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.
Now that I’m doing the radio show, I’m a bit more in touch with what’s going on in the world of new reissues (sounds like an oxymoron) and new discoveries of music that had previously been unreleased. For example, on newly released material, I recently ordered a record album, as in vinyl, called Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at The Penthouse. This is a 1965 live recording featuring Silver with Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson. It was recently issued on Blue Note. I have no idea what the quality of the packaging or the sound is like, so I will report to you once I get it and have a chance to listen. For reissues, I did order that Bill Evans release on Craft, Haunted Heart, also on vinyl, and a few other Blue Notes to fill in gaps in my collection of original vinyl. I’m glad the labels are back to issuing vinyl, and it has piqued my interest in buying stuff again. Not sure that’s a good thing, but, alas, I am a collector and it is what we do, is it not? Read more
This week’s theme: Songs that have the name of a woman in the title. Eclectic, but fun. And some great music. Featured artists include Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Wynton Kelly, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Connie Kay, Percy Heath, Eddie Jefferson, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Jimmy Rushing, and many more.
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: It’s summertime, and we are focusing on live recordings made at the Newport Jazz Festival, covering the years 1956 to 1968. Featured artists include Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Lambert Hendricks and Bevan, Count Basie, Jo Jones, Roland Kirk, Herbie Mann, Chick Correa and many, many more.
This week’s theme. All standards, some vocals, some instrumentals. Featured artists include Thelonious Monk, Oscar Pettiford, Art Blakey, Rosemary Clooney, Stacey Kent, Scott Hamilton, Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Jo Jones, John Coltrane, Arthur Taylor, Paul Chambers, Warren Vache, Nancy LaMott, Richie Cole and many more.
This week’s theme: Contrafacts, aka a vocal of the original pop song, such as How High the Moon, followed by a bopified version, such as Ornithology. Other examples: Sweet Georgia Brown/Bright Mississippi; I Got Rhythm/Moose the Mooche; It Could Happen to You/Fried Bananas; Embraceable You/Quasimodo; All the Things You Are/Boston Bernie; Indiana/Donna Lee; Cherokee/Koko. You get the idea. Featured artists include Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Rouse, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Clifford Brown, Max Roach and many, many more.
This week’s theme. Jazz vocals and instrumentals from the Great American Songbook. Featured artists include Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Red Garland, Jackie McLean, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Rosemary Clooney, Scott Hamilton, Art Pepper, Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Dizzy Reece, Stan Getz, and many more.
So, I lost the auction for The Unique Thelonious Monk. No big deal. The bigger revelation was the prices on some of the other records on the Jazz Record Center auction. Having been off eBay for a few months dealing with other things in life, I wasn’t prepared for what I considered to be a fairly drastic change in the market. Or perhaps this has been going on for a while and I hadn’t noticed? Or perhaps this is just an aberration based on the reputation of the Jazz Record Center? Or just one or two sellers with lots of money to spend? Let me share with you some of the biggest surprises that I encountered, starting with The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, Riverside 1169. This was an original stereo pressing that looked to be in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The final price was $787.22. Per Popsike, this is the highest price ever recorded for any copy of this record. But a stereo copy? Read more
I decided to bid on that Monk record from the Jazz Record Center auction: The Unique Thelonious Monk, Riverside 12-209. The main reason was that I really wanted the record. As you can see from the accompanying photo, the record I own is a blue label and the cover has ugly taped seams both on the top and on the bottom. Plus, the record plays with a lot of surface noise, not anything you would really want to put on your turntable. But that wasn’t the only reason for my interest in bidding. I probably haven’t bought or sold a record on eBay in at least 10 years. I wanted to go through the experience again, see if anything had changed, see if the old adrenaline rush would still be there. I also wanted to write about the experience to share with the dwindling Jazz Collector audience, which is what I am doing now. Read more
