Jazz Vinyl Countdown: Kenny Clarke on Savoy

I was going through my records the other day and came up with this interesting discovery: This Savoy LP by Kenny Clarke featuring Cannonball Adderley was issued with two different covers. I discovered this accidentally because I had one filed under Cannonball and the other under Clarke. The one with the better cover — ‘better” in terms of a great picture on the front — is the one entitled Bohemia After Dark Featuring Cannonball. The other one is also titled Bohemia After Dark, but that’s just on the back cover: The front cover just lists it as The Jazz Corner of The Villiage, Cafe Bohemia, Featuring Kenny Clarke. Both are Savoy 12017 and both have the same tracks and liner notes. If I had to guess which was the first pressing, I would have said the second one, the one

just listing it as the Cafe Bohemia and not “featuring Cannonball,” , just figuring that Savoy would have tried to capitalize later on Cannonball’s growing fame and success. However, the other one feels more like an original cover because there’s no white background and it just seems older. Under normal circumstances, I’d keep that one regardless — it’s a much cooler picture, with Paul Chambers in his undershirt, everyone surrounding Kenny Clarke, Horace Silver in a striped polo shirt. My dilemma is that my copy of that cover is not in very good shape. It has a couple of bad tape repairs and a name written on the back. What to do, what to do? Well, there’s no rush on this Great Jazz Countdown of mine, so I’m going to sleep on it for a day or so and then make a decision. Or not. How’s that for ambivalence?