Monday Evening Tunes

• 
  Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, and Charlie Haden, Folk Songs (ECM, 1981)
  A very nice album, but not breathtaking in the way that Magico was. It has its moments, but it lacks the lyrical flow of that album. Still, these are three amazing musicians, and there are some wonderful moments.
  As I mentioned, I think, with Magico, this album sounds especially wonderful on the new speakers, because they do such a great job with Haden's bass. It is deep and powerful, and just big, the way it should be.
• 
  Herbie Hancock, Takin' Off (Blue Note, 1962)
  This was Herbie's first album as a leader, at the ripe age of 22. With Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard, and a rhythm section of Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. It's a nice record, but for the most part it's also a pretty typical one for the label and the era. The slow ballad, "Alone and I", that closes the album is probably my favorite.
  Here's something kind of scary: This coming Sunday, 12 April 2020, is Herbie's 80th birthday.
  My copy is a 1970s "black b" pressing, and not an RVG master. So it's a touch dark, though it still sounds pretty good.
• 
  Duke Ellington, Jazz Party in Stereo (Columbia, 1959)
  What a fun record! The liner notes claim that Duke was just back from Florida, so they wanted to get a few tunes recorded, but then a whole bunch of people showed up to say hello, including Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Rushing, and it turned into a party. Including, at one point, two vibraphones, two xylophones, a glockenspiel, and nine tympanis, plus more conventional percussion. Great music and a great performance, including yet another long rip from Paul Gonsalves (though nothing approximating what is on Ellington at Newport).
  My copy is an original 6-eye pressing. It is far, far superior to the Classic re-issue, and probably cheaper.
  For audiophiles: This is a great recording, timbrally, and it has a ridiculously wide soundstage at times.
• 
  Collin Walcott, Don Cherry, and Naná Vasconcelos, Codona (ECM, 1978)
  I am guessing that this must have been one of the "Let's throw three amazing musicians together and see what happens" albums that ECM seemed to make from time to time. It's an interesting collection of folks: Walcott, from Oregon, on sitar, tablas, and dulcimer; Cherry, best known for his early work with Ornette Coleman, but by then well-established in his own right, who plays trumpet (as usual), a variety of flutes, and dousn'gouni; and Naná Vasconcelos, a Brazilian percussionist who, at that point, had recorded two albums for ECM with Egberto Gismonti. (He would later record one of my favorite albums, As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, with Pat Metheny and the late Lyle Mays.)
  This is a very weird album, as you might expect. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's really magical. The highlight, to me, is "Mumakata", though the other song on side 2, "New Light", is also wonderful.
  PS: CO (Collin), DO (Don), NA (Naná). (Kind of like NiRoPe, if you're from southeastern New England.)