More on the perpetually-listening-to-every-record-in-my-collection-alphabetically project.

Roger Kellaway – Fifty-Fifty – This record is a duo record with Red Mitchell.  Great duo record with a nice connection between these two awesome musicians.  They play with such personality and originality, defying yet somehow embodying swing-era beat perception and early bebop phrasing.  Note: Brad Terry is a guest whistler.  Andrew Byrd has nothing on him.  Also, I need to learn “I’ll Never Be the Same” because that tune rocks.  Kellaway is a NEC alum (go fighting penguins) and the composer of the theme song for “All in the Family”.  Red Mitchell played bass in cello tuning, and if that’s interesting to you, there’s a scholarship someplace.

Wynton Kelly – Keep it Moving – Absolutely swinging, and with Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers,  Jimmy Cobb or Philly Joe Jones, Nat Adderley, and Benny Golson, that’s the only reasonable outcome.  This is from the Milestone Two-Fer series, and was originally released as Wynton Kelly and Kelly Blue.  I want to play in this band.

Stan Kenton – Capitol Jazz Classics Vol. 22 – Artistry in Jazz – Lots can be, and has been said about Kenton and his place in the pantheon of great jazz musicians, but whatever your point of view, he had great arrangers and musicians in the band.  This record has early solos by Art Pepper and Lee Konitz, which is why I bought it, but arrangements and performances by Pete Rugolo, Gene Roland, Shorty Rogers, Bill Holman, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper (always liked his sound), and even Maynard Ferguson keep things interesting.  “Riff Rhapsody” sure sounds like “Thermopylae,” and given its March 28, 1951 recording date, one wonders if Gene Roland and Bob Graettinger were hanging out.

Stan Kenton – Adventures  in Jazz – This is one of those records that I’m happy to have heard, even though it didn’t stick with me very much after having heard it.

Next up: King Crimson