In the spirit of jimmy smith recording with taj mahal, dr john etc also van morrison in san fran what's the best blues meets jazz albums. (or jazz meets blues)
The early 70's live album "Jazz Blues Fusion" by John Mayall was cool. Blue Mitchell and Freddie Robinson were on it. I've also liked some of the Duke Robillard stuff that I've heard.
I vote for Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue" it is right on, you can learn a lot about bass playing and music from that LP (that's what came befor CD's for you young folks.)
I think that the types of things that you're looking for are more like, in no particular order:
Oscar Peterson
Monty Alexander
Gene Harris
Most things on the Pablo label
Groove Holmes
Stanley Turrentine
Grant Green
Wes Montgomery
Count Basie
Jack McDuff
Ray Brown
Phineas Newborn
. . . and the quintessential "Parker's Mood" by Bird Himself -- slow blues filtered through the lens of jazz genius.
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"We can give to those who listen to the essence the best of what we are. But to do that, at each stage we have to keep on cleaning the mirror." -- John Coltrane
Great list, Ray. Everybody, go out of your way to hear Phineas Newborn if you haven't. He didn't get the recognition he deserves. It's fun to watch folks' reaction the first time they hear him.
This is the kind of stuff I was raised on. And just a starter list. There were a lot of players who followed that path.
An interesting side note. Phineas's kid lives in Park Slope. He's a dancer/singer on Broadway. He stops out to my outdoor gig pretty regularly with his wife and daughter.
