Category: Features

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

More Adventures, More Obsessions

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Sorry, I need to complete the story. Given that it was an online auction and many of the bidders probably never saw the condition of the records, I was pretty surprised at some of the prices. For example, Waltz for Debby sold for more than $1,000. Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard seemed to sell for more than $500, if I recall. Kenny Drew 10-inch Blue Note was more than $300. When I went to pick up my records I asked Kendra, the woman responsible for the auction, if the buyers for those records had visited  the house and seen them on site. Nope, she said. They were bidding based just on the pictures from the auction. Very brave, I thought, but having seen the records myself, I figured the buyers would be pleased. The one record I would thought I could steal, the Art Farmer Quintet Featuring Gigi Gryce, Prestige 7017, just eluded me. Read more

Another Adventure in Jazz Collecting, 10-inch Edition

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After buying, curating and eventually selling the Ornette Collection from Dee, I felt myself gripped in that very old, very familiar, somewhat obsessive feeling of wanting more. Not necessarily more records because, Lord knows, I have enough records. No, it was all about wanting more action. So, I reached out to my friend here in The Berkshires who is planning to sell his collection at some point, but he said he isn’t quite ready yet to part with them. Then, out of the blue, another friend up here sent me a note with a link to an online auction of jazz records that was being conducted locally. The site was something called Caring Transitions, so I clicked the link and this is one of the pictures I saw:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Still Here

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I must admit it has been difficult to get motivated to write about jazz records at a time when the world seems to have flipped upside down and we are all worried about the health and safety of ourselves, families, friends and other loved ones. But, I also realize our love of music and passion for our records can be a comfort and escape at a time like this. Funny, I got a note from my daughter late last night. She had called me earlier in the day, feeling a lot of angst, just generalized and starting to get a little cabin fever because she’s not working and cooped up in her apartment. A few hours later this was the note she sent: “Spent the day in my office, listening to records and organizing them. Felt good.” Is that a chip off the old block, or what? Read more

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