When you get up in the morning, you must have a song - Ray Charles

Friday, June 6, 2014

Wardell Gray - Central Avenue


A friend asked me to repost this lp. It was a perfect opportunity to revisit it as well and I thought it was so fantastic that I decided to revise my much earlier post and give it it's due right here.

 Wardell Gray came of age in that special time between swing and bop. It was the west coast and things were as far out as they were back east just yet. Gray's easy tone and swinging feel make this a delight to listen to. Too bad his early demise relegated him to obscurity to all but hardcore jazz fans.

Other than a couple of alt versions this lp was also released as Wardell Gray Memorial Album. With the additional tracks it will no longer fit on a snigle disc so....
The first disc worth of tracks are the same as the memorial lp, you can skip them if you have a copy.


1. Twisted
2. Southside
3. Sweet Lorraine
4. Scrapple from the Apple
5. Move
6. A Sinner Kissed An Angel
7. Blue Gray
8. Grayhound
9. Treadin'
10. April Skies
11. Bright Boy
12. Jackie
13. Farmer's Market
14. Sweet and Lovely
15. Lover Man
16. The Man I Love
17. Lavonne
18. So Long Broadway
19. Paul's Cause


This bonus disc is the bomb! The first 3 tracks are the unissued sessions from Central Ave. "The Great Lie" is from an IAJRC release. "Stoned" is on a Mainstream comp. The last track is actually Gray's first ever release.

1. Twisted (alt.)
2. Easy Living (alt.)
3. Southside (alt.)
4. The Great Lie
5. Stoned
6. The Chase - Dexter Gordon's All Stars
7. Relaxin' at Camarillo
8. Cheers
9. Carvin' The Bird
10.Stupendous
11. Easy Living



There ya go. The whole shebang! A much better post than the first time around.

4 comments:

Hookfinger said...

Central Ave - https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/0457n7


Bonus - https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/rc6gyz


Be nice, it's late and I struggled to put this together right. As it is a left off a track I wanted to include.

indigonoir said...

Great album Dave. This album pumps! Totally unexpected.

Muff Diver said...



Thanks, Hook, for both of these!

Otis Foster said...

Great share, hook - I didn't have the bonus tracks.