It is so rare now to hear Collaboration West (1953), I was listening to ‘Margo’ a little earlier. So staggeringly beautiful, isn’t it?

Written by vibist Teddy Charles, who plays piano on the track, after rooting around online if you ever see this album neglected, sun bleached, and looking wan in a deserted record shop some unairconditioned afternoon smile instead the day away. It will happen, eventually, trust me.

A member of the Jazz Composers’ Workshop (1953-1955) along with Charles Mingus and Teo Macero, Teddy led his own sessions for Prestige and Atlantic among other labels and was a producer at Bethlehem.

In a signal and not to mention dramatic career change, although he already knew a thing or two about boats, Capt’n Ted set sail for the Caribbean, and lived to the ripe old age of 84. 

“If you’re on the sea, you have your own vessel that only you put together, your own crew. You work with the sea, or you lose,” he told the New York Times.