Surprisingly back to Moe Koffman with the Live at George's 2 LP set from 1975

 

The artist was surprisingly popular, and to be honest, seems unfairly forgotten from the CD era on. So I figured I better buy this record, both for the sake of completion, and knowing it will probably never get rereleased.

The usual composers appear: the flautist Moe plus Doug Riley and Don Thompson who contribute a few songs each on this 2-LP set from 1975 at George's Spaghetti Club in Toronto, Canada-- nice name for a jazz venue.  Note that Riley plays on only one track, Don is the principal on keyboards, and the band has been pared down from the magesterial Planets orchestra to the usual jazz outfit, with rhythm section plus guitar, acoustic piano, and Moe on flute and saxes.  However the compositions are strong, perhaps in my opinion maligned by the not unexpected over-lengthy improvisations which always work a bit better in a club when the listeners are attending versus the ADHD of sitting at home on headphones with the ever-present permission of a fast forward button.  Or maybe it's because you can talk with a female and get drunk during those improvs that they don't seem as boring.

Consider Echoes from Before, a Don Thompson chart: