Bill Nelson

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!)

RE: Dusty Groove Item Desciptions Some tips -- 1. Read their write-ups of items you already own (or used to). 'Suss' their hyperbole and over-the-top ravings -- are they accurate or justified? Be wary when you see "this album is pretty darn good" -- it's actually the kiss of death. 2. Sample any album you haven't heard before pulling the trigger -- hit Amazon and CD Universe for a taste of select tracks. 3. Also, research at AMG -- maybe there's a good reason the album you want only gets 2 stars. 4. Once you sized-up their writing/raves -- you can read between the lines and pick the meat from the shaft.

Lucky Thompson 'Tricotism' for $150 -- might've been sold by the guy who bought yours for $12 -- now THAT can make you crazy.

At first glance at the O-Forum home page, I thought this album was a tribute to Elvin Jones' 1963 Impulse LP, 'Illumination!'. Elvin and Jimmy Garrison were co-leaders in a sextet "featuring McCoy Tyner", and including the horns of Sonny Simmons, Prince Lasha, and Charles Davis. And so, to avoid confusion with the Real Deal, perhaps McCoy should've titled this new one: 'Coasting On the Wind'.

Sometime this week, NYC forensic police may find the limp corpse of Stanley Crouch and determine he was slapped to death.

'NOTC' is for BN heads and completists. It's such a ragged recording and the playing is not up to the usual Lion/Wolff standard (I'm surprised they were THAT desperate to recoup their advance to Hubbard). I've dumped my Liberty copies (Vols. 1 and 2), which were probably snapped up by newbie BN collectors. There's a reason so many of us with large collections unload our copies of 'NOTC' -- we need the shelfspace for more important recordings.

It's the 'Ne Plus Ultra' * of East Coast Cool! * the Supreme Shit

Thanks, CA, for straightening my wild hares. Speaking of Riverside Oddball Projects, how about that series of at least a dozen auto racing LPs. (During a blindfold test, how can you tell them apart?) Also: jazz LPs that played from the INSIDE OUT-- and in colored vinyl.

If I've got this brain nugget right, in '63 Bill Grauer was left holding the bag trying to collect from all his independent distributors. Riverside was reeling into bankruptcy, even with 'hit' albums by Adderley, Evans, and Montgomery. Grauer checked-out for good in December, taking a leap from a tall building. ** For small labels, having major 'hits' can be a curse -- right away you've got cashflow problems. ** was told to me 20 years ago by a Riverside collector, who had most of their LPs recorded at 16 rpm.