Category: Features

Chick Corea

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When I was 20 in 1973 I had the balls to walk into the offices of the Syracuse New Times and tell them I should be their jazz critic. The New Times was the alternative newspaper in Syracuse, the local version of the Village Voice, and I was a journalism student at the Newhouse School. I had never written anything professionally, nor had I even written anything for a school newspaper. But they didn’t have anybody to write about jazz at the time, so they gave me a shot. I reviewed a couple of albums and must have done OK because I walked into the office one day and the editor said Return to Forever was coming to the local nightclub on campus, called Jabberwocky, and they would like me to review the concert and interview Chick Corea. In fact, they had already set up a time and place for me to do the interview. Read more

Listening to Random Jazz Vinyl for Fun and Inspiration

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Recently I’ve been pulling random records off the shelf and listening either to a side or the whole album. The impetus has been to just play records I haven’t listened to for a while or because something or someone piqued an interest. For example, as I write this the album I have on the turntable is Cannonball Adderley and the Poll Winners, Riverside 355. My impetus was purchasing a second copy to upgrade the condition, not of the record but of the cover. It turned out that the copy I owned was in pristine condition, but it could use a better cover so I went back to Spike’s Record Rack in Catskill to pick up the copy I had left behind. This 1960 album features Cannonball with Wes Montgomery, Ray Brown, Vic Feldman and Louis Hayes. As if I really needed confirmation, this is quite a great record, with great playing and a nice selection of originals, standards and the Charlie Parker composition Au Privave. Read more

Autographs, Autographs, Autographs

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I heard back from the reader who sent me the original link to the auction for the autographed copy of John Coltrane Ballads, Impulse A-32. The one that sold for more than $5,000 a few weeks ago. His name is Bill and, it turns out, he has a passion for collecting autographs—as well as an impressive collection. With his permission, here is a copy of our correspondence after I replied to his initial note.

Al:

My jazz collecting the past 25 years has morphed mainly to jazz autographs. There is something about a genuine signature that makes an item come alive: This was actually in the hands of Billie, Bird, Trane, etc. One must be careful to not obtain a fake, but I have mainly dealt with reputable dealers, and over time, I have become more savvy in finds on sites such as eBay.

I did bid on this Coltrane item, but exited the bidding when it went above $2000.

The prizes of my collection are signed photographs, some contracts, some personal letters, etc. To give you an idea of some of my prized items, here is a partial list: Read more

Sonny Rollins on Art

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Imagine my pleasant surprise, just a few seconds ago, reading The New York Times over a cup of coffee, wading through the distressing news about politics, coronavirus, voter suppression, et al, and then seeing headline “Art Never Dies” and the name “Sonny Rollins.” This is the first essay in a new series called “The Big Ideas: Why Does Art Matter.” It was written by Sonny as told to Ian Carlino. I love the piece and I love the simplicity of the byline, which is simply: “Mr. Rollins is a musician.” I would never normally just reprint an article from another publication, but I realize many of you may not have subscriptions to The Times and this is deserving for everyone here to read, so, if The Times wants to send a cease and desist for Jazz Collector’s 1,000 daily page views, be my guest. Also, the picture is not from the article, just something I chose from the many images available in the public domain. 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

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

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

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