The alphabet has brought Blood, Sweat & Tears, Arthur Blythe, and Booker T & the MGs to the top of my LP playlist. 

Blood, Sweat & Tears (B, S & T) – Child is Father to the Man – I heard this album long after I had already heard B, S, & T, 3, and 4 (but way before I heard the rest of the catalog).  I got it because I was convinced that it had to be way, way jazzier than the others, since the others had so many pop moments.  I  was wrong, but in a great way.  Loaded up with jazz, rock, horns, rock, psychedelia, some Music Concrete, jazz, and rock, this album is part Bob Dylan, part Sgt. Pepper, and part Edgard Varese (“the present day composer refuses to die!” as told inside the gatefold to Freak Out), with droplets of Coltrane sprinkled throughout.  I met Al Kooper shortly after he moved to Boston in the late 1990s.  We were splitting a double bill at a festival in Maine.  I walked into the green room and he was just hanging out at the piano, playing the Gil Evans arrangement of “The Duke” from the Miles Davis album Miles Ahead. I could only say “Al, you rock” to him.

Blood, Sweat and Tears – I adored this record when I was a kid.  What’s not to love about Satie’s “Trois Gymnopedies” arranged in minor, produced with a flanger effect?  I loved “Smiling Phases” at a time when I thought that Traffic was something that cars sat in.  I think the arranging on this record is brilliant, with such attention to detail that you can hear the brush strokes.  But it’s not over produced in the way that the post-Steely Dan digital age would bring (which I also sometimes love – a lot).  I had tons of fun listening to this one again.  Bobby Columby is incredible – he plays rock like a jazz musician, and I love that.  Also, I worry that the reason I quote “In-A-Gadda-da-Vida” so much is because of this record.  Yikes.  Oh, and nice “Spoonful” quote, too.

B, S, & T 4 – By the time I got to this record (as a kid), I was a pretty serious hard rock fan.  I mean, think about John Paul Jones & Geddy Lee’s bass playing and give me a single reason why I shouldn’t have liked them.  So this record – “Go Down Gamblin'” in particular – totally worked for me.  Bobby Columby (again!) is amazing on “Redemption.”

Arthur Blythe – I never even heard of him until around 2000, and then when I heard him, I freaked out.  What a sound!  His writing is lovely and intriguing, and his recordings on CBS in the early 1980s are a most beautiful balance of welcoming and experimental.  His playing on Joey Baron’s CD Down Home is also incredible.

Blythe Spirit is a fantastic outing, a must own for the Blythe uninitiated.  Curious instrumentation with fantastic instrumentalists (Bob Stewart is the man!) playing fascinating tunes.  “Contemplation, “Faceless Woman” and “Spirits in the Field” are perennial “note to self: transcribe” tunes for me.

Light Blue: Arthur Blythe Plays Thelonious Monk – talk about daring!  Alto saxophone, cello, tuba, drums and guitar is the instrumentation, and Bob Stewart continues to be amazing.  “Nutty” is great!  My other favorite “Plays Monk” record is the Steve Lacy album School Days (check out Henry Grimes on “Brilliant Corners”!)

Basic Blythe – With strings; a fantastic sound.  This time, instead of tuba, Anthony Cox is playing bass (fantastically).  I have so few John Hicks recordings that I’m not sure how his playing rates on this album, other than to say that his solo on “Lenox Avenue Breakdown” – in particular – is wonderful.  A lovely version of “Ruby, My Dear” and another great version (although this one is a little more tame than the Blythe Spirit version) of “Faceless Woman.”

Booker T & the MGs – The Best of Booker T & the MGs – practically the Bible on groovin’.  I have been a pretty big Donald “Duck” Dunn fan since I was about 12 years old.  I mean, the rest of the band is great, too, but the bass playing is the perfect balance of function, lyricism and sophistication.

I believe the we have made it to the Bowie section.

Best, R.