What's the best jazz autograph you have??

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I think the only person that that was hesitant was Jimmy Smith when I asked him to sign an original Francis Wolff photograph (the one used on the cover of the Mosaic). He signed it and it may have been the only thing he signed that night.

I wasn't into asking for autographs back when I saw Jimmy at The House of Blues in Cambridge, MA (now gone). However, given his surly attitude that night, I highly doubt he would have signed anything. In fact, I bet I wouldn't have even asked him for one even if I had something for him to sign. He was quite the asshole.

You know who seemed hesitant to the point where I dropped my request? McCoy Tyner. Weird thing is I went up again about a year later and he was fine with it. I must have caught him at a bad night that first time. I only brought something with me the next time because I had a feeling that was the case. Of course, it could have also been something as simple as a bathroom break.

Later,

Kevin

[Dave James]

I'm not too interested in autographs, but I did get Pat Metheny's after he played a gig here in Portland. I also go Jimmy McGriff's when he made a personal appearance at a local record store called Music Millenium.

As far as other autographs, I have Lewis Black and Dave Attelle. Also have one from Veronica Lake, the peek-a-boo bang girl in the '40's. I was (and still am to a certain extent) a collector of Lake memorabilia.

Up over and out.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Autograph collecting and the consumption of milk are for kids....

.....I am apparently still a kid .

Not just any old "kid'........but rather a super fab wicked excellent A+ kinda kid with a knack for hunting down elusive Mosaic vinyl sets!

[sheldonm]

[Not just any old "kid'........but rather a super fab wicked excellent A+ kinda kid with a knack for hunting down elusive Mosaic vinyl sets!

[Larry Kart]

Not exactly an autograph, though it's that too, I treasure the postcard I got from Paris from Sarah Vaughan in May 1985, completely out of the blue. I'd done an interview with her about two years before that which came off pretty well, in part I think because as we sat down backstage she addressed her valet as "Redcross," and I asked if he were Bob Redcross of the Parker tune "Red Cross" (he was). That relaxed things a good bit, and we went on from there. Anyway, two years later, with no intervening contact this postcard came to me at the Chicago Tribune. It read, verbatim:

"Hi Their. Don't

be shocked. Its

only me from over

the Seas Said

Sarah Vaughan

The

Singer

(smile)"

I get choked up every time I look at it, in part for reasons I can't really explain.

[sheldonm]

Great story, Larry!

[Brandon Burke]

Not jazz but.....

* Mickey Mantle

* Ted Williams

* Henry Aaron

* Hank Bauer

* The entire 1980 Kansas City Royals (AL champs)

* The entire 1985 Kansas City Royals (world champs)

* Steve Largent (on the day he broke the single season reception/yards record)

[mikeweil]

I have only one: I asked Cedar Walton to sign the first Eastern Rebellion LP which I bought at the group's gig. He happens to be the jazzman I saw the most often, four times I think.

[dave9199]

I bought a used copy of Max Roach's Speak Brother Speak for like $10 total, and it's signed by Max Roach. He drew a small drumset with MR on the bass drum. The date he wrote is 4/22/94. I emailed the seller to ask if he knew what he sold me, but he didn't respond. Oh well.

[Chuck Nessa]

I bought a used copy of Max Roach's Speak Brother Speak for like $10 total, and it's signed by Max Roach. He drew a small drumset with MR on the bass drum. The date he wrote is 4/22/94. I emailed the seller to ask if he knew what he sold me, but he didn't respond. Oh well.

And I thought you only had CDrs!

[clifford_thornton]

Bobby Few signed my copy of his Center of the World record with a big smiley face with its tongue lolling out. Pretty funny.

Steve Lacy signed my copy of Moon (before I really grasped the BYG debacle) with the comment, "these guys were gangsters!"

[Larry Kart]

Saddest jazz autograph story I know of and can vouch for (I was there) was when Mingus was playing the Jazz Showcase when it was on Rush St., underneath the Happy Medium (the late '70s, I think). At the bar is a creepy collector with a big pile of Mingus LPs; between sets he asks Mingus to sign them. Mingus's face lights up -- Here's a guy who has everything I've ever recorded is what he seems to be thinking -- and he takes hold of the pen that the collector gives him. But then Mingus realizes that all the albums are still shrink-wrapped -- they've never been played -- and his face falls. (The collector of course has been thinking only of the value of a signed mint-condition album.) Knowing Mingus's reputation, an explosion seems inevitable, but instead he proceeds to sign every damn album at a sad, steady pace; there must have been at least 30 of them, maybe many more.

[Christiern]

A good story, Larry, and indeed also sad.

I recall a time when some friends and I dropped into a bar on Amsterdam Avenue. It was one of those old NYC Irish bars with metal tiled ceiling, fluorescent lights, and a bowl of hard boiled eggs.

We were seated in a booth, but I noticed a rather disheveled man at the bar. He had a book and several issues of down beat under one arm and I noticed that he seemed eager to show these to anyone who cared to look. When I went to the bar, he turned to me, opened the book, and pointed with pride to a dedication and autograph. It was Ross Russell's Bird biography and this was Ross' brother. The magazines contained articles and reviews relating to Ross. It was very sad, I didn't know what to say except that I was familiar with his brother's work, which pleased him. Then I bought him a beer.

[chris olivarez]

It's a tie Phil Woods and Cal Tjader.

[brownie]

Non-jazz.

Two photo icons:

- Joe Rosenthal's image of the US flag raising at Iwo Jima,

- Nick Ut's image of the badly-burned Vietnamese girl and her brother crying for help.

Both signed the prints from their images.

Joe Rosenthal is 94 by now. One of the nicest man I ever met.

Nick Ut is an old friend from years ago. Could compete with Rosenthal for the nicest man title.

[Chuck Nessa]

The "collector" in Larry's Mingus story frequently showed up at clubs with stacks of records to get autographed. I remember a similar scene when the guy was having

Big Joe Turner sign about 30 lps. Some of the records were by (piano) Joe Turner. Joe held up a couple of these and said "Do you really think this is me?"

There must be a God 'cause about 5 years later the guys basement flooded and......

[Guest ariceffron]

mingus should of told him to go fuck him self, then hit him or something

[Larry Kart]

Interesting about that "collector." Lord knows that jazz fans come from all sorts of different backgrounds and in various ages, shapes, and sizes, but the first time I laid eyes on the guy I had the feeling that he was an alien being. Maybe it was that his body language (Bush/Cheney seem to have revived that concept) made it fairly clear that he wasn't listening to the music, just waiting like a lizard for it to be over so he could do his thing. And his name fit him like a lizard's skin: Rafe Simone.