Tim Jarrett

Charles Mingus, Let My Children Hear Music

The last great composition from Mingus sums up all his contradictions into a single masterpiece.

Charles Mingus, Mingus at Monterey

From Mingus’s golden year, a spectacular live set with something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

Charles Mingus, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus

An illuminating revisitation of some of the bassist’s greatest compositions.

Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

The composer’s masterpiece is a cry of despair and a dance of freedom (or maybe vice versa).

Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach, Money Jungle

Legendarily tense and extraordinarily beautiful, this rare Mingus trio album repays close listening.

Charles Mingus, Tijuana Moods

A turbulent, magnetic stroll through the border town streets in one of the great bassist’s early long-form suites.

Charles Mingus, Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus

We begin our survey of the great bassist and composer in midstream, with a spectacular performance from the last days of one of his best bands.

Mingus on eggnog

I can’t believe that in all the time I’ve been blogging about music and cocktails, I’ve never written about Charles Mingus’ eggnog recipe. Pointed to it, a few times, but never discussed it. That might be because it’s A Lot. Two shots of liquor per serving, plus whatever 151-proof…

Amanda Whiting, A Christmas Cwtch

Gather your eggnog and sit by a warm fire. This latter-day classic has all the warmth of its namesake and an impeccable lineup of Christmas presents for the listener.

Poking back through over 22 years of blog history and finding a few nuggets, including some Christmas mixes!

Boston Camerata, A Renaissance Christmas (1986)

A childhood favorite Christmas record, filled with songs familiar and strange and featuring the voice of an old friend.

Samara Joy, A Joyful Holiday

A contemporary Christmas jazz classic from a young vocalist with an old soul.

Kenny Burrell, Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas

A cool Yule is in the brilliant and sure hands of this master guitarist.

Jimmy Smith, Christmas ’64

One more organ record—maybe the best known of them all—brings us into this year’s holiday season.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Cold as Weiss

A tight set of organ trio funk with some sunny spots of soul.

And also… and just hear me out on this—the amount of unspecified drugs that Murphy might have been doing while making this album, or at least shooting the cover, might be enough to approximate the amount of disorientation this news caused me.

I could go on.

Also: Christian Scott (aka Chief Adjuah), Clifford Brown. And Wynton; as much as he’s said some dumb things to cut down those who came before him, his tone and harmonic imagination are still worth learning from. I like “Thick in the South,” which has him with Elvin Jones and Joe Henderson.

I agree with the Roy Hargrove recommendations and the Miles ones. You can’t go wrong with Freddie Hubbard but there’s a lot of ground there—maybe “Ready for Freddie” for his more traditional stuff and “Red Clay” for his funk side, and Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil” (trumpet as part of an ensemble).

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, I Told You So

This incarnation of the DLO3 gives us a different drummer and a funkier edge.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio: Live at KEXP!

Sometimes the best way to build an audience is just to show people what you do.

Exfiltration Radio: Byrne Unit

David Byrne—Talking Head, art pop auteur, Broadway star, prolific collaborator—arguably has more side quests in his career than anyone else. I’ve been collecting some of these for years, starting with a good friend hipping me to The Catherine Wheel and Forestry, and…

Exfiltration Radio: can’t we smile?

An hour of bliss at the intersection of spiritual jazz and jazz-funk, circa 1969-1972.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Close But No Cigar

A revival of the jazz organ combo draws on masters from that tradition, as well as soul and funk, and brings us a party.

Remembering Edwin S. Williams

Dr. Edwin S. Williams passed away last week at the age of 81. In addition to being the first Black member of the Virginia Glee Club, where he was denied service by a truck stop manager while on tour in an event leading to the desegregation of similar businesses…

Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes, Dueling Organs

If one Hammond organist is good, two are somethin’ else.

Jimmy Smith, Root Down

Root down, and get it, with this milestone live recording by the master and a young band with connections to the Jackson 5, Motown and Quincy Jones.

Moving hosts

Note of no interest to most, but yesterday I migrated this site from its host of twelve years to a new one. About twelve years ago, Erin Clerico at Weblogger (who helped me move my site from Manila to Wordpress) let me know he was getting out of the hosting business. I found Pagely…

Ronnie Foster, Two Headed Freap

The debut recording from Foster puts funk, soul, R&B and jazz into a blender and comes out with a “brew” that’s a genuine classic.

Cocktail Friday: Et Vitam Martuni

In which we create a cocktail to accompany Beethoven’s massive Missa Solemnis.