Allan Songer

Here's another bit of trivia: Even though BN4226 is the highest catalog number pressed at Plastylite, the last two titles actually pressed there and released by Blue Note before the sale were Larry Young's "Unity" BN4221 and Lee Morgan's "Search for the New Land" BN4169--an album that had been sequenced and prepared for release over TWO YEARS before hand. Copies of 4169 with the ear are VERY VERY rare--I have been told that only a couple of thousand were pressed.

I got some KILLER deals in 2005! Sun Ra original on Transition-- FIVE BUCKS at PCC swap meet Sun Ra original on Philly Jazz- $4.99 "Buy it Now" on ebay Sonny Red Blue Note 4032 original deep groove MINT $20 "Buy it Now" on ebay Kenny Dorham "Quiet Kenny" original New Jazz VG $30 "Buy it Now" on ebay And those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Bill Perkins 'Journey to the East" on Contemporary

Herbie Nichols on Bethlehem Love, Gloom, Cash, Love The damn thing LOOKS NM, but it's got that "Bethlehem crackle" here and there. So what! It's a great LP to ring in the new year . . .

Herman Foster trio on Argo "Ready and Willing" Mono grey label DG original. Those rolling block chords really do it for me!! I love this guy!

Teddy Edwards - Teddy's Ready (click here to buy) Teddy Edwards was my favorite player. I must have heard him live at least 50 times--probably more--between the late 1970's and his passing. He never failed to deliver the goods, even at the end when his body was giving out. And I have never heard ANYONE live who could play a ballad like Teddy Edwards--he'd break your heart in two with just an opening 4-bar phrase. Anyway, I digress. This album from 1960 captured a working band in the studio, even though they were no longer a unit when the LP was released. Teddy on tenor, the underappreciated Joe Castro on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. You can also hear this same group on a record relased on Atlantic with Joe Castro billed as the leader titled "Groove, Funk, Soul" and there are also two cuts on MetroJazz 1011 billed as "Teddy Edwards at Falcon's Lair"--the rest of the record is a decent enough Sonny Rollins date, but the Edwards cuts are loose and swingng and just flat out SMOKE. It's really apparant that this is a group that had been working together for some time--even the relaxed blues workout is tight--Castro and Edwards play off each other beautifully and Vinnegar is as rock solid as ever and what can you say about the young Billy Higgins? Warhorses like "A Train" and "Scrapple from the Apple" are fresh and bursting with energy. The Edwards originals are interesting tunes--he was a gifted composer and never really got his due for that talent either. Anyway, this is enough--go spin "Teddy's Ready!" again and let me know what you think.

Absolutely! Many thanks for the rundown... Can only confirm that my copies of the Joe Henderson and Big John Patton have no ears But they still sound so good! There isn't really a whole lot of sonic difference between late Blue Note and early Liberty pressings--the ones from Plastylite are cetainly TOUGHER and also of higher overall quality--but a NM copy of either one will sound killer.

I have the stereo of 'Mode for Joe' (ST-84227) and it's pure BN (vinyls, labels, covers with the 61St. adress). No Liberty in sight anywhere. Same with 'Big' John Patton 'Got a Good Thing Goin' (4229, mono). Both still have the New York adress on the labels and come with the 1939-1966 27 YEARS BLUE NOTE inside covers! Well, if you want to get into the history of Blue Note I'll give you a little rundown. When the company was sold there were LOTS of left-over labels, slicks, inner sleeves, etc. The way we know that 4226 was the last of the original Blue Notes (although there were earlier titles pressed after this--Andrew Hill's "Andrew!" being the most obvious one--Blue Note pressed and released titles out of order throughout their history) is that it is the highest catalog number that was pressed by the Plastylite pressing plant in New Jersey. On every single Blue Note LP from the first 10" through 4226 you will find in the dead wax a mark that has come to be known as the "ear." This mark is actually a capital cursive "P" for "Plastylite." There are no knows copies of any title from 4227 forward that have this mark, which means they were pressed in a Liberty pressing plant. There are other telltale markers as well, but this is the easiest one to explain here! Anyway, after Liberty bought Blue Note they went through the inventory of labels and slicks and pressed quite a few of the OLDER titles as well, using the ORIGINAL labels and slicks--that is why you can find copies of titles as old as 1541 or 1544 that have "New York 23" or even LEXINGTON labels but with no "ear" and no deep groove--these are LIBERTY pressings!!! There were LOTS of "blank" "New York USA" labels on hand after the sale and Liberty continued to use them through the end of 1966--that is why there are titles as high as "Sweet Honey Bee" BN4252 and "The Jody Grind" BN4250 that have the "New York USA" labels. And SOMETIMES at the very end of using up the exising stock you'll find a "Liberty" label on one side and an original "Blue Note" label on the other. I have actually seen a copy of "Fats Narvarro, vol. 2" with a LIBERTY label on one side and a LEXINGTON label on the other!!! Hope this helps!!

No kidding... Hey, please fill in your "location." Ya never know...you could be 'round the corner from me... I'm in L.A.

You've got that right. New York has SOMEONE great to hear every single night of the week all year long. NYC is THE town to live in if you love the music. I'm in L.A. which great too--not what it was a couple of decades back, but still many, many great players and enough clubs and other venues to make sure there is always something to hear. I hear live jazz about 5-6 times a month and I dont think I could live without it.

Joe Castro on Atlantic with Teddy Edwards, Leroy Vinnegar and Billy Higgins. GROOVE FUNK SOUL I love this band!!! You can hear them on MetroJazz 1011, side 2 (the rest of the record is a pretty average Sonny Rollins date), Teddy Edwards' "Teddy's Ready" on Contemporary and his "Sunset Eyes" (all but one cut) on Pacific Jazz.

$75 to $100 is probably a bit high for a copy of Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar LP (not the later edited or overdubbed versions), but I am pretty sure that NM or better copies will likely command at least $40 to $50 from most sellers. I don't think it is all that common a record in better shape. Prior to the internet, pricing of out of print jazz LPs was far more erratic. You got that right!! Ebay drove the price WAY up on rare Blue Notes and also proved that 10" Fantasy LPs really ARE worth only ten bucks!

I have all of the original 12" Blue Note releases--95% of them first pressings, but all of them "original" in that they were pressed by Plastylite before the sale to Liberty (the last "REAL" Blue Note was Don Cherry's "Complete Communion" BN4226 and the first pressed by Liberty was Joe Henderson's "Mode for Joe" BN4227). It took me over 25 years to put this collection together and there's no way I could do it today without a bigger, fatter bank account! The early 1500s are HOT--lots of sizzle and very forward and I LOVE them, but the best recordings were made after RVG opened his studio and stopped recording in the living room. Monos from this era are as good as records get. I think the best bang for the buck is with the blue label Libetry and UA pressings--while they are not as QUIET as the Japanese pressings, they sound more like the original records (other than the uber-expensive late 70's KING pressings which are amazingly good). And SOME of the "rechanelled for stereo" records are actually MONO--BN1534 comes to mind--the jacket SAYS stereo, but the copy I once had was mono all the way.

I have a NM original too--it's not a particularly rare or valuable record--I have passed on really, REALLY nice copies in the last couple of years that were priced in the $75-$100 range. I bought mine back in the late 70's at Rasputin's in Berkeley for about five bucks.

If you have any info on Howard McGhee's upcoming gigs, PM me asap! He's with Teddy Edwards at some bar over on Santa Monica Blvd.

Any MF who can weave "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" into a solo so that it makes PERFECT sense is allright with me.

Tonight I'd go hear Danny Grissett at Charlie O's, but I can't make it. Tomorrow Dewey Erniey is at the Westin Hotel at the Airport. On Thursday the GREAT Jennifer Leitham and her trio are at the Westin in Long Beach from 6 til 10--you probably know her from her days as JOHN Leitham (!!!) the greatest left handed bassist you ever heard! If you're here on Friday night, go check out John Heard, Roy McCurdy, Danny Grissett and Ricky Woodard over at Charlie O's in the Valley. Three sets, no cover if you eat some food--a GREAT room. I'll be there. http://www.charlieos.com/

Would you mind checking out 5/19//59? Thanks.

This is a CRAZYILY good album with the typical Holman TIGHT arrangement that are always full of surprises. The charts were all written for this date and for the players Holman had in mind. I know of no other big band record of the era that swings as hard or has the richness of timbre and crazy counterpoint-- well, it's just a freaking GREAT record. The band includes Bill Perkins, Pete Christeib, Bob Enevoldsen and all the usual hotshot LA players. Sadly, I think this one is now out of print, but you should be able to track it down. KILLER!

Do you have the Von Freeman on Premontion called "The Improvisor" from 2-3 years ago? There are a couple of cuts with Moran on piano and he really shines in this setting. I like him a lot--never had the chance to hear him live but I'm sure I will one day. And ANY record with Sam Rivers on it is worth buying, dontcha think?

The title cut of the Philly Jazz record with it's Ellington/Mingus meets Ra in space groove really moves me. The rest of the record is a sort of Ra Disco--relentless and can be pretty tiring if you're not in the mood.

Those are the sides I listen to as well--plus the solo piano records, the Philly Jazz LP and that live in Atlanta 2-record set from the larte 80's. MOST of the El Saturn 70's and 80's stuff just doesn't hit me hard enough to dig around and find . . .

Yep. I have all of the original Transition jazz releases EXCEPT the Lucky Thompson one (21--which was a reissue of some French sides anyway and I do have the Xanadu reissue!) and the "Dartmouth Indian Cheifs" (27) which I have never seen and an not sure I even want! I once owned the Russeel Woolen one (15) but traded it for a nice flat-edge deep groove Blue Note 1515 (Jutta Hipp). I made out--the guy I traded with needed this one to COMPLETE his Transition collection--he admitted to me that he'd probably only play it ONCE. But I understand--as I put my Blue Note collection together (I have at least one original copy of each title) there were a few I knew I wouldn't play all that often (Dodo Greene, anyone?). You know, Transition's numbering system was almost as chaotic as El Saturn--as far as I can tell the numbers of the albums that were issued were 1,2,4,5,10,15,17,19,20,21,23,27,30. Perhaps I am missing one or two, but if so the records have to be REALLY obscure!!

I've spent the whole weekend in a Sun Ra groove. Everything from the first Transition LP through The ESP LPs and "Atlantis" and "Languidity" to a live set from Atlanta in the late 80's. John Gilmore was truly a tenor god. Anyone here attend any live Sun Ra shows? I saw a few in the Bay Area in 70's and early 80's and another in L.A. in the late 80's.

How about a trip out to the Valley to Charlie O's--THE best jazz club in L.A.!! On Friday and Saturday night John Heard and Roy McCurdy are joined by various piano and horn players--John is my favorite living bass player and Roy McCurdy's work speaks for itself (to stay with Cannonball for 9 years means A LOT!!). Anyway, lets all meet up there one night . . .