My latest find. What's yours?

Here's the "Dirty Dozen" from the last few weeks of thrift shop picking. 1. "Cinema", Philp Aaberg (solo piano) on Winham Hill Records. 2. "New Jazz Conception", Bill Evans Trio on Riverside Records. 3. "Sunday at the Village Vandguard", Bill Evans Trio (Scott Lafaro on bass and his last recording) on Riverside Records. 4. "Conferring with the Moon", William Ackermann on Winham Hill Records. 5. "Give Him Cornbread, Live!", the late great Beau Jocque and his Zydeco Hi-Rollers on Rounder. 6. "Tales from the Acoustic Planet Vol. II - The Blue Grass Sessions", Bela Fleck and a major band on Warner. 7. "Tone Poems", Alex Lasarenko (self produced). 8. "Robert Burns the Complete Songs, Vol. I on Linn Records (what else). 9. "Blue Light Til Dawn", Cassandra Wilson on Blue Note. 10. "Playground", Michael Petrucciani on Blue Note. 11. "TXAI", Milton Nascimento on Columbia. 12. "Mexican Baroque", Chanticleer Symphony on Warner/Europe. These are all mint CD's and each and every one of them is a great listen. The total cost (for all) was approx. $30, so if you have the time, get out there and support your local charity thrift shops and pick up some new and unusual music while doing so.

The Quincy Jones-Sammy Nestico Orchestra, "Basie & Beyond". My wife thinks that it sounds like Las Vegas music, but I like it (good players and a nice swing). The copy that I have is an album advance on CD, so I don't have any notes on who the players are. Also picked up a Billy Vera & Beaters CD. I don't know if they ever really made it big, but they were a great local LA band in the early 80's and put on a fun show. They used to let you walk in free at the Troubadour at around midnight and I would check these guys out every chance that I got.

Here are a couple of odd ball CD's that are both great. The first is "Nancy Wilson, Two Shows Live, at McCabes Guitar Shop", on Epic. The recordings were done in 1996 and this is the Nancy Wison, from Heart, playing acoustic guitar and singing with, at the most, a couple of backup singers on some of the songs. Good recordings as well. If you want to be gross consider it "Heart Unplugged". The second is "Jazz A Saint Germain", on the Higher Octave Jazz label. It is billed as being a tribute to the free spirit of Paris in the 50's and one of the selections is a duet by Francoise Hardy (a very poplular French singer for those who are not familiar with her) and Iggy Pop. There are many foreign artists on this CD that are new to me, but this one is a real killer and would make good party music as well. It was done in 1997 and the copy that I picked up was punched as a cut out, so look for it fast before it either fades away or becomes a collectors item.