins and Duke Pearson   JazzLine Records   (1962)   This is some great jazz by some of the music’s greatest artists, so sshhhhh, put on the record and just listen.

(37 votes, average: 3.54 out of 5)

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Sambrasa Trio   “Em Som Maior”   Som Maior Records (Brazil)   (1965)   The only LP by this more influential Brazilian samba-jazz group or Hermeto Pascoal, Humberto Clayber and Airto Moreira (later in Return to Forever).   Great cover!

(41 votes, average: 3.76 out of 5)

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“Marriage in Modern Jazz”   Rita Reys and The Pim Jacobs Trio   Philips Records

(30 votes, average: 2.73 out of 5)

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