Some Earl Bostic tonight. One of that illustrious generation of honking sax players who also made the effortless transition from Jazz to Jump Blues and brought a Who's Who of Jazz luminaries along for the ride. This track, the pop standard Moonglow, done in unmistakable Bostic fashion, was recorded in New York on April 2, 1952 and featured Joe Mitchell on Trumpet, John Coltrane on Tenor-sax, Ike Isaacs on Bass and Charles "Specs" Wright on drums.

(Earl Bostic - a virtual who's who of Jazz greats played with him)

A slight departure from the steady diet of psychedelia, post-punk and power-pop. Hey . . .I said it was going to be eclectic!

I think the Jump Blues genre has gotten a bad rap over the years. The precursor to rock n' roll and R&B, the early practitioners of the form had some of the best of the Jazz world in their ranks. The reason was pretty simple. Big Band in the post-war years was fading and it left a lot of musicians out of work and small groups coming into prominence. The venues were becoming less and less and so, in order to stay busy many musicians moonlighted in the recording studio.

I grew up listening to Earl Bostic - his was a completely unique sound, but it wasn't until later that I realized he had some great people on his sessions.

Case in point - this one: "You Go To My Head", the standard done over and over by sweet bands and syrupy vocalists. But in Bostic's hands it rocked. This track, recorded on August 14, 1952 featured Harold Grant, Ike Issacs, "Specs" Wright and John Coltrane. Admittedly, Coltrane doesn't have a bunch to do, but the fact that he's there and participated, as did others like Stanley Turrentine, "Blue" Mitchell, Benny Golson and Earl Palmer, indicates there was much more going on than met the eye.

And in this case, meets the ear.