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prestontw

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  1. Hi, Finally! Here's a transcript of my long interview with Gene Shaw's daughter, Ms. Leah Mondino (w/rare and personal photos of him and his family) HERE best t
  2. Jump bumping this conversation to the present... I love reading through these archives to discover the wealth of research of board members. I recently acquired two vintage John Wright Prestige pressings that share the same characteristics of LPs previously mentioned in this thread - Status Front Covers/Back Covers/Catalog numbers (ST-XXX) but with Yellow& Black fireworks labels (matrix numbers in the 7000s) on the actual vinyl. Both LPs were beat to hell but they much better than they looked. Given, we can estimate that Status was the budget label for Prestige c 1965 -can my two John Wright sides be considered cut outs (and hence close to first pressings)? best trevor
  3. So is Fresh Sound/Jordi going to give some of these proceeds to John Wright? I've become quite friendly with John and he deserves to be compensated for his work. -t
  4. prestontw

    Gene Shaw

    My ongoing Chicago jazz/soul jazz/Argo-Cadet project marches on - this afternoon I located and reached out to the two surviving daughters of the trumpet player Gene Shaw! (Mingus sideman and leader of three brilliant recordings on Argo from 1962-64). Interestingly - both now reside in Europe (France and Italy, respectively). I'm going to interview both about their father on the weekend. More later! trevor
  5. Hi, Some more exciting news I thought I'd share with fellow board members - I spoke with the widow of the late Esmond Edwards tonight! Esmond Edwards is one of my personal jazz heroes - but for those for those of you who didn't know was trailblazing and pioneering African-American record company executive/record producer/a&r man for Prestige , Chess/Argo,Verve/MGM and finally, Impulse. Bob Weinstock gave him his start as a clerk/photographer in 1957 for Prestige - before he essentially took over as A&R man/house producer shortly thereafter. He then produced Coltrane's first side for Prestige amongst a slew of great sides before moving on to Chess/Argo in 1962 where he perfected the 'soul jazz' sound. I contend that Edwards has not received the proper acclaim and historical recognition that is due to him as a seminal jazz producer - he certainly is the equal of figures such as Alfred Lion, Francis Woolf etc.. I've been researching and documenting the life of Edwards for a potential blog project - and I reached out to some of his family members last week. Finally tracked down his widow in Santa Barbara - and had a warm and friendly conversation with her tonight. Fortunately, she was very receptive and open to a project on Esmond Edwards' life in jazz and beyond. I'm so excited - she mentioned that there's a huge amounts of photographs, personal papers to use as source material for a future big project. Stay tuned... I also just completed three long interviews with John Wright - and I'll try to transcribe them when I have the time. You can visit my blog for the gist of what John said - he had some very interesting things to say about his experiences dealing with Weinstock! best trevor
  6. Thanks, I'll ask John. Talked both with him and his wife again last night - he remembers all his recordings quite well, but doesn't own the original vinyl - he seemed bemused when I told him originals sell for big bucks on ebay! He finally saw an original when his grandaughter bought "South Side Soul" off ebay. Also - very interestingly - he hasn't received any royalties since the Fantasy sale in the early 70s. Zilch, nada.... This is going to be a big project - John is very eager to talk at length. Great stories of the old Chicago jazz scene, John is an old friend of Ahmad Jamal - told me he was actually in the audience when "Jamal at the Pershing" was recorded- and his working trio of Wendell Roberts (b), Walter McCants (d)even replaced Jamal at the Pershing. -trevor
  7. Hi, Some exciting news that I thought I'd share with fellow board members... I spoke on the phone this morning with the great Chicago soul jazz pianist John Wright and his wife in Chicago! John, who recorded five classic Prestige sides in the early 60s remains active in Chicago today gigging, after retiring from his second career working in the Illinois corrections system. Very warm and genial guy, who retains very clear memories of recording his Prestige sides with Rudy Van Gelder and Esmond Edwards. I'm in the process of arranging a longer followup and more detailed interview next week with John about his career and life in jazz for a major piece on my blog. What I would like to ask here is: do any board members have any questions, input about what I can ask John? Please PM or email (prestontw@yahoo.com) me direct with your comments and suggestions. best trevor
  8. Finally received my copy on Monday. It was my first every Mosaic purchase and I'm enjoying it immensely. What a beautiful and handsome package/box with a definitive mastering of the Jamal Trio output.
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