This week’s theme: Jazz recordings of songs from the pop/rock, television and even maybe a little Yiddish. Artists include George Benson, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, Ray Barretto, Richie Cole, Bobby Enriquez, Jimmy Rushing, Zoot Sims, Stephane Grappelli, Martin Taylor, Sonny Rollins, George Duke, Roland Kirk, Rosemary Clooney, John Oddo, Seve Lukather, Jackie McLean, Tony Williams, Hank Jones, Charles McPherson, Sonny Criss, Tal Farlow, Cedar Walton.

This week’s theme is pretty much what it says: Tracks from 10 random Blue Note records, Artists include Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Louis Smith, Dizzy Reece, Jackie McLean, Pete LaRoca, Cliff Jordan, Jon Gilmore, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Sonny Clark, Dexter Gordon.

This week’s theme: Pretty simple, John Coltrane on the Atlantic label. Featured artists include John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, Paul Chambers, Arthur Taylor, Steve Davis, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Connie Kay, Reggie Workman, Charles Haden.

This week’s theme: Kenny Drew as a sideman and a leader. Featured artists include Kenny Drew, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson, Dexter Gordon, Percy Heath, Tootie Heath, and more.

This week’s theme: Exploring recent vinyl reissues from Blue Note, Prestige, and Riverside. Featured artists include Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Dave Burns, Ron Carter, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Kelly, Art Blakey, Donald Byrd, Frank Foster, Lew Tabackin, Julian Priester, Joe Chambers, Jimmy Ponder, Horace Silver, Stanley Turrentine, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Roker, Miles Davis, Oscar Pettiford, Sonny Red, Sam Jones, Roy 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.

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Here’s an interesting beauty: Lester Young, Norgran, 1022. This is an original deep groove yellow label pressing, with a “For Demonstration Only Not For Sale” stamp placed prominently on the beautiful David Stone Martin cover and again on both sides of the labels. The record is graded in M- condition and the cover is Ex. The auction closes in a couple of days and the start price is about $775, with no bidders yet. I’ve always found the Norgran/Verve Pres records to be hit and miss, music wise, although the packages are always attractive. I came across a Sonny Rollins interview on YouTube the other day where he was talking with reverence about this stage of Pres’s career, so it is causing me to re-assess. Check out the clip – Sonny talks about Pres playing Three Little Words and how Sonny used to play it every single night. I can vouch for that, because in the early and mid 1970s, I used to go to see Sonny every night at the Vanguard or the Half Note in midtown, and every single night he would play Three Little Words.

In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been posting as frequently as I used to at Jazz Collector. 🙂 A few weeks ago in a post called Random Notes from the Jazz Collector Inbox, I posed the question: “What’s the verdict on the current crop of OJC” pressings from Craft recordings. I received a thoughtful reply the other day from reader Alun Severn from the UK. He writes as follows:

“What’s the verdict on the current crop of OJCs? Maybe I’ll pick one up, just to report back to you all. 

Well, it’s a confusing situation, I think. I can see no real logic evident in what gets pressed as a premium Craft OJC at around $35+, and what gets pressed as a bog-standard OJC reissue at around $20 or so. The premium ones I refer to are the Kevin Grey/Stoughton-jacketed ones with the obi strip.

In my experience, the premium obi-stripped ones are superb. I have bought a number and have yet to have a problem of any kind. The bog-standard OJC reissues are another matter entirely. I have returned at least one because it arrived warped and dirty. I can clean dirty records, and do, but I will not accept warped records. I’ve had one or two that certainly sounded no better than a mid-80s Fantasy distributed OJC, and possibly not as good. And I’ve had a couple (Moonbeams and How My Heart Sings come to mind) that to my ears sound excellent.

Conclusion:  I have become very wary of the bog-standard OJC reissues but if here in the UK I can find the premium obi-stripped ones at not too inflated a price then I get them without hesitation knowing that they will be as good and as any of the premium remasters Kevin Gray is currently involved with.

I hope this helps. Regards,   Alun”

Thank you, Alun. Very helpful, indeed. At least to me.

The post A Jazz Vinyl Potpourri: Blue Notes, Pres, OJCs first appeared on jazzcollector.com.]]> https://jazzcollector.com/blue-note/a-jazz-vinyl-potpourri-blue-notes-pres-ojcs/feed/ 9 9691 https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-jazz-vinyl-1965/ https://jazzcollector.com/podcast/podcast-jazz-vinyl-1965/#respond Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:30:37 +0000 https://jazzcollector.com/?p=9677 This week’s theme: Jazz Vinyl recorded or released in 1965. Artists include Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, George Coleman, Anthony Williams, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Ella [...]

This week’s theme: Roy Haynes Memorial, Part Two. Featured artists include Roy Haynes, Roland Kirk, Tommy Flanagan, Henry Grimes, Sarah Vaughan, Richard Davis, Thad Jones, Jackie McLean, Phineas Newborn Jr., Bill Evans, Oliver Nelson, Freddie Hubbard, Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and many others.

This week’s theme: A tribute to the late Roy Haynes. Featured artists include Roy Haynes, Lester Young, Sarah Vaughan, Phineas Newborn, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jackie McLean, Leon Thomas, Oliver Nelson, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, and many others.