Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (Riverside, 1958 US Mono pressing)
One of Monk's greatest in my opinion. Supposedly tensions were strained during the recording though, with the title track taking 25 takes to get right and still needing to be spliced from 2 takes. In fact, the recording was so strenuous that Pettiford took to pretending to play after a heated argument with Monk, and Henry almost had a mental breakdown. Still, its a fantastic album and gained great reviews when it was first released.
Jimmy Heath And Brass - Swamp Seed (Riverside, 1963 First Mono Pressing)
One of my favourites from the late great Jimmy 'Little Bird' Heath. The line-up here is insane, with Donald Byd, Herbie Hancock, Julius Watkins, Percy Heath, Albert Heath, Don Butterfield...
This was the first record to hook my eye when browsing VMP a couple of months ago, it looked beautiful. I ultimately wound up signing up with Phrenology through not wanting to miss it but I grabbed this last swaps and am really glad to have it. By all accounts the colour could be considered muted and dull but there's something about it that just works for me. Looks great and sounds the same so far