serve as introductions to some of the songs. The readings were performed by Gilbert Millstein, who was a writer for The New York Times and who also contributed liner notes to this record.  In addition to Millstein’s notes and commentary, there is also an essay by Nat Hentoff. Here’s an excerpt: “The audience was hers from before she sang, greeting her and saying good-bye with heavy, loving applause. And at one time, the musicians too applauded. It was a night when Billie was on top, undeniably the best and most honest jazz singer alive.”

As a great recording, as well as a piece of jazz history, this is quite a nice package. It also features Roy Eldridge and Buck Clayton on trumpets; Coleman Hawkins, Al Cohn and Tony Scott on reeds; Carl Drinkard on piano; Carson Smith on bass; Chico Hamilton on drums; Kenny Burrell on guitar. The tracks are: Lady Sings the Blues; Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do; Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone; I’ll Be Seeing You; I Love My Man; Body and Soul; Don’t Explain; Yesterdays; My Man; I Cried For You; Fine and Mellow; I Cover the Waterfront; What A Little Moonlight Can Do.

As always, we have one copy of this record to give away to one fortunate reader of Jazz Collector. To be eligible to win the record, all you have to do is comment on the Jazz Collector site — anywhere on the site — between now and Monday Oct. 12, when the contest ends. At that point all of the eligible names will be placed into a hat, or something like a hat, and the lovely Mrs. Jazz Collector will choose, at random, the winning name. As always, we even pay for the shipping, so it is truly a free collectible, as our previous winners will all attest. So please, begin commenting on the site and we hope to have our greatest contest yet.

As we go through records preparing to sell them on eBay, we always seem to find a few that fail to list the accompanying musicians. When this happens, we go through our source material to try to fill in the blanks. Among the resources we use most often are The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord, which we have on CD-ROM; various Internet sites, such as The All Music Guide; plus several discographies we have in our collection, including those for Blue Note, Savoy, Prestige, Verve, Clef and Norgran.

Whenever we find this information we will post it on the Website. So here are some of our recent findings:

Billie Holiday, Songs for Distingue Lovers, Verve 8257

Sweets Edison, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Red Mitchell, Alvin Stoller

 Georgie Auld in the Land of Hi Fi, Emarcy 36060

The trumpet players are Maynard Ferguson, Conrad Gozzo, Mannie Klein and Ray Linn; the sax players are Willie Schwartz, Ted Nash, Babe Russin and Chuck Genry; the trombone players are Tommy Pederson, Frank Rosolino and Si Zentner; the pianist is Arnold Ross; the guitarists are Al Hendrickson and Barney Kessel; the bassists are Joe Mondragon and JoeComfort; the drummer is Alvin Stoller. The source of this information is The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord, Version 3.3. If you’re a serious collector, the CD-ROM version is definitely a worthwhile tool.

 Taft Jordan, The Moods of Taft Jordan, Mercury MG 20429

The album consists of Jordan backed by a quartet as well as an orchestra. The names of the orchestra members are probably lost forever. The quartet consisted of Everett Barksdale on guitar; Dave Martin on piano; Joe Benjamin on bass; and Chink Martin on drums. The session was recorded in 1958 and at this point is not available on CD.

Tony Scott, The Touch of Tony Scott, RCA 1353

The album was recorded by three different bands on three dates in 1956. First was the orchestra on July 3. It consisted of Jimmy Maxwell, Jimmy Nottingham, Idrees Sulieman and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Rex Peer and Bart Varsala on trombones; Gigi Gryce, Sam Marowitz, Seldon Powell, Zoot Sims and Danny Bank on reeds; Bill Evans on piano; Mundell Lowe on guitar; Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. Scott played clarinet. The tentette was recorded on July 5, 1956 (they took a holiday on July 4). It consisted of John Carisi and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Cleveland and Green on trombones; Bank on sax; Evans on piano; Barry Galbraith on guitar; Hinton and Johnson. The quartet was recorded July 6, 1956. It consisted of Scott on clarinet; Evans on piano; Les Grinage on bass and Lennie McBrowne on drums.

 That’s it for today. We’ll be back on the Web tomorrow and with our next newsletter on Friday. See you then. — Al

Today we answer a couple of questions from readers and keep our ongoing eye on eBay.

 Q. It always drives me crazy when records don’t list all the musicians. I was recently listening to a copy of The Touch of Tony Scott on the RCA label. The pianist sounded like Bill Evans, but I wasn’t sure. Can you please tell me who is on this album?

A. Good ears. The pianist is Bill Evans, very early in his career. You can hear him very effectively on “Round Midnight.” The album was recorded by three different bands on three dates in 1956. First was the orchestra on July 3. It consisted of Jimmy Maxwell, Jimmy Nottingham, Idrees Sulieman and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Rex Peer and Bart Varsala on trombones; Gigi Gryce, Sam Marowitz, Seldon Powell, Zoot Sims and Danny Bank on reeds; Evans on piano; Mundell Lowe on guitar; Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. Scott played clarinet. The tentette was recorded on July 5, 1956 (they took a holiday on July 4). It consisted of Scott plus John Carisi and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Cleveland and Green on trombones; Bank on sax; Evans on piano; Barry Galbraith on guitar; Hinton and Johnson. The quartet was recorded July 6, 1956. It consisted of Scott on clarinet; Evans on piano; Les Grinage on bass and Lennie McBrowne on drums.

 Q. I own the LP Georgie Auld in the Land of Hi Fi on the Emarcy label. The liner notes don’t list the musicians. Could you please tell me who plays on this album?

 A. Yes. The trumpet players are Maynard Ferguson, Conrad Gozzo, Mannie Klein and Ray Linn; the sax players are Willie Schwartz, Ted Nash, Babe Russin and Chuck Genry; the trombone players are Tommy Pederson, Frank Rosolino and Si Zentner; the pianist is Arnold Ross; the guitarists are Al Hendrickson and Barney Kessel; the bassists are Joe Mondragon and JoeComfort; the drummer is Alvin Stoller. The source for both of these questions is The Jazz Discography by Tom Lord, Version 3.3. If you’re a serious collector, the CD-ROM version is definitely a worthwhile tool.

 A lot of interesting 10-inch LPs were sold on eBay the past couple of days. One dealer, Jazz Record Revival, had a group of records that were from the collection of the pianist Roger Kellaway. They looked to be in very nice condition and sold for pretty high prices. Here’s a sampling:

 Charlie Mariano, Fantasy 3-10, in M- condition. Price: $99.99

Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Prestige 187, in M- condition. Price: $157.50

Clifford Brown with Art Farmer, Prestige 167, in M- condition. Price: $115.49

Russ Freeman Trio, Pacific Jazz PJ-8, in M- condition. Price: $160.50

 That’s it for today. Tomorrow we’ll do another update on the Website. See you then. — Al