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.

Songs written by or recorded by Fats Waller. Some modern interpretations as well as a bit of historical slide piano. Featured artists include Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, Oscar Pettiford, Anita O’Day, Dinah Washington, James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Hank Jones, Luther Henderson, Nell Carter, Andre De Shields, Amelia McQueen, Ken Page, Charlaine Woodard, Herman Autry, Gene Sedric, Al Casey.

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.

A few weeks ago, on the radio show I was playing tracks from the album John Coltrane Ballads, Impulse 32. I brought the vinyl into the studio, but I wanted to have backup, so I also brought in the Deluxe edition CD set. As I was doing the show, I noticed that the CD set has a previously unreleased duet version of They Say It’s Wonderful, the Irving Berlin song, featuring just a duet by Trane and McCoy Tyner. It’s a wonderful track and amazing that it was sitting in a vault for 40 years. I provided a link to it on YouTube.

Anyway, it gave me an idea to do a whole show on duets, starting with that track. The next one I thought of was Sonny Rollins and Philly Joe Jones, Surrey With the Fringe on Top from New’s Time, Blue Note 4001. Then I did what I normally do to prepare a show, I started going through my records. I have my records loosely organized in three categories: Instrumentals pre-1970s, instrumentals 1970 and later, vocals. There are various sub-categories because, like many of you I’m sure, I love to organize and reorganize, probably a little too obsessively.

Anyway, I started going through the 1970s and later records and I pulled out more than 30 records of various types: The five duet albums Oscar Peterson did with trumpet players, Zoot and Bucky, George Shearing and Hank Jones, Art Pepper and George Cables. You get the drift. At that point, I knew I had several shows and I never even bothered to go through the more collectible records from pre-1970. But based on this strictly anecdotal research, it seems to me that duet albums and tracks become more of a thing later on in the jazz vinyl era.

So here’s the thing: If you can think of any good duet albums or tracks, please comment here. If I have them in my collection, I’ll see if I can use them on the show. As I said, I’ve already pulled out more than 30 records, so I’m sure we’ll have some duplication. But I thought it would be a fun project to share here at Jazz Collector if any of my former regular readers and commenters are still around. In any case, I’ll try to be doing more regular posts for a while, so perhaps we’ll build up a regular following once again.

This week’s theme: Selected Cannonball Adderley pre-Riverside recordings on Savoy, Emarcy and Blue Note. Featured artists include Nat Adderley, Cannonball Adderley, Junior Mance, Jimmy Cobb, Sam Jones, Jerome Richardson, Ernie Wilkins, Quincy Jones, Cecil Payne, Paul Chambers, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, John Williams, Hank Jones, Art Blakey, and more.

This week’s theme: Sonny Stitt on alto and tenor. Featured artists include Sonny Stitt, Mel Lewis, Lou Levy, Leroy Vinnegar, Hank Jones, Shadow Wilson, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Ed Thigpen, Bobby Timmons, Edgar Willis, Kenny Dennis, Barry Harris, Sam Jones, Alan Dawson and more.

This week we do the first in a new Unsung Artists Series, focusing on the Vice President, tenor saxophonist Paul Quinichette. Featured artists include John Coltrane, Charles Rouse, Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Herbie Mann, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Brooks Kerr, Gene Ramey, Sam Woodyard,Jimmy Jones, Joe Benjamin, Roy Haynes, Webster Young, Mal Waldron, Joe Puma, Earl May, Ed Thigpen, Count Basie, Buck Clayton, Dickie Wells, Gus Johnson, Al McKibbon, Walter Page, Freddie Green, Sonny Payne, Thad Jones, Nat Pierce, Joe Newman, Paul Chambers, Wynton Kelly, Charlie Shavers, Clark Terry, Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmy Cobb, Barry Galbraith, Cecil Payne, Hank Jones, Jo Jones, Sweets Edison, Snooky Young, and more.

Herbie Nichols Trio, Blue Note 1519. This is a weird pressing with the New York USA address on both sides and what appears to be a deep groove, at least on Side One. To try to identify the provenance – third pressing, fourth, whatever – would  be a challenge; suffice to say, it one one end of the spectrum it is not an original, and not a Liberty or reissue at the other end. The record and cover are in VG++ condition and the bidding is around $85 with more than a day left on the auction.

Our friend Bill from San Francisco sent us a note under the subject “crazy Hank Jones bid on eBay,” with a link to Hank Jones and Oliver Nelson, Happenings, Impulse A 9132. This was a white label promo copy, listed in VG+ condition for the record and with a cutout hole on the cover. The craziness is that Popsike recorded this one selling for $2,500 with one bid. I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe it is legitimate for a second. Bill, do you? Anyone else?

A couple of more pieces you may have missed while I was away:

Nice interview with Sonny Rollins in The New Yorker, Sonny Rollins on the Pandemic, Protests, and Music.

Nice story on Ella and The Apollo Theater in The New York Times Style Magazine, in support of the new documentary that just came out, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things. Haven’t seen the documentary yet, but it is on my watch list for this week.

This is new, too, Palo Alto, a newly discovered concert by  Thelonious Monk from 1968.

Oliver Nelson, The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Impulse 5. This is an original mono promo copy with the white label. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover looks to be about VG++. The bidding is at $100.

This is one that is completely new to me:

Jazz at JJ’s. This is a three-record boxed set that doesn’t really have a label. It’s a limited edition pressing and, if the Jazz Record Center listing describes it as “very rare” you know that it is, indeed, very rare because they are not given to hyperbole. It features Buck Clayton, Vic Dickenson, Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell, Milt Hinton and includes a personal letter from the record’s producer to Milt Hinton. Looks like a pretty interesting collectible, one I’ve never seen. The start price is $200 and so far there are no bidders.

How much would you like a John Coltrane autograph? I know I would. This is from the Jazz Record Center: John Coltrane, Bags and Trane, Atlantic 1368. This is listed as an original mono pressing with the red and purple labels — although, for the live of me, I still can’t get the original Atlantics straight once they are past the black labels — but the key to this record is that it is signed by Coltrane, Milt Jackson and Hank Jones. The record and cover appear to be in about VG++ condition. The price is around $750 with more than two days to go. From the same auction is a Jazz at the Philharmonic program from 1956 with a bunch of cool autographs, including Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Connie Kay, Milt Jackson, Roy Eldridge and Flip Phillips. There’s one bidder for this one, so far, and the price is $100.

I was browsing through jazz vinyl eBay listings and saw the words “insanely rare” and figured the controversial (at least here at Jazz Collector) seller bobdjukic was back in action, and he is. This insanely rare record happens to actually be insanely rare, if rarity can be coupled with insanity: Jutta Hipp, New Faces, New Sounds From Germany, Blue Note 5056. This is the original 10-inch Blue Note that looks to be in VG++ condition for the record and the cover. The current price is $528 and there are still five days to go. Perhaps we’ll get an insanely rare price for this insanely rare record.