Creed Taylor Produced

If you played or enjoyed the Christmas mix, I have hours more listening for you. I’m trying to close out a few longish research projects over the holidays, and as much as I have some 43,000 tracks on my music server, sometimes I just like it when someone takes over the programming. Radio doesn’t do it for me.

T’ For Christmas?

First, I’m working on an article about Jack Teagarden and his work with Creed Taylor. Oh yes, he did. Here, courtesy of the Internet Archive, is a copy of Jack’s 1954 “Christmas Song.” It’s from a pretty obscure 10″ LP containing just four tracks, released on an even more obscure Urania Records. “The New Jack Teagarden Plays and Sings Volume II.”

It is available on some streaming services.

The track is interesting in so much as it’s an appearance of Jack with Milt Hinton on bass, Lucky Thompson on tenor sax and Ruby Braff on trumpet, a classic grouping. Interestingly on the Urania vinyl there is no credit for a vibes player, who actually gives the track it’s Christmas-sound.

Teagarden’s singing voice is often described as smooth and rich, with a natural, relaxed delivery that makes his performances heartfelt and compelling. Some of his standout vocal performances include songs like “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “Basin Street Blues,” which showcase his distinctive voice and emotive expression, both of which are included in stereo on the Taylor-produced Verve albums.

One Cool Yule

The next two offerings both come from “Radio FREE Crocket.” A voluminous poster and archiver on the Internet Archive, here are three separate Christmas mixes, totaling 5 hours and 41 minutes of music. I particularly like the “Soul of Christmas,” which was what prompted me to put this post out today. If you have a music player that supports .m3u playlists, you can just play from here.

Lost & Found

If you are already sick and tired of Christmas music, then this massive jazz mix collection is for you.

To be honest, I’m a bit conflicted about this set of shows. For anyone who follows online streaming services, I did and do, but not frequently; jazz Italian DJ Massimiliano (Max) Conti (from Pescara, Italy), a.k.a. Jazzcat, has produced hundreds of jazz music mixes covering most genres and styles. Jazzcat has had a series called “Lost & Found”—to be honest, I had a hard time syncing up the released mixes with those posted on the Internet Archive by “Radio Free Crocket” but they do appear to be from Jazzcat.

Jazzcat can be found on Mixcloud and Totally Wired Radio.

Again, here is an m3u playlist file you can download and play on your player. I have this playlist stored on my Lyrion Music Server and can stream it to an individual room or synchronize it around the house. The total run time is a staggering 17-hours 40-minutes. The first “Lost & Found” starts out with Pharoah Sanders “Love”.

This playlist will save your position and resume when you press start, even across sessions – Also, no there isn’t a Lost & Found-10.

Enjoy, coming soon a look at Creed Taylor’s “East Coast Jazz” series, Jack Teagarden and more.

Have a great holiday and Christmas. – ++Mark. at ctproduced.com