sidewinder

Great record, great pressing.

According to Bill Birch’s book this lineup was at Free Trade Hall, Manchester in March 1960. Wonder if this was recorded there? No doubt BillF was present.

Another one here with a copy of the HMV mono. It’s good ! Liberty blue/white

Rare Groove ’The Mandingo’ - yeah !

With regard to that previous release UK compilation of ‘some of the tracks’ mentioned by H Pekar, I dug out this CD: This one has one track from the session, ‘Footprints’, on it. The CD came out in 1994. They seem to have got the lineup wrong though, crediting Larry Hancock on drums and not Leroy Williams.

Madness ‘Our House’ Sun Ra ‘Unmasking The Batman’

Thanks ! I’ll definitely put some photos up once it has arrived. I think I’m warming to the ‘Split’ title and agree it makes more sense than ‘Spirit’, which always had me scratching my head. I’m wondering if some of the explanation for all this might be ‘German efficiency’ of that era. They probably converted the supplied metal parts into a completed first batch of LPs (maybe promo?) boxed up before US Blue Note had got round to making a decision and communicating a cancellation. Another possible theory - Francis Wolff died in March 1972 (or was it ‘71?) could it be that he or Duke Pearson sent a set of stampers out, which the Liberty ‘suits’ subsequently cancelled in the transitional period after his death?

UK pressing (Decca) RIP Mike Longo.

Relax - it’ll shortly be on its way to the UK. I was sceptical at first but on one of those photos when blown up I could just make out the ‘BST’ number in the runout. To be honest, I’ve had $100 worth of entertainment this afternoon just speculating about it. I was also reminded how stunning these German Libertys can sound when I spun the Duke Pearson earlier on so if all goes well it’ll probably be a big upgrade on the Rare Groove. I will post some better pictures of it on here when it arrives, all being well.

‘Sanctuary’ - Wayne Shorter ’Goin’ Out Of My Head’ - Hank Mobley ’Thinking of Home’ - (also) Hank Mobley

LJC’s musings on German Liberty Blue Note.. https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/record-labels-guide/blue-note-europe/ The absence of the numbering in the runout leaves me unconvinced. If RVG shipped them a metal master, surely this would have been scribed on there?

I remember JohnS on this board saying that he had a couple of white label BN promos but US ones of a slightly earlier vintage - picked up for a pittance at Mole. They were hand scribbled on the label. No idea what a German promo might look like.

Just checked the pics against my German Liberty of Duke Pearson ‘How Insensative’ (84344). Correlates pretty well - even duplicates the ‘r’ running off the outside of the label. No sign of the hand engraved release number ‘BST- etc’ on the runout though. If this thing is for real, it must literally be a prototype ! The lack of promo sleeve as BBS says, plus absence of runout scribbling does imply some element of uncertainty though. ’London Jazz Collector’ should do a forensic article on this one !

That sounds a plausible theory. It is possible I guess that they never officially got out of the production plant and emerged later on into the ‘market’ as a result of a clearout.

Checked Harvey Pekar’s notes on the ‘Rare Groove’ LP. Says no previous release apart from a couple of tracks put out on earlier UK compilations. No mention of a German issue, although it does mention that the release numbering was assigned back in the Liberty era.

Very interesting !

This would be intriguing if it is for real. Could it be that Francis Wolff released a master of the session for intended German pressing just before it was put in the can in the US? Possible, I guess. Maybe just a few were released in Germany before they pulled it there too (and before correcting the label).

slumming it with..

Sounds good ! Cup of morning Yorkshire tea for me. percy62..

Already?

Good thoughts and wishes from here to Darius and Dan. Saw Darius with his group a couple of years ago, he was really excellent.

Another excellent Muse compilation of 4 LPs on Camden. The ‘Peruvian Blue’ album has an extremely early (1980) appearance by Steve Nelson. The UK 2LP issue on RCA was called ‘Very Alive at Ronnie Scotts’. The Mosaic Single CD omits some of the band intro spiel at the end.

The fact that there is no sleeve is an immediate red flag, to me. That label looks far too new as well, unlike German Liberty LPs in my collection. Not to mention the far from clear ‘Van Gelder’.