Montag, 5. März 2007

Mickey Mouse was on my records

As I have promised, there will be an update and there it is.
I’ve stumbled across same rare Blue Note-titles around the last weeks, I want them to introduce to you.













"Baby Face" Willette - Face to Face
January 30, 1961
The first one is the bluesy second recording-session of Baby Face Willette for Blue Note “Face to Face (BN 4068)”. Willette is known as an oddity or mystery in jazz-music, because he has only recorded a couple LP’s, two of them on the Blue Note-label - what makes these records highly collectable - and disappeared from the scene in the middle of the 1960’s.
As a soul jazz-organist, his roots can be determined from religious gospel music up to Blues and RnB music, even if his main influences have been Bud Powell, Monk, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson and I believe – Jimmy Smith, the organ grinder.
By listening to his music, I can feel, that he had a different approach on the organ – other than Smith, or of course Larry Young. His playing is definitely blues rooted and hard swinging on another level. I’m not really an admirer of organ-jazz itself, or at least a fan of Jimmy Smith, but I do like the records of Larry Young and the “Hootin’ and tootin’”-sessions by tenor-man Fred Jackson alongside Earl Vandyke on organ. I do like this record here as well. I really can’t tell, what the difference (musically) between Willette and Smith is, but this record swings on another level as the Smith-records do, which I know.
For example: “Whatever Lola wants” is usually a cheesy pop-song to me, but Willette is goin’ down on it and creates a hard-driven up-tempo number without sounding corny, using his left hand in a spectacular manner.
His perfectly fitting accompanists are the famous Grant Green (guitar), one of the most forgotten but highly recommended saxophonists Fred Jackson and the Jimmy Smith-regular. Ben Dixon on drums.
Scott Yarnow from allmusic.com claims, that Willette displays a lighter touch than Smith, even if he swings in a similar manner. Maybe it can be, because Baby Face could not read any music and was playing entirely by what he has heard. But I don’t know, if Smith could have done it the same way.
You can hear Baby Face Willette on his first stand “Stop and listen”, as well as on Lou Donaldson’s “Here ‘tis” and Grant Green’s “Grant’s First Stand”, just in case anybody wants to check for his music.

The record, which was not really expensive, turned out to be an original second pressing in VG-condition, but cover and LP itself needed a quick cleaning. The jacket with the “43 West 61st”-address is in good shape with no seam splits and minor edgewear, but yellowing on the back.
The record had some mold and dust on it, which could be removed. The clean labels carried the “47 West”-address on one side and “New York USA” on the other one. The vinyl had some marks and hairlines which cause slight background-noise and a few clicks. I guess it has to be cleaned professionally. “Ear” and “RVG” in the dead wax as well, but no original inner-bag.
I guess this was a good opportunity to get hand on this rare LP, even if it’s not NM.


Don Wilkerson - Elder Don
May 3, 1962
The last record for today is an original pressing of Don Wilkerson’s “Elder Don (BN 4121)”, recorded 1962 and this one was his second effort for Blue Note.
Wilkerson himself is also not really remembered on the jazz-scene, I might guess. I think, that this depends on the instrument he was playing, because there have been so many tenor-saxophonists, that it is hard to know them all quite well, even if they don’t had a really recognizable inventive approach like John Coltrane or Joe Henderson.
Wilkerson was a versatile saxophonist in a more soul-jazz vein, but he could fit ballad-settings as well as RnB-sessions.
On “Elder Don” he concentrated on pieces that matched his Texas-influence like “Senorita Eula” or “San Antonio Rose” and played the entire set with a lyrical latin style. Therefore he couldn’t have found any better musicians than Grant Green (once again) and the latin-tinged pianist Johnny Acea (whom I remembered from a Leo Parker session), as well as the experienced drummer Willie Bobo (remember Green’s Latin Bit?). The pretty unknown Lloyd Trotman (who has played with Duke Ellington) has worked on the bass and did a good job.
In comparison to the only other album I know from Wilkerson, “Preach Brother”, this one is really a dance-album, like Joe Goldberg stated in the liner notes. The other one is a more hard-driving bop-session, according to Sonny Clark’s or Billy Higgins’ work, but “Elder Don” is nice and swinging as well, but it is functioning as a somehow unspectacular dance-music-record, which by no means is meant as being deprecative.
The tunes are nice and transfer the spirit, but in my opinion there is nothing really new, or special on it, but I furthermore think, that this was not their purpose. You can feel, that the musicians liked their playing altogether, and that’s what counts.

On to the hard-facts:
The jacket is in nice shape, wouldn’t it have had mice-damage on the lower right corner, so that the edge had to be cutted. No seam splits and slight corner dinges on the other hand and a bit of yellowing on the back. As for the year 1962, it carries the “43 West”-address. There is a price sticker on the front, too that indicates that these original pressings once did cost $4.98. This record was a special sale for $3.88. Imagine that!! Today Blue Note original pressings fetch prices between $60 - $100 and even mor for scarce or collectible LP's like "Undercurrent" or "True Blue". Gosh...
The Mono-record had clean “New York USA” -abels, “Ear” and “RVG” in the wax and only minor wear, so that it plays through very quiet.
According to some inner twirling of the seams, the (newer) inner bag can’t be stuffed inside the jacket, so that this will be the only record I have to leave on the outside.

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