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Not looking for an out-of-print recording? Let us hear from you anyhow. Hip us to your very first jazz record purchase and/or what over the years has now become your favorite jazz recording. What was your most recent jazz record, tape or CD purchase? As the Be-bop Shop's virtual collection and actual search endeavors continue, maybe some of your favorites might jog our memory; to remind us about an otherwise forgotten treasure.

From time to time we'll feature an all time favorite, and a new release we deem as a candidate for future timelessness...

For openers, we offer Miles Davis' Kind of Blue as the classic pick; available as a Vinyl LP, on Cassette or CD.

This collection and record date is important to jazz history in that each of the musicians was a heavyweight on his own before getting together with Miles. It is also important to note that after leaving the band, each of these musicians went on to make his own respective mark on jazz history. Kind of Blue features Miles on trumpet; Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, alto*; John Coltrane, tenor; Wynton Kelly, piano**; Bill Evans, piano; Paul Chambers, bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Besides jazz legends, the tunes they played have become jazz classics and include So What, Freddie Freeloader (on which WK** plays - Bill Evans on all other tracks), Blue in Green (JA* lays out), All Blues, and Flemenco Sketches.

While this band signed off on a distinct era of jazz sound, Flemenco Sketches was to indicate the direction Miles took with Gil Evans, which brought us Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead and other recordings we'll discuss elsewhere. It should also be noted that long before the Miles Davis and Gil Evans Miles Davis +19 collaboration; these two along with Kai Winding, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis*, Al Haig, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, Kenny Clarke, Gunther Schuller, and Al McKibbon, and others brought us Birth of the Cool, in 1949, and which opened the way for Gerry Mulligan to produce the admirable Re-Birth of the Cool in the early 1990s.

See Birth of the Cool as a gateway to a list of in-print Miles Davis recordings.

We also offer Bobby Hutcherson's recent: Good Vibes Skyline. We agree with our friend Peter Margasak over at StoneSound, that considering the influence and illustrious catalog of vibist Bobby Hutcherson, it's stone astounding how few recordings Bobby made in the 1990s. "Skyline redresses the problem in a big way. He may no longer be blazing creative trails but his craft remains peerless."

Skyline features Bobby on vibes; Kenny Garrett, saxophone; Christian McBride, bass; Geri Allen, piano, and Al Foster on drums. Also, if you click to the StoneSound.com page, you can hear excerpts from five of the nine Skyline tunes.

While you're waiting, hear the cascading Movements soundclip from Components.

You need the player to listen.

See The Kicker as a gateway to a list of in-print Bobby Hutcherson recordings.