I'm not really a jazz guy, but...

[markshan]

So, a jazz affectionato in the area was pointed to this thread (thanks Ian) and contacted me. We had coffee yesterday and I brought a couple records. He verified that three of the four Bill Evans albums are first pressings. The "Portrait" (release year 1958) is a second press probably from 1961-62. I'm learning a lot from this experience, meeting cool people and having a blast. This is so much fun!

 

[markshan]

Yesterday's discovery... I like Red Garland. I don't like Stan Kenton.

 

[rxonmymind]

Amazing score. Congrats.
Let me relay a story like yours I overheard while four of us gents were waiting in line at a sale and me being the youngest just listened. Two swapped various blue note record scores when this judge spoke. He lived in his lawyer days above this asian couple who's husband passed away. Well the husband would listen to a lot of jazz and he commented one day to his now widowed wife genuine condolences and complimented her on her husband taste in jazz. She asked if he really liked jazz. He said yes. She motioned him inside to a collection of over 900 records. Mostly first pressings, blue note and such. He was floored. He said he was mentally trying to calculate how big of a loan he could get, steal, borrow or beg when she snapped him out if it. She said "Did you hear me?". He said what? The next musical words.
"You can have them"....
That was decades ago and he still has them. That pretty much closed out the I got a bigger dick story. Lol.
WHY can't I have that luck!!!

Well good luck on your listening and most of all enjoy it

 

[OMGCat!]

Well if you do end up archiving them all to lossless I'd love to hear the finished results

 

[02County]

Red Garland is great. Fun thing about jazz is the emphasis on individual musicians as opposed to groups or bands. So the liner notes and the guys backing up the headliner can be as big or bigger. Miles Davis first quintet with Garland, Coltrane, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones is - within the limited world of 50s hard bop - about as badass as it gets. Each of those guys went off and had different careers in different directions, with different guys.

 

[montrecott]

GREAT score. It's much cooler (and rarer) than almost any gear score.

 

[markshan]

Today I discovered that I like "Giant Steps" MUCH better than "Impressions". On the latter, Coltrane seems to go off into almost Ornette Coleman territory, while I found the former to be very melodious.

 

[MiamiBoy]

Today I discovered that I like "Giant Steps" MUCH better than "Impressions". On the latter, Coltrane seems to go off into almost Ornette Coleman territory, while I found the former to be very melodious.

There is no such thing as someone who doesn't like Jazz, only someone who hasn't spent enough time listening to it. And it does take time because it is complex like most true art forms.

 

[markshan]

I really enjoyed Mingus at Monterey. Having been a gigging rock/pop bassist and a "Bass Player" subscriber for many years, I had read a lot about Mingus but hadn't heard much of his work. I also enjoyed the rather Beatnik sounding "Symposium" album on Bethlehem but didn't expect I'd return to it much so I did sell that one to a local collector.

 

[markshan]

Today I listened to "Kind of Blue" for the first time. I suspect this sounds to a jazz guy like someone saying "I just listened to Sgt Pepper for the first time" would sound to me. And, like that guy listening to Pepper, I knew some of the material, but not all of it. All I can say is that I see what all the fuss is about. It is really a spectacular record (I know, alert the media, right?). Hey, it's fun for me to be discovering this stuff.

BTW, this is a 6 eye stereo, which seems to be one of the rarer incarnations of this album, but sadly it's not in the pristine condition of some of the others in this collection.

 

[markshan]

Well, this is an interesting development...

I was Googling around for info on this KOB pressing, and I saw on the "London Jazz Collector" site where this was called the holy grail pressing. So, tongue in cheek, I held up the record in my hand to the picture on the monitor and said to my wife "I have a holy grail". She said something along the lines of "That's nice" and went back to what she was doing. Then as I compared the record in my hand to the image on the screen, I noticed that the screen shot showed "1. ALL BLUES; 2. FLAMENCO SKETCHES". I looked at my record again and it says "1. FLAMENCO SKETCHES; 2. ALL BLUES". So I looked in the matrix and it is a 1A. I found mention on the web of the jackets getting it backwards, but find nothing about the label.

Do I have some sort of rare variant here?

 

[markshan]

 

[captouch]

I'm no expert, but the copy I have also has this jacket error, and I don't think mine is a -1A. Sadly, mine is also not in very good condition either.

It is an awesome album - I probably have at least 3 versions on CD and 3 on vinyl.

Side 1 is a bit fast. If you ever decide to get a more recent vinyl pressing or '90's or later CD, side 1 may sound a bit slow to you if you've gotten used to the one you have.

 

[teal'c]

There is no such thing as someone who doesn't like Jazz, only someone who hasn't spent enough time listening to it. And it does take time because it is complex like most true art forms.

I don't like the vast majority of jazz and I was forced to listen to it for eight years for seven and a half hours a day five days a week. I've spent more than enough time listening to it.

 

[MiamiBoy]

I don't like the vast majority of jazz and I was forced to listen to it for eight years for seven and a half hours a day five days a week. I've spent more than enough time listening to it.

Gitmo?

 

[captouch]

Gitmo?

Must have been Kenny G too

 

[Mitkraft]

I don't like the vast majority of jazz and I was forced to listen to it for eight years for seven and a half hours a day five days a week. I've spent more than enough time listening to it.

Was somebody killing you softly?

 

[markshan]

So, does anybody know anything about that label variant?

 

[markshan]

So today I am listening to some of the stuff that there is only one of by the artist (most of this collection has several titles by artists he liked). I had never even heard of Lorez Alexandria, but she is fantastic! The album I have is called "For Swingers Only" and it is just wonderful. Tone, phrasing, song selection; I like everything about it. Looking at it I would have thought it was from the 80s. Her look, the fonts used and everything about the front of the jacket don't look early 60s at all.

 

[KiM3Ce]

TIt is really a spectacular record (I know, alert the media, right?). Hey, it's fun for me to be discovering this stuff.

When I can I am slowly working my way through Ken Burns' "JAZZ" series from PBS. I also recommend Bill Messenger's audio series Elements of Jazz (http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/elements-of-jazz-from-cakewalks-to-fusion.html). I requested and got the Ted Gioia book "How To Listen To Jazz" but have not yet had time to read it. If you are in Phoenix KJZZ 91.5 has good jazz programming and an all-jazz HD radio channel.

Must have been Kenny G too

Jazz is like beer: Two people can both like beer and not like any of the same brands. Enjoy!