More from the perpetually listening to my entire record collection alphabetically project.

The Jazztet and John Lewis – Maybe it’s my NEC background, although I think it started much earlier, but I love Third Stream recordings.  The marriage between bigger, less repetitive structures and improvisation is magic, to me.  This record is an incredible one for just that: with John Lewis’s writing and arranging for a band as killing as this one (Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Thomas McIntosh, Tommy Willians, Cedar Walton, Tootie Heath)…to me, it’s awesome.  I met Tom McIntosh when I auditioned for the Monk Institute (which I didn’t get) back in the day.  What nice man.  And Art Farmer and his brother come from Iowa, which is obviously very cool.

That Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra – Central Park North – A great record.  A friend of mine has these charts.  Wish I could figure out how to convince him we should play them again.  A totally cool record because of the writing and the cats (Roland Hanna, Snooky Young, Eddie Daniels, Jimmy Knepper, Jerome Richardson, Barry Galbraith AND Sam Brown), but especially because Richard Davis also plays electric bass on this record!

Clifford Jordan – Firm Roots – Man, this is a great record.  Cedar Walton’s title song and shredding piano solo start this thing off with a pretty heavy standard.  Sam Jones and Billy Higgins are fantastic together.  This was a listen-twice-this-time-around situation.  My only criticism is unfair because of when it was recorded.  I wish that the drums were more open sounding, but hey, 1975.  [Trying to ignore the obvious flaw on this record.]  Ok, there’s one more thing.  Cedar’s tune “Voices Deep within Me” is awesome…except for the pervasive Christmas song quotes he uses in his solo.  There, I said it.

Sheila Jordan – Sheila – I love this record.  Actually, I love all of the Sheila Jordan duo records.  She’s such an interesting singer with an amazing, original sound, and such an inviting space to explore sound within.  It happens that Arild Andersen, her bassist on this album, is also incredible, with a searching, exploring, restless way of dealing with accompaniment.  Captivating, and essential for bassists.

Sheila Jordan/Harvie Swartz Duo – That Old Time Feeling – Another absolutely incredible record, but this one is colored by the very special, close relationship of their phrasing.  And incredible connection…