[clifford_thornton]

OK, what jazz LPs can you think of that were made in the fewest runs? I'm not counting test pressings here (i.e., "Back to the Tracks, etc.)...

I'd nominate the Howard Riley "Discussions" LP (99 made), but it has been reissued in Japan... Also, the Alan Davie-Frank Perry Duo (again, 99).

What can you think of made in even lesser quantities? The Khan Jamal on Dogtown?

[Joe Christmas]

clifford_thornton, on Mar 8 2004, 09:48 AM, said:

What can you think of made in even lesser quantities? The Khan Jamal on Dogtown?

I have this one. Woot! Maybe also Milford Graves/Don Pullen's NOMMO on SRP.

[Jim R]

I don't know how many were produced, but I understand Jackie Mac's quintet LP on Ad Lib is pretty rare
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f515/f51515wf0fd.jpg

[Brandon Burke]

Jim R, on Mar 8 2004, 02:13 PM, said:

I don't know how many were produced, but I understand Jackie Mac's quintet LP on Ad Lib is pretty rare
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f515/f51515wf0fd.jpg

Dig it. We had/have a copy at the Wright Archive.......

http://www.ku.edu/~sfa/mad/jazzarchive/graphics/5.gif

[Brandon Burke]

....and this is to say nothing for the Art Pepper on Intro (also seen above).

My vote--not a jazz record--is Billy Nicholls Would You Believe on Immediate. Psychedelic British invasion record backed by the Small Faces. 1968. Amazing LP. One of my all-time faves. For whatever reason, Immediate pressed a couple dozen promo copies (with artwork) but scrapped a formal release of the record. Last one I saw on eBay was at $2,500 and the reserve was not yet met. Yikes!

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e483/e48348n6e4f.jpg

[brownie]

The 'Ornette Coleman In Concert' double LP (supposed to be on Craws but the labels of my copy do not indicate a company name) is a very limited issue of a 1974 New York City concert by Ornette with Blood Ulmer, Sirone Jones and Billy Higgins.
And even scarier than Milford Graves' Nommo was the Don Pullen-Milford Graves PG LP of their April 1966 concert at Yales University. Each album cover was handpainted 'different from the other' as says a note attached to the inner record sleeve. I think Graves was the the one who painted the covers.

[Rooster_Ties]

Gotta be some of the Sun Ra "Saturn" issues. Only 300 copies of a few titles, I think I've read somewhere before.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, the private-press free jazz realm seems the most fruitful for major obscurities. Those hand-painted PGs are pretty amazing. Pulled a boner and forgot about the copy of "Opium for Franz" (also hand-painted) up on eBay recently, and it 'only' went for $120.

The first issue of "Center of the World" by the Frank Wright quartet has a blank white back cover, on which the band painted and drew images, apparently all in one night after dropping some acid. Sadly, my copy just has the blank back, no drawings. Maybe they left the room before they got to mine...

[kulu se mama]

i believe there is a live sun ra record that was only available if you actually attended the concert that was recorded.
everyone in attendance received a coupon to be mailed in after the show.

[clifford_thornton]

kulu se mama, on Mar 9 2004, 03:34 PM, said:

i believe there is a live sun ra record that was only available if you actually attended the concert that was recorded.
everyone in attendance received a coupon to be mailed in after the show.

That's pretty cool. There's a record called "Perception and Friends" that was printed (silkscreened on thin paper stock) for a similar situation, only available at shows or given to their friends.

[kulu se mama]

actually being able to buy a cd of the concert is the new concert t-shirt.
quite a few groups are experminting with pressing cd's at the venue immediately after the concert ends.
then there are the websites that allow you to buy any show in a tour like the who and the allman brothers did recently.
just goes to show how far out sun ra really was.

[Tom in RI]

I'm too lazy to look it up but I believe Pablo reissued an lp of material recorded by Duke Ellington that was pressed as single copy originally for the Queen of England (as if she didn't have enough perks already!).

[paul secor]

Tom in RI, on Mar 9 2004, 04:29 PM, said:

I'm too lazy to look it up but I believe Pablo reissued an lp of material recorded by Duke Ellington that was pressed as single copy originally for the Queen of England (as if she didn't have enough perks already!).

Yeah - The Queen's Suite. I guess that wins the prize.
I have a Pipe Records LP, For Franz, (Bill Dixon, Steve Lacy, Franz Koglmann, and others) that has a hand painted cover by Franz Koglmann. I don't know what the pressing was, but it couldn't have been too many.

[brownie]

Only single albums have been mentioned so far. I have what looks like a one of a kind fold out 4CD box containing four Eremite CDs by Alan Silva:
Alan Silva & WilliamParker (Eremite 017),
Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra (Eremite 026),
Alan Silva & Oluyemi Thomas (Eremite 027)
The All-Star Game (Eremite 044)

The box is a handpainted one similar to the Silva Treasure Boxes, also on Eremite.

This post has been edited by brownie: 10 March 2004 - 11:03 AM

[Dan Gould]

Gee, and I thought my copy of Dexter Gordon's "All Souls", a private pressing of 500 of a live recording, qualified here. Guess not.

[couw]

you can send it to me Dan, I'll hand-paint it for you. That should increase its level of rarity.

[Eloe Omoe]

brownie, on Mar 8 2004, 03:38 PM, said:

The 'Ornette Coleman In Concert' double LP (supposed to be on Craws but the labels of my copy do not indicate a company name) is a very limited issue of a 1974 New York City concert by Ornette with Blood Ulmer, Sirone Jones and Billy Higgins.

[QUOTE]

Brownie,

the Ornette Coleman LP you are talking about has not been recorded in NYC, as it comes from a 1974 Italian concert (Padova, Teatro S.Pio X, May 4, 1974). There's also a web page from an Italian collector, http://digilander.li...lia/ornette.htm, with some photos from that concert.
It looks like the solos of James Blood Ulmer have been edited out of the bootleg because he had his own amp that did not get into the soundboard.

Best, Luca

[brownie]

Thanks for the Ornette double LP info. The records labels are similar to other Italian bootlegs of the time.

[mmilovan]

Dan Gould, on Mar 10 2004, 11:07 AM, said:

Gee, and I thought my copy of Dexter Gordon's "All Souls", a private pressing of 500 of a live recording, qualified here. Guess not.

Where it was recorded?

[paul secor]

This isn't about a jazz LP, but about 15 years ago I met Bruce Bastin, who runs Flyright/Heritage/Harlequin Records, at a friend's radio show. I mentioned a record titled Those Happy Old Days, a collection of obscure Louisiana blues and r&b, that he issued in the mid-70's. To my best recollection, he said that it had a pressing of 100 copies. I wonder if that was usual for small labels back then?

[Dan Gould]

mmilovan, on Mar 10 2004, 07:42 PM, said:

Dan Gould, on Mar 10 2004, 11:07 AM, said:

Gee, and I thought my copy of Dexter Gordon's "All Souls", a private pressing of 500 of a live recording, qualified here.  Guess not.

Where it was recorded?

I don't recall and its packed up at the moment. But it was Dex backed by an obscure rhythm section, somewhere in Scandinavia, I believe.

[dave9199]

Billy Nicholas...was he the guy who played Cousin Kevin in the movie of The Who's Tommy?

[clifford_thornton]

Dan Gould, on Mar 10 2004, 11:07 AM, said:

Gee, and I thought my copy of Dexter Gordon's "All Souls", a private pressing of 500 of a live recording, qualified here. Guess not.

Is that the one on Catfish? Mystery label if there ever was one... there are a bunch of weird Dutch jazz records on there. I'd say it qualifies.

Brownie, what about some of those Danish Debuts? I'm willing to bet that the Steinmetz and the TCJQ LPs (the one with the newspaper cover) make hens' teeth look like plain old feathers...

[sidewinder]

There's a Tempo LP by Jimmy Deuchar called 'Pal Jimmy' that would be a good candidate. Has Tubby Hayes in the lineup and I believe only about 200 copies were ever produced. Saw one recently go for £1200 :eye: :eye: :wacko:

This post has been edited by sidewinder: 12 March 2004 - 02:58 PM

[Brandon Burke]

dave9199, on Mar 11 2004, 07:03 AM, said:

Billy Nicholas...was he the guy who played Cousin Kevin in the movie of The Who's Tommy?

If you're talking to me then the answer is no. Cousin Kevin was played by Paul Nicholas. (I just looked it up right now. I didn't know that off the top fo my head or anything.)

[brownie]

clifford_thornton, on Mar 11 2004, 01:20 PM, said:

Brownie, what about some of those Danish Debuts? I'm willing to bet that the Steinmetz and the TCJQ LPs (the one with the newspaper cover) make hens' teeth look like plain old feathers...

Those ones are pretty rare. Never came across them. Just saw cover reproductions of these Debut LPs.

[jazzypaul]

Actually, if you think about it, most of the BN albums that have come out since 1986 (not the reissues) are all pretty rare. There's that 500 copies per year rule that they have in effect, and there are quite a few BN's that go out of print within their year. They may not seem rare now, but after Mosaic does their Bill Stewart on Blue Note Select box in 2035, My copies of Snide Remarks and Telepathy are gonna be a prospective goldmine... :P

[mmilovan]

Dan Gould, on Mar 11 2004, 07:02 AM, said:

mmilovan, on Mar 10 2004, 07:42 PM, said:

Dan Gould, on Mar 10 2004, 11:07 AM, said:

Gee, and I thought my copy of Dexter Gordon's "All Souls", a private pressing of 500 of a live recording, qualified here.  Guess not.

Where it was recorded?

I don't recall and its packed up at the moment. But it was Dex backed by an obscure rhythm section, somewhere in Scandinavia, I believe.

Mmmm, "Dex backed by an obscure rhythm section".... :excited:

Mmmm, donuts... :)