Oscar Pettiford is my favorite bassist; while Mingus has the most creative music, no one can play music on a bass like Pettiford.
Those tunes are my favorites by Oscar Pettiford; they remind me of the first time I heard them, it was when I was a teenager in the Summer of 56 on the South side of Chicago. I lived with my older cousin who bought several jazz albums every week.
Since I was a teenager, I couldn't participate in the night life, but that didn't stop me from fantasizing. "Bohemia After Dark"; just after dark when light through the windows of the skyscrapers began to shine, was when my fantasy began. I imagined all the pleasures the hip people were indulging in, and the day I would join them.
Sweet memories of the "Southside" always come back when I hear those tunes, even when I hear them like I've never heard them before. I walked down 65th street to Lake Michigan everyday for a swim, and in the process passed open windows with music blaring out of them. That was an adventure; jazz out of this window, doo wop out of that window, Blues out of the window further on. There was never a dull moment on the Southside, not even when peacefully walking down the sidewalk.