AOW

11 January 2013: Throughout the first half of 2013, I spent most Mondays drinking coffee with my dear friend Chris Guthrie. We first met ten years ago at Capital University. He's the type of guy that you flock to immediately, like a tick latches onto a fawn. I am the parasite in this relationship.

We meet at the same coffee shop we frequented throughout college. Cup O' Joe. It was there that I forced myself to become a coffee drinker (my initial order was iced coffee with four shots of espresso). 

It was also there that "Album of the Week" was born. 

AOW was a highlight of 2013. 

Chris and I have insatiable thirsts for more music. More practicing, performing, listening, writing. It’s never enough. That’s the thing about music. In an effort to dig deeper, we decided to try listening to albums together, one per week. On Sundays we pick and throughout the week we talk. There are no other rules. 

We typically pick albums that are relatively new to us, with a few exceptions. 

Here’s the list so far: 

(M=me, C=Chris)

M, 5/5: Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts, Attitude for Gratitude

C, 5/12: Brian Blade, Mama Rosa

M, 5/19: Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti

C, 5/26: Marvin Gaye, Here my Dear

M, 6/2: B.B King, Live at the Regal 

C, 6/9: Art Blakey, Big Beat

M, 6/16: Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

C, 6/23: Andrew Hill, Judgement

M, 6/30: Chris Thile, Not All Who Wander Are Lost

C, 7/7: Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back 

M, 7/14: Duke Ellington, …and His Mother Called Him Bill

C, 7/21: Bill Evans, Paris Concert, ed. 1

M, 7/28: Tom Waits, Alice

C, 8/4: Bill Evans, Paris Concert, ed. 2

M, 8/11: Andrew Bird, Mysterious Production of the Eggs

C, 8/18: Marc Johnson, Sound of Summer Running

M, 8/25: Medeski Martin Wood, Free Magic

C, 9/1: Robert Glasper, Double Booked

M, 9/8: Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country Music

C, 9/15: Funkadelic, America Eats it’s Young

M, 9/22: Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited 

C, 9/29: Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska 

M, 10/5: Bill McHenry, La Peur du Vide

C, 10/13: Brad Mehldau, House on Hill

M, 10/20: Matt Wilson, Scenic Route

C, 10/27: Darryl Hall, Sacred Songs

M, 11/3: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis

C, 11/10: Marcin Wasilewski Trio, Trio

M, 11/17: Radiohead, Ok Computer

C, 11/24, Novos Bainos, Acabou Chorare

M, 12/1, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Opening Night

C, 12/8, Joe Henry, Reverie 

M, 12/15, Randy Newman, Good Old Boys

C, 12/22, Volcano Choir, Repave 

M, 12/29, Dr. Dog, Easy Beat 

C, 1/5, The Roots, Illadelp Halflife 

These albums act as placeholders for memories, one week at time. 

I have to make my pick tomorrow and I am clueless...

routine musk oxen photo