Want to catch up on some of the items we’ve been watching on eBay. First off, that whit-label promo copy of John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse A-77 wound up selling for $2,275, which put it close to the top price ever recorded on Popsike for any copy of A Love Supreme. Also had an eye on Lou Donaldson, New Faces, New Sounds, Blue Note 5021. I know I had a copy of that record and I know that I don’t have it any longer. For the life of me, I can’t remember why or when I sold it, but I do know I would really like to have it back. This one was listed in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover, although part of the listing on eBay described the cover as G. I think that was an error because the cover looked pretty nice. The final price was a reasonable (IMHO) $304.22. If I’d been paying closer attention I might have actually made a bid on that one. But, alas, I was not, which I take as a good sign that perhaps I have learned to be less compulsive and obsessive in my golden years. Read more
Podcast: Christmas Jazz, 2025
This week’s theme: A Jazzy Christmas. Featured artists include Ray Charles, Betty Carter, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers, Teddy Edwards, Victor Feldman, Al Viola, Monty Budwig, Charlie Parker, Kenny Dorham, Max Roach, Al Haig, Vince Guaraldi, Diana Krall, Rosemary Clooney, Dan Axelrod, Dinah Washington, Ramsey Lewis, Isaiah J. Thompson, John Pizzarelli, Julian Lee, Philip Norris, Kyle Poole, Manhattan Transfer, Nancy Lamott.
Back in the Wacky World of Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Back on eBay. Just watching. Not buying. Not selling. Here is some of the jazz vinyl I’m watching, starting with John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse Mono A-77. This is an original pressing with the white promotional label. Petty rare. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is also M-. There are already 28 bids and the price is in the $1,400 range, with the auction closing later today. Based on Popsike, the highest price ever for a white-label promo of A Love Supreme was about $2,500. Looks like this one may get close to that. How many white-label promos do you think they printed? Maybe 200? 300 max? There can’t be that many around in this kind of condition. Read more
Unsung Artists Series: Tina Brooks
This week’s theme: Tina Brooks as sideman and leader n Blue Note. Featured artists include Tina Brooks, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Sam Jones, Clifford Jarvis, Freddie Redd, Jackie McLean, Paul Chambers, Louis Hayes, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Drew, Arthur Taylor, Johnny Coles, Wilbur Ware, Philly Joe Jones, Lee Morgan, Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins, Art Blakey.
More Live Jazz: Isaiah J. Thompson
I saw a terrific jazz concert the other night here in The Berkshires. The pianist Isaiah. J. Thompson led a quartet playing holiday music, including a familiar batch of songs written by Vince Guaraldi for the “Peanuts” series. I became aware of Thompson during the past few years when he appeared here in Great Barrington with the guitarist/vocalist/raconteur John Pizzarelli. I was extremely impressed with his playing. He has really strong technique and, even better, he really swings. When I saw that he would be appearing with his own group at a relatively new venue in Great Barrington, I got tickets immediately. Read more
Podcast: Duets
This week’s theme: Duets. Featured artists include John Cotrane, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Art Pepper, George Cables, Al Cohn, Jimmy Rowles, Tal Farlow, Dan Axelrod, Stephane Grappelli, Marc Fosset, Zoot Sims, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Lewis, Hank Jones, George Shearing, Carmen McRae, Rosemary Clooeny, Ed Bickert, Nancy Lamott, Christopher Marlowe, Ken Sebesky.
Podcast: Who’s That Lady, Part Two
This week’s theme: Part two of our exploration of jazz tracks that have the name of a woman in the title. Featured artists include Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Bill Evans, Eddie Costa, Ray Charles, Paul Desmond, Jim Hall, Art Blakey, Eddie Jefferson, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Benny Golson, Billy Taylor, Stan Getz, Al Haig, Jimmy Raney, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Sam Jones, Louis Hayes, Barry Harris, Jimmy Rushing, Coleman Hawkins, Jackie McLean, Freddie Redd, Tina Brooks, Nat King Cole, Sweets Edison, and more.
New Old Jazz, Or Old New Jazz, on Vinyl
Now that I’m doing the radio show, I’m a bit more in touch with what’s going on in the world of new reissues (sounds like an oxymoron) and new discoveries of music that had previously been unreleased. For example, on newly released material, I recently ordered a record album, as in vinyl, called Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at The Penthouse. This is a 1965 live recording featuring Silver with Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson. It was recently issued on Blue Note. I have no idea what the quality of the packaging or the sound is like, so I will report to you once I get it and have a chance to listen. For reissues, I did order that Bill Evans release on Craft, Haunted Heart, also on vinyl, and a few other Blue Notes to fill in gaps in my collection of original vinyl. I’m glad the labels are back to issuing vinyl, and it has piqued my interest in buying stuff again. Not sure that’s a good thing, but, alas, I am a collector and it is what we do, is it not? Read more
In Search of Tina Brooks
I’m preparing to record a radio show this week on Tina Brooks. I have the Mosaic boxed set, The Complete Blue Note Recordings of the Tina Brooks Quintets. Do you believe that set was released 40 years ago? It does a great job of telling his tragic life story and chronicling the music he made as a leader. In addition, I have these records he made as a sideman on the Blue Note label: Jackie’s Bag, Open Sesame, Street Singer, Shades of Redd, The Sermon, and House Party. I’m not familiar with all of the tracks on all of these records, including the Mosaic boxed set. I’m trying to do a better job of integrating the Jazz Collector Live Radio Show and Podcast with the JazzCollector.com web site. Here’s an opportunity for you to help. In your collective wisdom, what are the tracks that are “must listens” among the music I will be bringing into the studio? Thanks in advance.
Live Jazz, With A Classical Touch
I saw an excellent jazz concert the other night here in my amazing community of The Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. It was the Ted Rosenthal Trio with Special Guests. The trio being Ted Rosenthal on piano, Noriko Ueda on bass, and Quincy Davis on drums. The special guests being Anat Cohen on clarinet and Sara Caswell on violin. The theme of the concert was “Classics Reimagined.” It featured a number of pieces by classical composers such as Chopin, Dvorak, Beethoven, Satie, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and others reimagined, arranged, and performed as jazz pieces. I know very little about classical music, but I know a lot about jazz and, to me, each of the pieces sounded as if it could have come out of a standard jazz songbook. They closed the set with a Tchaikovsky piece that echoed Diz and Bird right out of the bebop era. There were also beautiful ballads, such as a duet by Rosenthal and Cohen on a Chopin piece called Waltz in E-Flat. Anyway, the trio travels all over the world, so if you ever get a chance to see them, I recommend them highly. Also, if you’re interested in hearing the music, it is available on CD and perhaps other formats under the title Ted Rosenthal Trio, Classics Reimagined: improp2. I walked out of the concert with a copy of the CD. Actually a couple of CDs, as well as a video clip I was graciously allowed to record and subsequently post on YouTube. If you want to listen, here it is: Ted Rosenthal Trio With Guests, Linde Center, Tanglewood, Nov. 28, 2025, Classics Reimagined.
April is Jazz Month
