Jazz Vinyl Give-Away: Dexter Gordon on Blue Note
Feb 28, 2010 Blue Note, Free Collectibles
Time to complete our latest give-away contest. It’s been so long perhaps some of you, like me, had forgotten what we are giving away. Here it is: Dexter Gordon, Blue Note LA393-H2. This is part of the Blue Note Re-Issue Series from 1975. It is a double LP and it is still in its original factory seal. The record is a compilation of some of Dexter’s best work on Blue Note, starting with selections from Dexter Calling in 1961 and extending to Gettin’ Around in 1965. As always, the rules to be eligible for the give-away are simple: All you have to do is comment on the Jazz Collector site during the course of the contest and you are put in the pool of names. That’s it. I am also pleased to report that the number of comments and commenters on the site has reached record-high numbers and we have
Tags: Dexter Gordon
Win a Free Collectible: Dexter Gordon On Blue Note
Feb 11, 2010 Blue Note, Free Collectibles
There’s been a lot of Blue Note chatter on Jazz Collector lately, and some Dexter Gordon chatter as well, so, as I was looking on my shelves for a suitable item for the next giveaway, I was pleased to come across this: Dexter Gordon, Blue Note LA393-H2. This is a double LP from 1975, issued by United Artists as part of Blue Note Reissue series. It consists of a variety of Dexter’s work, stretching from his first album as a leader on Blue Note, Doing All Right, up to the 1965 date the produced Gettin’ Around. I wouldn’t have purchased this LP when it came out, since my sole interest was collecting original pressings, but somewhere along the way I picked up this copy and, in fact, it is
Tags: Dexter Gordon, Jazz Vinyl
Free Duke Jazz Vinyl: The Winner Is . . .
Feb 8, 2010 Free Collectibles
I was so busy having my Blue Note existential crisis last week I forgot to end the contest for the latest giveaway: Duke Ellington, Ellington at Newport, Columbia 8648. This is not an original pressing but is a later stereo issue that’s in near mint, unplayed condition. As always with our giveaways we have one copy that will go to a Jazz Collector reader who has commented on the site during the contest’s duration. This week we have a lot of newcomers to the competition, which is great. Traffic has been building pretty steadily on the site and we are now able to tally our monthly page views in the tens of thousands, believe it or not. In any case, those eligible for the Duke LP are:
Tags: Columbia Records, Duke Ellington
Jazz Vinyl Giveaway: Duke At Newport
Jan 19, 2010 Free Collectibles
It’s time for our next contest to give away a free record, and here’s the record: Duke Ellington, Ellington at Newport, Columbia 8648. This is a classic jazz LP, featuring the famous Paul Gonsalves solo on Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue from the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, which was actually held in Newport, RI in those days. Many in the media actually credited this performance with helping to revive Ellington’s career. This is not an original pressing, but is a later stereo reissue. It is in near mint condition, for both the record and the cover, and it is being make available free to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. As always with out contests, the rules are quite simple: All you have to do to be eligible to win this record is to
Tags: Columbia Records, Duke Ellington, Jazz Vinyl, Newport Jazz Festival, Paul Gonsalves
Dave Brubeck LP: And The Winner Is . . .
Jan 14, 2010 Free Collectibles
Time to complete our latest giveaway contest. As you may recall, we are giving away a copy of the following record: The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Music From West Side Story and Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra, Columbia 8257. This is a reissue, very nice pressing, of the album Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein. We offered it in recognition of Brubeck being chosen as a recent recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. Did anyone happen to catch the broadcast? It was actually very warm and touching and the musical tribute was pretty good, featuring, among others, John Faddis, Bill Charlap and Brubeck’s sons. After the tribute I asked my wife and son: “So who do you think wrote Take Five?” They looked at me like I was nuts: “Dave Brubeck, of course.” It’s just the way these things go, I suppose. Most people also assume Duke Ellington wrote Take The A Train. In any case, we are ready to give away this very nice Brubeck LP. As always, the criteria for the giveaway are simple: To be eligible
Brubeck Honored: Kennedy Center & Jazz Collector
Dec 28, 2009 Free Collectibles
Time for our next giveaway. Here’s the record: The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Music From West Side Story and Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra, Columbia 8257. This is a reissue, very nice pressing, of the album Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein. We are offering it in recognition of Brubeck being chosen as a recent recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. The broadcast of the event will be tomorrow evening in the States, on CBS. They usually keep it a surprise as to who the performers will be, but CBS has put up a brief video on You Tube with Brubeck’s four sons playing Blue Rondo A La Turk from the seminal Take Five album. We’re sure it will be quite moving, especially since the actual event took place on Dec. 6, Brubeck’s 89th birthday. As for the Jazz Collector giveaway:
Tags: Columbia Records, Dave Brubeck, Kennedy Center Honors, Leonard Bernstein
Jazz Vinyl Giveaway, Miles Davis, The Winner Is . . .
Dec 27, 2009 Free Collectibles
A belated merry Christmas to all, and so it is time for our latest Jazz Collector give-away. The item is this: Miles Davis, Milestones, Columbia 9428. This is not an original 6-eye pressing, but is a nice later stereo copy in near mint condition. We have the one copy to give away to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector who was wise enough to post a comment during the past two weeks and lucky enough to have his name plucked out of a hat by the plucky Mrs. Jazz Collector. And so, the names going into the hat for this giveaway are: Michel, Jorge, Dave S., Aaron, Don-Lucky, Jason, Rudolf, CeeDee, Bethellodge, Bob Brooks, Jan, Doug, Gregorious, Geoffrey Wheeler, Soulnik, Geraint and Marshall. A distinguished group if ever we’ve seen one. And so we shall
Tags: Columbia Records, Miles Davis
Jazz Vinyl Giveaway: Milestones by Miles Davis
Dec 7, 2009 Free Collectibles
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Time for another Jazz Collector giveaway. Let’s go with another classic this time: Miles Davis, Milestones, Columbia 9428. This is a stereo pressing, a later pressing, not an original. It is, however, in near mint condition. I have it on the turntable now and I’d guess this is the first time it’s been played. Considering that it is marked as “electronically re-channeled for stereo” it sounds quite good actually. I’m listening now to Cannonball Adderley’s solo on the track “Miles,” which most of us think of as “Milestones.” Anyway, this is a great record, recorded a little before Kind of Blue, with much of the same band, although no Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly or Jimmy Cobb. This one features Miles and Adderley and John Coltrane, with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. The tracks are Dr. Jekyll, Sid’s Ahead, Two Bass Hit, Miles, Billy Boy and Straight, No Chaser. We have one copy of this LP to give away
Tags: Columbia Records, Miles Davis
Free Jazz Vinyl, TAL: And The Winner Is . . .
Nov 17, 2009 Free Collectibles, Verve
OK, time to announce the winner of our latest give-away. This one is: Tal Farlow, Tal, Verve 8021. This is a nice Japanese pressing that is in beautiful condition and is being given away, frankly, because we found ourselves with an abundance of copies through a variety of mostly pleasant circumstances. Anyway, this record features Tal in a guitar-bass-piano trio with Eddie Costa and Vinnie Burke. It’s a superb record and of the era during which Tal was setting new standards for inventiveness on the jazz guitar. As usual, the record will go to someone who has commented on the Jazz Collector site these past two weeks. We may have a new record number of eligible contestants — 21 in all. Usually I mention everyone, which I shall do again, but I’m not sure if I should continue doing. If any of you has a feeling about this, and about having your name mentioned, please let me know. Anyway, the eligible names for the Tal record are:
Tags: Tal Farlow
Jazz Vinyl Giveaway: Tal Farlow on Verve
Nov 4, 2009 Free Collectibles, Verve
Okay, now we’re cooking. This is a great, great, great jazz guitar LP featuring Farlow in his prime in a fantastic trio setting with Eddie Costa and Vinnie Burke: Tal Farlow, Tal, Verve 8021. Costa was a great accompanist as well as an inventive soloist and it’s clear he had a great rapport with Farlow. So, why give away this wonderful record? Because I am loyal to my friends at Jazz Collector, of course. Well, it also happens to be that this is a Japanese pressing and, as I was working on my collection this weekend, I discovered that I actually owned three copies of the Japanese pressing in addition to my own original Verve with the trumpeter logo. How did that happen? Inertia, I think. Or something like that. Anyway, I have at least one copy too many, so I am happy to share it with one lucky reader here at Jazz Collector. In order to be eligible to win this record
Tags: Eddie Costa, Tal Farlow
Herbie Nichols Trio on Blue Note: The Winner Is . . .
Nov 3, 2009 Blue Note, Free Collectibles
Okay, time to announce the winner of our latest contest to give away a jazz collectible. This one is: Herbie Nichols Trio, Blue Note 1519. This is a vinyl reissue from, I think, the mid-1980s, issued by Pathe Marconi in France. The record and the cover are in M- condition and the music is mint-plus. It features Max Roach on drums, plus Al McKibbon or Teddy Kotick on bass. As always, we have one copy to give away and we are giving it to someone who has commented on the Jazz Collector site during the past two weeks. That’s how we do things: Comment on the site, be eligible to win a free collectible. This week we have 17 eligible contestants, all of whom we would like to thank for commenting on the site and all of whom we would like to encourage to continue doing so. They are:
Tags: Herbie Nichols
Win A Free Collectible: Herbie Nichols on Blue Note
Oct 15, 2009 Blue Note, Free Collectibles
Now that we’ve given away the Billie Holiday record it is time to turn our attention to the next contest. As mentioned, we decided to go through the collection we purchased the other night to come up with something worthy. There were many candidates, and the one we chose is this: Herbie Nichols Trio, Blue Note 1519. This is a French reissue of this classic Blue Note LP featuring Nichols on piano with Max Roach on drums and either Al McKibbon or Teddy Kotick on bass. We can safely give this one away since the one in our collection is a Lexington Avenue pressing. As always with these contests, the goal is to encourage people to comment on the Jazz Collector site. It is working and we are getting both more comments and more commentators. Anyway, we have
Tags: Herbie Nichols
Billie Holiday At Carnegie Hall: The Winner Is . . . .
Oct 14, 2009 Free Collectibles, Jazz Vinyl, Verve
Time to give away the Billie Holiday record: The Essential Billie Holiday Carnegie Hall Concert, Verve 8410. This is an original pressing with the MGM label and the gatefold cover. It’s an interesting piece in that it intersects Billie’s singing with a narrative from her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues. The goal with this give-away, as with all of our give-aways, has been to encourage people to comment on the Jazz Collector site. The good news is that the tactic seems to be working: Since we began this particular contest we’ve had 22 separate people posting comments on the site, which is our high mark for a two-week period. So thank you to everyone for contributing. OK, rather than list everyone’s name — you know who you are — we will just delve into
Tags: Billie Holiday, Carnegie Hall, Jazz Vinyl
Win A Free Record: Billie Holiday at Carnegie Hall
Sep 29, 2009 Free Collectibles, Verve
Okay, it is time for our next Jazz Collector free collectible give-away contest. We always try to find interesting items for you, and this time we are offering up this: The Essential Billie Holiday Carnegie Hall Concert, Verve 8410. This is an original pressing with the MGM label and the gatefold cover. The record is in nice condition, although there are some marks at the end of side two. It’s an interesting record in that it was recorded in 1956 and issued here in 1961 as part of Verve’s Essentials series, which were tributes to jazz greats on the Verve labels, several of whom, unfortunately, had died. These included Lester Young and Charlie Parker. This LP was recorded live at Carnegie Hall as part of a concert in which Holiday sang and in which she also had several sections of her autobiography, Lady Sings The Blues, read aloud to highlight various aspects of her life and to
Tags: Al Cohn, Billie Holiday, Buck Clayton, Carl Drinkard, Carnegie Hall, Carson Smith, Chico Hamilton, Coleman Hawkins, Kenny Burrell, Nat Hentoff, Roy Eldridge, The New York Times, Tony Scott
The Sound of Sonny Rollins: The Winner Is . . .
Sep 23, 2009 Free Collectibles, Riverside
Okay, it’s time to announce the winner of Jazz Collector’s latest giveaway. This time, you may recall, we are giving away a copy of Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny, Riverside 241. This is not an original pressing and is an OJC pressing. Yet it is in near mint condition and it is great jazz vinyl featuring some fantastic Rollins from the mid-1950s. We had put this up as a way of honoring Rollins in the wake of yet another snub by the Kennedy Center Honors. Anyway, as with all of our giveaways, all you have to do to be eligible to win is to comment on the Jazz Collector site, anywhere, in response to anything, as long as the comment is made during the duration of the contest. The eligible contestants this time are:
Jazz Collector Honors Sonny With FREE Record
Sep 10, 2009 Free Collectibles, Riverside
Okay, if the Kennedy Center won’t honor Sonny Rollins, we will. In honor of Sonny’s recent 79th birthday on Monday, we will be giving away a free copy of one of Sonny’s classic LPs from the 1950s: Sonny Rollins, The Sound of Sonny, Riverside 241. Of course, this is not quite an original pressing: It is an OJC reissue. Still it is a great record, it’s in near mint condition, and it’s available free. As with all of our contests, we have one copy of the record and we will hold a drawing to determine the winner. In order to be eligible all you have to do is comment somewhere on the Jazz Collector site between now and when the contest closes, on September 21. You can comment anywhere — perhaps you want to weigh in on whether you agree with me that Sonny is being short-changed by not receiving a Kennedy Center honor. If you comment on the site between now and September 21 we’ll put you in the running for the contest. It’s as simple as that. By the way, if you want to see a funny out-take from my attempt to photograph the record, read the rest of this article.
Free Bird LP: The Winner Is . . .
Sep 8, 2009 Free Collectibles, Savoy
OK, the summer is over, the living is no longer easy, and it’s time to give away our latest free record: Charlie Parker Memorial Volume 1, Blue Note 12000. This is an original pressing with the deep red label and the deep groove. It’s not in mint condition, but it is quite nice and quite listenable. As we have mentioned many times before, all you have to do to be eligible to win our record contests is to post a comment on the Jazz Collector site — anywhere on the site — from the time the contest begins until it ends. The idea is to encourage visitors to comment on the site. The concept seems to be catching on: This time we have our highest number of eligible contestants, and the amount of commenting on the site is clearly growing (as is the overall traffic, by the way). Anyway, those eligible to win this week’s grand prize are:
Tags: Charlie Parker
Win A Free Collectible: Original Bird on Savoy
Aug 19, 2009 Free Collectibles, Savoy
Okay, we are going to celebrate the impending end of summer with our best give-away to date: This is a genuine collectible, an original pressing of an all-time great LP: Charlie Parker Memorial, Savoy 12000. Yes, this is an original pressing with the red Savoy label and the deep groove. The record is not in perfect condition, but it sounds real nice, with just enough surface noise to certify it’s authenticity as a release from the mid-1950s. This features Bird in a variety of settings, with Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Duke Jordan, Curley Russell and others. It’s a mix of Bird’s Savoy material, from his earliest dates with Tiny Grimes, to his tenor sessions with Miles, to classics such as Steeplechase and Barbados. In order to be eligible to win this record, all you have to do is
Tags: Charlie Parker
My Favorite Things: The Winner Is . . .
Aug 18, 2009 Free Collectibles
Time to do the drawing for the winner of the great LP, John Coltrane, My Favorite Things, Atantic 1361. This is a near mint stereo pressing, not an original, but it sounds great and it’s one of the classics, despite the surprising criticisms from some of our favorite commentators. For me, this is a real favorite and one of the first records I fell in love with when I fell in love with jazz. I find the title track powerful and innovative and am a huge fan of the way Trane does “But Not For Me,” with an echo of his Prestige years, but the clear growth he had shown in Giant Steps. And then there is Everytime We Say Goodbye, which Mrs JC and I took for our wedding song. Speaking of Mrs. JC, here she is to select this week’s winner. As most of you know by now, the rules for our contests are simple: All you have to do to be eligible to win
Tags: Atlantic Records, John Coltrane
Free Collectible Time: My Favorite Things (Really)
Aug 4, 2009 Free Collectibles
Is it possible someone could be reading Jazz Collector and not own a vinyl copy of John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things? Perhaps we’ll find out, because this is the prize in our next free collectible contest. We have a beautiful near mint later stereo pressing of My Favorite Things, Atlantic 1361, which we will be giving away to one fortunate reader of Jazz Collector in two weeks. This, of course, is a classic record and should be a staple of any jazz collection, even if your jazz collection consists of only five records. But maybe there are readers of our site who are newcomers to jazz and coming to learn, or who have somehow missed out on this record, or who would like a second copy to put in another room of their home, or perhaps one to frame and hang somewhere for perpetual inspiration. I, for one, have copies of this record in at least three different rooms in my house, plus another in my lake cottage. But, of course, I am certifiably insane. Nevertheless, if you would like to win a copy of My Favorite Things for any reason whatsoever, all you have to do is . . .
Free Record: Bird Lives! The Winner Is . . .
Jul 29, 2009 Free Collectibles
It’s been a couple of weeks since we posted our latest contest for a free collectible, so it is time to announce the winner. The item is Red Rodney, Bird Lives, Muse 5371. This is a 1989 pressing of a 1973 recording and, in addition to Rodney, features Charles McPherson, Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks. What is interesting about this LP, in addition to the fine music and the fitting tribute to Charlie Parker, is that this is a copy that is still in its original factory seal, not bad for a record 20 years old. As always, the criteria to be considered eligible to win the contest is to comment somewhere, anywhere on the Jazz Collector site. As we’ve mentioned many times, our only goal is to encourage people to comment so we can build a nice community of people interested in the jazz collectibles market and we can share information and experiences. For this record, we have eight eligible Jazz Collector readers. They are: Michel, Rudolf, Troy Grooms, Gregorious, Jim Beattie, Jim Thornton, Steve H and Bethellodge. As always, we are having the lovely Mrs J.C. pull the names out of a hat . . . and here she is . . . and here’s the hat . . . and here are the names . . . and here she goes . . . and, finally, the winner is . . .
Tags: Barry Harris, Charles McPherson, Charlie Parker, Muse Records, Red Rodney, Roy Brooks, Sam Jones
Win a Free Collectible: Red Rodney Plays Bird
Jul 13, 2009 Free Collectibles
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Time to give away another free jazz collectible (that’s free as in no cost, not free as in no chord changes). There was some discussion on the site last week in reference to a sealed copy of Bill Evans’ Waltz For Debby, which sold for more than $2,000. We posed the question: What do you do with a sealed record? Do you open it and play it, thereby violating the seal, or do you just collect it and look at it? Anyway, we were perusing through our records and came upon a few items that were still sealed and decided to use one of these for our next giveaway contest. The item we chose is: Red Rodney, Bird Lives, Muse 5371. This is a 1989 pressing of a 1973 recording and it features Charles McPherson, Barry Harris, Sam Jones and Roy Brooks. The record features
Tags: Barry Harris, Charles McPherson, Charlie Parker, Muse Records, Red Rodney, Roy Brooks, Same Jones
Blue Note Album Cover Art: The Winner Is . . . .
Jul 6, 2009 Album Covers, Blue Note, Books/Magazines, Free Collectibles
Okay, it’s finally time to announce the winner of our most recent giveaway contest for the book: Blue Note The Album Cover Art. As previously mentioned, this is a 128-book of album cover art from the Blue Note catalogue, first published in 1991 by Chronicle Books. It features page after page of classic Blue Note covers from the 1950s and 1960s, featuring many of the great designs by Reid Miles and photos by Francis Wolff. The book also includes a foreward by Horace Silver. We announced a couple of weeks ago we would be giving away a free copy of this book to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. The criteria for being eligible to win the book were simple: All you had to do was comment on a post on the site, any post. Since we announced the contest, there have been 12 different individuals who have commented on the site and are thus eligible to win the book. They are:
Tags: Blue Note Cover Art
Horace Silver on Blue Note: Comments Anyone?
Jun 23, 2009 Blue Note, Books/Magazines, Free Collectibles
OK, we’re still in the midst of the contest to give away the book: Blue Note The Album Cover Art. To be eligible to win this book — free, we even pay for shipping — all you have to do is post a comment on the Jazz Collector Web site before July 2. The winner will be announced July 3. When we did the original post announcing the contest, we promised to share with you the foreward of the book, written by Horace Silver. Here goes:
“Blue Note Records were very meticulous in every aspect of their production: They used he best vinyl, they paid for rehearsals and when I asked to be in on other parts of my album Alfred Lion (the label’s founder) gave me every opportunity. A lot of musicians in those days worked very hard to make good music and once the music was done, they let Alfred Lion go on with the rest of it. One day I went to Alfred and said,
Tags: Alfred Lion, Horace Silver
Win A Free Collectible: Blue Note Cover Art
Jun 17, 2009 Album Covers, Blue Note, Features, Free Collectibles
OK, we’ve been putting up some interesting posts, but we’re not getting all that many comments these days, aside from Michel and Rudolf and a few of our other consistent (and always compelling) contributors. That means it must be time to give away another free collectible.
So, here it is, a new free giveaway contest from Jazz Collector, and it’s a Blue Note (no not an original copy of Candy by Lee Morgan, or even a second pressing of Newk’s Time by Sonny Rollins). It is (drum roll, please):
BLUE NOTE: THE ALBUM COVER ART
This is a 128-book of album cover art from the Blue Note catalogue, first published in 1991 by Chronicle Books. It features page after page of classic Blue Note covers from the 1950s and 1960s, featuring so many of the great designs by Reid Miles and photos by Francis Wolff. The book also includes a foreward by Horace Silver, which I will present in a separate post later in the week.
Best of all, the book will be given away FREE to one lucky reader of Jazz Collector. To be eligible to win all you have to do is
Tags: Blue Note Cover Art
