Comments on: A Few From the Jazz Record Center

By: DG Mono

DG Mono — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 03:20:54 +0000

Wow, I step away for what feels like a second and boom, 36 comments.
.
I just wanted to say that the Johnny Coles sold for $338, which was a very good deal for the winner. That’s one of my favorite sessions of all-time.

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 07:08:42 +0000

P.S. the London label was imported by Phonogram and gave us access to i.a. Atlantic, United Artists, Kapp.

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 07:05:12 +0000

Maarten: you raise many interesting questions. Of course in the 1950’s people in the Netherlands did not buy Marsh on the Mode, Vanguard, Imperial and other exotic labels. For the simple reason that these labels were not available (and unknown) in the Netherlands. The only Marsh available was Prestige 7004 (but soon deleted) and the Atlantic session with Konitz, available on the U.K. London label. The Kapp two-fer anthology was also on London, but may not have been imported.
We were dépendent on which titles the sole importers of each label would decide to distribute. For Prestige, Blue Note, Clef/Norgran/Verve, Riverside, Contemporary,Fantasy, Savoy and Vogue there were sole “importers”. Then there were Dutch pressing plants for Philips/Fontana (for US Columbia), EmArcy and Capitol.
You could walk into de Bijenkorf (The Hague) and buy a wide variety of artists, e.g. Cecil Taylor’s album on Contemporary and Herbie Nichols 10″ on Blue Note. Local shops in the West End of The Hague would have reasonable stocks of all the labels above, and in the city centre of The Hague (and also Rotterdam) the choice would be impressive. I did not have to go to A’dam. Only we did not have your “Concerto”.
The problem at that time, I did not have enough money as a student and one did not know what existed in the rest of the world. US trade journals were expensive. I sometimes sneaked in at newsstands to read them, and for the rest one depended on Michiel de Ruyter’s programmes at the radio. But he would only present what was available, of course.
Re Sonny Clark on Blue Note: I bought my Cool Struttin’ in the Wagenstraat. So we were not unhappy, and well served by the existing system.
It is refreshing to read that Amsterdam youngsters buy Marsh, that is fantastic. But still, Ronnie Ball’s Savoy album, offered by a (Dutch) friend on EBay.com, an archive copy in N condition, did not receive a single bid at the 29.99 starting price. That is why I exclaimed, who of the youngsters does know Ronnie Ball? Sorry to have been that long and greetings to the home country from the white Alps.

By: jazzcourier

jazzcourier — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 01:22:07 +0000

I think it is the presence of Art Pepper that fuels that high price.I find The October ’56 Radio recorders sessions by the Warne Marsh quintet to be even more satisfying.The two tenors (Marsh and Brown) are clearly focused on the intricate lines and there is much more room to hear Ronnie Ball at his best.Four titles were issued on a Kapp two lp West Coast collection and the imperial session was issued as “Jazz of two cities” and “the winds of Marsh”.This was a working quintet around L.A. at that time and they do sound like it.This is another case of a non-coastal netherworld of Jazz.Fresh Sounds collected all this material on a two cd set.

By: Earl

Earl — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 21:34:32 +0000

Incidentally, the Freewheeling album sold for $510, which is, I believe, a high for that LP
I have it and I like it, but it is by no means the best of the 50’s, either west or east

By: maarten kools

maarten kools — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 18:02:17 +0000

Some hope for the old guys…:
I come in record stores in amsterdam, holland , and there are people from 16 till 40 that do buy those jazz albums , … the wayne marsh and others, like freewheelin’ are being reprinted on lp and cs every decade again… seen them and bought them… don’t also forget the downloads on i-tunes… most of the great 50’s AND eastcoast records are there , and (young) people DO buy them..
I mean, Rudolf, when you where young (and by heart you still are !) in the 50’s in holland, how manny hank mobleys and wayne marsh records where sold??? Probably much more records from Pat Boone and cliff richards, ) i think, they even sell more nowerdays, than back then… (how many copies of a sonny clark album did you see in the fifties Rudolf, in Amsterdam? Today i now of 8 recordstores in amsterdam where you can buy a record of sonny clark ) and what about all those jazzhipster getting there jazz Diploma’s from art shools all over the world…. NO, JAZZ IS STILL GOING STRONG…. ppppfffff… did i just try to convince myself.. 🙂

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 17:22:55 +0000

P.S. Lenny will perform in trio on the 15th of Oct. in Paris. Source: the Paris Jazz Corner site.

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 17:18:22 +0000

jazzcourier: as a matter of fact, it is the Paris Jazz Corner people that gave me the Popkin disc when they passed at my place to pick up a couple of thousand LP albums in my first slimming down operation.
Their shop is nice and I never leave empty-handed.

By: jazzcourier

jazzcourier — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:45:27 +0000

You can reach Popkin through Parisjazzcorner.com,in fact the website says the trio is performing somewhere in the Paris vicinity on the 15th of this month of October.I visited the Paris Jazz Corner record store in 2002-3 and found some great records at fair prices,the gents running the shop spoke no English.I would imagine if you are in Paris this store would be a must visit.When I was in Paris I was fortunate enough to hear Steve Lacy,not too long before his passing,a memorable night! He spun magic In the air with his trio in a small,packed club with attentive,involved listeners.

By: Rudolf

Rudolf — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 16:11:12 +0000

jazzcourier: so then it is wise before coming to Paris to see when/where he performs and plan accordingly.