2013: Highlights of the "A" Train

© Ehsan Khoshbakht

The year 2013 marked a drastic rise in the number of visitors to this blog. For that, I must thank those readers who frequently returned to this venue and I hope what I've offered has been worthy of their time. Since it has become a contagious fad to list the best of this and the worst of that toward the end of the year, I simply provide links to more popular posts on this blog, in case you have missed them.

• These posts, two of them written after passing of Jim Hall and Paul Smith, were widely read:

On Jim Hall

On Paul Smith

On Al Haig

• The most read theme-blogging of the year was my ongoing project about jazz and Iran:

Jazz Mirrors Iran (9 articles so far)

• Most viewed picture:

22 Trumpet Players

• Most viewed discography:

Bethlehem

• Most popular list/best of:

The best American jazz recordings in Paris (studio recordings)

• Most visited/listened playlist:

Jonathan Rosenbaum's jazz playlist

• Most visited video post:

Duke Ellington's second sacred concert

• Most visited posts featuring audio files of classic jazz recordings:

Thelonious Monk feat. Steve Lacy

Bud Powell

Cootie Williams, Coleman Hawkins and Rex Stewart

Buddy Tate and Bud Freeman

• And finally by far, the most popular post of the year:

Duke Ellington in the Middle East

• VHS Project:

Since last October I started posting jazz videos here from my own collection which you can access by following this thread. However, it won't harm if I repeat some of them highlights here, such as this exceptional trumpet summit with Joe Wilder, Snooky Young, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Clark Terry:

Junior Mance and Joe Temperley playing Jeep's Blues is another personal favorite:

A complete broadcast of the Ahmad Jamal Trio in Germany, 1999, was posted some months ago. If you haven't seen it yet, it is highly recommended:

A giant of tenor saxophone for whom I have a very special admiration, whether as a performer or band leader, is Illinois Jacquet. I posted a video of Jacquet's 1998 big band at the Bern Jazz Festival in three parts from which the closing piece featured Mr. Clark Terry:

For the first and second parts of the concert go here and here.

Wish you all a peaceful year.

Ehsan