"Trombone by Three" by J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Benny Green

 Jay Jay Johnson a.o.: Trombone by Three   Label: Prestige 7023   12" LP 1956
 Design: D. Marti

A nice grooving recorded anthology of various artists and recordings regarding the trombone as the lead instrument.  I bought the album because of its cover.  And strangely enough it does convey the mood of what's inside the cardboard sleeve.  "A Night on Bop Mountain" (if not for the title alone) is my favorite cut on this album.  Its by the Kai Winding Sextet with Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax.  A great and funny piano solo by George Wallington, which lasts....30 seconds or so.  As they say the devil is in the details.

Jackie McLean's "Lights Out!" on Vinyl

I went back to vinyl because it doesn't make sense, it takes too much space, its too heavy, its.....perfect. MP3's are great when you are in a shitty town in an even more shitty hotel room.  But for the big sound, the real loud sound, vinyl is it.  Especially jazz. The whole graphics of jazz makes sense on a 12 inch record sleeve.  It is not only real, but it makes a stand against the blah.  And blah is something to avoid like crazy.  

What i love about this album besides the music is Ira Gitler's liner notes on the back of this album.  He mentioned that the musicians played in the dark.  The only light (photographed during the recording sessions) was coming from another room.   So yeah, the mood is already set.  Its a beautiful thing.