Precious treasure, unexpected places

[PFunkJazz]

Have you ever found a musical gem - CD/vinyl/tape/memorabilia - in a wierd place, the sort of place you would never expect to find jazz, let alone a jazz muthalode?

I've been lucky enough to do so twice. I picked up a mint condition copy of Al Haig's rare as hen's teeth 1954 album 'Esoteric' on Fresh Sounds CD in a box of secondhand-CDs-for-sale in a grocery store in the Hampstead High Street, London three years ago.

And more recently I found a first edition of Mezz Mezzrow's Really The Blues autobiography in a low-end antiques store in Big Sur. It no longer has the dustjacket, and is in good rather than pristine condition, but it bears the following inscription (I'm translating from the French) on the flyleaf: "Mezz Mezzrow is the finest clarinet player I have ever heard, and he plays with a great swing and heart. (signed) Hughes Pannassie".

Really The Blues made a massive impression on me when I first read it about 35 years ago as a teenager. To find a first edition, inscribed by Hughes Pannassie, was just too much, even if I've never read a word of Pannassie's I've ever agreed with (and that includes the first half of this inscription!)

Any other organgrinders hit paydirt in similarly unexpected places?

[Noj]

I found three of my best used records at this one shop in a church:

Gerald Wilson MOMENT OF TRUTH

Howard Roberts Quartet HR IS A DIRTY GUITAR PLAYER

Oliver Nelson BLUES & THE ABSTRACT TRUTH

I don't know much about what records are rare, but I know these are good ones!

Edited September 25, 2003 by Noj

[John B]

the best story I ever heard of this was that test pressing of Chico Hamilton's Ellington Suite found in a record store in England that contained an alternate version of the album.

[Jim R]

Found a copy of the Clifford Brown Blue Note 10" LP NEW STAR ON THE HORIZON ($7), at an antique show back in the 80's. It was a pretty big antique show, but very few records around, and almost no jazz.

Joe Beck/Red Mitchell, EMPATHY (Gryphon), at a tiny record store in Wahiawa- a small town in the middle of Oahu. The only jazz record in the store, and the only copy of this LP I ever came across.

[Adam]

And more recently I found a first edition of Mezz Mezzrow's Really The Blues autobiography in a low-end antiques store in Big Sur. It no longer has the dustjacket, and is in good rather than pristine condition, but it bears the following inscription (I'm translating from the French) on the flyleaf: "Mezz Mezzrow is the finest clarinet player I have ever heard, and he plays with a great swing and heart. (signed) Hughes Pannassie".

Really The Blues made a massive impression on me when I first read it about 35 years ago as a teenager. To find a first edition, inscribed by Hughes Pannassie, was just too much, even if I've never read a word of Pannassie's I've ever agreed with (and that includes the first half of this inscription!)

In today's bizarre thought, that Mezz Mezzrow album may have come from Panassie to Henry Miller, which would explain why it would be in an antique shop in Big Sur, where Miller lived.

[PFunkJazz]

Adam - I guess your 'album' is a typo for 'book'. More importantly, what a fascinating idea you have put forward for the book's provenance from Paris to Big Sur.

[Dmitry]

Joe Beck/Red Mitchell, EMPATHY (Gryphon), at a tiny record store in Wahiawa- a small town in the middle of Oahu. The only jazz record in the store, and the only copy of this LP I ever came across.

You mean 2 lps? I know I'm nit-picking. Very nice live set!

[Jim R]

Yeah Dmitry, that's the one (or shall I say "two"). Now we're even in the nitpicking department. I think that one's a gem. There's also a CD on the Capri label called "Live at Salishan" from about 12 years later (1992).

[Jazzmoose]

I found three of my best used records at this one shop in a church:

Gerald Wilson MOMENT OF TRUTH

Howard Roberts Quartet HR IS A DIRTY GUITAR PLAYER

Oliver Nelson BLUES & THE ABSTRACT TRUTH

I don't know much about what records are rare, but I know these are good ones!

I can't take it anymore! Is the Howard Roberts LP that good? I keep hearing about it on jazz boards, and I don't think I've ever heard it. You see, I've got it among my fathers LPs out in the garage, but the only jazz I recognized in there was Dixieland revival stuff, which always left me cold...

(If you're wondering why I'm asking instead of just digging it out, well...you should see the garage! )

Edited September 26, 2003 by Jazzmoose

[Noj]

I like it, especially the track "Dirty Old Bossa Nova" made famous through sampling by A Tribe Called Quest. Not sure if it measures up to the other two records I listed, but it's some good greeeaazzzey fun. I'm also not sure if what I think is worth it will measure up to your standards or not, Mark.

[Adam]

Adam - I guess your 'album' is a typo for 'book'. More importantly, what a fascinating idea you have put forward for the book's provenance from Paris to Big Sur.

Yes, sorry. Probably just echoing the "album" in the thread title. I still haven't read Mezzrow's autobiography; I need to rectify that soon.

[PFunkJazz]

As a piece of social history it is.......vipertastic!

[jacman]

i've found a few cool LPs in local thrift stores:

Lenny Breau-Velvet Touch

Muddy Waters-Live at Newport

Max Roach-Jazz in 3/4 Time

$0.50 each

[JSngry]

I found a mint Capitol 45 RPM EP of 3 tunes from Serge Challoff's BOSTON BLOW UP for $1.25 in the far righ back corner of a Kilgore, Tx newsstand one Saturday afternoon ca. 1971) after helping my Dad mow the chuch lawn. They had a few older records for sale, including an original Prestige TRAIN WHISTLE (Lockjaw w/an Oliver Nelson big band), but I was just getting into jazz, didn't have much money, and recognized Stan Kenton's name from the "Stan Kenton Presents" logo.

Similarly, in a Kilgore junk shop called Uncle Ted's, I found a Gerry Mulligan Mercury LP, and a MINT copy of Buddy Rich's THE LAST BLUES ALBUM VOLUME ONE (w/Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy McGriff, Kenny Barron, George Freeman, & Bob Cranshaw) on Groove Merchant, both for $2.50 each.

Since I came of jazz age in the very early 70s, a time that also coincided with a lot of labels purging ther catalogs, I found more gems in cutout bins back then than I care to mention. One that stands out, though is Joe Dailey's RCA album.

And speaking of RCA, I found two RCA gems at Keoun's Music Store right in my hometown of Gladewater, Tx, literally within weeks of deciding to pursue a life of buying jazz records. One was Sonny Rollins' WHAT'S NEW, and the other was Benny Goodman's IN MOSCOW. The Sonny thing's was rarer than anything until the late 70s, and nowadays, you can get it someho, somewhere, some way. But the Goodman thing is a treasure, a GREAT record by a GREAT band, including a lot of nice, openended small group jams, and it's NEVER been officially reissued. Giants Of JAzz apparently did a partial reissue of it, but those guys are theives.

The thing I learned a LONG Time ago is to look EVERYWHERE all the time. You'll come up empty quite a bit, but boy oh boy, will you hit the jackpot sometimes, too.

[brownie]

I was in England shortly after John Coltrane's death. There was a British EMI copy of 'Kulu Se Mama' in one of the small records stores I visited. The Impulse album had not been imported yet in France. I bought the British copy.

I got the Impulse 'Kulu Se Mama' when it showed up in France. The music was totally different. The Impulse album had the right music. The British LP had the wrong music. Also by Coltrane. It turned out that somebody at Impulse shipped the wrong tapes to EMI England. The music that was on the original pressings was what came out later on the Coltrane Impulse LP 'Om'.

The 'Om' album was released months later.

For a few months I was the privileged owner of yet-to-be-released Coltrane music.

Only a few copies of the bad (BAAD) LP turned out in British stores before someone at EMI England found out there was something wrong.

[Dan Gould]

Hey, Brownie, I would think that collectors would pay a pretty penny for that!

[brownie]

Dan, I'm pretty sure it might be worth much money but I'm not selling any items from my collection yet. Might reconsider when I found out what my old age pension will amount to...