Up next in the alphabetical LP project are recordings of the soundtrack to Black Orpheus, one record by Black Sabbath, several (amazing) Ran Blake records, and a couple of (also amazing) Art Blakey records.The soundtrack to Black Orpheus is absolutely lovely.  It begins with the sound of an Escuela de Samba, and moves quickly to the bossa nova.  This pressing of the LP has “Winner of the Grand Prize, Cannes Film Festival 1959” stamped all over it, so this is probably not the rare and valuable pressing.  But the music is fantastic, with lovely compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa.  I’m looking forward to re-listening to my Paul Desmond collection, so I can hear my favorite versions of Manha de Carnaval and Samba de Orfeu again.  The “Frevo” on here is lovely, and if I ever get to my CD collection, I’ll be anticipating the great Hermeto Pascoal “Frevo em Maceio” from his great record Lagoa Da Canoa, Município De Arapiraca.

Sabbath.  Yes, I have at least one Black Sabbath record.  I come from the midwest and grew up in a place and during a time when Pat Robertson for President made sense.  So, I don’t have many Black Sabbath records, and even though I sort of want to check out some others, I’m not likely to anytime soon.  In the meantime, I’ll have to be satisfied with Paranoid, which is one heck of a great record.  It’s like a Cream album for people who like horror movies.  Totally great.  Hmm.  Methinks an Ozzy record of jazz standards might be somewhat more interesting than Rod Stewart’s.  (Ozzy, call me, ok?)

There was a time when I actually worried about the problems that could ensue if certain jazz moguls noticed that right next to my Ran Blake collection was a Black Sabbath album.  But, the alphabet being what it is, my not owning any records that could act as some kind of alphabetical buffer, no visits from jazz moguls, and what with my complete reluctance to re-arrange my LP collection by genre – with the notable exception of having separated the classical stuff – I will just have to hope that no one is horrified by Sabbath next to Blake.  The good news is that I have several Ran Blake albums:

• The Blue Potato and Other Outrages – An incredible solo piano record with a great black & white photo on the back in which Ran bears a striking resemblance to my cousin.  This LP has the all-time greatest version of “Chicago” ever.
• Rapport – Absolutely lovely record with Ricky Ford, Rufus Reid, Anthony Braxton and others (like Chris Connor).  Fantastic version of George Russell’s “The Ballad of Hix Blewitt” and “You Go to My Head.”  I’m also a fan of Ran’s tune “Thursday” and a Mikis Theodorakis tune called “Vradiazi.”
  
• Film Noir – Enter the musicians that I know (I mean, I know Ran too, but I actually worked with John Hazilla today – he’s the drummer on most of this record).  This LP is fantastic.  It’s a great contrast to the solo piano albums that I have, what with a couple of tunes verging on big band sized instrumentation.  In-cred-ible.
• Duke Dreams – Gary Giddons describes this LP so eloquently:

Duke Dreams is well titled, because it’s a medidation on Duke Ellington not just on a handful of his compositions, but on the pervasive quality and spirit that animates the astonishingly large body of his work.  In transmuting his own dreams about this country into music Ellington covered more territory than any other American composer.

This, on the heals of:

Blake is distinctive in part because his “sonorous image”, to borrow Aaron Copland’s rather mischievous phrase, has an analytical quality.  Even when he plays a familiar melody, he seems to be composing it anew, or turning it over in his mind for the first time.  Yet if Blake approaches his material objectively, his purpose is to express deep feelings.

And so, to me, Duke Dreams feels like a beautiful tribute to the artistry of Ellington, his music examined, considered and recast by the brilliant artist, Ran Blake.

• Short Life of Barbara Monk – This album features a quartet (Hazilla, again!), and is beautiful, sad, lovely…
  

I found myself somewhat stuck on the Ran Blake albums, listening to a few of these several times.  When I was ready for the next batch, I thought to myself, “Self, no problemo.  We’ll check out Art Blakey and be on our way.”  Then I got stuck again.

• Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers – ok, why didn’t anyone tell me about this record 20 years ago ?  I bought it 2 or 3 years ago, and was totally blown away.  That feeling didn’t diminish with time, but the opposite.  This is fan-freaking-tastic.  Original(?) versions of “Nica’s Dream” and “Ecaroh”, along with an amazing version of “It’s You or No One.”  I’ll never play “Nica’s Dream” the same way again (thank God).  Oh, yeah, and two more words: Doug Watkins!
• Thermo – This is a Milestone two-fer of Ugetsu/Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers at Birdland and Caravan.  Absolutely amazing, with some of the best Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard ever.  “One By One” is a new favorite tune of mine.  Oh, yeah, and two more words:  Reggie Workman!

On to the next set of records. But, truth be told, I’m having a hard time getting past Carla Bley’s Escalator Over the Hill.  It’s amazing…

Best, R.