Author: Al

The Complete Jazz Collector Red Carraro Collection

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Red in his natural habitat

I did the Irving Kalus Complete Collection yesterday and, in doing so I mentioned my old friend Red Carraro and remembered the articles I wrote about him after he died. Again, there was no link where I told the whole story. So here it is, with some of the comments from friends and fans of Red from 2010. One of these days I am going to compile all of my stories, and more, in a “Best of Jazz Collector” book, so think of these random updates as a bit of a teaser.

July 12, 2010

There was a time, before the Internet and eBay, when jazz record dealers would amass hundreds of collectible records and compile them in lists and send those lists all over the world so that collectors could bid on them, blindly, hoping they would make the top bid and receive a shipment of rare jazz vinyl several weeks later. One of the leading and last practitioners of this fading art was a gentleman, and I use that word purposefully, by the name of William Carraro, known to all as “Red.” I am sad to report that Red passed away in his sleep yesterday morning. Read more

The Complete Jazz Collector Irving Kalus Collection

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I was doing a search on Jazz Collector to refer to the Irving Kalus Collection I purchased in 2012 and realized I never put the entire story together in one post. In re-reading this for the first time in years, my own story-telling is fine and fun, but I must admit that Irving’s own article about Bird at the end is the real gem here. Without further ado:

Part 1, Posted July 20, 2012 

So I mentioned the other day that I recently purchased a record collection. Here is the story.

A few weeks ago a woman sent me the following e-mail: “I’m wondering if you can help me. My dad passed away suddenly in an accident. He left a huge jazz collection of approximately 2500+ vinyl albums. He died at 82 and was a jazz enthusiastic since his teens and his collection dates back to then. To his great disappointment I did not share his passion for jazz. I am interested in selling his collection. How can I go about finding its value? I’ve read some of the information on your blog and realize I need to consult an expert. Any guidance you can give would be greatly appreciated.” Read more

Another Sides

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Here are a couple more sides I’ve had recently on my turntable, starting with Donald Byrd, Fancy Free. We don’t typically review records here at Jazz Collector, primarily because it is not a personal interest of mine. I started my journalism career reviewing jazz records and concerts, but stopped fairly early on because, as a non-musician, I didn’t feel qualified or comfortable criticizing the work of real musicians. I’m not criticizing other reviewers, just explaining how a personal decision set me on a different, and ultimately more rewarding career path, IMHO. If any of you out there feel like doing reviews, I’d be open to posting them on Jazz Collector; I just don’t like writing them myself. Because of this posture, I rarely get any promotional records, even on re-issues of records from the Jazz Collector Era, and even though I have written some reviews focused on the quality of the reissue and the packaging. Mosaic was kind enough once to send me a promotional copy of The Rosemary Clooney CBS Radio Recordings 1955-61 at my request. I gave it a lukewarm review and Mosaic never replied to another email I sent them. C’est la vie. All of which is to say that the copy of Fancy Free I had on my turntable the other night is, indeed, a reissue and was, indeed, sent to me as a promo by the record company, in this case Vinyl Me, Please, Classics. I don’t closely follow today’s market and was unfamiliar with their work. They reached out to me, asked if I wanted a sample copy and I said “sure.” Read more

Mayhem, Music and Miscellany

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I’ve so far avoided writing about the impact that COVID-19 has had on the jazz community. At one point, I was keeping track of the deaths– Ellis Marsalis, Lee Konitz, Wallace Roney, Henry Grimes. But then my mailbox got flooded with new names, some of which I had never heard before, including local musicians and jazz people from Detroit, Philadelphia and other locales. It seemed that the jazz community was being disproportionately impacted, which was also noticed by the pop music critic in The Washington Post – “The coronavirus is devastating a uniquely American art form.” After Konitz died I had the following email/video exchange with my friend Dan: Read more

What Sides Are On Your Turntables?

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What’s everyone listening to in isolation? I can tell you what I’m doing. First off, I’m listening to my records more frequently than I have in a while. I guess being locked down with nowhere to go can be inspirational in that sense. I frequently go to records that I’ve loved but haven’t listened to in a while, or at least records that I haven’t listened to mindfully. Records, versus CDs or streams or anything digital, have sides. l still put on my “go to” sides for a lot of the records, listen to that side, and then move on to another record. Even with the infamous Shades of Redd my temptation was to just listen to Side One, which was my original preference. But, after all of the hoopla I made through the years about finding that record, I would have felt guilty not listening carefully to both sides and was pleased to have done so. Side Two is awesome, the equal of Side One. Read more

Will There Be A New Normal in Jazz Collecting?

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I haven’t really been on eBay since the pandemic started and I’m wondering: Could this be a seminal event for jazz collecting? With the world economy in collapse, will people still care about whether their copy of Sonny’s Crib has a New York 23 label or not? And, assuming some will care, will enough collectors care enough to keep laying out the big bucks for original copies, thus extending the rising market for certain collectibles that we have witnessed since we started writing this blog back in 2003? The other thing I’m wondering: Will collectors continue to trust shipments from overseas, wherever they live? If you are in England, say, will you have faith that a package from New York won’t be carrying the Covid-19 virus across the Atlantic? It may sound crazy, but crazy things are happening. I go food shopping, come home and The Lovely Mrs. JC wipes down every package with disinfectant and then asks me to strip before I take a step into the house. You’ve seen my picture in the last post: It is not my body she is after. Read more

Shades Of . . . . .

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Well, as you can see, the long and painful (for you) wait has finally ended. Somehow, in the middle of a pandemic, I have been able to procure an original copy of the infamous Shades of Redd, by Freddie Redd, Blue Note 4045. It was no simple twist of fate, but a result of the constant hocking by me on Jazz Collector and a very generous and thoughtful reader who perhaps took pity on me, or perhaps was just sick of my whining, or, simply, was happy to parlay his own two copies of Shades of Redd into one really good copy of Shades of Redd and another vaunted Blue Note gem to satisfy a need from his own want list. Let me tell the story that led to the pictures accompanying this article, taken in my lovely home in The Berkshires by The Lovely Mrs. JC.

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A Brief Detour

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Sorry (again) for the long gap between posts. In the meantime, I thought you would all get a kick out of this. My nephew sent it by text and I’m not sure of the source. My family had a lot of fun ribbing me about this. Well descriptive of me and The Lovely Mrs. JC. Just substitute Prestige and yellow labels and you have the story of our relationship.

 

 

And, On Rhythm Guitar . . . .

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In my haste to get the last post up on the site, I left out the part I really wanted to talk about. Geez, where is my mind? Anyway, I won my 20 records and made an appointment with Kendra to pick them up at her house. I got there and the records were organized and waiting for me. We chatted a bit and she told me how pleased she was with the auction and some of the top prices she was able to get, especially for the Bill Evans and Kenny Drew records. Casually, I asked if there were any records that hadn’t sold. I tell you I asked casually, but that is a bit of a fib. It was actually not casual. It was carefully prepared. Because on the auction there were two records that had $50 start prices that seemed to get no action. They were (1) the previously mentioned Let’s Have a Session on Ad Lib with Billy Bauer, Tony Aless, Arnold Fishkin and Don Lamond; and (2) Afro Cuban Jazz by Machito on Mercury, which features Charlie Parker. Read more

More Adventures, More Obsessions

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Sorry, I need to complete the story. Given that it was an online auction and many of the bidders probably never saw the condition of the records, I was pretty surprised at some of the prices. For example, Waltz for Debby sold for more than $1,000. Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard seemed to sell for more than $500, if I recall. Kenny Drew 10-inch Blue Note was more than $300. When I went to pick up my records I asked Kendra, the woman responsible for the auction, if the buyers for those records had visited  the house and seen them on site. Nope, she said. They were bidding based just on the pictures from the auction. Very brave, I thought, but having seen the records myself, I figured the buyers would be pleased. The one record I would thought I could steal, the Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce, Prestige 7017, just eluded me. Read more