This week’s theme: John Coltrane as a sideman on the Prestige label, Part 2. This one features all of the Coltrane solos on alto sax with Gene Ammons, as well as tracks from The Cats, Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane, and other records from the early Prestige catalog.
This week’s theme: John Coltrane as a sideman on the Prestige label. Part one of perhaps four? Featured artists include, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Philly Joe Jones, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell and many more.
This week’s theme: Jackie McLean on Prestige, Volume 2. Featured musicians include Gene Ammons, Art Taylor, Donald Byrd, Bill Hartman, Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Arthur Phipps, Wade Legge, Doug Watkins.
This week’s theme: Jackie McLean on Prestige. Featured artists include Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Gene Ammons, Art Taylor, Donald Byrd, Bill Hartman, Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Arthur Phipps, Wade Legge, Doug Watkins.
This week’s theme: Two-tenor LPs. Featured artists include John Coltrane, Paul Quinichette, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Rouse, Ben Webster, Sonny Stitt, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Paul Gonsalves, Hank Mobley.
Pardon the interruption. I decided to take a much needed vacation. Hopped in the car with The Lovely Mrs. and headed south. Ended up in the northern part of Florida, with a small Airbnb located right on the ocean. Damn, a fellow could get used to that. Didn’t think about work, didn’t think about records, didn’t think about much of anything. I’m back now and there’s still snow and ice on the ground and the winds were howling at about 40 MPH overnight and into this morning. Of course, you are not here for a weather report but for information about rare or not-so-rare jazz records. Let’s hop on over the eBay for the first time in a couple of weeks and see what is going on, shall we? We can start with Newk: Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus, Esquire 32-045. This looks to be an original UK pressing. The seller describes it as EX with a lot of plus signs, so I would take that to be M- or so for the record and the cover. The bidding is in the $300 range and the auction closes later today, so by the time many of you see this, the bidding will be finalized and someone will be anxiously awaiting their copy of this very cool record. The music isn’t bad either. Read more
Normally my eBay watch list is filled with records I am watching to fulfill my mission here at Jazz Collector. There are very few occasions when I actually bid on records and, if you’ve been keeping track, even fewer occasions when my bids are successful. One of the records in my watch list that was for both Jazz Collector and potential purchase purposes was this one: Joe Henderson, Page One, Blue Note 84140. Somehow in more than 50 years of jazz collecting, this record has never made it onto my shelves, and it is a classic, isn’t it, with Blue Bossa and Recorda-Me and Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson? Anyway, this is an original stereo pressing and, I was thinking, perhaps because it was stereo and not mono, the price might be in line with my sensibilities. The record is in VG++ condition and the cover is M- and when I first spotted the record it was in the $200 range. We are now two hours from closing as I write this and the price is close to $600. I expect it to sell for a bit more than that, so I will just keep looking. I still don’t know why I don’t have a copy. I mean, back when I started collecting I probably could have gotten a Liberty pressing for $5 or so at any of the local record stores. Read more
On my eBay watch list this week are some rare Gene Ammons records from our friend Rudolf, including Gene Ammons All Stars, Jammin’ With Gene, Prestige 7060. This is an original New York pressing that looks to be in pristine, nearly new condition. The bidding is at $106 with more than four days left on the auction. I don’t often listen to these jam session type records, but whenever I do, I am pleasantly surprised. Of course, it does help to have musicians like Ammons, Jackie Mclean, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Doug Watkins and Mal Waldron. Rudolf, if you are watching Jazz Collector my question is: Are you selling duplicates or are you digging deeper into your own collection, perhaps starting with the A’s? While we’re on the subject, here’s another: Gene Ammons, Funky Hi-Fi Jam Session, Prestige 7083. This is another original New York promo copy that also looks to be in pristine condition. Where can you possibly find records like these in that condition, like buying them new in a record store in the ’50s. Bidding on this is at about $102, also with more than four days left. Read more
One of the things I have missed during the pandemic has been going to record stores. I love going to record stores. It’s a life-long habit, and pleasure, one which I have never wanted to give up, even in the dark days of the recent past when vinyl was an endangered species and brick-and-mortar record stores seemed to be going the way of the 8-track. Even then, I would regularly visit the surviving stores and always buy something, it seemed, because, fundamentally, I like buying records. Anyway, I couldn’t remember the last time I physically walked into a record store, even though there are several decent, recently opened stores in a reasonable driving distance from my home in The Berkshires, where The Lovely Mrs. JC and I have permanently relocated since the pandemic began. I decided this was an itch that just had to be scratched and the other day I grabbed my son’s dog, Gordon, who is visiting for a few weeks, and got in the car and took a ride over to Catskill, New York, a little more than an hour away, to visit my favorite of the record stores in the area, Spike’s Record Rack, of which I have written several times in the past. Spike and I have gotten to be quite friendly during our brief interactions, so I sent him a heads-up in advance that I would be making a visit. Read more
Time to close the books on the latest round of stories and sprees that sprung from my first visit to Spike’s Record Rack in Castkill, NY a few weeks ago. You may recall that I purchased about 15 records, which I somehow found to be more than somewhat rejuvenating in terms of listening to music and appreciating the breadth and depth of my collection. After I got home from that first visit to Spike’s with the 15 records, I did what I typically do, which is clean the records, listen to a few and sort out which ones may be duplicates with records I already own, so as to ensure that I keep the copy in best condition for my own collection. In this case, I was surprised to see that I did not have a copy of Oscar Peterson Plays Irving Berlin on Clef. Certainly I’ve had one in the past, but I must have weeded it out based on the condition. I gave it a quick listen and it was about what would be expected, perhaps even a bit better because the sound quality was quite good and the condition was excellent.
