neveronfriday

Muffin (left) and Basil (right)

I wouldn't mind seeing a pic. Got one? Cheers! [Edit: I mean in all his glory. Cat lovers have tons of photographs of their lovbed ones around. I know ...]

Hi everyone, these past years I snatched up copies of lots of jazz photography books whenever I saw them pop up on eBay, amazon (second hand) or in other places. I have to admit that I'm not quite as critical as some photography experts on this board, but the following I have enjoyed very much. I have a lot more, but maybe you can also add your recommendations? I might start searching for some I don't have yet and your info might point me towards. BTW: I bought many second-hand copies at powells.com. Reasonably priced and never disappointed with the quality. Here we go: 1) Album Covers: I'm a sucker for album covers and I have a ton of oversized paperback reprints, some of which are: - Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham: 1) California Cool. West Coast Cover Art. Featuring Contemporary Records and Pacific Jazz. 2) East Coasting. The Cover Art of New York's Prestige, Riverside and Atlantic Records. 3) The Cover Art of Blue Note Records. Vols. 1 and 2. All of these are wonderful (some reproductions could have been better because the editors apparently did not hunt down mint copies of the LPs for reproduction; size: about 30cm * 30 cm), but considering the price you can sometimes find these at, it could be an idea to snatch them up, tear them apart, mount and frame your fave reproductions and hang 'em up on the wall. Something I intend to do. - Alex Steinweiss 1) Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and Alex Steinweiss. For the Record. The Life and Work of Alex Steinweiss, Inventor of the Album Cover. This book is smaller (18cm * 18 cm), but Steinweiss is certainly my fave cover artist. True art. - Eric Kohler 1) Eric Kohler. In the Groove. Vintage Record Graphics 1940-1960. Wonderful graphics, nice colours - again, true art. (about 24cm * 24cm) Unfortunately, the book on Verve record covers which was announced last year never materialized and the project was apparently shelved. Does anyone have any more info on this? I would love to get my hands on a book like that. - Michael Ochs 1) Michael Ochs. 1000 Record Covers. This one was published by Taschen in 1996 (I have no idea if this was a larger hardcover) and reprinted in 2002 (hardcover; 20cm *14cm). A wild ride spanning all musical styles from the 50s to the 90s. Great fun to browse. 2) Photography: Originally I bought a second-hand copy of a jazz photography book to also tear it up and hang some stuff up on the wall (many books display reproductions in stunning quality rivalling way too expensive photo reprints (but never, of course, reaching that quality)), but I haven't yet found the courage to do so. Some of my favourites: 1) William Claxton. Jazz Seen. Everyone with a remote interest in the subject will have this wonderful Taschen hardcover from 1999 and it is still readily available, usually at very reasonable prices. I paid under 20 for a copy in near mint condition. A must-have. 2) Frank Driggs & Harris Lewine. 1920 - 1950. Black Beauty, White Heat. A Pictorial History of Classic Jazz. This one is available as a reprint (paperback, I think, and somewhat updated, if memory doesn't fail me, but I went for a second-hand copy of the original hardcover from 1982. For me this one is the cornerstone of my collection, although the reproductions are, due to the nature of this book, not up to the quality standards of, say, books like the above-mentioned Claxton. That's also not the point. What you get is a wealth of information plus a load of vintage photos and poster reproductions that, one year later, I still pull from my shelf again and again. I think it'll take me several years to take in all the info. Highly recommended! 3) Carole Reiff. Nights in Birdland. Jazz Photographs 1954 - 1960. This book has already been talked about elsewhere on this board, but despite the lacklustre reproductions and, in the first edition, careless editing job, Reiff's photographs are some of my favourites. She got very close to the musicians and some of the shots show their subjects in seemingly very private moments. There are so many wonderful photos in this book, it's difficult to single any out. So, I won't. Check out the other thread. 4) Dennis Stock. Jazz Street (? I have a German edition entitled "Jazzwelt"). Published in the 60s, this is another classic and not easy to find cheap. I found one in excellent condition, but it took me over a year to find it at an acceptable price. The reproductions are good (in my edition, "Büchergilde Zürich") and besides some shots being a bit on the grainy side, the photos are great. You can check them out online. 5) Joachim E. Berendt and William Claxton. Jazz Life. Published in Germany in 1961. The German Jazz critic and Claxton went on a "jazz tour" through the States, capturing everything from New Orleans street parades to bebop, jazz festivals, etc. There are some shots which are also in the Claxton (Taschen) above, but to get the complete trip here is just wonderful. The reproductions are good (on cheap and rather thin paper ... meaning inevitable edge browning) and Berendt's notes are captivating. 6) Jan Putfarcken. Jazz Portraits. This small slipcased hardcover (about the size of a CD I, funnily enough, bought in the Staes (powells has this one VERY cheap at the moment) although it was published in Germany. Wonderful head shots of a whole line of great jazz musicians, also a lot of more recent ones (Garbarek, Gurtu, Metheny, etc.). For under $5 this was a real find. I could write about a lot more about these kinds of books, W. Royal Stokes. Swing Era New York. The Jazz Photographs of Charles Peterson (1994), Milt Hinton a. o. OverTime (1991), Tim Motion. Jazz Portraits. An Eye for the Sound (1995), Lee Tanner. Images of Jazz (1996), Francis Wolff's stuff, but maybe others want to join with some info? Cheers!

Hi everyone, just heard that from March 11th until march 24th, www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr (Columbia University) will be broadcasting 200 hours of Coltrane. Time to get the drinks mixed. Cheers!

Ahhhhhhhhhh. THAT hand. Nope, never seen it before. Sorry. Cheers!

Err, the hand? Care to elaborate? The Hand of God (June 22, 1986)? Rodin? Cheers!

Come to think of it ... let's just stay outside and have a longer go at it.

Care to step outside for a minute or two? [Edit: typo]

The only tiling I ever did was cluttering my apartment's walls with LP covers (every inch). That was, hm, 25 years ago. But Herman, which I assume is the cat, I like. Would that be "Herman, ze German?" Cheers!

Wow; all I can think to say after that post is which three and do you have a lot of Arkham House stuff that's just gathering dust... 1) Anita O'Day, Johnny Hodges and Elvin Jones 2) Nope. I was never into Lovecraft or stupid old gods, and Lovecraft's deciples just really go on my nerves. I'm more the Joe R. Lansdale, Dennis Etchison; Ed Gorman etc. kind of guy. And a Harlan Ellison completist, although he certainly doesn't really fit the bill. He just happens to be one of the best writers the US ever had. Cheers! Edit: Removed the stupid bee) [b)] bug.

C'mon, let's all pity the poor fellow ... he had to! Actually, yes. Unless I wanted to swim to work. But we all know how walking patterns can be influenced by CD shops, so ...

And the covers the rest and can even be used in self-defense (remember Sean Connery using that one?).

Hm. My problem is that I have this collector streak in me. For about twenty years or so it was contemporary horror fiction (limited and first editions, rare reprints), followed by a steadily increasing interest in contemporary fantasy art. All along, I put together an ever-growing collection of photography books. In the background my CD collection grew steadily and went through various phases ... getting started in the 80s, buying a huge number of second hand CDs in the 90s (I had to walk by a second hand store every day on the way to work and back) and then going into a remastering fit. I'm the record industry's dream boy. As my interest in jazz grew again (I listen to music pretty much 24/7), so did that part of my collection. I went for the stuff I knew and liked way back when, started discovering new artists, entered the Blue Note era, etc. You know the way it goes. My first Mosaic was the Teddy Wilson one not so long ago. Being somewhat of an audiophile, I wanted as much Teddy Wilson I could get in good sound quality and the Mosaic is/was it. Then came the Ellington set (German Spiegel version), the Mulligan is on order with 2001 (wonder if they can/will deliver), and the last purchase was the Blue Mitchell. I tend to go for the more lavishly produced re-issue series of stuff I've wanted, did once listen to or am pointed towards by others (like the people on this board). Just like with a good book, for me it's not only the content (which comes first, of course), but also the presentation. And Mosaic scores big in that department. The booklets (err, books) are simply wonderful. I still continue to fill my Universal Deluxe collection (the early Bob Marley discs are simply brilliant, etc.) of which I'm missing only two (some I didn't consider because the music simply didn't interest me), I've gone for the latest Universal France Heritage and Anniversary series recently (even duplicating some stuff I already have in the Jazz in Paris boxes (these new re-issues were re-sequenced) because I found them extremely cheap, etc. What I am not is a completist (I do have tons of Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson, though), and I do not go for re-issues with inferior sound (even if that's the only issue available and recommended by others). I do have some Proper boxes (for a while there was a shop here which sold these at 8.99 Euro, no matter what it was ... the shop has since disappeared ... wonder why), but I basically use those to find out what it is I should be tracking down in better sound quality. I've reached the point though, at which I intend to stop buying for a while (yeah, right). I do listen to everything I buy, but I feel I haven't had enough time to devote to what I've bought due to the steady stream of packages arriving here. I think I'll put on what I have and start cataloguing it ... that should take me a year or so ... But, there are still three Mosaic sets I want, so ... Hm, on second thought, forget what I said above. Cheers!

That'll be the day.

I can't really help out all that much. I think what I recognized straight away has already been identified by others (plus more), so ... I have decided to prolong my trip and am simply unable to get to my disc ... dumb of me, but I took a whole bunch of Blue Notes and, of course, bought a whole bunch of CDs on the trip. I should have left a copy of the disc on my FTP space or opened a connection to my PC because I'm going through my usual online connection which would have allowed me to remotely access my drive as well ... but, it's locked. Now, one track I immediately identified was the Mulligan (I think it's off a disc entitled S...b...]. I didn't have time to check with my disc, but I'm quite sure (I just recalled mine sounding a bit clearer, etc. ... hopefully I'm not making a fool of myself and it is that disc and not a different session). Let's see if I can recall the other ones. As far as I remember this thread (I just don't have all that much time to read at the moment), the K.H. track has already been identified elsewhere. I still have the LP which I listened to a lot when it came out ... I've grown a bit tired of it since. Kip is not really my kind of thing anymore. The last one was one of the Latin ones. Can't remember now, but I have it (I used to be heavily into Latin jazz but have since overdosed). I hope I will get back home before the guessing time is up. All I can say is that before I left, I really dug that BFT selection and was blasting it through my Dynacord speakers for half the town to hear! Thanks! Cheers!

790.3

735.4 ... and only two inches away from another BOOM!

Patricia, I enjoyed this in its first incarnation but was often distracted. This is a MUCH better setting. I'll enjoy reading this. Cheers!

... and 31. *phew* made it.

couw, I've been watching this thread. Some quick takes: a) A friendship practically ended when I insisted on what you stated - that Miles was not the player everyone made him out to be. This friend (and he was a good friend, no matter what people might think about a friendship ending over such a lame discussion) was in more ways than one quite attached to Davis (quite a known trumpeter himself). B) I saw Miles live 8 or 9 times. No matter what I thought of him, his live performances were absolutely mesmerizing, which, in my mind, accounts for the fascination surrounding him. I had the chance to talk to him several times, usually early in the mornings at one Copenhagen club he liked to frequent (and that I worked at), and all I can say, despite his sometimes irritating comportment around audiences, is that he was a fascinating person with an almost magnetic charisma. Despite his sometimes very ambiguous (to say the least) image, he actually did spend time concentrating on and debating with people who, from his vantage point, must have been lower life forms (I sold drinks, provided for some entertainment and played some (very little) jazz) ... I liked the man ... very much. Never had a negative moment I can recall. Summary: I think Eric (below) hinted at what constitutes some of that fascination: To watch Miles lead the pack with the wink of an eye, the sway of a hip or the simple movement of a finger was amazing, and I always felt that Miles live was where it was at. I had some of the most enjoyable moments at Miles' live concerts, and that despite my not really being all that taken by his playing. Man ... wonderful memories. Paradoxical or schizophrenic? Perhaps. But there was only one Miles Davis, unique and controversial, but I loved it when I was there. Loved it. Cheers!

I'm sending the money ... NOW! DO NOT give away the CDs to anyone else. ; ) Cheers!

You're waiting for the Mitchell? Be patient and wait - the music will reward you! ubu Got it. Wow! SMOOOOOOOOKKKIIIINNNNN'

It's near the top of my list. I've just had too many birthdays these past weeks which cost me dearly, so Anita's gotta wait a bit. The way I've been buying CDs lately, I have to wait until the various Mosaic sets go on that dreaded "Last Chance" list ... enough impetus to actually plunk down the cash for them. Hope I don't go wrong that way ... Cheers!

Lovely, lovely! A Blue Note cake! Thanks Maren! I'm only on for a couple of minutes (also tried several times today) and this is going to be a short 30th, but I only vaguely remember my real 30th anyway, so we might as well keep the virtual one short as well. I'll be back! Cheers!