More J.R. Monterose: Extremely Rare Recordings Available

Okay, I promised you something cool on J.R. Monterose.  I got a note the other day from a guy who has one-of-a-kind aluminum core acetate recordings J.R. made as a teenager. He got these from the estate of J.R.’s wife. They are 78s, of course, from the mid-1940s, and there are 12 altogether.  Well, I’ll just let you read the note he sent me:

“Hello. A few years ago I attended an estate sale in Utica NY of the late wife of JR Monterose. I purchased a stack of old records and in them were some aluminum core acetate (Wilcox Gay recording) albums of JR playing when he was a teenager. These are the only recordings of their kind for this artist (app.1944) I took the recordings to Syracuse University Belfer audio lab where they

transferred the audio to CD. Some songs aren’t so good…others are pretty good. 12 recorded sides about 2 min. each. I’m looking for the right buyer. Thanks. Scott Alexander”

I didn’t ask Scott how much he was looking to get for these recordings, but I said I would post his note on the Jazz Collector site because, I assume, there should be interest out there within the jazz collecting community. If you would like to contact Scott about possibly purchasing these records, or in just finding out more information, send an email to me at al@jazzcollector.com. You can also post a comment on this site — which will make you eligible to win the contest for the John Coltrane My Favorite Things LP we are giving away next week. Also, Scott sent me some photos, which I will try to post as well.

Pretty cool, huh?