A good flying bird

Just a few days after my post about spotting four California condors, I encounter the latest development in another fantastic bird story. Cool stuff. I never thought I'd be this interested in rare bird sightings.


FMFM: Essence, John Lewis' album of Gary McFarland pieces. Difficult stuff sometimes. Lewis, McFarland and others tried to fuse classical music with jazz around 1960. Their experiments are often called unsuccessful, but these restless compositions can be very enjoyable. Best cut: "Notions," a screwed-up blues with nice solos from Freddie Hubbard and Jim Hall.

UPDATE: It's not Jim Hall. It's a guitarist with the unlikely name of Billy Bean. But Jim Hall (often heard doing great things with Jimmy Giuffre) is all over the Essence LP.