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I just received an appreciative comment from Sy Wedis - a fan of West Coast Revivalist Jazz - Lu Watters, Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy & Co - for a side put up on this channel several years ago. This upload is a 'Thank You' to him - because his message reminded me that I had not played many Watters discs lately. This would never do! So we dug out another of our favourites - 'Royal Garden Blues' - made in 1950. To use an ancient phrase, they don't play this tune - they 'whip it to death'. But that doesn't matter, because 'Royal Garden' is such a great standard that it will be perfectly OK tomorrow. 8^) Though I doubt whether it will ever be played again with such monumental assurance, such scope, such laconic bravura. Watters' four solo choruses are an object lesson (IMHO) that 'Less is More'. They build for sure; but they also lead perfectly into two more ensemble choruses which attain sheer musical intensity which could never be replicated today - don't ask me why! I first heard it from a dreadful-sounding Columbia 'Clef' EP back in about 1960 & loved it sraight away. This Mercury 78, though compressed, is vastly superior, and has been put up in binaural, because if a 78 comes over OK in binaural, there is more subtle detail available. Of course, YouTube 'enhances' the audio of its uploads. What it will sound like when you hear it, I don't know; but the .wav file sounds pretty good down here! Long Live West Coast Revivalist Jazz!