Jazz Vinyl Today: Keeping Up With The Tempos
It’s always fun discovering records I’ve never seen before, even discovering them on eBay: Case in point: Victor Feldman and Tubby Hayes, Transatlantic Alliance, Tempo TAP 19. This I assume is a British pressing. The record is listed in VG or VG+ condition and the cover is VG+. The price is already more than $500 with a day to go, so I imagine this is quite a rare record. Along the same lines, from the same seller, another one that’s new to me: Victor Feldman and Tubby Hayes, Swingin’ the Blues, Tempo TAP 21. This one seems to be in similar condition — VG or VG+ for the record and VG+ for the cover. The price on this one is also around $500.
Didn’t realize this one was a $100-plus record: Curtis Fuller, Soul Trombone, Impulse 13. This is an original pressing with the orange label and RVG in the deadwax. It is listed in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover and the current price is a bit more than $100, closing fairly soon.
Here’s an original Blue Note in not-such-great shape at a pretty reasonable price: Hank Mobley, Roll Call, Blue Note 4058. The record is listed in VG with “generally unobtrusive surface noise” and the cover is VG+. The “generally” is the key here, since the implication is that there will be surface noise at times that will be obtrusive. I bet it’s a listenable copy. It’s at about $135 now. I don’t have an original pressing in my collection. Is this worth a shot? Perhaps. I bet it goes for more than $200, even in this condition. What do you think?
Tempo is a very collectible U.K. label of the fifties. Japanese facsimile issues exist.
The same Tempo seller has four Tempo 12″ albums for sale, one having passed the 1000 dollar bar at this stage.
Rudolf, was the music on the tempo label good? It seems they had some talent on the albums.
Mike: Tempo had an impressive list of artists recording for them. At random: Dizzy Reece, Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tom Whittle, Harry Klein, Victor Feldman, Vic Ash and a special favourite of mine, pianist Eddie Thompson.
As these are out of my price range I will have to get the music from another route but I am going to track down a few Tempo sessions. Your recommendations have not steered me wrong Rudolf.
Thanks again Al and everyone else for making this site so great. The thing I enjoy even more than the collecting knowledge is finding new(to me at least, most of it is 50 years old) music. I have purchased CDs and represses of many great albums that I’ve seen featured hear on Jazz Collector.
I strongly suggest to listen to “Tubby the tenor” on Epic. It is a great session with Eddie Costa and Clark Terry. Tubby was a terrific musician !
Tubby Hayes had albums issued in the States on CBS with Clark Terry on Carlton as the Couriers of Jazz and on Blue Note with Dizzy Reece Blues in Trinity also Changing Thev Jazz at Buckingham Palace Dizzy Reece and Tubbs on Savoy, other Brits Albums Ronnie Ross the Jazz Makers on Atlantic also Don Rendell Roarin’ on Jazzland. London had great jazz clubs in the late 50’s and 60,s I regularly saw all these musicians and many more such as Joe Harriot and Wilton Bogey Gaynair.
michel/Mike: Tubby IS great. There are at least two Fontana/Epic sessions with American players. One is “Return Visit” with Roland Kirk and Louis Hayes, recorded in N.Y.C.
It seems that several Tempo albums have been re-issued in Japan (in vinyl).
Mike take a look at the following web sites british bebop,jazz professional,birka jazz for british album covers, Savage Solweig Tubbs archive also Fantastic Voyage for cd reissues.Also Candid has issued a cd taken from a tape found in the Alfred Lion archive by Michael Cuscuna the tapes were sent to Lion by Tempo in 1959 when they were recorded the albub title is Tubby’s New Groove.
Here’s a great site if you want to know more about tempo and UK Jazz. many links to click on !
http://vzone.virgin.net/davidh.taylor/recordt.htm
a lovely site indeed! thanks Michel for this major discovery.
Wow, thanks for all the recomendations. That is such an interesting site Michel.
Tempo are great, and impossibly expensive – $2-5,000 is not unusual. I have posted a track sample from a couple which I am fortunate to have been able to acquire here :
Jazz Couriers in Concert TAP 22
http://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/the-jazz-couriers-in-concert-tempo-1958/
Wilton Gaynair TAP 25
http://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2011/12/08/the-jazz-couriers-in-concert-tempo-1958/
Tubby Hayes is the giant is British jazz worshipped here. Jasmine released most of the Tempos on vinyl, and they are excellent pressings beside being dubbed from original Tempo LPs.
Apologies, that link to Wilton Gaynair TAP 25 should have been this,
http://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/wilton-gaynair-blue-bogey-1959/