It's funny how these traditions get started. First it was Words of the Week. Now it's Jazz Fridays. Last Friday I brought one of my favorite jazz recordings into the office: Cannonball Adderly's Somethin' Else. It quickly made the rounds at the office and was eventually returned on Monday morning. At least one copy was purchased over the weekend by a convert to this incredible recording. The personnel have something do with it: in addition to the ostensible bandleader, the session featured Mile Davis on trumpet, Hank Jones on piano (more on him in a minute), Sam Jones on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. And the playing is so joyous and relaxed that it's hard not to like what you hear. All in all, truly somethin' else.
This week there was a call for more, so I brought in Abbey Lincoln's 1991 release You Gotta Pay the Band -- another of my favorites, with some delectable playing by Stan Getz on saxophone (his final studio recordings) and Hank Jones on piano, not to mention fine songwriting and singing by Lincoln herself (I especially love the haunting tune "Bird Alone").
So it seems that another tradition may be forming here. Unfortunately I own fewer jazz CDs than there are words in English, so I'm not sure how long I can keep this up....