What Are You Listening To? February 2026

[Ojai Sam]

This is primarily women's voices over chilled beats. I don't care for chilled beets so much anymore.

Too many years on the Borscht Belt, no doubt.

Buck Owens - Tall Dark Stranger (1969)

A very good argument could be made that Ol' Buck jumped the shark with this album. Out with the steel guitar and high harmony vocals from Don Rich. In with the string section and The Jordanaires. From the liner notes we learn that he had just started his long run as co-star of Hee Haw and made his debut in Las Vegas. Don't be too impressed, it was at the Bonanza Hotel and Casino.

Once Upon a Time In Las Vegas fills us in:

"In 1969, the Bonanza Hotel and Casino reopened in Las Vegas after being shut down just two years earlier due to financial trouble. It had launched in 1967 with big fanfare—including a visit from Bonanza TV star Lorne Greene—but quickly ran into problems and was forced to close. New owners gave it another try in ’69, bringing back country music shows, classic films, and a Western-style look that matched its name. Despite the fresh start, the casino couldn’t stay afloat and finally closed for good in 1973."





The songs here aren't bad, but Buck's long journey into artistic darkness had begun. :nunja:

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Chet Baker - She Was Too Good To Me (CTI 1974)

Chet's first album in four years found him in good form on a new label. CTI, with the empathetic Creed Taylor at the helm, was the perfect environment for Baker to flourish. Surrounded by musicians of the caliber of Paul Desmond, Bob James and Hubert Laws, Baker turned in a low key masterpiece.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Hélène Grimaud, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (David Zinman, cond.) – Gershwin/Ravel Piano Concertos (1997)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

The Apples In Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker (1995)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Hélène Grimaud, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (David Zinman, cond.) – Gershwin/Ravel Piano Concertos (1997)

That album cover has the ability to hypnotize!

 

[Ojai Sam]

That album cover has the ability to hypnotize!

So does her playing.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Far East Family Band - The Cave - Down To The Earth (1975)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Pharoah Sanders - Journey To The One (1980)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Woody Shaw - The Moontrane (Muse 1975)

 

[axolotl]

Woody Shaw - The Moontrane (Muse 1975)

This album costs a pretty penny or two. I have priced it on vinyl.

 

[Ojai Sam]

This album costs a pretty penny or two. I have priced it on vinyl.

Even the CD reissues are pricy.

 

[Ojai Sam]

The Isley Brothers - The Heat Is On (1975)

 

[axolotl]

Woody Shaw / Louis Hayes ~ The Tour Volume One (Released 2016, Recorded on Tour 1976)

https://www.jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/woody-shawlouis-hayes-the-tour-volume-one/?v=0b3b97fa6688

Of the great trumpet innovators, Woody Shaw and Booker Little are the two most in danger of being forgotten. Little’s obscurity can be attributed to his early death at 23. Shaw’s case is more complicated. He died at 44, in 1989, after a difficult life. His period of peak creativity was brief, and came in the late 1970s, when the infrastructure supporting acoustic jazz was crumbling.

Shaw’s language incorporated pentatonic scale and fourth interval concepts associated with certain saxophonists (e.g., John Coltrane), not trumpet players. Those intervals, those fearless leaps, and their concomitant adrenaline rushes, are all over The Tour. It comes from a concert in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1976. Shaw plays with such sublime fury you wonder if he was having the night of his life. Apparently not. Producer Michael Cuscuna, a Shaw expert, has said he heard him “at least 200 nights on four different continents” and “never heard him play badly.”

From “The Moontrain” to “Obsequious” to “Ichi-Ban,” Shaw keeps topping himself. His blistering trajectories shoot off in multiple directions but he always connects them, to reveal underlying form. All six tracks are balls-to-the-wall burners. “Sun Bath” starts in a more relaxed backbeat groove but Shaw turns it nuclear. Even Bronislaw Kaper’s “Invitation,” normally lilting, is hardcore and relentless.

 

[Ojai Sam]

George Feyer - Heavenly Echoes of My Fair Lady (1957)

Vinyl Spin of the Day.

Hungarian pianist George Feyer is the Wally Pipp of music. He took his usual summer vacation and lost his 13 year gig at the Carlyle Hotel to Bobby Short. That's too bad, because George put on a lively show, captured live here during Christmas week in 1956 at the Cafe Carlyle which he opened the previous year. The room was decorated and arranged specifically for him.



Feyer's schtick was to reimagine the current Broadway tunes of the day as if they had been composed by Mozart, Bach and their ilk. Between songs, he offered humorous patter that was received very enthusiastically by the Upper East Side glitterati.



RIYL Victor Borge.

Who was Wally Pipp? Ask @Zeeba Neighba. He might even dedicate a podcast episode to Walloping Wally.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Hardin & York - Tomorrow Today (1969, RPM reissue 1994))

Eddie Hardin and Pete York formed this band when they both left The Spencer Davis Group. They fell under the radar in the US but should have done much better. H&Y's infectious, organ-driven R&B sound builds on the slow-burning groove of their former group. RPM worked with Hardin to release this collection with 6 very worthwhile unreleased bonus tracks that deserve to see the light of day.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Mae Barnes - Mae Barnes (1958)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Eddie Fisher - May I Sing To You (1954)

Sure, why not?

If you’re good enough for Liz Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Connie Stevens, who am I to say no?

 

[Zeeba Neighba]

No I didn’t forget Thursday’s yearly playlist yesterday - over yesterday and today have been going through music of 1970 - another great year with 10 hours of excellent music.

 

[axolotl]

Eddie Fisher - May I Sing To You (1954)

Sure, why not?

If you’re good enough for Liz Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Connie Stevens, who am I to say no?

You may not want the whole package.