Three reasons why we celebrate Feb. 23 in this house.

Another February 23 has come and gone and this year, as we do every year 'round here, we mark the day by turning our thoughts to Oliver Nelson, Stanley Turrentine and another bloke.

On this day in 1961 Oliver Nelson, composer and saxophonist had assembled one of the great groups in jazz history (Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Roy Haynes, and George Barrow) to record The Blues And The Abstract Truth. To add to the lustre the session took place at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs New Jersey and was overseen by producer Creed Taylor. It would be released on Impulse.

I first came across it when hearing the opening track, Stolen Moments, on a CD given away with a magazine. It stopped me in my tracks and still has the power to do the same today. Richard Cook and Brian Morton in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings describe it as “One of the classics of the period” and I’m not going to disagree.

Later that same day down in New York City but Up At Minton’s Stanley Turrentine’s band of Grant Green, Horace Parlan, George Tucker and Al Harewood were recording a live session for Blue Note. My copy of the two discs is part of Stanley Turrentine – The Classic Blue Note Collection which is an 8 albums on a 4 discs set. Cook and Morton say of this one that “it’s a fine opportunity to hear Stan stretching out with a fine team with some splendid work from Green” and you can’t go far wrong with that.

There you go, then. Two great albums on the two greatest jazz record labels of all time. One day in history.

And the other bloke? Well, 3,350 miles from all of this jazz history being created in a probably less than sunny Darlington, Mrs Sayer Sr was giving birth to number two son and your current correspondent. Dave Sayer