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: A potpourri of jazz songs that have crossed over into the mainstream in some way. For example, Mercy, Mercy Mercy, The Sidewinder, or The Girl From Ipanema. Featured artists include John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Steve Davis, Vince Guaraldi, Monte Budwig, Colin Bailey, Herbie Mann, John Handy, Wes Montgomery, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Billy Taylor, Ben Tucker, Grady Tate, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Benny Bailey, Leroy Vinnegar, Donald Dean, Stan Getz, Jaoa Gilberto, Astrid Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Joe Morello, Eugene Wright, Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson, Bob Cranshaw, Barry Harris, Billy Higgins, Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Joe Zawinul, Victor Gaskin, Roy McCurdy.

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.

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: Jazz tracks that reference U.S. cities and states. Featured artists include Al Cohn, Barry Harris, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Rosemary Clooney, John Oddo, Richie Cole, Bruce Forman, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Nancy LaMott, Freddie Redd and many more.

This week’s theme: Standards played by Charlie Parker and others. Featured artists include Charlie Parker, Scott Hamilton, Chris Flory, John Bunch, Phil Flanagan, Chuck Riggs, Sarah Vaughan, Clifford Brown, Roy Haynes, Paul Quinichette, Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day, Tony Aless, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Dave Lambert, Sonny Rollins, Barney Kessel, Hampton Hawes, Leroy Vinnegar, Shelly Manne, Herbie Mann, Max Roach, Al Haig, Percy Heath, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Steve Davis, Lou Donaldson, Blue Mitchell, Horace Silver, Art Blakey,  Booker Ervin, Richard Davis, Tommy Flanagan, Alan Dawson, Bill Evans, Eddie Gomez.

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 Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Ray Bryant, Pete LaRoca, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Mann, Paul Desmond, Wes Montgomery, Bill Evans, and many more.

This week’s theme: Songs from the Ellington Songbook, vocal and instrumental versions. Songs include Cottontail, Lush Life, In a Sentimental Mood, In a Mellowtone, Come Sunday, Take the A Train, Just Squeeze Me, and more. Artists include John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O-Day, Johnny Hartman, Mahalia Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Wes Montgomery, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry and more.