“Music for People with Two Left Hands”   Dave Nault at the Baldwin Organ.

Horace Silver with the Jazz Messengers Blue Note 1518. Hard bop prophets at the birth of the movement. This is Silver’s first session as a leader. The year is 1955 and it’s the start of an incredible 15-year run of stunning musical achievement from Blue Note Records. KENNY DORHAM, trumpet; HANK MOBLEY, tenor sax; HORACE SILVER, piano; DOUG WATKINS, bass; ART BLAKEY, drums. The eight original Silver compositions, including “The Preacher”, “Creepin’ In” and “Doodlin'”, are jazz standards today. Reid Miles designed the cool cover. Blue Note founder Alfred Lion took the photo. Ira Gitler wrote the liner notes. Rudy Van Gelder mastered.

I first heard the Barbarians and their song “Moulty” in college when I picked up a copy of “Nuggets,” the double-record, sixties garage band compilation by Lenny Kaye. I bought that in Kenmore Square at a used record store called…Nuggets. The song tells the dramatic story of how the band’s drummer, Victor “Moulty” Moulton, lost his left hand in an accident. That song is not on this lp, but is on the CD reissue as a bonus track. Here’s a story of how The Band, (the Hawks in 1966), ended up playing on “Moulty”. The “hit” here is “Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl” (another track from the Nuggets set).

Edgar Allan Poe keeps you up at night.

“Mr Percussion” Bobby Christian.

“The Nimble Fingers of Jean Pierre Jumez”   (Courtesy of Margaret Still)

The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark (Capitol).   His first lp from 1962.

Don’t pull it!

“Rito Esclavo” by Pedro Laza y sus Pelayeros on Fuentes.