Moody’s Mood Is A Sad One For Jazz Lovers
Philadelphia Record Exchange had a bunch of nice 10-inch Prestige LPs up this week and someone sent me a link. I took a look and there were several nice James Moody records that looked to be in nice condition and were not getting much action. I’ve never quite understood why the Moody Prestiges and Blue Notes never have much cachet among collectors, but the reality is they don’t. So I bid on the first two that came up and I won them both, under a nom de plume you may not recognize, and I’m hoping to win the third. The prices, in my view, were quite fair. I shared my good fortune with a friend, who sent me a link to this article: Jazz legend James Moody battling cancer. Sounds like we will soon be losing another great one and one of the last remaining links to the dawn of the bebop era.
Always sad to hear anything like this. I only own a handful of Moody records myself. Among those, Mood For Love and his self-titled on Argo are my favorites. The latter has liner notes that go into detail about his alcoholism and stint at a mental hospital in 1958. I don`t know much more about his personal life, but I hope he led a fulfilling one.
Al,thanks for the link. I sent an e-mail with some memories and good wishes. Hopefully,anyone who has ever sang the phrase “There I go,there I go,there I g-o-o-o-o..” in the shower will do the same.
Nice post Al. It reminded me to pick up the copy of Last Train from Overland I saw a few months ago. Thankfully, it was still there!