Concert  5-71-004

This was a charity shop find ($1), in near mint condition. I hadn't heard of Charles Albertine when I saw this; I initially bought this for the McDonnell Douglas advertising on the back. Also, the cover had a Windham Hill vibe that made me curious (see cover photo below).

Albertine, I discovered, was an important composer/arranger in something the wikipedians call "space-age pop," and he worked with many notable musicians. This was his last and only solo album. It's a quite nice New-Agey set with a Classical flavor, a very pleasant listen. It has been digitized and posted on youtube:

Art Hodes: Joy to the Jazz World (1987)

Parkwood Records - PW108

Here's Not on CD's first Christmas music post of 2018. This was a gift from a friend who knows I like Christmas music. It's in great shape. 

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hodes "is regarded by many critics as the greatest white blues pianist, and he was also a noted jazz writer, historian, and teacher."

Though this is a Christmas record, I think I could listen to it anytime because of what Hodes does with these tunes. Some reviews:

"The best album of its sort I've ever heard...one of the Top Ten LPs of the year! --Coda Magazine (1989)

“The Christmas tunes are beautifully executed and jazzed up. Hodes manages to turn 'Silent Night' into a softly swinging quasi-blues, and even “Jingle Bells” works. -- The Penguin Guide to Jazz (1989)

"From the delicate and introspective balladry of "Silent Night" and the bluesy fills of "White Christmas" to the lively, stride-filled accents of "Jingle Bells" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." (Washington Post, 1987)

Greensleeves

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Hagerman Cornet3> harman/kardon CDR2

Rosana Maria Martins: Mozart Sonata In A Major K.331, Sonata In F Major K.332

Connoisseur Society CS-2018 

This was a thrift shop find (99¢), in excellent condition inside and out (and still in the shrink wrap). I always pick up records on the Connoisseur Society label, as the recordings are uniformly excellent. 

A google book search reveals that this was a Stereo Review "RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT"; they gave the performance a "superb" rating. The New York Times wrote "there is a youthful dash and brio to her performance...Miss Martins's fingerwork is pristine, her style is properly galant, and her melodic sense lets the music flow like brook water. The record marks the pianist's debut on disks, and it is a promising one." 

Martins never recorded again (yet!). Update: Ms. Martins passed away in 2020. 

Bill Crofut, Kenneth Cooper: Folk And Baroque (1975)

WC 1001

This was a thrift shop find ($2), in good but not great shape, signed by Crofut and Cooper on the back. 

The baroque tracks may be of more interest than the folk tracks (recorded live) on side 2. 

Bill Crofut passed away in 1999. 

Béla Bartók: Evening In Transylvania

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Project Phono Box S > harman/kardon CDR2

Additional track by request:

Wachet Auf!

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Hagerman Cornet3 > Audacity > MacBook Pro

Mel Tillis: I Believe in You (1978)

MCA-2364

Just returned from a trip to Toronto, where I picked up ten records at the Kop's Records sale, during which the records in the dollar bin were 15 cents (!). All the records were in good to excellent shape, and this one was sealed.

The title track from this album appears on the CD Country Love Songs. The two songs below (and probably the rest of the album) are not on CD.

The Robert Rheims Choraliers: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Sunset Records ST 7708

This is a thrift shop find, a reissue of the original LP, in great shape. This recording doesn't appear to ever have been issued digitally, although unscrupulous LP digitizing sites will sell you a CD of it for $20. 

It has been posted on youtube.

Sam Hinton: 'Tis the Season (1991)

SH Enterprises Tape No. G-2

Continuing with the Christmas theme...

The great Sam Hinton recorded his last album for Folkways in 1972 and didn't record for a label again until Master of the Solo Diatonic Harmonica in 2005. But during the 1980s and 1990s, he recorded three albums of music and sold them through his website – From an East Texas Childhood (1986), Of Frogs and Dogs and Such (1991), and 'Tis the Season (1991). They are still available at his website. So they are available on CD, you just have to know where to look.

All three are excellent albums, and musts for Sam Hinton fans. Below is an excerpt from 'Tis the Season, which I purchased on cassette from Hinton in the 1990s. It arrived in an envelope which Mr. Hinton had addressed in his lovely calligraphy.

Cherry Tree Carol

Yamaha KX-400U, Macbook Pro, Audacity

Christmas Eve With Walt Harper (1974)

Open Pantry ‎– OP-LP 100

I'm a big fan of Christmas music, and I recently got away with a small haul of Xmas LPs from the thrift shop – it looked like someone had donated a collection. This LP was in (dare I say it?) mint condition, opened but still in the shrink wrap. $1.99.

Despite being Open Pantry Food Marts' only known LP release, the recording and pressing quality are both very good. Pittsburgh jazz pianist Walt Harper plays and sometimes sings some of his own arrangements of classic Xmas tunes. It's a great record.

Harper's daughter Sharynn has created a website where you can purchase a CD transfer of this LP, so I won't be posting samples, however, I will link you to the samples at the website.

Purchase a CD transfer here

Samples:
Jingle Bells
The Christmas Song