“Mad Thad”   Leonard Feather presents Thad Jones   Period Records   NYC, January 6, 1957

Thad Jones (tp) Henry Coker (tb -2,3) Frank Wess (ts, fl) Tommy Flanagan (p) Eddie Jones (b) Elvin Jones (d) with Frank Foster, Jimmy Jones, Doug Watkins, Jo Jones,   Quincy Jones

Bird Song, Cat Meets Chick, Quiet Sip

Late 1956 and early 1957 found Thad Jones in the midst of a rewarding flurry of recording activity.   During time off from Basie, however, Jones poured his energy into composing, arranging, and playing with fires of creativity that led Charles Mingus to call him “the greatest trumpet that I’ve heard in this life.” For Mad Thad, Jones recruited a few of his favorite Basie colleagues and a Basie veteran, drummer Jo Jones. For one session, he brought in his brother Elvin on drums and another fellow Detroiter, pianist Tommy Flanagan. Fully justifying Mingus’s enthusiasm, Jones played at the top of his game of melodic and harmonic invention. His compositions included a blues line that quickly became a jazz standard, “Bird Song.” – Concord Records

(42 votes, average: 4.24 out of 5)

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This one is from Sao Paulo, Brasil.   MusiColor Records   I don’t know who this mysterious “Guitar Boy” is.   There’s a cover of Telstar here and some soundtrack themes.

(64 votes, average: 4.03 out of 5)

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“Blues Helping”   Love Sculpture   Rare Earth Records (1967)   Love Sculpture was a British band that formed in Cardiff in 1966 out of the remnants of another local band called The Human Beans. The band, featuring lead guitarist Dave Edmunds (Right), John Williams on bass, and drummer Bob “Congo” Jones disbanded in 1970 after two LPs, this is their first. (Edmunds then went on to success with the number one song “I Hear You Knocking” and “I Knew the Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll)” and then with Nick Lowe formed the band Rockpile.)

“Blues Helping” is pretty straight forward British blues rock with covers of “Summertime,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” and “Shake Your Hips”

Below is Robert Indiana’s “Love Sculpture” located on the corner of 6th Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan, NY.

Below is the album cover for “Renegade” by Rage Against The Machine which parodies the “Love” sculpture.   (Neither Robert Indiana nor Rage have any other connection with the “Blues Healing” LP that started this ramble.   None that I know of that is.)

(40 votes, average: 3.05 out of 5)

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“Whooeeee”   ZOOT SIMS; BOB BROOKMEYER; HANK JONES; JO JONES; BILL CREW   Storyville Records (1956)   Reissued on CD, “Morning Fun” Black Lion

(36 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)

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“EL PARTY” con LA CREMA   UA Latino   Mellie Mel hooked me up with a great Latin site called Latin Vinyl Junkie

Listen to this there and discover some of the finest in Latina musica.

(40 votes, average: 3.30 out of 5)

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Clyde McPhatter, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles and Lavern Baker.   Atlantic Records.

(71 votes, average: 4.35 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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“Hades Highway” Len Barow   (Notice the little “Hades Highway Line” sign in the upper left corner)

(34 votes, average: 3.62 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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“Sweet Soul Music”   Vol. 6     Top Hits by Charlie & White Cloud Orchestra   Including “Hawaii Five-O”

(62 votes, average: 3.63 out of 5)

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