King Richard's Fluegel Knights

Artist: King Richard's Fluegel Knights

LP: Something Super!

Song: "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf"
[ listen ]

Here's some lively "sheer adult enjoyment" for a warm and sunny Friday morning in Seattle. There's no release date listed on this record, but judging by some of the songs (1964's "Goin' Out of My Head," 1966's "Georgy Girl") and by that wacky thing on King Richard's face, I'd say this LP probably came out sometime between 1966 and 1968. You can find a review on the AllMusic website here that knocks "Something Super!" down a few notches to something "superfluous, but not bad!"

Shorty Rogers

Artist: Shorty Rogers

LP: Gospel Mission

Song: "Joshua's Saxes"

[ listen ]

Here's one of my favorite records I found in Bellingham when I was there for the turn of the New Year just over four months ago. According to his page on Wikipedia, after performing with the likes of Stan Kenton and Woody Herman, Shorty Rogers hung up his trumpet (and probably his flugelhorn too) in the early 1960s and stopped playing jazz, while he focused on composing and arranging instead (he contributed music to episodes of "Starsky and Hutch" in the show's 4th season). Shorty's "Gospel Mission" LP was released in June of 1963, so it was likely one of his last before a long break (thankfully, he returned to performing in the early 1980s). There's a terrific four-part interview from 1983 with Les Tomkins here, where you'll learn everything you've ever wanted to know about Shorty Rogers but were afraid to ask.

[ Shorty Rogers: April 14, 1924 — November 7, 1994 ]