American

Kamakiriad (1993)

Fagen’s road-trip concept record, heard properly for the first time — and maybe better than The Nightfly.

Waltz for Debby (1962)

Purple 180g, the new stylus, and one of the great live recordings.

Gettin' to It (1995)

Diverse, a lot of fun, and probably my favourite McBride.

Pretzel Logic (1974)

A tired pressing of a great record, and the problem of telling 1974 from forty years of somebody else’s stylus.

Frontiers (1983)

A no-skip first side, gauzy engineering, and eighties drums that deserved better microphones.

Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits

A Christmas gift, and an argument for the album as texture rather than playlist.

Cornerstone (1979)

Styx as glam, and the Broadway impulse starting to show.

Red Clay (1970)

My winter playlist has finally come to an end with Freddy Hubbard’s 1970 offering.

Kind of Blue (1959)

Miles Davis’ 1959 album has a reputation. One that is earned.

Blue Train (1958)

An old classic from a young John Coltrane hits differently now that I’m old.

Back at the Chicken Shack (1963)

Man, this is some pretty cool jazz from 1963. Jimmy Smith shows us how the Hammond organ is played.

Idle Moments (1965)

Grant Green offers a lovely idle from 1965.

One Flight Up (1964)

A little more Dexter Gordon, as composer and band leader.

Page One (1963)

A little more Joe Henderson, as composer and band leader.

Song for My Father (1965)

My second constellation album: Cannonball Adderley’s 1958 stunner, with help from Miles Davis.

Moanin’ (1958)

My second constellation album: Cannonball Adderley’s 1958 stunner, with help from Miles Davis.

Somethin’ Else (1958)

My second constellation album: Cannonball Adderley’s 1958 stunner, with help from Miles Davis.

The Sidewinder (1964) Redux

Lee Morgan’s 1964 hit album revisited.

“True Companion”

Donald Fagen’s “True Companion” blends early-’80s sci-fi melancholy with the ancient pulse of Homer.

Journey in Satchidananda (1971)

Alice Coltrane helped celebrate my system upgrade: good-bye to the problematic Gold Note, hello, PS Audio.

The Nightfly (1982)

A true Fagen classic from the ’80s and his first solo album.

Feels So Good (1977)

Chuck Mangione just died, so there’s nothing else to do but listen to Feels So Good.

The Sidewinder (1964)

Listening notes on Lee Morgan’s 1964 hit album—man, what a record.

Joshua Judges Ruth (1992)

Some notes on my favorite album from Lyle Lovett. Give it a shot: it’ll make you feel good.

Rickie Lee Jones (1979)

Some thoughts about Rickie Lee Jones’ eponymous debut. Someone tell me why it took me so long to discover this album.

“Crash”

David Byrne channels J. G. Ballard in 1994.