Category: Features

What Really Went on in the Van Gelder Studio?

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Speaking of playing favorites, the other night I had a little time to do some mindful listening, so I put on one of my all-timers, Sonny Rollins Plus Four, Prestige 7038, original pressing, original cover, as seen in the accompanying photo. As I’m listening, I’m picturing the musicians in Van Gelder’s studio playing live, looking at one another and giving signals and approvals, all young men in their primes discovering what they were capable of doing and, on this album, doing it as well as anyone ever did it. Then I put on a record I haven’t listened to nearly as often as Sonny Rollins Plus Four, which was Newk’s Time, Blue Note 4001, and I had the same picture in my head with the four musicians on that album, Sonny, Wynton Kelly, Doug Watkins and Philly Joe Jones. And then my mind started wandering and this is what I thought. Read more

Jazz Holiday Bonus

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We have our friend Japhy to thank for today’s post. My inbox contained the following note under the subject “Jazz Collector Website – Jazz Holiday Playlist.”

Hi Al,A decade or so ago I went on a mission to create the ultimate Jazz Christmas (or Holiday, if you prefer) collection. I dug deep, scoured the darkest recesses of the internet, searched every conceivable keyword on iTunes, etc., and ended up with an 8-CD collection (the days of CD burning!) that I called “Yule Be Swinging”.A few years ago I recreated the collection on Spotify (some tunes weren’t available, and some come and go) as a 10-hour, 152-song playlist. They’re all my personal selections, of course, instrumental and vocal, and I tried to stick to “classic Jazz”. There are certainly countless tunes not represented (e.g., I didn’t just dump the entire Ramsey Lewis record on there), and I tried to avoid having 10 versions of any one song, for example (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” came close!). Point being, anyone can certainly say, “Man! How can you not have Song X on here?!” And that’s fine; this is just were I landed. That said, I’m always looking for any I missed, obscurities in particular. Read more

Back in Action

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Allow me to explain, yet again, why I have taken so long between posts. The reason is related to my real work, but if you stick with me, you will find that it may have relevance for Jazz Collector. My work primarily involves writing about the intersection of business and technology. It’s kind of mercenary, writing-for-hire, but I like doing it, I have nice relationships with many of my clients and I have a wonderful, amazing business partner who is also a good friend. We are negotiating a new deal with our largest client and it’s not yet clear whether we will be able to come to terms. This process has been draining and takes up a lot of my brainpower, or at least whatever is left of it. I haven’t had time to devote to my other passions, of which Jazz Collector is near the top of the list. I haven’t even looked at eBay since my last post on May 31. How is this relevant for Jazz Collector? Read more

Clap Hands, Here Comes Vinyl!

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Someone asked me the other day about listening to vinyl versus other formats. I said, whenever I want to listen to music and be completely mindful and do nothing else, then I will only listen to vinyl. I will pay careful attention, I will listen for nuances that I may have never heard before. This happened the other night. I was sitting with The Lovely Mrs. JC and she said, why don’t you put on a record. Now, in my house, the statement “why don’t you put on a record” is not a simple task, at least when the statement is sent in my direction. There are, after all, 8,000 or so records from which to choose. Which is the right record for the moment? Is it an old reliable favorite? Is it an old favorite I haven’t listened to in years? Is it something I have perhaps never listened to at all because there are for more of those among the 8,000 than I would care to acknowledge? In this particular moment, the situation was complicated by the fact that the record also had to appeal to The Lovely Mrs. JC, since it was she who was making the request. I asked, jazz, jazz vocal, something else? Jazz vocal was the answer. I went into the other room and came back with two records, both old reliable favorites that are certainly among the top 10 jazz vocal records that I have listened to in my lifetime. They were: Read more

A Treasure Trove of LPs, Autographs, Photos and Other Memorabilia from Ornette, Monk and More

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Some of you may remember Dee Dee, Ornette Coleman’s stepdaughter and accomplished jazz photographer. For those who don’t remember, or are new to Jazz Collector, or who just want a refresher, you can go back to the original four-part series of articles, which started on February 21, 2020 (Another Adventure, Part 1: Ornette, Monk, Dee and Me). Dee reached out recently and asked me to post the following note. For what it’s worth, I’ve seen many of Dee’s photographs and they are pretty special. As you will see in Dee’s post, there are also Monk albums, Latin and Brazilian records and other memorabilia that may be of interest to the Jazz Collector community. Here’s Dee:

These remaining Thelonious Monk albums are from his close friend Ornette Coleman’s personal collection. I’m Ornette’s step-daughter, Dee Dee – and retrieved them when my mother died in 1995. They lived together – (with me, early on!) – going back to his earliest 1959 arrival in NYC, in a close relationship spanning 30 years.

She had quite a history in this music, not the least of which was booking (including the Five Spot Café and Town Hall gigs), publicity/promotion for both Monk and Ornette, and international publishing contracts for their compositions, which still generate royalties for the Monk family.

I’ve uncovered documentation, personal letters and original sheet music in his handwriting, a music stand, metronome, a fat scrapbook of clippings from 1959 forward . . . and so much more.

It’s now urgently the time to find a home for the historic value it all contains. Some is being donated to Jazz Foundation of America for their good work, but if anyone has serious interest in knowing more, please contact me immediately:

dee@creativemusicphotography.com

The entire collection is currently in Vermont, but other arrangements are possible.

Jazz LPs and Memorabilia

Additionally, I’ve worked documenting historic jazz, Brazilian, and Latin musicians since 1964 as a formally trained (Herb Snitzer) art photographer.

I have an AUTOGRAPHED Edition of one original silver gelatin print available here:

Autographed Edition – Images, Prices, and Exposure Data

My personal vinyl collection of historic Brazilian and Afro-Cuban/Latin albums can be viewed here – with some accompanying images:

Latin & Brazilian Record Collection

Who Did You See?

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Dexter Gordon in the ’70s. When he played the Vanguard, I would go every night.

This will be fun (for me, at least). It’s a new thing: Who Did I See? And the flip side: Who Did I Not See? I’m 68, born in 1953. I got into jazz at age 17 in 1970. I’ve told that story: Song for My Father. I was born too late to have seen Bird or Fats or Clifford or Pres or Billie or Art Tatum. I grew up in New York and have spent most of my life in New York. When I was a kid, my dad used to drag us to afternoon jazz shows in Manhattan. There was an organization called Jazz Interactions and they used to do Sunday concerts at the Village Gate and other venues. I remember going to the Five Spot on St. Marks as a kid. So I have two lists of Who Did I See. One is Who Did I See before I had any appreciation for who I was seeing. The second list is Who Did I See after I got into jazz and was making my own decisions and spending my own money. BTW, this is jazz only. I did see Cream and I did not see Hendrix, but that’s another list and another web site. These lists are not complete. I don’t remember every drummer or bass player or pianist. I don’t remember everyone I saw. It’s just a list of highlights off the top of my head. The nice thing about Jazz Collector is I can add to, subtract from or amend in my own time and at my own discretion. Here goes: Read more

Jazz Collector In Box: Time Traveling in Jazz

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Time to catch up with the old Jazz Collector in box. My friend Dan sends me cool pictures that he finds somewhere on the internet. This one came in the other day from March 20, 1963, the opportunity to see John Coltrane in New Orleans for an admission charge of $2. Ah, if we could go back in time. What would be your first choice? Bird on 52nd Street; Sonny, Max and Clifford; Blakey with Horace Silver and Clifford Brown; Blakey with Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard; Lester with Basie; Billie Holiday; Miles with Trane, Bill Evans and Cannonball; Evans and LaFaro; Monk with Newk or Trane? Those would be some of my choices, off the top of my head, and certainly Coltrane with McCoy, Garrison and Elvin in 1963 would  be somewhere near the top of the list. If I had to choose one, it would be easy: Bird. Read more

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

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