O.K. so maybe I could have dug even deeper, but hopefully you'll appreciate that with the birth of my twin boys, crate diggin' time is limited, so recourse to few old favourites in this selection. Nevertheless it's not exactly obvious unless you're one of those chin stroking jazz snobs. I'd been wanting to do a kind of "pure" jazz show for a while, the criteria could have been even more stringent, I could have outlawed all electric instruments, but I did want to keep some variety.

I can't remember the last time I played something from the Riverside label on the show, so slipping a couple into the first half hour was kind of satisfying, great tunes from Jimmy Heath and Clifford Jordan. Then there's vocals, a scat masterclass from Jon Hendricks, Ann Young tearing up a standard and The Metronomes with silky smooth harmonies.

I also decided to do a mini Prestige feature.... what's the difference between Blue Note and Prestige, a day's rehearsal.... yes it is the kind of ugly sister of classic jazz labels, more "blowing dates" less recording sessions. Yet of course there are some awesome titles in the Prestige catalogue, Frank Wess' "Southern Comfort" is certainly one of those, soul-jazz with a Latin twist and really punchy well balanced recording.

As always the mellow meltdown in the middle is fun to do, it's what radio's for in my opinion. Listening to Duke Pearson's Sweet Honey Bee album again for the first time in ages, the beauty of "After The Rain" left me quite astounded, Pearson was the quintessential Blue Note artist, he acted as an A&R man for Alfred Lion, and composed the timeless "Cristo Redentor" for which he should be duly honoured as it is one of the most beautiful melodies of all time. "After The Rain" comes close to that peak of sublimity. Continuing the rainy theme the Masabumi Kikuchi composition "Drizzling Rain" from his album with Gil Evans is just as beguiling, with a Japanese lyricism, a kind of Jazz haiku. "En Passant" performed by West Coast stalwarts Shelly Manne ands His Men is an early composition by the great John Williams from U.S. tv series Checkmate, Williams' list of film credits is ridiculous , probably the most successful composer of the twentieth century?

All that instrumental grace is followed by a trio of vocal cuts with a morning theme....lushness from Carmen McRae, the brilliant Lorez Alexandria, and Andy Bey ripping some conscious flavour through Gary Bartz NTU Troops leftfoot jazz-funk.

Closing the show the last sequence gets lowdown and funky, and a bit abstract! Drums and basslines, a touch of James Brown in Roy Haynes' "Guadalupe", and some electronic undertow in Julian Priester's " Love Love" which I played just a portion of as it covers a whole side.

Shame that I only squeezed a the first bit of Monette Sudler's "Brighter Days For You" as it takes me back to my early days of The Cosmic Jam all those years ago.... still love it, and the title says it all.

Peace, love and music

P.x

1. Jimmy Heath Orchestra - Big P
2. Jon Hendricks - Good Ol' Lady
3. Benny Bailey - Little B
4. Ann Young & Yuji Ohno Trio - Speak Low
5. Hector Costita - Tokio
6. Mary Lou Williams & Friends - Prologue
7. Clifford Jordan - Bearcat
8. The Metronomes - On Green Dolphin Street
9. Sun Ra - The Others In Their World
10. Tadd Dameron & John Coltrane - Mating Call
11. Frank Wess - Blues For Butterball
12. Charles Earland - Letha
13. Duke Pearson - After The Rain
14. Gil Evans & Masabumi Kikuchi - Drizzling Rain
15. Shelly Manne & His Men - En Passant
16. Carmen McRae - Just A Little Lovin'
17. Lorez Alexandria - Morning
18. Gary Bartz NTU Troop - Rise
19. Doug Hammond - Kone Pone
20. Roy Haynes - Guadalupe
21. Julian Priester - Love Love
22. Byron Pope Speed Of Light - No Boundaries
23. Monette Sudler Sextet - Brighter Days For You