Pharoah Sanders

Track: "Japan" (B1)
Album: Tauhid
Format: LP
Label/info: Impulse AS-9128 stereo, 1967. Inspired by the Tokyo concert trip with Coltrane in the summer of '66.

Caught the man himself this summer at the Atlanta Jazz Fest. Still a major musical and spiritual presence.

John Lee Hooker

Track: "My Love Comes Down For You"
Album: That's Where It's At!
Format: LP
Label/info: Stax STS-2013, 1970. Reissued 1979 as STX-4134. 
For a brief second you would swear that these discordant riffs were by Andy Gill of Gang of Four.

Clifford Jordan Quartet

Track: “Dear Old Chicago” (A2)
Album: Bearcat
Format: LP
Label/info: OJC-494 reissue. Originally Jazzland LP 69 mono/969 stereo, 1962. Four city cats caught in their prime - with Jordan as the gifted, unsung composer. Clifford Jordan (ts), Cedar Walton (p), Teddy Smith (b), J.C. Moses (d).

Johnny Griffin Quintet

Track: "The Message" (A2)
Album: The Little Giant
Format: LP
Label/info: OJC-136 reissue. Originally Riverside LP 1149 (stereo), 1959.
Every now and then you need a real blowing session to shake the cobwebs from your head and woofers. Johnny Griffin (ts), Blue Mitchell (t), Julian Priester (tb), Wynton Kelly (p), Sam Jones (b), Albert Heath (d).

After a brief hiatus, the blog is back...

Aretha Franklin

Track: "Baby, I Love You" (B5)
Album: Aretha Arrives
Format: LP
Label/Info: Atlantic 8150 (mono) / SD 8150 (stereo), 1967. Also Sundazed reissue, LP 5136. Pure happiness in a song, and a family affair with background vocals from sisters Carolyn and Erma -- and of course all that Atlantic magic: Muscle Shoals musicians and Tom Dowd engineering.

Archie Shepp

Track: "There is a Balm in Gilead" (B1)
Album: Blasé
Format: LP
Label/Info: BYG Actuel 529.318 - 180 Gram. Recorded in Paris in 1969 with Art Ensemble of Chicago stalwarts. Jeanne Lee on vocals. Truly sublime.

Johnny Hartman

Track: "Charade" (A1)
Album: I Just Dropped By To Say Hello
Format: LP
Label/Info: Impulse! AS-57 (Stereo) 1964. A particularly tasty track featuring guitarist Kenny Burrell. Up there with with the audiophile ear candy of Dusty Springfield's "The Look of Love."

Neil Young

Track: "Tonight's the Night" (A1)
Album: Tonight's the Night
Format: LP
Label/Info: Reprise MS 2221, 1975. A rocking tribute that contains what is probably my single favorite sung word, "Bruce Berry was a working man. He used to load that Econoline." Sing it with me, Econ-o-line...

Can

Track: "You Doo Right" (side B)
Album: Monster Movie
Format: LP
Label/Info: Liberty/United Artists reissue UAS 29094. Originally released 1969. "Made in a castle with better equipment" in a world and time all its own. Great blindfold test for the uninitiated.

Amanaz

Track: "Khala My Friend" (4)
Album: Africa
Format: CD
Label/Info: Normal Records reissue of the 1975 album.  QDK Media CD 051, 2010. Mastered by Egon. Obscure, but so friendly and familiar that you'll swear you've heard it before. File under Zambian Psychedelia.

Baby Huey

Track: "Listen to Me" (A1)
Album: The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend
Format: LP
Label/Info: Curtom CRS 8007, 1970. Reissue.
If I ever get the chance to head out on the Autobahn with a straight shift and a Blaupunkt, this will certainly be on the mix tape.

Can

Track "One More Night" (3)
Album: Ege Bamyasi
Format: CD
Label/Info: Spoon Remastered Edition 9378-2, 2007. Released 1972. It's only recently that I came to these viscous Can-jams, and this one lingers on the palette like the film of stewed okra.

Them

Track: "I Can Only Give You Everything" (A6)
Album: Them Again
Format: Anything you can find.
Label/Info: Original UK release on Decca; US release on Parrot PA 61008 (mono); PAS 71008 (stereo), 1966. Most will recognize the open-string riff (E-E-A-D) as "Devil's Haircut," but these Irish protopunk lads deserve all the credit for Odelay and bunch of other later influences.

The Kinks

Track: "Stop Your Sobbing" (B5)
Album: You Really Got Me (1st US release)
Format: LP
Label/Info: Reprise R-6143 (mono); RS-6143 (stereo), 1965.
I've always wanted my own '60s cover band just so I could play this. A great British pop song.

Chuck Berry

Track: "Little Queenie" (B1)
Album: Berry is on Top
Format: LP
Label/Info: Chess LP-1435 mono (1959)
Go-go-go and get some CB in your life: a reissue, the Great Twenty-Eight or anything on wax.

Margo Guryan

Track: "Sunday Mornin'" (A1)
Album: Take a Picture
Format: LP
Label/Info: Bell Records 6022 (1968); re-released as Sundazed 5195 (2006)
The inaugural post on a Sunday morning.  Works so well as a single, but even better as the sweet and groovy intro to an under-rated/stated album.