Since September 2010, this blog has recorded the journey of this music junkie as I attempt to listen to all the music in my CD collection. CDs revisited in their entirety from start to finish - no skipping tracks, no shuffle. Compact Discs only - no vinyl, no tapes, no files.
Turrentine and a star-studded band groove through some soul/pop/jazz tunes (mostly covers) with top-notch arrangements; however, I ultimately agree with what is written in The Penguin Guide to Jazz: "Very enjoyable, if scarcely any kind of classic." But sometimes "enjoyable" is just what I'm after.
Shake - written by Sam Cooke and recorded by him at the last recording session before his death. Posthumously, the song reached #7 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart.
Walk On By - most famously recorded by Dionne Warwick (#6 pop, #1 R&B, #7 AC). I was previously familiar with this cut from its inclusion on the stellar Blue Note compilation, Blue Bacharach.
Baptismal - the premiere recording of this piece, written in the 1950s by trumpeter John Hines.
Note: the CD I listened to was the 2000 Rudy Van Gelder Edition.
Wayne Shorter was an intellectual, philosophical, spiritual man who continually asked big questions. His compositions and playing certainly reflect that transcendent approach to life. Blue Note Records describes this album thusly:
The great saxophonist & composer's goal for his daring 1965 album was to use "a wider range of colors and textures" while continuing his explorations of "life and the universe and God."
To that end, Shorter expanded his ensemble to an septet/octet. The music is energetic and challenging. It practically begged to be created in order to push post-bop jazz to a more expansive, more improvisational next level - Shorter's bandmate with Miles Davis, drummer Tony Williams, sometimes referred to it as "anti-music" or playing the opposite of what one expects. While I can appreciate the need and desire to move ahead as a musician, that doesn't mean that I necessarily enjoy listening to this album very often. I'll stick mainly with Speak No Evil or Native Dancer when I grab a Shorter album. I want to mention that Shorter was prolific around the time of this album's release as he moved forward in his work, not only as a band leader but also appearing frequently on other artists' releases and, most noteworthy, as the principal composer in the "second great quintet" of Miles Davis.
So I'm not wild about the music, but in preparing this post, I was led to a enjoyable three-part documentary series about Shorter, Zero Gravity (2023). Not perfect, but recommended nonetheless. The All Seeing Eye isn't mentioned, but the series helped put this album in context with not only Shorter's creative life, but also his personal life, '60s jazz culture, and the civil rights movement of the time.
Shorter - tenor saxophone
Freddie Hubbard - trumpet, flugelhorn
Alan Shorter - flugelhorn (track 5)
Grachan Moncur III - trombone
James Spaulding - alto saxophone
Herbie Hancock - piano
Ron Carter - bass
Joe Chambers - drums
Reviews/ratings:
Record World: "Wayne has produced six tunes that depict his fine writing ability and the growing maturity of his leadership."
DownBeat (no rating): "the music is good, and if it is to your taste, you will not be disappointed."
Billboard: ★★★★
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: The free jazz album is a programmatic five-piece suite. Of these five tracks, my favorite is the ballad Face Of The Deep, featuring a beautiful solo from Hancock. The final track, Mephistopheles, was written by Shorter's older brother Alan, who also plays flugelhorn on the track.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but speaking of Shorter and Miles Davis, this is one of my all-time favorite social media posts:
Not something I'd usually buy, but I found this 1986 two-fer set from Motown in a smooth-sided jewel case for 50¢ at a thrift store and couldn't pass it up. The legendary tune Shotgun is such a great cut, the rest has to be good, right? Boy howdy did I luck out because this this is some fun stuff. With powerful saxophone solos and raw vocal energy, the music is all very similar, it doesn't take itself too seriously, it's made for good times, and I can't sit still.
Tracks: The album contained 5 tunes that hit various Top 40 charts: Shotgun (#1 R&B, #4 pop), Do The Boomerang (#10 R&B, #36 pop), Cleo's Mood (#14 R&B), and the double A-side Shake And Fingerpop b/w Cleo's Back (#7 R&B, #29 pop).
ROAD RUNNER (1966) 11 tracks, 35 minutes
Press of the time:
CashBox: "should delight lots of soul fans with this groovy disk"
Tracks: This album contained 4 tunes that charted in at least one Top 40: (I'm A) Road Runner (#4 R&B, #20 pop), How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (#3 R&B, #18 pop), Money (That's What I Want) (#35 R&B), and Pucker Up Buttercup (#11 R&B, #31 pop).
Ultimate simplicity from designer Reid Miles, master of 1950s and 1960s album covers for the jazz label Blue Note Records. Throughout his time with the company, Miles pushed every single typographical configuration, giving the label an instantly recognisable personality. Put in an album rack today it would still raise an eyebrow as it looks remarkably fresh.
I first heard of Young on Bitches Brew and subsequently on some Grant Green releases, but this album was my introduction to him as a leader. For those of you into sub-genre labels, the music here is more post-bop than hard-bop without being overly avant-garde. And while it is Young's album, I think 20-year-old Woody Shaw steals the show, contributing half the songs and shining on every one of his solos. I like what's here even though I usually find myself leaning away from modal approaches. But here's a better description straight from the Blue Note website, far better than anything I could write in this space: The Jazz Organ Shake-Up: Larry Young's Unity.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ♛★★★★ "a masterpiece"
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★★
uDiscover Music ranked this album at #29 on its list of The 50 Greatest Blue Note Albums, calling the album "a masterpiece that represents the apotheosis of Young’s modal jazz aesthetic."
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: My picks today are The Moontrane, Beyond All Limits, and the group's take on the 1920's standard, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise. Young really delivers on Monk's Dream.
I'm not the biggest fan of Joe Henderson's playing, but I'm certainly a fan of the remainder of the band - in particular Lee Morgan, Bobby Hutcherson, and Ron Carter - plus the tunes here are well-written. While I don't like the album as much as the critics, it is still an enjoyable, worthwhile hard bop disc for me.
Henderson - tenor saxophone Lee Morgan - trumpet
Curtis Fuller - trombone
Bobby Hutcherson - vibes
Cedar Walton - piano
Ron Carter - bass
Joe Chambers - drums
Reviews/ratings:
Downbeat (★★★★): "Henderson is out on his own now; this record proves he is ready."
The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★★½
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: My favorite cut today is the title track which is described in label press as "the standout of the set, a modal masterpiece where the leader summons one of his most transcendent and visceral solo statements." And don't sleep on the stellar solo turns from Hutcherson, Fuller, then Carter. Also track 3, Black, with great solos from Morgan and Walton. I like the Latin groove of Caribbean Fire Dance, but I think it has the least enjoyable soloing.
Last week, I had someone say to me: "Now that Thanksgiving is over, I give you permission to listen to Christmas music." First off, buddy, I don't need your permission to do anything. I'm a grown ass man and will listen to Christmas music poolside in July if I'm in the mood. Secondly, I was a school band director for ten years and, during each of those years, we started rehearsing Christmas music in October, so I'm well-accustomed to three months of holiday tunes. These days, however, I usually try to wait until at least November 15 before I bust out some Christmas CDs. This year, I lasted until about November 10 before I started spinning holiday discs and this CD had the honor of being the first play of the season.
Truth in advertising here: there's plenty of soulfulness to be found in these cuts. Relaxing yet grooving. Guitarist Burrell gives us 12 Christmas standards - no originals! - with an orchestral accompaniment arranged by Richard Evans; some are big band, others more symphonic, still others are just basic jazz combo. Sadly, no other playing credits are offered. There's quite the variety of styles here, as Barbara J. Gardner writes in the liner notes, "They run the gamut from kiddie tunes to international standards; from popular favorites to poignant blues; from gospels to Latin-flavored statements." And boy howdy does Burrell bring the goods, playing perfectly and seemingly effortlessly in all styles. This album could quite possibly be the most-played Christmas CD at my place since its purchase.
Reviews/ratings:
CashBox: "Set could see a lot of action in the light of the Yule log."
Billboard: "soulful and sensitive interpretations"
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★
Downbeat: ★★★★
Note to self: check out those Ramsey Lewis albums
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Peaks on Billboard Christmas album chart: #43 (1966), #21 (1967), #15 (1968)
December 7, 1968
Tracks: All twelve tracks are good and there's enough variety that you can just set it and forget it. For my top pick there's a tie between the organ-rich gospel grooves of the spiritual Go Where I Send Thee and what may be my all-time favorite version of The Little Drummer Boy. There's also a slow burn combo take on White Christmas, a pastoral Away In A Manger, a bluesy Silent Night, an abbreviated play on Twelve Days Of Christmas (who has time to run all those verses down and still have space to knock out some great solos?), and a swingin' version of My Favorite Things - not really a holiday tune but it seems to have entered the canon and it's a great addition here. The set ends with a subdued Merry Christmas Baby which gives Burrell to stretch out with some great blues solos.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, other than what I wrote above. If I had listened to this album in 1966, I would no doubt have been the hippest infant in West Texas.
Having easily earned a permanent spot on the short list of my all-time favorite albums, Revolver was one of the first LPs I replaced with a CD back in the late '80s. I took a pass on the purchase of the 2009 remaster but simply couldn't resist picking up the 29 track, double disc "Special Edition Deluxe" set in order to hear the new stereo mix by Giles Martin. I was very impressed with what Giles did with Abbey Road a few years back, so I had high hopes with this purchase.
If you're looking for my earlier thoughts on the album plus the usual ads, CD longbox picture, album reviews, chart data, etc., please check out my 2013 post here: The CD Project: Revolver. This post will primarily deal with the new mixes, bonus tracks, and packaging.
I listened once through using my Klipsch speakers then again on headphones (recommended) and lawdy this stereo mix sounds fan-effin'-tastic. Have mercy! My wife and neighbors should probably go ahead and thank me because these tunes may be all they hear for the next week or more.
The individual parts are cleaner, separated, much easier to delineate. Back in 1966, the album was recorded on 1" 4-track tape and first mixed to mono; the stereo mix was an afterthought, which is one reason why many fans prefer those earlier mono versions:
So this new mix not only benefits from technological advances, but also from a deliberate, concerted effort to produce the best stereo mix available. Now these cuts can "blast straight into you" in lively, rich stereo. It's a revelation to these ears even though they've heard these songs hundreds of times over the past decades. I mean it as a compliment when I say that I don't notice anything in particular about the demixes/remixes here, just that these familiar songs now sound even better.
If you grew up with the mono mix and prefer that sound, then by all means keep listening to it. It's not going anywhere. But if, like me, you grew up spinning an inferior stereo mix (first on vinyl then the original 1987 CD release), get thee to a music store post haste and buy this edition of Revolver in one or more of the many different packages available.
The 40 page booklet that came with the 2 CD set includes a foreword from Sir Paul McCartney ("All in all, not a bad album."), introductory comments from Giles Martin, an essay by Beatles historian/former BBC radio producer Kevin Howlett, a track-by-track breakdown, and lots of photos. Good stuff and all welcome in this house.
Tracks: While all tracks benefit from the remixes to varying degrees, my favorite new mixes are I'm Only Sleeping, Here There And Everywhere, She Said She Said, Good Day Sunshine, For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, and Tomorrow Never Knows.
Bonus tracks: The second disc starts off with new mixes of Paperback Writer, a mid-1966 non-album #1 single, and its b-side Rain. A fitting inclusion in this set and both sound spectacular, just like the first disc. The remaining 13 tracks are Revolver recording session studio outtakes labeled as "Sessions Highlights." Much like the archived takes on the Anthology CD series from the mid-'90s, these are interesting to hear only once or twice. Likewise, I enjoy reading Hemingway, but I don't see much need in reading his unedited first drafts. Still, I'm glad I got the 2 disc set, if only for Paperback Writer and Rain.
Fingers crossed that Rubber Soul is next on Giles's to-do list.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, but I was brought into this world amidst the same global creative energy that gave us this masterpiece so I'm going to claim some lifelong positive vibes based on that (seemingly?) random coincidence. In fact, according to the Beatles Bible and confirmed in the liner notes, the Beatles were at the Abbey Road studios working on Good Day Sunshine on the day of my birth. And in the issues dated two days after my birthday, the aforementioned Paperback Writer debuted in the Billboard Hot 100 at #28, #50 in CashBox, and #40 in Record World. Sounds like a splendid week.
Note: the CD I listened to was the 1999 Rudy Van Gelder Edition with an alternate take bonus track.
How can something be this smooth yet this intense? Only from the mind of Wayne Shorter, I guess. Of course, having an all-star supporting cast can't hurt. If it's not Shorter's best album, it is certainly in the conversation.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: All tracks written by Shorter; it's all good and it all swings. I'm always amazed at how clean all the playing is - every note in the right place. Just listen to the Hubbard and Hancock solos on Witch Hunt or Speak No Evil. Lately, I've been gravitating to the cuts with the slower grooves: Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, Dance Cadaverous, and Infant Eyes (that tone!). The album ends with a wonderful example of a swinging jazz waltz entitled Wild Flower - Elvin Jones's work is sublime on this one.
This RVG edition includes an alternate take of Dance Cadaverous as a bonus track.
Tracks: The top tracks are the bluesy title cut (a #4 pop hit), an up-tempo version of Somewhere My Love (Lara's Theme) from the movie Doctor Zhivago, and You're Gonna Hear From Me. What was side one (tracks 1-5) is preferable to the rest, but that blame rests on the flimsy material, not Sinatra's performance. I prefer the arrangements of Nelson Riddle or Quincy Jones to those here of Ernie Freeman, but that's just me nitpicking. Tracks to skip include a cover of the New Vaudeville Band's novelty tune Winchester Cathedral, the tepid Give Her Love, and The Impossible Dream, a song that has never appealed to me.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None, although around the time this album was released, my family was moving into this classic mid-century ranch house. I was only six months old at the time so I can't confirm or deny, but doesn't it look like hepcats in that house would play copies of LPs such as this on the hi-fi at their cocktail parties?
A mid-'90s compilation of the best songs from James Brown's three earlier Christmas albums: James Brown Sings Christmas Songs (1966), A Soulful Christmas (1968), and Hey America It's Christmas (1970).
I purchased this disc for two reasons: 1) it's the freakin' Godfather of Soul, and 2) the album's appearance at #3 on Rolling Stone's The 25 Greatest Christmas Albums of All Time:
It's a welcome change-of-pace from the usual strings and sleigh bells.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Here are the funky grooves that made it on my Xmas playlist: Go Power At Christmas Time, Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto, Soulful Christmas, and Merry Christmas I Love You. I dig Tit For Tat (Ain't No Taking Back) but it's not very Christmas-y. However, the album is well-sequenced and has a good mix of funk and soulful ballads, so it's an pleasant listen from top-to-bottom.
Oddly, my CD only included 16 tracks instead of the 17 listed on the cover. The missing track? Track 4, Merry Christmas Baby. With cover art that bad, I shouldn't be surprised at an incomplete package. Looks like my full-retail-price CD is nothing more than a CD-R produced 'on demand' and someone at Chronicles didn't check all the boxes before burning:
Tsk tsk. For shame, Polydor. Shame on you too, Amazon, for not listing the fact that it's a CD-R. Ok, ok - rant over. Merry Christmas, everybody. And please, please, please 2021 - don't let me down.
Because when you see a Ramsey Lewis BGO two-fer in the clearance bin for $3 you don't ask questions.
HANG ON RAMSEY! (1965)
9 tracks, 45 minutes
Lewis was following up his #5 hit The 'In' Crowd with this live set of mostly pop covers recorded October 14-17, 1965 at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, California.
The rear exterior of The Lighthouse as seen in the 2016 film La La Land.
Tracks: The lead track, a cover of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, peaked at #29 on the pop chart and the final track, a cover of Hang On Sloopy, peaked at #11 so there was some success in repeating the same formula (they both sound very similar to The 'In' Crowd and who could blame him?). The cover of And I Love Her is very tasty as well. But there's other styles here as Ramsey mixes it up with some traditional piano trio jazz tunes (Satin Doll) and one Lewis original. The sequencing and variety means you can just slip this disc in the tray, set it and forget it. It also makes me want to travel back to Hermosa Beach ca. 1965.
WADE IN THE WATER (1966)
10 tracks, 33 minutes
This is a slightly different animal from the album above. While the overall groove remains the same, here we're treated to big band arrangements in addition to the piano trio. The credits go to Ramsey Lewis not the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Also, a drummer named Maurice White had joined the group.
Tracks: The title track peaked at #19 on the pop chart in the fall of '66 while Hold It Right There (track 16 on this compilation) won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance - Vocal or Instrumental. Also good are the covers of Ain't That Peculiar, Uptight (Everything's Alright), Day Tripper, and Hurt So Bad. Oddly, the tune that doesn't quite work was written by Bacharach. Go figure.
We wish you a groovy Christmas! Booker T. & The MGs record Christmas tunes in the classic STAX style. Probably one take, direct to tape. Recorded in October, released in November. Amazing. New to me, this one will get quite a few spins around this house this season and will be added to the usual Xmas CD rotation.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart, but regularly placed on the Christmas album chart for the remainder of the decade.
Tracks: 12 tracks in 34 minutes. They're all good - a big batch of holiday fun. STAX even released Jingle Bells as a single. It's also nice to get a gentle take on Sweet Little Jesus Boy since I don't hear that one much.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. Don't know what took me so long to find this one.
This was a game changer to be sure. Wilson played the entire recording studio like an instrument unto itself. Simply gorgeous. But I'll let this 10 year old press release do all the heavy lifting for this beauty:
Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys’ 12th studio album is universally hailed as one of the most important recordings of all time. Since its original May 16, 1966 release, the studio masterpiece has reigned at the top of countless critic and fan polls, and four decades later, the visionary album maintains its timeless rank as one of popular music’s most-cited influences. More than 100 domestic and international publications and journalists have lauded Pet Sounds as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. In 1995, Pet Sounds topped MOJO magazine’s special issue “The Greatest Albums of All Time” at #1...
Or how about this blurb from the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die:
"...transcends the genre of pop." I'll second that.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #10 (later charted again with various re-releases, including #162 in 1990 upon this release on CD)
Tracks: For me, there's God Only Knows and then everything else, but why skip any tracks? As with albums of this quality, even the filler is pretty darn good. Even the instrumentals are good. My only complaint is tacking on three meaningless bonus tracks on to the end when Caroline No is the perfect album closer.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: God Only Knows isn't just my favorite Beach Boys song, but one of my all-time favorite songs of any genre. However, I wasn't introduced to this album as a whole until the CD was released in 1990. Side note: Wilson claims to have written God Only Knows in just 45 minutes. Simply amazing. And yes, I've listened to it at least 10 times already this morning.
Today is my birthday, so I thought it would be fun to listen to the album that held #1 spot on the Billboard albums chart on the day I was born. Not only did Alpert & the TJB have the top album in that week's issue (June 11, 1966), they had three albums in the top five! I never realized how huge they were back then; I usually naïvely think of the late '60s being all Stones and Beatles, peace and love, baby. But I guess a lot of cocktail parties needed hours of background music and the TJB was there.
I ordered this CD for my birthday last year, but it was back-ordered and I didn't receive it until July so I've saved it in its cellophane until today. The album is characteristic of the TJB's typical "Ameriachi" sound with lots of trumpet duets, strings, and marimba over a samba-ish beat. However, instead of Mexican-themed originals, this album's songs were chosen from the pop charts and Broadway shows. As written in the liner notes, "the album is more piano bar than Tijuana bullring." But, simply put, if you like other music from this group, you'll like this album, too.
Today's trivia: the attractive woman on the album with Alpert is is Sandra Moss, wife of Herb's A&M Records partner Jerry Moss.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #1 (9 weeks between May 28 - Sept 3, 1966)
Tracks: It's a very brief album, 12 tracks in only 32 minutes. The better cuts are the title track, Memories of Madrid, So What's New (which was used as the theme music for the syndicated pop music television program of the 1960s, The Lloyd Thaxton Show) and Brasilia (which was used as the theme music for the short-lived game show, The Face is Familiar). A few of the songs fall short, including Freckles, It Was A Very Good Year, and The Magic Trumpet. The title track was the album's only Top 40 single, peaking at #24 on the pop chart and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It also won the Grammy award for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.
1987
Quite simply, my favorite Beatles album. Of course, I wrote those same words earlier on this blog for Abbey Road. Easily the best 35 minutes I'll spend today. It doesn't sound this way to modern ears, but the whole thing was a bizarre studio experiment in multi-tracking, phasers, tape loops, and other tricks to create what we now think of as the characteristic kaleidoscopic Beatles sound. If production tricks were the foci of the album, it probably would have failed, but the songwriting is so good the songs were actually enhanced by the tricks.
I could gush over this collection of songs for days, but that's already been done:
Listed as #1 in the book Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums (2000)
VH1 named it the greatest album of all time (2001)
The readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time (2002)
Listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
The album was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time (2006)
Even the Pope loves it! Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano (2010)
Voted 11th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2020)
Entertainment Weekly recently named Revolver the greatest album of all time (2013)
US Billboard 200: #1 (6 weeks, Sept 10 - Oct 15, 1966)
Billboard Pop CD: #3
CashBox: #1
CashBox CD: #1
Record World: #1
Tracks: Since I did it for Rubber Soul, I will try to rank my top 5 tracks for this album even though all 14 are winners:
5. For No One
4. Eleanor Rigby
3. Good Day Sunshine
2. Tomorrow Never Knows
1. Got To Get You Into My Life
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Even though I had the 1962-1966 & 1967-1970 compilations, Revolver was the first 'regular' Beatles album I ever purchased, mainly because of my love for Got To Get You Into My Life. It was the truncated 11 track US release, but that was good enough at the time.
Paul sang Got To Get You Into My Life when I saw him in 2005. And I had a happy grin on my face for days.
Recorded in Las Vegas, January 26 - February 1, 1966.
"It's Frank's world. We're just lucky to be living in it."
- Dean Martin
Originally released only months after my birth, this CD represents the collaboration of a 'perfect storm' of musicians: Sinatra, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones. And in '60s Vegas, no less! This was one of the first CDs I ever purchased and I still consider it one of my top five favorite live albums of all time. Basie's band is cookin', Q's arrangements are without peer, and Sinatra is, well, Sinatra. It's all here: hip, up-tempo, wailing, standards, ballads, and cheesy Vegas stage chatter.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #9
Tracks: You know you're in for a treat from the moment Sinatra takes the stage and asks, "How did all these people get in my room?" then launches into the definitive interpretation of Come Fly With Me. Other favorites include I've Got You Under My Skin, You Make Me Feel So Young, Get Me To the Church On Time, Where Or When, and My Kind Of Town. Basie's band gets a turn with a few instrumentals: One O'Clock Jump, All of Me, and Makin' Whoopee! These are all first rate, as you would expect. If I had to pick a favorite Sinatra cut, it would probably be Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) and the version here is incredible. In fact, listening to it right now, I've hit the 'back' button on the player so I can hear it again before moving on. Epic. Classic. If there is any downside to the CD, it is the 12 minute monologue/stand-up act that appears halfway through the set. Much of the humor is dated (and/or wasn't funny to begin with) and seems insensitive today, but I appreciate that he gives the band a brief break from playing.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: During the 1989-90 school year, I was responsible for teaching a high school jazz band. This particular group couldn't keep a slow tempo. So when I tried an arrangement of Georgia On My Mind, they sped it up every time. I was willing to try anything to get the group to play on the backside of the beat. One day, I played them Basie's version of Makin' Whoopee! from this disc to illustrate what I was looking for. While it was a good idea, it didn't really work. When the band finished playing the song at a concert, my good friend Eddie turned to my wife and said, "I know he's glad that's over." Which was true.
I had the opportunity to see Sinatra in Dallas in April, 1990. With tickets starting at $50, I just couldn't afford it then. Now I realize I should have taken out a loan.
