It’s a bit of a crappy cheapskate way, perhaps? But it’s via affordable sets like the above that I’m able to get my ears around lots of new old jazz, at present.
If money (and space!) were no object, I’d love to have a swanky record player and hi-fi, and get these gorgeous babies as 12” vinyl. But that ain’t viable, under current circs.
And then there’s this’un:
All of this, plus the recent Freddie Hubbard and Dex’ G, has reminded me how much I love classic Hard Bop.
As well as the obligatory Miles and ‘Trane, some of which – Kind of Blue, Blue Trane, etc. – falls into the hard bop genre, I’ve got a ton of recordings by such quintessential hard boppers as Art Blakey and Horace Silver, and now also a fair amount of Freddie and Dex’.
But of course there’s tons more to explore. Cannonball Adderley, for starters. And then maybe a load of the more obscure names, be that Gigi Gryce, or Leo Parker.
It’s astonishing just how much music in this vein was made, between the late forties and mid-to-late sixties. Even on into the ‘70s, perhaps? And it appears I love it so much I simply can’t get enough.
Well… an addiction to Hard Bop has got to be better and more wholesome than many other types of addiction… surely!?