The story of The Stark Reality's Discovers The Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop begins in Boston the late 1960s,
with a wild jazz - as psychedelic as they were modal, as funky as they were swinging - band based in Boston
landing a deal with Ahmad Jamal's nascent AJP imprint after the legendary jazz pianist
heard their demo recordings.
They had been tasked by the great American songsmith Hoagy Carmichael's son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael, to
create interpretations of the elder Carmichael's children songs for a Mr. Rogers-themed show that the younger
Carmichael was producing for local PBS affiliate WGBH.
The quartet - Monty Stark on vibes, Phil Morrison on bass, Vinnie Johnson on drums and a very young John
Abercrombie on fuzz guitar - recorded an album that flopped upon its initial release and went on to become one
of - as Mojo Magazine noted -
