The Bill Evans Trio live at the Village Vanguard is considered a classic but we consider it terrible mainly because of bassist Scott La Faro .
030 Bill Evans Trio – Sunday at the Village Vanguard
029 Muddy Waters – At Newport 1960
Muddy Water Performs a killer set an the Newport Jazz festival in 1960. We also talk about “dentist blues” and what it means to “put a tiger in your tank” .
028 Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack
The great Jimmy Smith introduces the Hammond B3 organ to popular music and things get funky .
027 The Everly Brothers – a Date With the Everly Brothers
We go on the a date with Phil and Don and some of us are in love and some feel like we got stuck with the check .
026 Miriam Makeba – Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba is one for the ages, amazing life story, great singer, and all around wonderful person. The group loves this album .
025 Elvis Presley – Elvis Is Back!
Elvis is back and the production is great but why didn’t anyone buy this album ?
024 Joan Baez – Joan Baez
We all find Joan Baez a bit irritating, but we love talking about her debut album .
023 The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out
After hearing it for the first time Ben falls in love with the off-beat styling of Dave Brubeck .
022 Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
Marty Robbins brings the American West to life in some of the best cowboy songs we’ve ever heard.
021 Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
On this revolutionary album of modal blue Jazz episode we try and get to the root of Rob’s distaste for this album .
020 Ray Charles – Genius of Ray Charles
Sure Ray Charles is a genius, but is this album? This album represents the softer Ray Charles without the R&B groove .
019 Ella Fitzgerald – Sings the Gershwin Song Book
Ella Sings all of Gershwin and we don’t have much to say except Ella is a wonderful singer and the production is top notch.
018 Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan at Mister Kelly’s
We discuss Scat singing and how we can never go back to when it was new and the fact that Sarah Vaughan can’t remember the words for her own live album. Also Rob thinks the song “Honeysuckle Rose” is filthy.
017 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Jack Takes the Floor
The proto oogle shows us why we should run away and join the circus and we get to Ramblin’ .
016 Billie Holiday – Lady in Satin
We find this swansong album beautifully haunting or maybe hauntingly beautiful .
015 Tito Puente – Dance Mania
Tito brings Afro-Cuban and Caribbean sounds like mambo, son cubano, and cha-cha-chá to the mainstream and we are glad he did !
014 Little Richard – Here’s Little Richard
We talk about the wildest voice and the man that put’s the Rock in Rock n’ Roll .
013 Machito – Kenya
We talk about the afro cuban jazz big band sound that seems to be in perfect sync. Oddly Machito’s singing isn’t featured on the album at all .
012 Miles Davis – Birth of the Cool
We talk about this seminal jazz album that was before it’s time and was recorded 7 years before it was before it’s time. Also Grady and I muse about the song “Moon Dreams” .
011 Sabu – Palo Congo
Some of us struggle to find the rhythm in Palo Congo’s trance like drumming .
010 Thelonious Monk – Brilliant Corners
We discuss one of the most difficult compositions that mentally broke the band, our favorite Bops and Pannonica de Koenigswarter .
09 Count Basie – The Atomic Mr Basie
In what has been called his “last great album” Count Basie shows the power of the young players in an old style. We also take about jazz royalty names and the meaning of “Splanky” .
08 Buddy Holly and the Crickets – The “Chirping” Crickets
Buddy Holly sets the template for the rock band and inspires a new generation .
07 Frank Sinatra – Songs for Swinging Lovers!
We talk about another Sinatra classic, that shows the singer back on top .