Live jazz is often the best kind of jazz, and live jazz albums are next best thing to actually experiencing live jazz. Live albums are like time machines, transporting you to the scene of the recording. The older the album is, the better the time travel experience. One place I'd love to travel back to [...]
This is the big one. The unicorn. The white whale. The record that woke the vinyl collector within me. The search for this record took years, but this year the vinyl gods smiled on me, and I am now the owner of this rare bootleg album. One of the reasons why I've been on the [...]
After a string of West Coast jazz musicians, I figured I should probably spotlight some of my other albums. Go east, young man! The Music Tune: 'The Way You Look Tonight' Recorded 1953 or 1954 in New York City Personnel: Lionel Hampton- Vibraharp Buddy DeFranco- Clarinet Oscar Peterson- Piano Ray Brown- Bass Buddy Rich- Drums [...]
After a brief hiatus due to finals and end-of-the-year projects and assignments, I am back! What, you thought the 'college' in 'College Jazz Collector' was for decoration? The Music Tune: 'Tangerine' Recorded live 5 March, 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark Personnel Dave Brubeck: Piano Paul Desmond: Alto Sax Eugene Wright: Bass Joe Morello: Drums This album [...]
Update! After some correspondence with a reader, I opted to change the date for this recording. You can find the illuminating comments below this post in the comment section. To celebrate, I've included another track from the album. Enjoy! This is a big one. The search for this album (as well as another rare Brubeck [...]
In addition to being infatuated with Latin music, Cal Tjader was a tasty straight-ahead jazz musician and one of the more famous jazz musicians to come from the West Coast. A native of San Francisco, Cal's group was a frequent denizen of the jazz clubs in the Bay Area, and called one club in particular [...]
Rolling right along with the musical celebration of April, the first full month of spring, here's an interesting album from the late flutist Herbie Mann. Mann was a dedicated bebopper, but in the late 1950's and into the 1960's, he delved into world music, particularly Afro-Cuban and Latin music, and created some intriguing music in [...]
If there's one thing anybody who knows me (or anybody who doesn't know me but lets me talk to them long enough) is aware of, it's that I'm a Californian through and through, despite my temporary residence in Alabama. One thing that Alabama has that California does not is seasons, and after suffering through another [...]
This is one of my favorite Miles albums. Tastefully recorded under electric circumstances, this live album comes from a 1964 benefit concert, and the material from this concert was put out on two records, this being one of them. Interestingly, Columbia decided to put the more upbeat, faster tunes on one album (Four And More) [...]
Most people probably wouldn't recognize the name Vince Guaraldi, but most people would immediately recognize his music that ran as the soundtrack to numerous Charlie Brown 'Peanuts' television specials. From the classic Charlie Brown theme 'Linus and Lucy' to the Christmas standard 'Christmastime Is Here', Vince's music is loved by many, even if they don't [...]
It's A Raggy Waltz 