Wow!!! My wife and I went away for four days up to Burlington Vermont, (and stuck our toes over the boarder into Canada. When we left there were 3 responss to this thread... I get back and there are 43! I usually like to respond to messages that are posted, but 40 is just too big a list for me. Most of all, I am pleased (and a little surprised) at how many folkies love jazz) I'm not as surprised that people like the old New Orleans, early blues. traditional jazz mixes. That seems very natural to me. Same with singers like Billie Holliday and Hoagy Carmichael. It all flows together for me. I see fewer people mentioning more "modern" (which is now somewhat old-fashioned, being almost old-fashioned musicians like Mulligan, Brubeck, Coltrane, Monk. After all, we ARE folkies. I haven't seen a single mention of any musician (maybe I've overlooked one) who wasn't recording at least thirty years ago. No mention of people like Roy Hargrove, Josh Redman, Cyrus Chestnut and some of the new "Young Lions." There's an interesting CD of Dave Brubeck, playing with some of the current jazz musicians in their twenties.

Just to respond to some folks who have posted on this thread..

Gioc: You mention several of my favorites... Charlie Mungus, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk and Ella Fitzgerald. I love the Ella and Louis duet stuff, too. My favorite jazz vocalist is a toss up between Ella and Carmen MacRae. Most of the time, I respond more to Carmen because she often recorded with a small combo, which suits my ears better than an orchestra with strings. But, I love Ella, nonetheless.

Mudlark: I knowwww what you like! Mulligan and Desmond.. remember when they were unlike anything we ever heard. Now, some of those modern recordings are almost fifty years old. We must be even older than that. :-)

C-Flat: I knowww what you like, too... There was a time when I was in college when someone came in my room and looked at my modest collection of l.p.s (which cost $3.98) over here. After flipping through them, he said, "You like guitar, I see..." I had Barney Kessell, Sal Salvadore, Tal Farlow, Jimmy Raney, George Van Epps and even lesser known jazz guitar albums... Lou Monte? (on Blue Note.) I wanted to be a jazz guitarist until I realized that it would take work, and I wouldn't sound good unless I have other musicians to play with. George Van Epps was one of my real favorites because he finger-picked a seven string guitar with the seventh string being a deep bass. He was self-contained. If you haven't heard anything by him, I may have to remedy that situation.

Rick: Thanks for the site! Hey, if I ever get the Messengers up to Canada, we will definitely stop over for breakfast... :-)

Art: And I DEFINITELY know what you like. For most of my life, until I ran across Mudlark, you were the only person I could share my love of jazz with, and we overlap almost completely on the music we love... Thanks for sharing it with me all these years.

Kaleaa: Yes, I love the smattering of recordings that combine early jazz, blues and gospel... To hear someone belting out "Come Over Here" with la tuba in the background really gives me a kick. Frankie, one of my friends in the Gospel Messengers, explained the difference between gospel and juke joint music. In gospel you can jump up and down, but don't move your hips sideways... that's what you do in a juke joint. The difference between Holy and Secular music is all in the hips. :-)

Gargoyle: No surprise to see your list... it's all stuff that Art and I have exchanged, over the years.

Genie: A great list of songs for nursing homes... although I've found that many people in nursing homes think that those vintage songs are too new. I always get a kick out of that... I've gone back to Bicycle Built For Two and And The Band Played On, when that happens.

Bill D: Thanks for the link. When I click the blue clicky it says that the message is dead, but I can still pull up lists. I just got a two CD set of old black gospel and spirituals from 78's from venerable records, and while it's hardly "easy listening" it's fascinating stuff.

Thanks to everyone else who chipped in.

Jerry