Great Finds

[JSngry]

What about Memphis Jackson? Never really had any desire to pursue that one, always seemed like a half-baked Quincy Jones-less Quincy Jones record?

Yet, here's Harold Land!

 

[kh1958]

I'm a sucker for Milt Jackson, so I like that one too, though I prefer the small group setting.

 

[mjzee]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Good enough to pursue then? I would certainly think so, but when there's lists and lists and lists of Great Bags Records, these never come up?

It'll turn up eventually. Most things do, especially if condition is not of uber-importance.

I imagine any Bags is worth listening to, but, for the record, I haven't listened to JTWIHTB yet.  But Teddy Edwards, Monty Alexander and Ray Brown?  C'mon.  As for Memphis Jackson, the first time I saw that title was on a CDJapan listing, so dunno.  I'd guess all those Impulse Bags releases are due for a reevaluation.  Hey, maybe Mosaic can do a box!  Oh yeah...

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

10 hours ago, JSngry said:

Don't know if any of these qualify as "great finds", but I went in to the flagship Half Price today determined only to buy things that would either delight or disappoint, nothing of the "I KNOW I'll like this!" type. No "more of the same", Ia already have more than enough of that.

A promo copy, just like this one, only not as clean. A live quintet date with Teddy Edwards, this seems like it should be a "sure thing", but it's been around for 40+ years now and it's never rated as a "classic". Hell, it's never really talked about much at all. And even though it's got Teddy Edwards,  it's got Monty Alexander on it, so not sure, delighted or disappointed, who knows?

Louisville, Hovhaness, what's not to try?

If not delighted, then disappointed. Can't see indifference as an option.

Looked interesting.

NO idea whatsoever. Cool Op-Art cover no matter what.

Arrangers listed as Gil Askey, Bobby Tucker, and Melba Liston. Wait, does that say Melba Liston? Yes, it does. I have a blogged version of a Kim Weston album where Melba Liston contributed, and it didn't suck. so....

Love the piece, don't know the band at all, but the Supraphon label always is the tie-breaker. We'll see.

Nearly flipped over it, but figures ehh, let's see, and Richard Davis is on every cut. There's also a photo of Vic Dickenson on the inside where he's doing a More Than Ready For Mainstream thing, wearing on of his headphones as an eye patch. Plus, Toots Mondello and Johnny Mince are in the section on the cuts where there is one. I figured I gotta hear this at least once, even if the arranger is Glen Osser.

And finally, get ready to grab a towel, Aric...

Kinda iffy on this one until I pulled it out to check the condition, and...

Red vinyl motherfucker, RED VINYL!!!!

I may never play it, not sure if I care that much. But as an object, hell, OG Drown Red Vinyl, one does not buy that for the music, right?

Nothing was over $6.99, most all were $4.99, a few were $3.99. I had $20.00 worth of HP gift cards from father's day, so after tax, a little over $50.00

 

good find dawg!  still looking for that one

[soulpope]

10 hours ago, JSngry said:

 

Love the piece, don't know the band at all, but the Supraphon label always is the tie-breaker. We'll see.

You're in for a treat ....

[JSngry]

20 hours ago, mjzee said:

I imagine any Bags is worth listening to, but, for the record, I haven't listened to JTWIHTB yet.  But Teddy Edwards, Monty Alexander and Ray Brown?  C'mon.  As for Memphis Jackson, the first time I saw that title was on a CDJapan listing, so dunno.  I'd guess all those Impulse Bags releases are due for a reevaluation.  Hey, maybe Mosaic can do a box!  Oh yeah...

FWIW, That's The Way It Is is on Spotify, and is, at the very least, more than adequate. Teddy Edwards, as always!

The other two impulse!s of this vintage are not on Spotify, so...there's gotta be some reasonably listenable $4.99-$6.99 copies out there, I just have to live long enough and move around enough to be in the same place they are. It's do-able, I'm sure.

[T.D.]

On 7/29/2017 at 7:26 PM, JSngry said:

Don't know if any of these qualify as "great finds", but I went in to the flagship Half Price today determined only to buy things that would either delight or disappoint, nothing of the "I KNOW I'll like this!" type. No "more of the same", Ia already have more than enough of that.

 

If not delighted, then disappointed. Can't see indifference as an option.

Wow, great find IMO! Would love to hear this.

But then I very much enjoy Sinfonia, although it has a couple of weaker movements and isn't great from beginning to end.

[Added: found it on Youtube, sound is a little dodgy but seems like an excellent performance]

Edited July 30, 2017 by T.D.

[mikeweil]

This reissue of all of Arnett Cobb's Okeh sides is a limited edition of the Jazz Circle Basel and the only complete reissue of this material - it took me 30+ years to locate a copy!

[rdavenport]

Archie Shepp at a car boot sale. If you lived in England, you'd know just what a strange find this would be.

The sticker on the back is from "Rare & Racy - books, records, maps and prints" in Sheffield. Bill F / Sidewinder - ever heard of this?

Edited May 13, 2018 by rdavenport

[Olie Brice]

50 minutes ago, rdavenport said:

The sticker on the back is from "Rare & Racy - books, records, maps and prints" in Sheffield. Bill F / Sidewinder - ever heard of this?

Rare and racy was a fantastic book and record shop, sadly just closed down in the last few months

I once found Derek Bailey and Han Bennink's duo on Incus in a charity shop for a quid!  I think its signed too - either that or someone has drawn some surreal sketch on it, showing some socks hanging on a line...

Edited May 13, 2018 by Olie Brice

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, rdavenport said:

The sticker on the back is from "Rare & Racy - books, records, maps and prints" in Sheffield. Bill F / Sidewinder - ever heard of this?

Just checked the Garth Cartwright book and it is mentioned in there - seemed to specialise in Northern Soul and Jarvis Cocker regularly visited. Like quite a few of the places in this quite recent book now closed, as Olie mentions.

On my last trip into Sheffield a couple of years ago (admittedly I wasn’t seeking vinyl at the time) the only place I came across was an overpriced hipster boutique with no second hand, or interesting for that matter, platters. Felt very out of place !

42 minutes ago, Olie Brice said:

Rare and racy was a fantastic book and record shop, sadly just closed down in the last few months

I once found Derek Bailey and Han Bennink's duo on Incus in a charity shop for a quid!  I think its signed too - either that or someone has drawn some surreal sketch on it, showing some socks hanging on a line...

Maybe a Bennink doodle? Nice !

Edited May 13, 2018 by sidewinder

[rdavenport]

^ Cheers both. Yes, a few stories online about it closing down last year. The sticker doesn't even have the shop's STD code with the phone number, a real sign of the times.

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Just checked the Garth Cartwright book and it is mentioned in there - seemed to specialise in Northern Soul ....

Yes, they had quite some stock....

[mjazzg]

I've a few LPs with Rare and Racy provenance, all purchased on eBay or Discogs, mostly free jazz and its ilk. It must've been a great shop in the late 70s/80s from the look of this small sample of its stock

[sidewinder]

The late 70s/early 80s was the golden period for post-bop and free jazz vinyl in this country. Particularly fond of the Honest Jon’s branch which was down the road in Camden Town back then during my student period (echoes of Withnail ). That place had the Strata-Easts and plenty of Sun Ra Saturns in the racks (which they must have got from that elusive secret-society South London store with the bath full of bricks - apparently the only UK source at the time for Saturn) as well as Beehive, India Navigation etc. Being a poor student I was reduced to Blue Note Reissue twofers and the deletions rack, admittedly I wasn’t into free jazz. Sadly, no King Blue Notes for me..

I don’t think that branch survived the early/mid 1980s, by which time I was gone.

Last time I was there on Camden Hign Street I think it was just one Reckless store and they were closing shop. The moneyed brigade had long since moved in.

Edited May 13, 2018 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

 

Sometimes, like when I read posts like this, I just know I was born ten years too late 

That shop had definitely gone by the mid-80s when I was strolling around Camden on a regular basis looking for obscure rock, best characterised as Indie I guess. The very first stirrings of Jazz interest at the time took me to a couple of market stalls and the shop on the bridge which had Jazz down the spiral staircase and whose name completely escapes me (possibly to do the the effects of other recreational activity at the time). 

Looking agan at that photo I wonder whether its's the same shop under an earlier guise

[BillF]

Just to bring a tear to elderly eyes ...

[sidewinder]

Just racked my brain over this and in fact what I thought was Reckless which was closing down on my last visit was in fact called Rhythm Records and it was in the very same shop location as Honest Jons. You are correct, it did have a spiral staircase and the jazz was downstairs.

I must have been there around 2010/2011. I thought it looked strangely familiar - in fact I recognised the old wooden racking from the HJ days. I came out with a couple of A&M Horizons from their sadly very depleted stock (hardly anything left). I wouldn’t be surprised if these were old stock from the 1970s !  All very sad though - what used to be reggae in the main section upstairs had morphed into the usual non-musical tourist tat and most of the space downstairs was taken up with cheap t-shirts etc.

12 minutes ago, BillF said:

Just to bring a tear to elderly eyes ...

Bill - worth getting hold of the Garth Cartwright book as there is quite a bit on Dobell’s, Rays, Mole etc. in there. The ‘Bermuda Triangle of the West End’, ie. Oxford St/New Row/Shaftesbury Ave up to King’s Cross !

Definitely the same place.

Edited May 13, 2018 by sidewinder

[mjazzg]

19 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Just racked my brain over this and in fact what I thought was Reckless which was closing down on my last visit was in fact called Rhythm Records and it was in the very same shop location as Honest Jons. You are correct, it did have a spiral staircase and the jazz was downstairs.

I must have been there around 2010/2011. I thought it looked strangely familiar - in fact I recognised the old wooden racking from the HJ days. I came out with a couple of A&M Horizons from their sadly very depleted stock (hardly anything left). I wouldn’t be surprised if these were old stock from the 1970s !  All very sad though - what used to be reggae in the main section upstairs had morphed into the usual non-musical tourist tat and most of the space downstairs was taken up with cheap t-shirts etc.

Bill - worth getting hold of the Garth Cartwright book as there is quite a bit on Dobell’s, Rays, Mole etc. in there. The ‘Bermuda Triangle of the West End’, ie. Oxford St/New Row/Shaftesbury Ave up to King’s Cross !

Definitely the same place.

Definitely the one that was eluding the grey matter. Thanks. Many hours spent in there under that name. They sold gig tickets too for Electric Ballroom etc 

[Big Beat Steve]

53 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Just racked my brain over this and in fact what I thought was Reckless which was closing down on my last visit was in fact called Rhythm Records and it was in the very same shop location as Honest Jons. You are correct, it did have a spiral staircase and the jazz was downstairs.

I must have been there around 2010/2011. I thought it looked strangely familiar - in fact I recognised the old wooden racking from the HJ days. I came out with a couple of A&M Horizons from their sadly very depleted stock (hardly anything left). I wouldn’t be surprised if these were old stock from the 1970s !  All very sad though - what used to be reggae in the main section upstairs had morphed into the usual non-musical tourist tat and most of the space downstairs was taken up with cheap t-shirts etc.

Bill - worth getting hold of the Garth Cartwright book as there is quite a bit on Dobell’s, Rays, Mole etc. in there. The ‘Bermuda Triangle of the West End’, ie. Oxford St/New Row/Shaftesbury Ave up to King’s Cross !

Definitely the same place.

Funny how things come full circle.

I remember checking out Honest Jon's (whose name had figured in tourist shopping guides along with Dobell's) during my stays in London in 1975-76-77 (while I was still in school) but don't think I bought there as IIRC his range of records was very special, spending money was very tight and there were SOOOO many excellent record shops in London at the time. Then, during my last record-buying stay in London in the year 2000 (time flies ...) I literally stumbled into Honest Jon's up somewhere at the north end of Portobello Road (revisiting memories of my excursions in the 70s when I had sought out Portobello Market too) and bought a couple of LPs there. I knew this was not his shop of the old days but was pleasantly suprised he was still around. Now, Rhythm Records is familiar too. I went there several times during my stays in London in the 90s (Camden Town was a prime target for other addresses and shops each time). I do remember the jazz section downstairs (manned by a fairly grumpy elderly character who seemed to take his time to warm up to his clientele). The last time I was there in 2000 I also browsed the boxes with original 45rpm EPs and picked some (getting seriously licked with one that I failed to inspect carefully - its vol. 1 brother was in EX condition - and it turned out to have the grooves covered with splotches of some sort of candle wax or such that I have not been able to remove - never would have imagined a record in such condition would ever make it into the racks of a shop doing business with collectors - luckily I have the music on LP, and the cover is nice ;)). Anyway ... now I know this actually was where Honest Jon's used to be (I did not remember ..).

P.S. About that Garth Cartwright book mentioned? Is that "Going For a Song"?

 

Edited May 13, 2018 by Big Beat Steve

[sidewinder]

Yes, the Cartwright book is ‘Going For A Song’. No massive revelations in there but there is good coverage of the London jazz stores.

Great little article on Honest Jon’s history here -

https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2076

The Portobello shop is still there and a great shop to pop into, with very helpful staff. Their mail order operation is first rate too.

[mjazzg]

32 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

The Portobello shop is still there and a great shop to pop into, with very helpful staff. Their mail order operation is first rate too.

Yes, indeed. The best of what's left in London

[rdavenport]

47 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Yes, the Cartwright book is ‘Going For A Song’. No massive revelations in there but there is good coverage of the London jazz stores.

Great little article on Honest Jon’s history here -

https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2076

The Portobello shop is still there and a great shop to pop into, with very helpful staff. Their mail order operation is first rate too.

Interesting read, thanks

[BillF]

Survived the Manchester bomb, but not streaming.

[Big Beat Steve]

13 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Yes, the Cartwright book is ‘Going For A Song’. No massive revelations in there but there is good coverage of the London jazz stores.

Great little article on Honest Jon’s history here -

https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2076

The Portobello shop is still there and a great shop to pop into, with very helpful staff. Their mail order operation is first rate too.

Yes, an interesting story. So it sems the Honest Jon's shop I popped into in the 70s wasn't the one that became Rhythm Records but their still earlier site.