Shelly Manne, Barney Kessel & Ray Brown - The Poll Winners

I had so much fun listening to this after I dug through RYM and found it today. It was a pretty mild and cool overcast evening here in the Metroplex and I just threw it on in my room with the windows open and everything. No record was more perfect for the moment.

Instrumentally, it's a pretty rhythmically driven jazz work. The "high-end" of this, if you will, ('cause there's no syrupy aerophone instruments to glue each song's flow together) is Barney Kessel's guitar, which effortlessly floats over this upbeat, swingy grouping of bass and drums. Granted, the record's best moments are in its subtleties and lyrical play, but all of that just is so freaking INTERESTING to pay attention to and follow along.

This did not feel boring for a second. The sweetest 40 minutes I've spent with an album in a very long while.

B+