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45RPM Blue Note Jazz Reissue Series Coming Soon...


Ctiger2

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Gilbert,

Jack Sheldon plays at a small club every Tuesday(?) I think it was. We saw him last year and he was great (and funny as he!!).

Also, on occasion you can see a great trio or quartet at one of the LAX hotel lounges. Allan can usually tell you off the top of his head who will be playing where and when.

About 15 years ago a local radio station dumped a bunch of CDs in the dumpster behind work and I picked them out. I've carrried them around for all these years, one of which is Jack Sheldon Sings, having not listened to it ... yet.

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Are there any good books about the history and development of jazz strictly from the audio perspective? What might also be interesting would be a PBS documentary about the history of jazz where instead of someone like Wynton Marsalis as narrator it would just be audio reviewers from high end HiFi magazines talking about how much better, say, Jack Sheldon recordings are than someone like Theodore Navarro or Clifford Brown etc. Or how much better audio sounding the average Art Pepper recording is than just about anything from Charlie Parker regardless of which cartridge is used. Such a book would also be invaluable in order to know which pressings are worth having or investing in. I think this is an overlooked niche. It could also include an investment perspective generally, especially in these times when hard assets and collectibles are considered a financial safe haven. A history of jazz from an audiophile and/or investment point of view.....yah, why didn't I think of this before...... Maybe if Gunther Schuller wrote such a book, it would get over......

Actually a history of the recording engineering and its great engineers really would be of interest now that I think of it. Anyone see that pbs show about Les Paul? That was pretty cool.

-oiueqwroiuwer &lkjdfslkjsadf

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Are there any good books about the history and development of jazz strictly from the audio perspective? What might also be interesting would be a PBS documentary about the history of jazz where instead of someone like Wynton Marsalis as narrator it would just be audio reviewers from high end HiFi magazines talking about how much better, say, Jack Sheldon recordings are than someone like Theodore Navarro or Clifford Brown etc. Or how much better audio sounding the average Art Pepper recording is than just about anything from Charlie Parker regardless of which cartridge is used. Such a book would also be invaluable in order to know which pressings are worth having or investing in. I think this is an overlooked niche. It could also include an investment perspective generally, especially in these times when hard assets and collectibles are considered a financial safe haven. A history of jazz from an audiophile and/or investment point of view.....yah, why didn't I think of this before...... Maybe if Gunther Schuller wrote such a book, it would get over......

Actually a history of the recording engineering and its great engineers really would be of interest now that I think of it. Anyone see that pbs show about Les Paul? That was pretty cool.

-oiueqwroiuwer &lkjdfslkjsadf

Dude, you just made a REALLY crappy week for me end REALLY well! Bravo!

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Hey Alan, thanks for the affirmation. We, longtime fans and collectors like ourselves, forget what a daunting undertaking jazz education can be for the relative newcomer. Jazz culture is vast and deep even though relatively young as an art form compared with others. It can be so overwhelming for the new fan or collector. I am, and always have been a fan of books on jazz, of which there are many. Every book and discography I have read has helped me know what more to listen to and where the gaps were. When used book stores failed, I found that newsletter for mail order....what is his name, Newman I think. He still sends me lists, but I cannot find one at the moment. Do you have a reference/ address handy? It is a great list of jazz books for sale.

We come from the generation that read the liner notes and learned while enjoying the music. The books extend that joy of jazz reading even further.

The process is something like this:

1. one discovers a jazz artist that they like.

2. liner notes perhaps lead to acquiring more recordings. you take a chance and risk, courage to purchase other recordings on your own. win some, loose some. learning in the process.

3. a book then might turn someone on to earlier recordings, the recordings of the artist's influences, the historical context.

4. one then acquires a growing range of appreciation leading to collecting historical recordings perhaps in spite of current audio standards.

5. the shift is from audio titilation to a deeper understanding of the jazz language. the excitement of hearing innovations when they were innovations.

6. before long, one is fluent, and jazz speaks directly to you regardless of audio quality. Its the content. "saying something"

7. playing, buying, and enjoying the good audio recordings on one's great system, well that is wonderful frosting on the cake and is certainly part of the equation, but greatly enhanced by the deeper understanding of the history and context.

(Having a Bird discography made rare disc collecting like filling in the lincoln cents in the Whitman folder.....)

Parker never seems to have played anything that was not meaningful (profound), beautiful, and deeply heart felt (even once in the midst of a total nervous breakdown). (actually perhaps that is and may always have been the goal of most jazz artists, maybe though Parker, among other modernists, set a new "existential" standard).

btw, to new fans: do you have Miles' "Collector's Items", that's late Bird on Tenor! (in addition to young Rollins), and one of my all time faves on Prestige. Also, one of rather surprisingly few recordings of Bird on "Round Midnight".

-cs&a

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Parker is credited as "Charlie Chan" on the original LP! Didn't want to offend Norman Granz I suppose.

Yeah, infant Sonny on tenor with Bird. Really something else. These were from 1952 I think.

Some really cool stuff with Mingus and Elvin Jones (EARLY!) from a couple of years later on this LP as well.

This is a rarely mentioned Miles Davis LP. I haven't played in a a couple of years AT LEAST, but I'm heading downstairs to give it a spin NOW!

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Bird on tenor about a year before he passes (the 1953 tracks).

I know this album by heart and find his playing really poingnant. Great tunes. Early hard bop in a sense.

Collectors' Items (Prestige 7044)

Title: Collectors' Items
Label: Prestige 7044 (LP)
Number of Tracks: 7
Details: January 30, 1953; March 16, 1956

Note: Only tracks on which Davis is present (43:08) are displayed below.

1 The Serpent's Tooth (M. Davis) [take 1] Jan 30, 1953 7:00
2 The Serpent's Tooth (M. Davis) [take 2] Jan 30, 1953 6:16
3 'Round Midnight (B. Hanighen-C. Williams-T. Monk) Jan 30, 1953 7:04
4 Compulsion (M. Davis) Jan 30, 1953 5:43
5 No Line (M. Davis) Mar 16, 1956 5:39
6 Vierd Blues (M. Davis) [Trane's Blues] Mar 16, 1956 6:51
7 In Your Own Sweet Way (D. Brubeck) Mar 16, 1956 4:35


January 30, 1953
Miles Davis (tpt); Sonny Rollins (ts); Charlie Parker (ts); Walter Bishop, Jr. (p); Percy Heath (B); Philly Joe Jones (d)

March 16, 1956
Miles Davis (tpt); Sonny Rollins (ts); Tommy Flanagan (p); Paul Chambers (B); Arthur Taylor (d)

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Thanks again for bringing this one up. I was confused about the Mignus/Elvin cuts--they're on another Miles "compilation" Prestige LP from the same era, perhaps on that funky 16 rpm disc? I know they're also on a 10" I have that's BEAT and also on one of the Prestige/Fantasy 2fers. Teddy Charles on vibes too. Now I have to go dig out THOSE recordings too.

Looks like it's going to be a Miles Davis week for me . . . .

I agree with the proto-hardbop comment 100%.

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Hey, I know what you mean, I also started listening to more Miles, also Sonny. One great album begets craving more of the same era or artist.

BTW, I just now got lucky, finding a long lost, seriously mis-filed Sonny Rollins LP on Prestige. I probably put it aside in a special place because there is something unusual about it that I wanted to sort out. I should never put things in "special" places! I had given up searching for it, and it just now turned up. You must have brought me some luck, bravo!

I think it is a very early issue. The front cover has the normal artwork of PRLP 7029, except it is in a dark orange, not the blue cover, nor the green cover, nor the yellow cover. It is Sonny Rollins (Art Blakey and Kenny Drew) also with the Modern Jazz Quartet, meaning there are two sessions issued on this LP, the Drew/Blakey from 1951 and the MJQ from 1953. This same unusual front cover in orange says it is Prestige lp 7020, however the material contained is usually designated as LP 7029.

"LP 7020" would actually come to designate the album "Worktime" (1956), a different album. The back cover of my LP does indeed call it LP7029 and the label on the disc is also PRLP7029. What is strange is that the front cover would seem to have the correct artwork /lettering mentioning both Blakey/Drew & MJQ, however the number in the upper left is "Prestige lp 7020". It seems that this may be one of the earliest issues of LP7029 which was "mistakenly" printed with LP7020 on the front cover. Can you shed any light on this? Ever seen another like it? BTW, the front cover just uses "lp 7020" the disc label uses "PRLP 7029", the back cover uses "LP 7029", the "PRLP" is only on the disc label. I assume this is standard. Address is 446 West 50th, NY 19, NY. "Remastered by Van Gelder". That must have to do with taking it to 12" from the earlier 10" issues.

Nice early Sonny!

--CS&A

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That's the first pressing. 7029 is the correct number, but somehow the first batch of cover slicks had the wrong number and there was NO WAY Bob was going to reprint them if it meant spending more money--Prestige was really a one-man show!

These are FAIRLY rare and command about $100-$150 premium in true NM pristine condition over a later NYC pressing with the corrected front slick (figure $350 or so for the "wrong" number, $200-$250 for the later one) . The backs are the same. In VG shape or worse, the difference in value isn't all that great, as the NUTJOB Prestige collectors are the only guys who really care about this stuff.

By the way, I have this issue too in VG condition--when I bought it years ago I had no clue as to the misprint. But when I play this LP, I spin a NJ pressing that's just about stone mint since it sounds so much better.

I went through a massive Sonny Rollins kick right before Xmas--must have played 40 LPs in 5 days.

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I like playing this particular copy, good sound, disc is strong vg+ (almost nm-), cover looks better than it scans, but I would probably call it vg. I think I too have a later cleaner copy, but for some reason have a nostalgia for playing this specific disc. I think there are almost subliminal things one gets accustom to with certain discs after many years. Nice to know it has "error" value to collectors. Record stores in my neighborhood in the 50s seemed to have more Prestige and Riverside than Blue Notes, so I would buy what they had.

––c•s™

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Speaking of classic Blue Note recordings and the movie prop business, did anyone else on the planet beside myself happen to notice a surprising photograph (if my eyes did not deceive me) casually sitting on a desk at the beginning of the 1994 Jack Nicholson/Michelle Pfeiffer movie? This is a eXtreme trivia question and to get full credit for the answer you need to give a possible explanation for why such a photograph might have been chosen.

( that's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten might provide an obscure hint from another movie of that same year)

-ç¶ß

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