Bill Nelson

Now that you've raised the $18 to meet this month's house payment nut -- -- can I assume your mortgage?

Manson couldn't get in 'cause, like most lousy singers, he came in late and lost the key.

'Dizzy On the French Riviera' was recommended to me in '69 by the cat holding the Friday nite jazz show on WRIU-FM (Univ. of Rhode Island). 'Boston' Al Samiljan -- wherever you are -- thanks for hipping me: "Kid, this is the best all-round jazz album, in my opinion." (I was 16, a high school volunteer.) After 'Boston Al' the reigning Friday jazz DJ was John Zoglio, who began each show with Bunky Green's version of 'Hoe Down'. In '71 I finally got the coveted slot and gave 'Riviera' many an on-air spin. Who knows, we might've moved a couple units in sales at Beacon Records or Carl's Diggins House of Jazz, both in Providence and one block apart. Yes, the CD came and went real fast in '88 or '89, a Polydor West German (Hanover) pressing, I think.

Bob Shad always looked like he was having a bad day -- sorta like a Joe Paterno running the studio and pissed about being over budget. Bob Thiele's mug and cig were ubiquitous inside too many Impulse gatefold liners. Creed Taylor is more amazing for NOT getting 'face time' on his multi-hundred LPs. (There's just a couple pics of him on his early ABC/Paramount productions.)

If you MUST ask about Nelson on Impulse -- follow these directions: Take one copy of 'Blues and the Abstract Truth' aurally at night. If dizzyness persists, then call your doctor in the morning.

Just 6 months ago, Alldirect.com was charging $8.65 per OJC disc. So, their prices have gone DOWN to $7.99 but there are many titles they're out of. (George Wallington's 'NY Scene' is perpetually 'out of stock'.) Gotta pull that trigger real quick when you find a bunch.

Glad you enjoy your 78s on Tops. Their LPs came in thin jackets with no liner notes or inner sleeve. Tops spared EVERY expense possible when it came to the consumer. Only a collector with a warped sense of humor would say to a visitor,"Let me show you all my albums on the Tops label!"

And that's how these early Stan Getz sides were able to penetrate grocery stores and gas stations in Anytown, USA. One may contemplate the potential 'musical corruption' of innocent buyers via these 47-cent slabs!

Budget Label Adds To M. Goldberg's list: Baronet - reissued Roost 78 rpm material, see: Stan Getz 'Pair of Kings', Baronet 102 Halo Jazztone MGM budget label family: Lion, Metro, Metrojazz Tops (really the 'bottom' of budget labels) In an earlier post, I inaccurately painted this genre as having been manufactured expressly for "99-cent bins". Well, many of these were stock catalog items at $1.98 list (Camden, Harmony, Richmond) and would be ordered by record shops and placed in bins titled 'Special Price'. Sometimes the budget label stock would get shuffled in with LP cut-outs -- a drag for us record-hunt fiends. The TRULY low budget labels (Coronet, Diplomat, Spin-o-rama, et al) would arrive as a mixed assortment to the grocery and drug stores -- and gas stations (a surprisingly potent point-of-purchase). I've had the dubious pleasure of seeing many LP collections which consist entirely of these lowest-tier labels, otherwise known as 'Hitting the Skids'.

And then there's the irony in the nomenclature of these el cheapo labels: the more regal and exalted -- such as Crown, Palace, and Premier -- the more wretched the pressing. I'd throw Syd Nathan's King into the equation but, as we know, Syd was just a frugal bastid' who "liked to make a beautiful dollar."

Period's 'SHO-300' series carried a list of $1.98, otherwise they had other product lines with list prices of $4.98 and $5.95 (with chutzpah at no extra charge). Oh, and let's not forget the purely cut-rate LPs and 2nd-tier labels of majors -- often with the thinnest of record spines with no printing and no inner sleeves: Baronet, Coronet, Camden, Clarion, Crown, Design, Diplomat, Forum, Guest Star, Kent, Kimberley, Pickwick, Richmond, Rondo-lette, Roost, Spin-o-rama, Strand, Sunset, Wing, Wyncote -- and others too numerous to mention. While the majors dispatched fringe or 'race' artists to 99-cent bins, some of the condemned turned out to be amazing and highly-prized. Crown is, to me, the worst label (wretched pressings) to carry some great R&B artists like B.B.King, The Jacks, and Joe Houston.

Yes, overall the brown paper BN two-fers were superior in their selections. All of these are must-have classics, many with some previously unreleased tracks. Here are the brown paper titles from 1975-76, which weren't in print very long: BN-LA 451 Paul Chambers/John Coltrane - High Step BN-LA 453 Sam Rivers - Involution BN-LA 456 Lester Young - The Alladin Sessions BN-LA 457 Jackie McLean - Jacknife BN-LA 458 Cecil Taylor - In Transition BN-LA 459 Andrew Hill - One for One BN-LA 460 McCoy Tyner - Cosmos BN-LA 461 Gil Evans - Pacific Standard Time BN-LA 472 Chick Corea - Circling In BN-LA 475 Sonny Rollins - More From the Vanguard BN-LA 506 Elvin Jones - The Prime Element BN-LA 507 Fats Navarro - Prime Source BN-LA 521 Johnny Griffin/Coltrane/Mobley - Blowin'Sessions BN-LA 529 Paul Horn - In India BN-LA 530 The Jazz Crusaders - The Young Rabbits BN-LA 531 Wes Montgomery - Beginnings BN-LA 532 Gerry Mulligan/Lee Konitz - Revelation BN-LA 533 T-Bone Walker - Classics of Modern Blues BN-LA 579 Thelonious Monk - The Complete Genius BN-LA 591 Art Pepper - Early Art BN-LA 632 Jean-Luc Ponty - Canteloupe Island The producer of these was Michael Cuscuna, with some by Pete Welding. Charlie Lourie was Project Director of the Blue Note Reissue Series. (The sharp-eyed observer will see a pattern here.) You got it, dude. Most of these became complete Mosaics -- save Montgomery, Rollins, Ponty, Horn, and Tyner. The presence of 'Dr.' Jive Butler was nowhere to be found. The micro-dot sets never grabbed me -- visually or aesthetically. Maybe I'm a sucker for plain brown paper and the grain of its texture.

Put the gun down, Dave. Surely a spare of Kid Ory will come around soon with just a slight price increase. But then, you ALMOST pulled the trigger, didn't you?

Getting an autograph from an artist is not important, unless 1. I'm a huge fan, i.e. a true believer, and... 2. The moment and situation is right. This usally means the venue is small and there's enough 'breathing room' for signing album covers. Sometimes the artist will allow autographs after a show while sitting at a table and receiving a procession of fans. While this formal structure is civil, it also means you've got about 30-to-60 seconds before it's time to wrap it and move on. Some Highlights: My best autograph moment was with Duke Ellington, who was most gracious and signed 12 albums the four of us brought. Pat Metheny has always been receptive and is a good listener. Carmen McRae, whom I expected to be crusty, was amazed to see my early Bethlehem 10-inch and Deccas. Buddy Rich, on the other hand, was brusque and could hardly be bothered. As I've gotten older, obtaining autographs have become less important. I despise those wheeler-dealers who waste an artist's time purely to raise the re-sale value of their merchandise.

Brownie, you forgot to mention the playing of trombonist Quentin 'Butter' Jackson. The record itself is a curious affair -- one which leader Anderson likely never saw any further money after receiving his advance. It's the sort of shyster recording for a fly-by-night label which re-emerges on other discount labels. My copy is on Strand, a label notorious for 'farming out' their recordings. The date itself consists of at least two recording sessions and the recording quality (and peformances) are highly variable. It's about what you'd expect from a sealed slab with no inner sleeve meant to retail at $1.97 or so.

RE: "Was East-West a subsidiary of Atlantic/Atco...?" On my copy of East-West 4002 'The Jackie Paris Sound' -- Jacket liner: "A Division of Atlantic Recording Corporation" Vinyl labels: "A Divison of Atlantic Records, New York, N.Y." Vinyl groove trail, hand etched: "AT" and "11515" or "11516"

Has the O'Day been declared OPD yet? (Officially Pronounced Deleted.) As of more than a week ago (8/23) the countdown herein went, "About 30 O'Day sets remain." Well, did everyone here get the box and the remaining action cool out? Or has the final hammer already been noted on another thread.

I'm afraid BeBop has left us clutching the abstract concepts of the act of finding vs. the art of receiving. Okay, there's plenty of Zen and Taoist takes on this. "He who is controlled by objects loses possession of his inner self." And, "When an archer shoots for nothing -- he has all his skill If he shoots for a prize of gold -- he goes blind" (the above courtesy of Thomas Merton, 'The Way of Chuang Tzu') Still, for the benefit of us in the Western world, it'd be nice to visualize the object of BeBop's 35-year search. We could better appreciate the energy he expended -- and compare it to our own.

BeBop: "I was a bit surprised that more people didn't have tales of the long quest." Well, BeBop, you were coy and disingenuous in setting us up with your 35-year search for an LP you refused to name. It's hard for us to identify with your constant struggle to obtain something so rare that, upon finding a copy, it's too horrible for you to mention. Don't blame us for bailing out from your thread when you give us nothing to go on.

Did Buddy ever mention Elvin in a DownBeat interview or Blindfold Test? (He sure let us know what he thought of Ginger Baker!)

Likewise with me! First of all, the serendipity factor increases greatly in venues which are NOT primarily music-based. What you see is what came in the door -- as is. No wiseguys to siphon off the $20-plus items they'll immediately cross-check via price guides and Ebay's auctions of the past 30 days. No wiseguys to 'clean up' the vinyl by spraying it with Glass Plus or swabbing it with ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, or maybe some benzene from the back room. No wiseguys to set aside the 'good stuff' for their best customers or buddys. No wiseguys to treat you rudely and sneer at your purchases. None of the usual wiseguys and jerks, period. Also, since the vinyl is not obviously stored in genuine record bins, you really have to hunt, use your eyes, wander the premises, and ask questions. There's no telling where you'll end up and what you'll find along the way. Almost a Zen experience. And no wiseguys!

Or call for 'Let's Face the Music and Dance'. Robert H. can pursue his personal self-censorship on the Org. all he wants. It's his plea that the rest of us 'tone it down' for the phantom industry insiders lurking on the site and making their executive decisions based on the rants and raves. Robert, you have a most vivid imagination in this regard.

Sorry, but y'all weren't quick enough. 'Last Chance' on this just ended!

Cool it, Brighty. Perhaps you don't realize how insistent you are. Look it up yourself. We've got better things to do with OUR TIME than to search-n-dissect Russell's hazy yarns to save YOUR TIME.

"Shrinkage? Doesn't it Bother You?" Yeah, like when it makes my record jackets buckle, then I'll remove...