#918 Kenny Graham and His Satellites – Moondog and Suncat Suites

I’ve been a big fan of Moondog ever since I heard his Stamping Ground on The Big Lebowski soundtrack, which was first released on the Columbia compilation Fill Your Head With Rock. I love his quirky brand of one-man band street corner jazz. Although the myths and magic of the man have become just as …

#404 Lea DeLaria – Double Standards

These days, most people will know Lea DeLaria as playing the butch bulldyke character Big Boo in Orange is the New Black, but she’s far more versatile than that. Credited with being the first openly gay comedian on US television (back in the dark ages of 1993) she is also a great singer, performing in …

#84 Count Basie – At The Savoy Ballroom

This is another of my grandfather’s jazz records. Another doozy from Count Basie, jazz bandmaster extraordinaire. The tracks on this album were recorded in 1937, early on his career. My copy is a 1984 re-release for the cheap vinyl jazz fan market, i.e. my grandfather. The album is perhaps most noticeable amongst Basie’s vast body …

#130 Ludwig Van Beethoven – Piano Sonatas, Opp 109,110,111 (Mitsuko Uchida)

Mitsuko Uchida is doing an excellent impression of Munch’s ‘The Scream’ on this album cover, but that shouldn’t be one’s reaction to the music. This recording is a real tour de force in both his composition and her performance. Beethoven, arguably the greatest composer that ever lived, in terms of his invention, range, skill and …

#646 Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters

A classic crossover jazz album, fusing funk, soul and electric synths with improvisational jazz. Head Hunters was the first jazz album to sell over a million copies. It’s not too hyperbolic to suggest that it changed the face of jazz. That, on its release in 1973, it lit the path for a new direction in …

#972 Oneness Of Juju – African Rhythms

I’ve written before about my love for Oneness of Juju and how I first discovered their funky Space Jungle Luv at Christmastime in the Blue Mountains of Sydney, Australia. This LP is the 2018 re-issue from Strut Records of their 1975 album. It’s a thing of beauty - just look at that cover! – remastered, …

#601 Dizzy Gillespie – The Great Dizzy Gillespie

This is early Gillespie, pre be-bop, the modern jazz movement that he was an integral figure in its development. It’s not really a Dizzy Gillespie album at all, although he gets top billing in its 1965 release; it’s really a showcase of the role and influence that Charlie Christian had on the development of jazz …

#1210 Lalo Schifrin – Bullitt: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

One of the most recognisable bass lines, certainly in the world of soundtracks, the theme tune (Main Title) to Bullitt is a perfectly honed piece of orchestral jazz-funk - incidentally played by the inimitable and ubiquitous Carol Kaye. Lalo Schifrin perfected his craft in the world of television theme tunes, most notably Mission: Impossible, which …

#726 Hank Jones & Donald Byrd – Quartet Quintet

This is a lovely little jazz album. Little in the sense that there’s only five tracks on it, but huge in stature in terms of the playing and performers. Hank Jones was a pianist, composer and band leader who released over 60 albums over his long career. This is his third LP, from 1955, and …

#1246 Bessie Smith – Empty Bed Blues

I bought this record a couple of years ago at a great little independent record shop in Aberdeen, Maidinvinyl. I was doing some consultancy work for an organisation that provided medical care, including emergency evacuation, for people working out on the oil rigs. And although I never got to an oil rig itself I had …