Another Night

Albums from another night of listening....

• 
  Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia, 1957)
  This is Duke's Shakespeare suite, and it is a really fantastic album. It's a relatively small version of the Ellington orchestra, and they are in great form here. Mono only, unfortunately, though, timbrally speaking, it is a great recording. I'm privileged to own a white label promo that is in terrific condition.
• 
  Gary Burton and Chick Corea, Crystal Silence (ECM, 1973)
  I am a big fan of Gary Burton. I am not a huge fan of Chick Corea, though there are albums of his that I love, and this is one of them. (Circle is another.) There is something amazing about the combination of piano and vibes here, all the more so because of how these two play off each other.
  I always think of this album as quiet and meditative, and there are times it is like that, but not always. Still, I needed this album on this day, when my uncle was dying of Covid. I'm glad it was there for me.
• 
  Oregon, Winter Light (Vanguard, 1974)
  I thought I'd posted about this album before, because I'd listened to it a while back. Anyway, I had to have another listen because I got an original pressing, whereas the other one was a later re-issue in Vanguard's "MidLine" series. This one sounds a lot better, probably (as usual) because of tape degradation. But what matters here is the music, and it is fantastic. If you were only ever to listen to one album by these guys, this might be the one.
• 
  Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Nana Vasconcelos, Codona 2 (ECM, 1981) and Codona 3 (ECM, 1983)
  I listened to these two albums while hacking on LyX, so I don't have as much to say about them as I might otherwise. But they're terrific albums. Walcott really shines here, when given the chance to be more of the focal point (as he is not always with Oregon).