Another entry in the perpetually listening to every record in my collection alphabetically and blogging unscholarly thoughts project. This installment stars Carmen McRae, Howard McGhee and Marcello Melis.

Carmen McRae – The Greatest of Carmen McRae – I first heard McRae on her Carmen Sings Monk record from the late 1980s. I fell in love with her voice immediately; her phrasing is super compelling for me. This collection was put together by Leonard Feather and features four sides of great music. I especially love the Fred Katz sides, which are taking from Carmen for Cool Ones – that’s a swinging Third Stream record if I ever heard one. The Ralph Burns sides are exceptional too, and throughout, with cats like Ben Webster and Zoot Sims…well, it’s great.

Carmen McRae – Carmen McRae Sings Lover Man and other Billie Holiday Classics – Swinging like crazy, but that’s obvious. Not just Carmen, but with Walter Perkins, Bob Cranshaw, Norman Simmons, Mundell Lowe, Nat Adderley and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, the whole thing is burning. The packaging and concept make it appear as though this is another commercial album, but they are stretching on this album, so much so that I made it around a few times before I had to move on. Seriously killer record.

Howard McGhee – Maggie: The Savoy Sessions – Scott Yanow writes that the first half is better than the second half. Well, the first half certainly is awesome. These bop sides were recorded in Chicago and Guam in 1948 and 1951-52, respectively. The 1948 sides are basically all great, if the idea is to check out bop playing and writing from the time frame. Tempos, keys, tunes, changes, blowing – all right down the late 1940s bop language turnpike. Obviously, Percy Heath is my way in on theses sides, but a possible Oscar Pettiford sighting also makes this worthwhile. McGhee’s lines are so clean, leaving basically nothing unattended, his playing makes this a must-listen for all bop students and fans. There’s a really cool medley of “older” tunes played as if bebop musicians were playing Trad Jazz, because they were bebop musicians playing Trad. Pretty cool to listen to. And this also features some unusual Jimmy Heath on baritone saxophone performances!

Marcello Melis – Free to Dance – I was really going deep into the jazz avant garde, or whatever preferred term is being used now. Around that time, people playing this type of music called it “creative music”, which I always thought was an audacious thing to say. Right? As if all of the other stuff is the opposite of that. Well, this record is definitely creative music. You can clearly hear like-minded musicians who are confident in the direction their ideas are heading, trusting one another to sing or play the right note at the right time. Lots of the musicians on this album are favorites of mine: Fred Hopkins, Sheila Jordan, Jeanne Lee, George Lewis, and the rest are all super fantastic, too. Hearing them work together on these abstract pieces is fantastic.