Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Bird’s First, Autographed

Here’s an interesting test: With this winnowing down of the jazz vinyl collection, are we still a collector or have we morphed into something else  — perhaps a dealer-slash-collector-slash-aficionado or something other equally endearing term? Well, we have two copies of this pretty rare 10-inch record: Jay McShann, Kansas City Memories, Decca 5503. This record is noteworthy because it is the first studio recording of one Charles Christopher Parker Jr. Bird’s solos on The Jumpin’ Blues and (especially) Hootie Blues usher in a new era in jazz. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it? Both of our copies of this record are in pretty nice condition, but one of them has a bonus feature: An autograph on the back by

Jay McShann, signed “Kindest Regards, Jay McShann.” You can see it in the picture below. If we were no longer a collector the easy decision would be to keep the music, but sell the autographed copy. That would bring in the bigger bucks. Well, we’re happy to say that we’re keeping the autographed copy, so the collector juices are still flowing. Of course, if we were still pure 100 percent unadulterated collector, we’d keep both copies, just in case, right?