Basement Crates: "Jazz" Tuesday

Jimmy Smith: In Search of Truth (Delta, 1980)
Neither of these tracks are really jazz at all. This wonderful Jimmy Smith track is, basically, a done-in-one-take blues vamp and the Emperor's New Clothes choon is consensually funkual, breakbeat dub with some silly noises on it. But I love both of them dearly, despite not having heard either of them for a Very Long Time indeed (hang on a minute, that's probably why I lo... etcetc). Eagle-eyed readers will notice that this is the later Milan pressing from 1989 - oh yes. Anyhoo, this was originally from the Lalo Schifrin soundtrack to Battlecreek Brawl (also the title of a fantastic track by Brit hip hop chaps, Gunshot) and it is, literally, really good.

The Emperor's New Clothes: Nature Never Repeats Itself (Acid Jazz, 1993)
I think I might start a strand where I just collect together vintage press releases. Then again, maybe I'll just throw myself out of a window and be done with it. 15 years ago, this sort of thing was - to my ears - incredibly wonderful and strange. It still sounds pretty good to me, but this sort of ambient dub has, sadly, been cheapened by being whacked on every TV ident between here and a thousand years in the future. Whatever, this is still a great record. It never really happened for TENC - if you're out there, get in touch...

Hello Old Thing, Hello Even Older Thing: 4

Turnstyle: Trot (Pye, 1968)
Psych-pop breakbeat diggers don't seem to have got as far as this sneery, nose-thumbing piece of proto-punk grooviness yet - at least, not to my knowledge. The picture, you'll notice, features the A-Side, but this, surely, deserves some wider attention (like the 18 people who look here once a month)? Unsure of what it's really trying to be, Trot never really fuses into the sort of thing that the milkman will whistle, but it's a great reminder of what excellent silliness could be obtained by sticking some herberts in a studio, filling them full of Tizer and pressing Record.


Buddy Rich Quartet feat Flip Phillips: Broadway (Verve, 1958)
I'll tell you what, that Buddy Rich bloke was alright at the drums, wasn't he? This features the great Ronnie Ball on piano. That's what I love about jazz records - you can say, "the great Ronnie Ball" and people sort of go, "Yeah, Ballie was the business" when, in reality, no one's ever heard of him before (apart from geh, naturally). Anyway, there's much more of this here. Innit.

People You Don't Immediately Associate With West Yorkshire: 1

Louis Armstrong.