Theres no other way to put it. Masayoshi Takanaka is the man. 

If you look at his biography on https://takanaka.com/en/profile it would indeed come off as very modest, but don't get it twisted, with a career over 50 years and…

If you've been following for a while (thank you) you will know that I am a huge Donald Byrd fan. I think his writing and willingness to try new things is not only inspirational but essential in music and life…

While Lee Morgan may get well deserved respect for his chops, few words are spoken about how great of a composer he was too. Especially while he was Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, he could hold his own with Wayne…

Tina Brooks came from the R&B band tradition and did not have as much recording dates as i'm sure he would've liked but the stuff he did record is excellent including this album as a leader! 

This was sort of…

Thanks again to all the wonderful archivists and collectors who do the dirty work and unglamorous sorting for the love of game. It is because of these wonderful people that we get unearthed hidden gems like this 3 album compilation…

  "Horace Parlan worked with Rahsaan Roland Kirk's quartet from 1963 to 1966. One of their earliest road gigs was at a small club in Cincinnati. They arrived to find only an organ in the joint, an instrument which Horace has…

Roy! Haynes!

“.. that ‘Shulie a Bop’ with Sarah Vaughan  , which was in 1954 – where she introduces the trio in the song and just before she says my name I say, “Bap!” And she says “Roy!” I say…

“THE best way I can characterize Donald,” says the trumpeters friend and colleague, Herbie Hancock “is that he thinks forward all the time. You can notice this in his albums, for one example. On each one, he gets into something…

Fats Waller was born on May 21st 1904. Fats Waller is one of the greatest stride piano players of all time. Fats Waller is one of the greatest composers of all time. Even though he died tragically at 39 due…

Guys I can't stress this enough, if you make a record, you should also release the damn record too.

"This is another one of those Blue Note big brain decisions where after the success of Morgan’s 1963 album The Sidewinder …

Ah Donald Byrd what can be said that hasn't been said already. One of the greatest to ever do it. He in my humble opinion should be up there with some of the finest American composers of any music style.

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“I think I have my own style now, my own sound and my own approach. Everybody's always pointing at some alto player and saying, ”Theres the new Bird." I Don't want that. There was only one Bird, of course, and…

Add Jack Wilson + a stunning Blue Note backline at VGs studio = One of the finest hard bop albums i've ever heard. This album is so underrated that i'll be basically transcribing the whole thing because it's that good…

 Despite not being thought of as much in the great trumpet tradition. Johnny Coles for lack of a better term is still one of the most “romantic” players out there. Nat Hentoff described Coles as “an intensely personal, thoughtful and…

“Carolyn”: “Lee, who is Carolyn??” One of those difficult questions the song’s composer, Lee Morgan, would probably rather not have been asked by his long-term girlfriend, who’s name happened to be Helen. Especially when it is…