It isn’t often these days that I run across a jazz record that I haven’t seen before, but here’s one: Rene Thomas, Meeting Mister Thomas, Barclay 84091. This was an original Mono pressing from France. The record was listed in VG+ condition and the cover was VG. The final price was $227.50

Vince Guaraldi, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Fantasy 85019. This is a stereo pressing. Frankly, I’ve never been that interested in this record and never had an original copy, and I don’t know the criteria that would make it an original. I’ve always loved the music, but I didn’t really get interested in the album until I started doing my Jazz Collector Live radio show and podcast, and I was looking for Christmas music to play on the show. In doing further research, I learned that this is the second highest selling jazz record ever, behind Kind of Blue? The question mark is there because I’m not so sure this is accurate.

In any case, I’m preparing to record my next Christmas show this week, so any ideas are welcomed. This particular copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas is listed in good condition for the record and “worn” for the cover. You would think a record in that condition would be a tough sell, but not this one: There are already 10 bidders and the price is getting close to $200, with the auction closing tomorrow.

Finally, I have one more from the Jazz Collector inbox. A reader sent me this note:

“Subject: Bird. Hi. I found what I believe to be a rare Charlie Parker 7” shellac single. It has his name and Dark Shadows printed on one side of the white label and on the other “Garner original” is printed. I can’t find any references to its existence online in this format and was wondering you had come across it before.”

My reply: “No I haven’t. You can safely assume it is from the Dial label. Dark Shadows was a tune Bird did with the singer Earl Coleman. He also did several sides with Errol Garner, who was on Dial at the same time. Could be some kind of test pressing, not sure. I’m not a huge expert on 78 RPM records. You could send me a photo if you want.”

Here’s one of the photos.

Still didn’t ring a bell with me, and I wasn’t interested in this piece for myself, so I suggested the reader reach out to Fred Cohen at the Jazz Record Center. If you’re reading this Fred I apologize — I seem to send a lot of stuff your way. As I said to this particular reader, Fred is far more knowledgeable than I am. The reader did contact Fred and afterward he sent me this reply:

“Fred said the following: ‘Charlie Parker recorded “DARK SHADOWS” for Dial records on February 19, 1947. He recorded three different versions of the song. Yours is probably a dub (transfer) from another source, but without comparing it to the issued takes it would be impossible to know which one you have.'”

And that, I believe, is the end of this particular story, unless someone here has some additional insight.

The post Back in the Wacky World of Jazz Vinyl on eBay first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]> https://jazzcollector.com/impulse/back-in-the-wacky-world-of-jazz-vinyl-on-ebay/feed/ 0 9792 https://jazzcollector.com/savoy/jimmy-heath-rip/ https://jazzcollector.com/savoy/jimmy-heath-rip/#comments Sun, 19 Jan 2020 19:37:57 +0000 https://jazzcollector.com/?p=8350 Lots of news from the Jazz world, not all of it good. In case you haven’t heard, Jimmy Heath died this morning. He’s been a [...]

Lots of news from the Jazz world, not all of it good. In case you haven’t heard, Jimmy Heath died this morning. He’s been a fixture in jazz since the early days of the bebop era and a major figure in the evolution and history of the music. I had the privilege of seeing him perform many times, back in the days of Jazz Interactions in New York. He was also at the premiere of the Chasing Trane documentary when I saw it in 2016 and I’ll never forget him standing up and singing the theme of Part 2: Resolution of “A Love Supreme.” He may have been diminutive in size, but he was a giant in stature. Who’s left?

You may have also seen that Jack Sheldon died a few weeks ago. He was a big personality, a funny guy, a good singer and all of that, but he was also a terrific and probably underrated trumpet player. Here, we know him as a jazz guy, but based on his obituaries, I guess he was best known for Schoolhouse Rock! and his stint on the Merv Griffin show, where he was the epitome of cool in an otherwise-less-than-hip environment.

Here’s a new boxed set that caught my eye: The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection by Charlie Parker. It looks like the package includes the artwork from the original covers, as well as the familiar Savoy labels with the red logos. Very cool. As always, I am tempted to contact the record label, in this case Craft Records, for a review copy. The problem is, I get the records but I rarely actually sit down and do the reviews. I’m still sitting on a beautiful Coltrane boxed set. The Bird set is scheduled for a release date of February 28. Hmm, just in time for my birthday.

Speaking of Bird, you can now see his King Super 20 Alto sax at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. This article has been buried in my queue since October and I had forgotten all about it. Too bad, I was in Fairfax, Va., last weekend and had a couple of hours to kill. If I had remembered, I would have made the trip to DC for Bird. Next time.

The post Jimmy Heath, RIP first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]>

Somebody also sent me this completed listing: Hank Mobley Quintet, Blue Note 1550. This was an original pressing with the New York 23 labels. It was listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The seller had a buy-it-now price of $1,250 with the option of accepting the best offer, which he did. So we don’t actually know what it sold for.

As for the jazz vinyl poetry:

CeeDee sent this along with a note, summarized as follows: “A recent reading of the excellent literary journal Brilliant Corners (Winter,2005) contains a poem — “A  Love Supreme” —  too special to delay submitting. Written by poet Robert Wrigley,it contains much of what makes LP listening such a unique experience.  I think his combination of humor and wistfulness is right on target.”

Here it is:

Miles Davis, Blue Haze, Prestige 7054. This is an original New York yellow label Prestige. It’s in VG+ condition, and sounds quite nice. We put a start price of $30 and it’s already received a bid, so we expect there to be some action.

We also put up a nice-sounding original copy of Clifford Brown, Jam Session, Emarcy 36002. This also has a start price of $30. It’s a great record, with a lot of positive energy. 

As you may have noticed on the Jazz Collector site, we’ve been going through some old Downbeat Magazines, looking for collectibles (we’re even giving one away). We’ve put a few up for sale in our eBay story, and we put a very interesting one up for auction yesterday. It is:

The April 8, 1965 issue of Downbeat with a cover story on Ornette Coleman. What we found most interesting as we perused the issue as a collector, was the original review of John Coltrane’s classic LP A Love Supreme, Impulse 77. The reviewer was Downbeat editor Don DeMicheal, who gave the record five-stars and was able to see that this was a milestone record. We put a price of $12 on the Downbeat and we think it’s a nice collectible to own. We’ll see what happens.