Bill Nelson

When the record company directive was passed down to a record distributor or warehouse manager, 'RW' was a polite way of saying 'Record Withdrawn'. Similarly, many Verve LPs were stamped 'NR' for 'no return'. (As in,"Don't even TRY returning this for credit.") This hand-stamping of jackets was probably too labor-intense and the ink got messy, so the guys resorted to more drastic methods of jacket mutilation via electric drills and jig-saws and even the somewhat kinky -- brass rivets, usually in the upper left corner (Warner Brothers). Anyway, that's my guess on 'RW', but I could be wrong.

The Way It Goes Dept. -- In 2 weeks your 'Pete Fountain & the Dukes of Dixieland' LP will appear as a New Arrival at (Those Bastards) Dusty Groove -- "New Copy, $8.99". This will effectively undercut the demand for your soiled 'Holy Grail' item. (The other customer might still send you a PM with his highest offer. Until then, Junior will have to wait for those new shoes you promised.)

My copy of 'LBBJ' consisted of black 'composition' vinyl -- even the dead space between tracks was noisy. I'd say Chuck's red vinyl was a first pressing. In the early 60's, Crowns would most likely appear in grocery stores and gas stations -- in cheapo stock bins with the likes of Coronet, Spinorama, Design, and Pickwick. All would be shrink-wrapped in the same crinkly cellophane used for lettuce heads. I avoided them -- I'd go to Woolworth's and score as many 57-cent mono cut-outs as I could. (More than any other label, MGM massively dumped their Verve overstock with corner cover punch holes, but the pressings were always nice.)

Given the notoriously wretched quality of recycled PVC in Crown's vinyl -- there was no telling what blips-n-blobs you'd find embedded in each LP -- how'd the master tapes manage to survive the 45-plus years of various owners, bootleggers, and media mogul creeps? (Who owns the tapes now?) And so, while it may be nice to see 'Little Band Big Jazz' in CD format -- y'all are begging my question: How good is the remastering to CD and who did it? Is the sound clear, clean, and crisp in detail? Is it in true stereo? Or has it been compressed with more bass? Shall I call the Consumer Reports test kitchen?

Like DTMX, I was completely blown-away by Joe Lovano's Nonet performance at Spivey Hall last night. Most of the tunes were previously recorded by the Lovano Nonet on '52nd Street Abstractions', (Blue Note, 2000). In addition to Lovano, the solos by John Hicks, Kenny Washington, Dennis Irwin, Steve Slagle, and Barry Ries were especially well-received by the 250-plus attendees. With four saxophones and two brass, they comprised a horn section very capable of 'big band' unison passages. In particular, the 3-part suite from 'Birth of the Cool' (arranged by Gunther Schuller) was incredible with the desirable, complex nuances and chords -- on a par with the original recordings -- which earns them my vote for best large ensemble/big band.

I'm impressed that Phil remembered a lifeguard from a year ago -- I can't remember any of mine. Also, this means you should refuse comp tickets from Phil cause he wants to 'roast' you in front of a large crowd.

I bought all EXCEPT the Horace from (those bastards) Dusty Groove and the CONNS arrived witihin 48 hrs. The only ones I already owned were late-pressing LPs of 'Contours' and Hutcherson's 'Now', both which I consider to be five-star albums. I'm impressed with the clean 24-bit remasterings by McMaster and relieved EMI kept this project AWAY from RVG, who's been murdering his last few batches of 24-bit BN reissues, unless you dig loud bass and smeared drum cymbals. (Like Joe Paterno, RVG should've checked out while he was on top of his game at the end of 2002.) Back to the good news -- I'm very happy with the new CONNS.

More on the Austin Fest scene: next day (Sun. 9/19) catch Antibalas at Zilker Park. Just saw 'em last night. Eleven musician ensemble (w/ 4 horns) who can really pound out Fela Kuti like no one else (incl. 'Semi' Kuti). A very solid and tight group held together by an incredible bass and two funky guitars, Antibalas is serious in respecting the mantle they're running with: politics and groove. They'll destroy any floppy-goofy jam band that shares the bill during the Sunday show. Antibalas is sure to play at a theater near you, as they're on-the-road for the next two months.

Very astute analysis, and I fully agree if one gets sucked into the bidding frenzy. With so many heavyweight pieces being offered by Pearson, I usually bid on lesser, non-Blue Note items. Let the big boys slug it out on the NY Blue Notes. My rule of thumb: "If you walked into a used record store and this LP had just come in the door -- what would you offer on-the-spot?" That should be your high bid on Ebay.

If I may, my unofficial 'feedback' on Anthony Pearson: He's one of the best. A.P. recently tightened-up his grading and def wants to keep the customer happy. I recently returned an LP and told him exactly where the blems were -- he checked and there was no argument. Pearson consistently finds/consigns the coolest jazz collections. He's got lots of regular customers and only an occasional LP will go unbid. (That says alot.) And just check the closing bids -- the man definately 'brings home the bacon'! He's got 'tak-san' heavy-hitting customers from Japan. If your win ratio is one-for-five you're doing pretty good. By comparison, the previously-mentioned Ebay auction of Eggbert (?) consists mostly of 'commons' which will be lucky to fetch single bids for half the listings. It'll be fun to watch how both these postings close.

Will Friedwald's book, 'Jazz Singing' is also essential and much larger in scope than Lees'. In 'Jazz Singing', you get Friedwald's personal survey of vocalists from Satch to Cassandra -- and much of it is bristling with insight and scathing put-downs. For crooners, there's substantial material on Al Bowlly, Vic Damone, Al Hibbler, Dick Haymes, as well as stalwarts such as Crosby, Eckstine, and Jolson. ** In the jazz realm, Friedwald unabashedly loves Mark Murphy, Jackie Paris, Anita O'Day, and Peggy Lee. And he's infuriating in his casual dismissing of many, such as Bobby Troup and Joe Mooney. Either way, the writing leaves you smarting or laughing on almost every page. ** Hold your arrows, I'm hardly an authority on who's a crooner and who isn't.

Otherwise, the quandary would extend to "Brand, Dollar". (But there's always the Dewey Decimal System!)

Not to mention the hard-to-sell follow-up LP, featuring Curt Flood & the Stolen Bases singing these hit-n-runs: "Highway Robbery" (Tanya Tucker) "Little Criminals" (Randy Newman) "Raised On Robbery" (Joni Mitchell) "Steal Away" (Jimmy Hughes, Johnny Taylor) "Stop Thief" (Carla Thomas) "I Take What I Want" (Sam and Dave) "Touch and Go" (Al Wilson) "Stealing In the Name of the Lord" (Paul Kelly) "Snatch It and Grab It" (Joe Turner) and a BONUS favorite,"Who Stole the Kishka"

Perhaps John Ashcroft over at Homeland Security can sort it out. And there's no telling what those other musicians-in-hiding are up to. Until then, as Johnny A. sings --"Let the eagle soarrrrrrrr."

Uhhh, thanks for the tip, JS. Somehow this one got under my radar. (I suspect Peanuts Hucko might be involved, but under an assumed name.) Future copies listed on Ebay should sell like hotcakes!

That Addey is at the helm is often the sole incentive I need. But I'm also holding 5 of 12 in gorgeous Japanese LP Mercury pressings and can live for now without the box, that is, until the siren's 'last chance' call. (Right?) Until then, I'll put my trigger finger to use dropping the needle to the vinyl.

Gimme a front-row ticket and limo to the door -- I might do it. Otherwise, I'm filled with inertia.

Deccas may not have been injection-molded with styrene, but the pre-1960 LPs were composed of something they actually trademarked as 'Deccalite'. For a major label, they were cheap f*ucks when it came to favoring the customer. Real sad, for any of us who've gotten excited about finding any of their Jazz Studio, Jazz Lab, or Mood Jazz in Hi-Fi series of 'cool school' arrangers like George Russell, Ralph Burns, and John Graas. The Decca-lite is ruthless to the listener when it comes to a light scuff -- and any any scratch sounds like a crater. These Deccas were unyielding if you try to flex them -- try harder and they'd snap in half. "Unbreakable Record" my ass. Specifically, I'm referring to Deccas with black or maroon labels and silver print. (You might as well add Coral releases, too.) By 1960, they ditched the Deccalite and went with real vinyl and labels with a rainbow prism in the center. Maybe the defective returns from dealers and the success of RCA Living Stereos convinced the Decca/MCA headcheese to give the customer a better record.

I've always regarded Anita Baker as THE successor to Sarah Vaughan. (And I've experienced both live and close-up.) Perhaps Bruce L. will provide Anita the future album project where she gets to select and sing her favorite jazz standards. THAT would bring it all back home to Sassy.

Yeah, my brochure run started with #7 or 8 (whichever had Cecil Taylor on the cover). As my file cabinet got jammed, I said,"WHY am I keeping these around? WHO have I gotta convince at this point?" They were thoughtfully recycled with my office paper and I haven't kept any since.

There's one more Herb Ellis on Columbia from 1963 that would fill a 2-CD set from Sony. It's 'Four To Go' (CS-8818) which was released as Andre Previn's album, but is a powerhouse foursome of Previn, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Shelly Manne.

And so, lacking any specifics, how would you want us to assist?

Since it ain't an Ebay auction that's about to end, I'm not in such a dang hurry to close the deal with the Dusties. If you take an enlightened attitude about The Search, there's 50-plus years of printed information out there somewhere when it comes to digging info on modern jazz releases. In the process of looking up, say, five titles which aren't online (AMG), you can spot a slew of others along the way -- and your search effort is rewarded even more.

Don't you really mean to say: "Never before issued" or "Previously unissued"? In THAT case, Dusty's got us all by the 'grooves'. If so, my 'trigger' hinges on the recording conditions/circumstances/personnel and the equipment and engineer who recorded it. If it was 'home-recorded' at an after-hours party -- see you later. RE: anything that's being "reissued", a first-pressing review can likely be found in some print medium retrieval system -- even if you have to go to the local college library to find original copies of 'Jazz Review', which I've done. The research beats having stacks of half-assed CDs that you're not terribly thrilled to play.

The Morgan/Shorter set seems to have arbitrarily been cut-off at # 1904 (the highest # anyone has posted so far on the Org JF board). You'd think Mosaic would be getting them in batches of 500 and their supply would've expired at # 2,000. Maybe Universal seized the remaining 95 sets? (Or Dusty Groove, the bastards!)