Earl's Court — 88 Keys | Jazz Piano on Vinyl | Monk · Bud Powell · Bill Evans · Keith Jarrett & more

Today’s theme: Thirteen records, one instrument. Modern jazz piano from Thelonious Monk's first sessions as a leader in 1947 to Keith Jarrett alone on stage in Cologne in 1975. Covering bebop’s architects, trios, breaking into modal and open forms, and couple of solo performances to close. Monk and Bud Powell set the terms: Monk's angles and space, Powell's speed and density. Herbie Nichols, whom Alfred Lion ranked alongside Monk, cut his Prophetic sides in 1955 with Art Blakey on drums. The middle of the set belongs to the trio. Horace Silver pares his quintet down for The St. Vitus Dance. Brubeck opens Strange Meadow Lark alone and out of tempo before the quartet comes in. Bill Evans plays with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian on Trio 64, and Ray Brown's bowed bass opens the Oscar Peterson Trio's You Look Good to Me (as a side note, this Acoustic Sounds series is one of the best sounding records in my collection, incredible pressing from Ryan K. Smith) Herbie Hancock strips out horns and opts to go with Paul Chambers and two percussionists on Inventions & Dimensions. Andrew Hill runs two basses at once on Smoke Stack. McCoy Tyner, two years out of the Coltrane quartet, makes his Blue Note debut with Joe Henderson, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones. It ends with nobody else in the room: Monk at Fugazi Hall in San Francisco, October 1959, recording solo without an audience, and the closing passage of Jarrett's improvised Cologne concert, January 1975, here from a 1983 Japanese ECM pressing. Recorded 24-bit direct from the Little Bear T11 phono stage and Fosi Box X4. The 300B Boyuurange A50 is playing in the room throughout. Decks: Rega Planar 3 (AT VM745ML) and Technics SL-1500C (AT VM95ML). I’ve done some work on my setup recently, so coming soon will be a new phono preamp to replace the Fosi Box, and hopefully less some of the hum on the T11. Tracklist 00:00 — Thelonious Monk — 'Round Midnight (A1) · Genius of Modern Music Vol. 1, Blue Note 03:18 — Bud Powell — Un Poco Loco (A3) · The Amazing Bud Powell Vol. 1, Blue Note 07:14 — Herbie Nichols — The Third World (A1) · The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1 & 2, Blue Note 11:33 — The Horace Silver Trio — The St. Vitus Dance (A2) · Blowin' the Blues Away, Blue Note 15:41 — The Dave Brubeck Quartet — Strange Meadow Lark (A2) · Time Out, Columbia 23:07 — Bill Evans — A Sleepin' Bee (A2) · Trio 64, Verve 28:41 — The Oscar Peterson Trio — You Look Good to Me (B1) · We Get Requests, Verve 33:34 — Herbie Hancock — Succotash (A1) · Inventions & Dimensions, Blue Note 41:28 — Andrew Hill — Smoke Stack (A1) · Smoke Stack, Blue Note 46:36 — McCoy Tyner — Passion Dance (A1) · The Real McCoy, Blue Note 55:34 — McCoy Tyner — Search for Peace (B2) · The Real McCoy, Blue Note 1:02:00 — Thelonious Monk — Pannonica (B2) · Thelonious Alone in San Francisco, Riverside 1:05:52 — Keith Jarrett — Part IIc (D) · The Köln Concert, ECM #JazzPiano #JazzOnVinyl #PianoTrio