Sun Ra at 3am

3am listening. Originally recorded in 1956 and released in 1957. I'm always drawn to music recorded in the year that I was born. 

This is a 2025 re-issue on compact disc and with a second disc of alternate takes. These fascinating jazz sounds are a bit easier on the imagination when compared with and placed alongside what would come later.

Jazzday Playlist

Thursday Jazzday playlist .....

• Collin Vallon, Patrice Moret & Julian Sartorius - Sisyphe ..... Piano and acoustic bass playing around a couple of repeated chords. Beautiful.
• Eberhard Weber - Closing Scene
• Keith Jarrett & Charlie Haden - My Ship
• Avishai Cohen - Behind the Broken Glass
• Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - Dawn Horizon / Badder Weather / These Goodbyes
• Pat Metheny Group - Dream of the Return
• Wallace Roney - Don't Stop Me Now
• Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - A Flat Minor Outtakes ..... Imagining my parents in their younger, pre-children days, around the living room radio listening to Duke Ellington.

Late Wednesday Afternoon Playlist

Late Wednesday afternoon and home from work scrolling through my itunes library and mostly hanging onto much younger days while struggling to hold back the tears playlist. (It is Wednesday, right?) ....

• Aimee Mann - Humpty Dumpty
• America - Ventura Highway ..... Flashbacks to times spent with old friends and being a teenager. I have to take and digest my nostalgia and earliest memories in small doses these days. 
• Amos Lee - Violin ..... At this pace, I may not get out of the A's.
• Arlo Guthrie - Deportees .... Singing along with the chorus.
• Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction
• Ben Kweller - Free
• Benjamin Francis Leftwich - 1904 / Atlas Hands
• Benjamin Orr - Stay the Night .... Benjamin Orr of The Cars. In case it's not common knowledge.
• Big Head Todd & The Monsters - Imaginary Ships ..... There was a period where I was infatuated with this song. 
• Bob Dylan - Jokerman .... I rescheduled a doctor appointment earlier today and suddenly everything felt much lighter and brighter. Funny how that works.
• Booker T. Jones - Representing Memphis ..... Appreciating the organ sounds.
• Calexico - Fortune Teller
• Charlie Sexton & Shannon McNally - When We Were Younger ..... Exactly!!
• Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen - Wait a Minute ..... A late night, after midnight addition. If I were to imagine or create a hundred playlists of all-time favorite songs, this would be on each one.

Ignatz

 'I Don't Know' by Ignatz. Ignatz is Belgian musician Bram Devens.

Sparse haunting piano over (and below) soundscapes created from electronic effects and ghostly voice. 

From 2025 on the By the Bluest of Seas record label, discovered through Carbon Records which has been a great source for independent, different and unusual sounds and consistently quick deliveries of orders.

Code Girl

It's likely been stated here before but I've been going through a new jazz sounds discoveries phase for a few years now. Wanting something different than the usual bebop and classic jazz standards that previously made up the bulk of my jazz collection and listening experiences ....

Mary Halvorson is a guitar player. She leads a quintet along with both male and female vocalists on this record. The songs often venture into unexpected directions. Occasionally into the possibilities that exist between and beyond jazz and rock.  

Released in 2020 on Firehouse 12 Records. Imaginative cover art is what caught my attention initially causing themes of distance, dreaming and searching to appear for consideration.

Classical Vinyl Find

Occasionally, while browsing through the vinyl bins and racks, I'll pick up a classical recording .... not because I know anything about the music but just because it looks interesting, usually music of a lesser-known and more modern period composer. Tonight's used bookstore vinyl find (after deciding against the $70 and $100 priced jazz records) .... 

From 1973 on Nonesuch Records. The vinyl surface looks to be in pristine condition.

I'm not qualified in the least to offer words of opinion or commentary on classical music. I'll just be happy listening late tonight with the lights down low, while wearing my gray button-down old man sweater and with bifocals set aside.

Two violins, viola and cello .... how could I not enjoy that?

I'm People

One thing about me has never changed. I get absolutely giddy about new album releases with new songs ......

For the fifty-five plus years that I've been listening to and buying records, I've had different favorites, mostly defined and separated by a few years or a decade of close attention. As the years pass, favorites in my ears and eyes may fade a little, and new names enter for consideration. Over the last 10-15 years, there's been three or four musicians/bands that I've followed closely. One just released a very anticipated (by me) new record which arrived at my front door a few hours ago.

'I'm People' by Hiss Golden Messenger. 

For the past month or two, I've purposely avoided listening to anything online from the album other than the first single that was released, (I couldn't resist all temptations), opting to let anticipation build and to wait (very impatiently) for its arrival so I could plant myself in front of my stereo system and take it in, song-by-song, for the first listen, in its entirety ..... like we did in the days before the internet and song samples and previews galore.

First listen and I've given three songs, 5-star ratings ....  Shaky Eyes, Mercy Avenue and Depends on the River.

I'm sure that with time, one or two others will also end up on that list.

And I'm thinking I'll be listening again tomorrow .... that's if I don't wake up at 3am and listen again tonight. 

Saturday Vinyl Finds

It would be kinda funny, if it wasn't sad in my eyes but for the records that I'm interested in, the used bookstore is turning out to be a better source for interesting and surprise finds than the two record stores in town.

Late 60's, post-bop jazz from Germany. 

'Blues Happening' by The Klaus Doldinger Quartet.

A complete unknown and purchased for the album cover image and the potential gleamed from a quick speed reading of the back cover liner notes ..... and very pleasantly surprised at what I've heard. Causing a re-thinking of my avoidance lately of soprano saxophone recordings.

A 1969 release on the World Pacific Jazz Records label and with vinyl in near mint condition. (I love when that happens.) This is proving to be a priority with this bookstore's used record buyer.

Also from 1969 ..... 'Another Voyage' from The Ramsey Lewis Trio. On Cadet Records.

I've only listened to a couple cuts but there's a funk-jazz sound and vibes present here that I've always associated with the late 1970's. Possibly a decade ahead of its time.

So, I'm thinking with these weekend vinyl finds, that I'm about to venture down an additional record collecting rabbit hole with late 1960's, early 1970's period post bop recordings. 

I returned the next day to take home a record that I left behind on Saturday. I first noticed it in another guy's hands. He eventually decided against it and put it back into the racks. Not sure of the sound and unwilling to take a leap of faith at the asking price, I previewed it at home via YouTube. It may be the highlight of the weekend finds ....

'Outback' from Joe Farrell. Released in 1972 on CTI Records. A huge bonus that Chick Corea is playing electric piano on the album. Also present is Elvin Jones, who played drums on classic John Coltrane records. It's certainly jazzier than what became the normal CTI (soft jazz) sound.

Horace Tapscott

On the turntable, a recent jazz find ....

'Live at Widney High, December 26, 1971' by Horace Tapscott & Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. 

Spiritual jazz. A recording of one of what were free community performances in early 1970's, south Los Angeles.

Horace Tapscott on piano. Linda Hill with vocals.

Record Store Day 2026

I don't get overly excited about it these days. I never have and never will spend hours overnight or early morning, in line waiting to get in the store. Electing instead to stroll in late afternoons or the next day to sift through what remains.

My sole contribution this year to the Record Store Day craziness .....

An old favorite band for the past 25-30 years. The latest album from Son Volt, being officially released on RSD 2026, (from what I gather), and on sky blue opaque vinyl and it's a return to their original sound, which is great news!!

I was actually looking for the RSD release by The Jayhawks, which after scouring two different stores, I came up empty handed but I did stumble across the Son Volt record at stop number two, which I vaguely had a clue was going to be one of the days releases but have to admit that I forgot about so it was a 'win one, lose one' type of affair. There was also a live John Coltrane recording on my radar but there were no copies available .... if they received any at all. 

I've listened to side one so far and greatly enjoyed what I heard.

I also came across 'Sleepless Night' by Yo La Tengo in the used new arrivals bins. Only to discover upon returning home that I already have on my shelves. It's a vinyl ep and all six songs are on one side of the record.

From 2020. Another favorite band from the last thirty years. Initially excited thinking that I didn't have it .... but I was wrong. But still excited!!

I laugh about it today because when I first came across the record, I was like: Oooooh far out! I don't have this!!" Then as I was paying at the cash register: "I don't think I have this." Then while driving home: "Do I have this?" (Experiencing increasing fear with each passing mile that I did.) Then while pulling into my driveway: "Oh geez. I think I may already have this record." 

Such is the scale of excitement that often comes with searching for used vinyl records .... along with increasing age, decreasing memory and the sheer volume of records at home.

Looking North

Another from the recent Shifting Paradigm Records discoveries.

'Looking North' by Bryan Nichols. Released in 2016.

Solo jazz piano alternately reminding me of similar sounding moments and directions from Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea recordings of the 1970's. Best heard with midnight moods and vibes. 

Bandcamp Page
 

Random Playlist #4749

Just another popup playlist featuring mostly little-known random tunes .....

• Barn Burning - Friendship Fails You
• Call and Response - Trapped Under Ice
• The Lowest Pair - Pear Tree
• Memory Tapes - Wait in the Dark

Several of these songs were first heard on the Oregon Public Broadcast overnight online radio stream that used to be heard after regular programming had concluded for the day. Regrettably in my opinion, the stream was ended a few years ago. It was a great source of new music. Mostly Indie Rock or Indie Pop sounds.

• The Outdoor Type - On My Mind
• Porcelain Raft - Drifting In and Out
• Radical Face - Ghost Towns
• Shotgun and Jaybird - Secret
• Thieving Irons - Sleepwalking Into the Ocean
• Tired Pony - Point Me at Lost Lands / Pieces

I broke some sad news earlier today to a couple of people where I assumed that they already knew. It never crossed my mind that they didn't. There's a lesson in there about tact, sensitivity and the dangers of assumptions.

• The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave
• The xx - I Dare You