Bill Nelson

The suspense is killing all of us ... hey md, didja' close the deal or take a walk? Just remember the 'golden rule' when buying a Wurlitzer: "If the kids can't bop to it -- then bombsville!"

You've provided me an opening to describe some recent CD scores I've been yanking out of an antique consignment shop on the outskirts of Athens. They're in a ramshackle building about a half-mile off the old Atlanta Hwy. How about: $40 for the Mosaic 3-CD box of 'Complete Candid Recordings of Charles Mingus' (#3201) $40 for the 10-CD box of 'The Complete Mercury of Roland Kirk' (W. German press) $10 for 'Complete Helen Merrill on Mercury' (4-CD, Japan) $10 each for 3-CD sets of Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury (Vols. 1, 2 and 3, Japan) $7 for Capt. Beefheart 2-CD 'Dust Blows Forward' (still sealed), and $130 for 38 single-disc CDs, mostly OP jazz. (They're $4 each, $3 when you buy more than 10.) All of these came from the collection of a Univ. Georgia Art professor, who died within months of retirement. They've been priced by Gail, who runs the antique shop. There's easily 2,000 more CDs in piles, boxes, and shelves. I've been casually dropping by about every two weeks and everything stays where I left it, with just a couple sold. As downtown Athens is full of music hipsters, clerks and jerks -- you'd think the action would be fierce. Great stuff! Definitely great finds. Too bad the Prof couldn't get a chance to enjoy them. You're right, he didn't, cause about half of 'em are still sealed. It's like he went on a 'whing-ding' in the last 15 years and bought one of anything recommended in the Penguin Guide. There's more than 500 jazz-related CDs still there, including many female vocalists doing the Great American Songbook repertoire. The collection mirrors the jazz and classical CDs featured in Stereo Review. The approach was of an academician intent on serious listening. Of all the roadside joints I've hit in 35 years, this immense stash is by far the most intelligent and well-cared for. And Gail says there's seven more box loads yet to be put out cause she doesn't have the shelf space!

You've provided me an opening to describe some recent CD scores I've been yanking out of an antique consignment shop on the outskirts of Athens. They're in a ramshackle building about a half-mile off the old Atlanta Hwy. How about: $40 for the Mosaic 3-CD box of 'Complete Candid Recordings of Charles Mingus' (#3201) $40 for the 10-CD box of 'The Complete Mercury of Roland Kirk' (W. German press) $10 for 'Complete Helen Merrill on Mercury' (4-CD, Japan) $10 each for 3-CD sets of Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury (Vols. 1, 2 and 3, Japan) $7 for Capt. Beefheart 2-CD 'Dust Blows Forward' (still sealed), and $130 for 38 single-disc CDs, mostly OP jazz. (They're $4 each, $3 when you buy more than 10.) All of these came from the collection of a Univ. Georgia Art professor, who died within months of retirement. They've been priced by Gail, who runs the antique shop. There's easily 2,000 more CDs in piles, boxes, and shelves. I've been casually dropping by about every two weeks and everything stays where I left it, with just a couple sold. As downtown Athens is full of music hipsters, clerks and jerks -- you'd think the action would be fierce.

Upon Further Review -- "This album consists of standards..." ...AND two brief originals by JJ -- 'Flat Black' (4:17) and 'Bloozineff' (3:38) Considering JJ's previous Columbia LP 'Trombone and Voices' (arr. by Frank DeVol), 'Touch of Satin' isn't the 'polite jazz' Columbia's marketing czars may have wanted.

The $20 price would be about right for a mint 6-eye stereo from a used record store. The $20 asking price by flea market dealer is a bit audacious -- I'd offer $15 at the most. And the vinyl would have to be a minty-mint 6-eye stereo. 'Touch of Satin' is mostly standards (i.e. 'Satin Doll') by JJ with Adderley's rhythm section. The LP notes should've printed "all supporting musicians courtesy of Riverside Records".) This album consists of standards, very well played. None of the tracks are blazingly brillant. I could've done without 'Gigi' and 'When the Saints Go Marching In'.

In 1968, Jamal left Cadet and signed with ABC, who released 'Tranquility' (ABCS-660) as a POP ALBUM -- even though it was produced by Bob Thiele. It was four years later that ABC re-released 'Tranquility' as an Impluse jazz album with a gatefold (AS-9238). Back in '68, ABC execs thought they had a happening soul music roster featuring The Tams and The Impressions. (Really cool, dudes!)

In describing an upcoming piano trio club date, a New Yorker scribe put it, "Ellis Marsalis is perhaps best known for his work with Mrs. Marsalis."

The Hunt and The Search are about the process of scratching and crate-digging. While the Holy Grail might take years to acquire, along the way there's too many tangential, sideways artists to be discovered. These aren't names you were handed to type into a database -- they just appeared in a crate. And now you've got to read liner notes -- and suss 'em out before buying at the register. It forces you to STRETCH and use your instincts. As far as I'm concerned, I don't HAVE TO GET that Holy Grail. It's more fun finding stuff unexpectedly, accidentally, and serendipitously.

It's a relief to see that frivolity still counts around here. This reminds me of the time my neighborhood tavern asked me to leave -- -- they wanted to start Happy Hour.

The Question Inquisition continued: "What music did you buy today?" Sounds like my wife when get home from Atlanta. right up there with, "Why do you slouch at the dining table?" Let me wrap this in my best Peter Lorre voice: "Nothing but questions ... all these questions!" Not even the SH site routinely hammers its members with such mundane queries.

And that's one million posts in the "What Vinyl Are You Spinning" thread alone! And all the other control freak questions running right now in 5 of 17 topic areas: "What classical music are you..." "What live music are you..." "Which Mosaic are you..." "What are you listening to..." "What vinyl are you..." For all you duty-bound dependents, let me add: "When will you stop picking your nose?" "You're not going out looking like THAT, are you?"

Wanda Landowska had dainty hands? She brought a full, vigorous technique which modernized harpsichord playing which had been light and delicate.

Machito with John Coltrane on Roulette - 'Safari Moods' (featuring Johnny Hartman on 'African calls').

This clip may well depict how Uncle Bill 'gets over' when visiting the nephews. At least I don't light-up a spleef and speak in vout-o-roonies. There's nothing like an aging hipster trying to connect with Gen-Yechht.

Eddie Henderson LPs are popular 'door prizes' for strangers who meet on Texas highways.

Gene Lees' interviewing skills were his strong suit. His professional connections with composers, lyricists, and players allow him greater access to their guarded interiors. Lees' presence was relaxed and, to a fault, often name-droppingly chummy with his subjects. By developing such a personable, collegial dialogue, Lees could penetrate to the core and extract nuggets like no other. Yes, Lees was often running with the same coterie of chums, but when your company is Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Bobby Scott, Bill Crow, and Johnny Mercer -- the reader is along for a nice ride. This lulled the reader into Lees' relaxed conversations -- to the point of having a mild delusion of affiliation and friendship with his pals. 'Meet Me at Jim and Andy's' will make you feel like a regular, sitting close enough to hear the cats shooting the breeze.

The semi-trailers are already moving the Rounder masters to Iron Mountain -- never to be seen again. We can look forward to projects titled 'The Best of Alt-Everything' and 'Bluegrass On the Beach'. (Both easily obtained at Starbucks.)

You need to tell us which version of Jamal's 'Tranquility' you got: the 1968 LP single-jacket with the close-up head shot of Ahmad on the cover (ABCS-660) -- or the easier-to-find reissue with a gatefold jacket on ABC/Impulse which came out in 1972.

The 1965 soundtrack album, 'Synanon', was not performed by 'the Original All-Junkie Cast'. The music was "composed, arranged, and conducted by Neal Hefti" and produced by Dave Pell. The players were likely the same studio cats who did film dates by Mancini and Previn. Whatever junk they'd done was back in the 50's, they now had families and house payments. 'Synanon' (1965) soundtrack on Liberty LST-7413 'Sounds of Synanon' (1962) on Pacific Jazz PJ-48 (or ST-48), credited to Joe Pass and Arnold Ross

The packages of RCA-distributed Pablos came to our college radio station (WRIU-FM, Kingston, RI) in such profuse quantity, it became hard to differentiate among the them. We had at least a dozen 'Trumpet Kings' LPs, often accompanied by a regular (Peterson) from the Granz stable. Within our jazz library, I can recall the blur of all those LPs with back-and-white cover photos of of Oscar Peterson, Ella, Joe Pass, Louis Bellson, Jon Faddis, etc. I'm sure this abundance of Pablos had a net effect on the level jazz education and awareness among our staff and audience but eventually we had to thin about 75% of them out of our library.

"Very underappreciated" by the general public, yes. But Fischer is relied-upon by hot-shot arranger/producers (Quincy) who need a 'fixer'. In fact, Clare is one of the very best on the block. If they haven't stolen from him (CF) outright, the deal goes as follows, "You'll get my check and keep your mouth shut, or you'll never work in this town again."

When Collectables issues such odd pairings with tasteless cover art, I'm likely to file it under: Various Artists, esp. when it's not a complete work of the artist with deleted tracks. And as for future CD resale value? "Priceless." But sometimes their juxtapositions work, such as Luis Gasca and Ira Sullivan. Who knew?

According to the Dusty blurb, 'Shades' was released in 1972 "and one of the few full albums Barbara Moore recorded". The copyright and permissions are all held by DeWolfe Ltd. Based on the brief thematic titles, they were recorded for their sound clip library. For the money ($28.99 at Dusty, $52.99 at Amazon) the album yielded only three tracks for my projects. Your Barbara Moore 'holy grail' should be 'Something Cool'. Nearly every track is a winner and willful enough not to be relegated to film backgrounds.

The Barbara Moore track you've got is 'Hot Heels', which she did for the DeWolfe music library. It's also on her album, 'Vocal Shades and Tones', which has the great 'Steam Heat'.

The best CD I've heard recently on par with the Jankowski Singers is 'Something Cool' by The Voices in Latin. It was released in 1969 on the Pulsar label and led by Barbara Moore, just after she'd left the Anita Kerr Singers. Based in Britain, Moore became one of the top lead session vocalists and her tracks on various film library albums have become legendary and frequently sampled. The Voices in Latin was her debut, a one-shot album for Pulsar (a 2nd-tier subsidiary of Mercury). The most affordable CD can be obtained from the Dusty Bards for $18.99, when they've got one. Don't let the Korean pressing throw you, it's good** and appears legit. Otherwise, a Japanese pressing will run you twice the price, if you can find one. ** a couple piano high notes buzz briefly on track #2.