Art & Memory

I hate BEST OF or TOP X lists. I just like to throw everything I find beautiful into a big bag, toss it over my shoulder and carry it around…

This energetic live album was recorded once both had returned to Brazil from abroad. The sound is a laid back and messy early 70s affair, with the percussion way up in the mix. Smell of grass is in the air, almost as soon as you pull the vinyl from the sleeve.

"What are some essential jazz records I'd like?" I've been asked this question so many times. But gun-to-my-head, here you go.

"There I go, there I go, there I go, there I go..."

I fell in love with early Dinah Washington while living in Austin. Conjuring images of gabardine shirts and slacks, this was music that sounds suburban, in the best possible way.

This is a record I fell very deeply in love with on first hearing, and have been haunted by ever since. Though "haunted" is probably the last word you'd associate with this record--its songs are deliciously catchy and sun-drenched.

Here’s an album title that says nothing. In 1960, pianist and composer John Lewis was signed to Atlantic. During this incredibly prolific stretch, he made 11 albums under his own…

This is one of the great Sunday-at-twilight records, and it’s appropriate that it takes just one click to play the full album on YouTube; it works so well together as…

In 1978, Art Pepper was beginning a fruitful relationship with the Galaxy label, and they very smartly paired him with some of the best players of that or any era. Art Pepper Today is probably the most cohesive record he ever made.

Nana Caymmi’s self-titled album from 1975 features Milton Nascimento’s falsetto vocals on the opening track and is a gorgeous slice of 70s Brazilian pop music or MBP (Música popular brasileira).…