sidewinder

Howard McGhee 'Life Is Just A Bowl of Cherries' (UK London DG mono) Amazing sound for a 50 year old LP !

Merchant bankers splurging bonuses, perhaps?

Baby Face Willette 'Face To Face' (BN 47W63rd mono)

'Face to Face' is indeed a great one. No love so far for 'Stop and Listen' though?

You are in good company here !

No kidding ! £2.75 for over 600 pages

'Piano Power Volume 2' (MPS/BASF). 1973 compilation with Red Garland, Roland Hanna, John Taylor etc.

These are from the King 'GX' LPs of the late 70s/early 80s by K Abe and I agree, they are great !

Ted Curson Quartet 'Tears For Dolphy'. (Fontana) Marte Roling sleeve !

Curtis Amy 'Way Down' (Toshiba/Pacific Jazz). Sweet!

He played the Bath Festival a couple of years ago and gave a delightful solo recital in the Georgian Assembly Rooms. Definitely one of the highlights that year.

Heck, it can even handle a mute !

I could have sworn that when I walked past a couple of weeks ago the door up to Mole was open and it looked like something was going on, but I didn't go in because Mole was never any good after it moved to that site. They 'shut down' several times before they actually shut down. It's the mid-80s deregulation of the stockmarket/City, isn't it: I'm sure it's the super-rich merchant bankers who were suddenly prepared to invest £300 on an old Sahib Shihab record, so snatching all the useful vinyl stock out of the shops and out of the hands of the real connoisseurs, just like they did with wine ... literally EVERYTHING bad about London is Thatcher's fault!

Thanks !

One of my all time faves - gave the 2CD set a listen recently and also my mid-70s UK Impulse LP, which I prefer sonically (although the additional material on the 2CD, 'Damned Don't Cry' in particular, is fascinating). 'Blue Minor' still raises the hairs, even 30 years after I first heard it. Condensed masterpiece !

Ornette or Ricci?

Indeed things are not up to past standards in London as regards vinyl. The 'golden age' was probably the late 70s/early 80s with the likes of Mole, All Change, Colletts (predecessor shop to Rays on Shaftesbury Ave) and Honest Jon's had at least 3 stores (Baker St, Portobello Road and Camden Town - the last of these was particularly ). And these were just the specialist jazz places ! Those were the days before trendy fashion crap 'boutiques', useless mobile phone emporia etc. and their high rents forced everyone out. The CD era also sounded the death-nell. Heck, in those days even places way out in the sticks like Plymouth and Weymouth had jazz stores ! 'Rays' is a nice place to check out - have one of their cappucinos in the cafe, one of the best in London. Good for CDs although I've not seen anything in the vinyl racks of note the last half-dozen visits.

Dexter Gordon 'Gettin' Around' (BN NY USA mono). Love that cover !

Mole closed some years ago at that venue and I don't think they've re-opened. Harold Moore's is well worth a look though, if you are into classical music vinyl. Honest Jon's is a great little store - especially for R&B, ska etc but not much vinyl last time I was in there. Very helpful staff and they have their own label putting out rare Candi Staton sides etc.. They even have some interesting visitors (the guy from Thievery Corporation was buying a stack of CDs last time I was in there). There are a few vinyl emporia around Berwick St in Soho but they can be very hit and miss I'm afraid.

and Andrew Hill is playing in April. It's good you have the Cellar on your radar. I'm pondering a visit over the next few months (was thinking of either April or June, when the main Jazz Festival events take place. Wish I could do both..) I see that Andrew is playing in trio format on April 12th at a Cathedral location. Sounds intriguing ! Any current recommendations on vinyl stores in Vancouver and Victoria? Thanks. That A&B Sound store used to be the biz. Friwend of mine got the Coltrane Heavyweight Champ set for 20% off at one of their Canada Day sales. Their stores in Calgary and Edmonton used to be pretty good too.

Fully agree. Some great pen-pictures of the band members (eg. Willie Maiden) in that one.

No I have the same Fresh Sound LP. But I have the Zoot Sims-Henri Renaud Ducretet-Thompson 10-inch Not in great condition Very nice ! Looks like there was also a Henri Renaud Trio and Octet on a Ducretet-Thompson 10-inch (just checked an old PJC auction book and it looks as if they had a copy listed with picture)

Yep, smokin' indeed. That was a performance in Denmark from 1968. 'Nutville' and 'Song For My Father'. There's also a performance of Elvin Jones trio with Farrell and Garrison from the same festival on film.

A glass of Mount Difficulty 'Roarin' Meg' New Zealand pinot noir (South Island). The vinyard is owned and run by one of my cousins !

Just dug the Monk Blue Note box out. The notes were done by M. Cuscuna.