Had some time to kill Monday evening while on a quick work trip to Buffalo and found a great store, Hi-Fi Hits, just outside of Buffalo. Great selection, fair prices, cool staff and they serve beer! What’s not to like? Would have purchased more but was flying home and only had so much room. Love finding new to me places like this when traveling.

Judging from the cover this double CD looks like it was originally released in the mid 60s. However this is the one and only release dating from the late 90s.

Need to go through all these tracks until I can make a final verdict. Is anyone familiar with this Latin tinged Blue Note compilation?

Luckily found a new copy of this for retail

Only learned about this album a few months back and have been hooked on it since

I know it will get a tone poet treatment in October but still made a bid on eBay for this one bc I want to do a comparison when the tp reissue is out. Not his best but still a solid one.

A great album thats really underrated in my opinion

It's funny the circumstances you find records that are "impossible" to find. This didn't come from a boutique NYC record store, or from a Japanese archivist. As a matter of fact this record, which I was next to positive I would never see in person, I pulled out from the back seat of a car.

I met up with a couple who were looking to sell some records they wanted some more info about, and I was assisting them on the grading process, how to evaluate, etc. They sent me some stuff and said they had more they hadn't shown me they were later going to list but haven't gotten around to yet. They had a milk crate in the back of their SUV filled with some dusty records and said "Hey, if you wanted first dibs on these, feel free to take a look".

I don't really buy collections or anything I just am in this for the love of the game. Though, as a former record store employee I'm sure those who do buy collections know the poker face is essential. You can't get excited about what's in front of you, because now the other side has a bit of leverage.
Thankfully, I *don't* buy collections. Because when they opened the car door and the first record sitting front and center in that milk crate was THIS, I just about fell over. The kind of record you see and it forces a reaction from you from how just unlikely it is it's in front of your face.

I gave them a fair price and left a happy, happy man.

For the fellow RVG heads out there, I'm sure you know this is John Gilmore's sole Blue Note. He much later is on some Andrew Hill records, but this is his only top bill. Or double bill, whatever you wanna call it. Gilmore, perhaps more famously, was the right hand man to a certain jazz artist named Sun Ra. So that makes this a VERY interesting Blue Note. Even more fascinating is that while this is a pretty forward hard bop LP, these two gentlemen went on to do some very "out" jazz later down the line. Jordan doing some Strata titles and Gilmore, well, doing some crazy Gilmore work for the Arkestra...

I know it’s heresy to some collectors, but records are meant to be played.* Also, the shape of jazz to come is apparently a right triangle.

*does not apply to more expensive sealed records I own; I embrace my hypocrisy

Holy Grail!

I lit up inside when I unexpectedly found this in a shop. I used to listen to the mp3 version on my player when I first discovered Shakti back in college, feels great to now spin the record!

Grabbed these this week and it’s raining cats and dogs. No reason to go outside. Just sit back and get groovy

A few classics, many less so.

One highlight in particular since it's under the radar :

Herb Geller Featuring Mark Murphy & Earl Jordan – Rhyme And Reason : This is an absolutely enjoyable album IF you like both jazz-funk and aren't allergic to vocals. I tend to like Mark Murphy's poetry/singing quite a bit, so this is really up my street. Shouldn't be an expensive record. Rare groove hunters on a budget should keep an eye for this one. (original German pressing has a 2nd LP with instrumental versions, and is usually a tad more expensive)

Made in Great Britain, spent at least some time in Amsterdam (see top right label on back cover). No idea how it ended up in a thrift shop in Western Washington, but I'm very pleased I found it there. Discogs Listing

Recently posted this for sale. I really don’t want to sell it but I can’t really justify keeping records that pull 4 digits. I sold an Alex Brown - In Search of Love years ago and while it hurt to let it go, it just pulled more than any record would be worth to me. Wanted to share this while I still owned it.

I popped into Love Wheel and emerged $6.00 poorer. I'll probably look for an OG at some point, but this pre-Fantasy, pre-OJC reissue sounds just fine.

Really interesting line-up here. There aren't a lot of recordings of Lorraine Geller or James Clay, so this '57 title is a treat for those two alone. Add early Billy Higgins, and you may take a second look.

Then, of course, there's the kitten....

https://www.discogs.com/release/2658881-Red-Mitchell-Quartet-Red-Mitchell-Quartet