rdavenport

I bought this book when I started listening to jazz in 1993, it was very helpful in the pre-internet era.

These LPs are to be found in about 50% of English charity shops

Yes, good idea.

That's very sad to hear. I met Bill a few times between 2016 and 2018 - he dropped some CDs at my house once, and I visited his house two or three times when I bought a lot of his vinyl and CDs. He was certainly a very spry fellow in those days, and seemed to be enjoying his retirement, making full use of his free OAP travel pass as I recall. Though I hadn't spoken to him in a while, I did think about him, reminded by the fact that many of my LPs and CDs contain Bill's elegant signature hidden unobtrusively about the covers. Ghost - please pass on my condolences, if you are in touch with his wife again.

When I saw the thread title, I was sceptical such album covers existed. This is an impressive array thus far, well done

Haha - no Ahmad Jamal in this one, though like you say, I have seen them in other collections I've bought in the past. They tend to be 70s / 80s Ahmad Jamal however. Thinking back, there were many Ella albums, and a lot of Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan. These artists (Stan Getz is another) are also typical of what I find in such collections. Swinging, quiet, polite, cultured, pretty-sounding.

Yes, fair point. They were all from his late 60s / early 70s output. 👍

I happened upon OP's autobiography in a charity shop this week. I picked it up and skimmed a few pages, and it didn't really grab me - inoffensive, slightly banal. I left it on the shelf. It's interesting what Big Beat Steve says upthread about the jazz tastes of classical music fans. I recently bought quite a big record collection, 60% classical and 40% jazz. The jazz portion was entirely typical of these collections (I've bought dozens over the years). There were over 20 OP albums, about 16 George Shearings, about 12 Dave Brubecks, about 10 Andre Previns, 15 Nat King Coles, 15 Frank Sinatras, 10 each of Duke Ellington, Basie and MJQ. You almost always find a token Bird or Miles album in these collections. This one was slightly unusual in that it had 2 Monk albums (a solo bootleg-looking thing and the Tokyo concerts) a single Bill Evans, and the real kicker - four Groove Holmes LPs.

👍

Haha good one, not seen that one before 👍

Deutsche Grammophon's 1980s output seems to have "admiration" as a theme...

I've never been good at cryptic crosswords, so I don't expect I'll get many right. So the titles are based on other song titles specifically, or historic events, or both? Between 1901 and 1971? Tiger Rag In The Mood Black and Tan Fantasy On the Sunny Side of the Street Louie Louie Harlem Shuffle Dance of the Infidels Sgt Pepper Well You Needn't Lester Leaps In Tea for Two

I did love that LP