LATEST ADDITIONS

Lou Donaldson playfully skids into a few bars of David Rose’s “Holiday For Strings” mid-solo during a cover of the Kelmar/Ruby standard “Three Little Words,” indulging himself in a bit of shtick popular back when jazz could be lighthearted, studious and physical. Sonny Rollins was and is a deft practitioner of the off-handed musical quote as are and were many of the other jazz greats of a bygone era. It’s rarely done today. Jazz is more serious and cerebral, unless it gets goofy as the drummer Matt Wilson sometimes can get.

From the NAIM archives comes this triple LP/double CD set, originally issued as two, long out of print, individual CDs, featuring Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, featuring Saxophonist Ernie Watts, pianist Alan Broadbent and the late, great drummer Billy Higgins on one session and the great, not late Paul Motian on the other.

Let the Blue Note reissue riot continue! Fans of the cool, bluesy, gospely Blue Note sound can’t help but feel blessed at the output, whether from Classic in mono or from Analogue Productions and Music Matters in stereo.

“Body snatching” aliens invade earth and disappear among the populace. Someone discovers that playing Black Sabbath’s song “Paranoid” causes the aliens to melt. It’s mankind’s only hope for survival. But not any version of “Paranoid” works: only pure analog ones do—either on vinyl or tape. Used copies become scarce. Turntable sales rise…

From that premise author Mitch Myers conjures up detailed and often hilarious scenarios, capping the vignette with a surprise ending sure to elicit a physical reaction.