Larry Wilcox and his Orchestra - Tuff Saxes and Twangy Guitars

Despite the title and cover, this is not a surf/drag album. It's HOT ROD JAZZ, and they actually do a pretty good job of letting you know that; the LP label has it in bigger words than anything else.

So what does that meeeaaaannnn? That means it's fun jazz. Just think of all the other goofy jazz offshoots like Spy Jazz or Crime Jazz. While I think this is actually pretty aptly named, this has more in common with Hugo Montenegro than Charles Mingus, and it's actually pretty diverse. There's a song or two that could almost pass for surf such as the opening track "Big Deuce", his rendition of "(get right down to the real) Nitty Gritty" doesn't lose its funky edge, and "Loddy Lo" is just kind of weird.

So if you're a surf fan should you go ahead and give this a shot? Yeah, I'd say so, it's still got the same sense of adventure to it. I mean, just read the back cover here (which is where you'll find a tracklisting as well)

And a note about ripping: I'd been trying for ages to cut down on my record noise. I usually rip with Shure mx97e cartridge which is pretty widely accepted as a good needle. Despite Sansui's reputation, I switched to an Onkyo reciever like my main unit in hopes that the built-in preamp on the onkyo would smooth it out better. No luck. Then in desperation I swapped in a Stanton needle I had laying around (that I had researched and found to be "not that great"). Believe it or not, here we have a rip without a monster amount of audible pops and record scratches. I feel like I've lost my trademark!

COME N GETTIT