Donnerstag, 22. Juli 2010

Full time job

Collecting jazz records could easily be a full time job. If you collect CD's, you'll always have to step up to your 2nd hand-dealer, asking for new incoming ones. If you collect LP's, you have to watch the new ebay-listings on almost a daily basis, because once in a while, there are really some nice bargains. Somehow it is sad, that the days are mostly gone, when your local record store would have original pressings offered for a reasonable price. Nowadays they all have their online-shops, where you can find these records for international prices, and only the common records will stay in the physical stores. So diggin' crates is not that fun today, because it's mostly virtual crate diggin.
In the passed months, I made some trips to other cities and I visited some record stores, of course. And even if they didn't have that rare records or even original pressings (I once thought, that Japanese reissues were expensive and scarce as well, but they are definitely not), I stumbled across some nice LP's, that feature excellent music. During that time, I kept one eye on the virtual market as well and I visited a record-collector-fair as well. All in all, I managed to find some pretty nice records and I'd like to share.

I started in Hamburg, Germany where I made my way through almost all record-stores I knew and I didn't find something really interesting. I came across a nice, but not original pressing of Jimmy Heath's "Triple Threat" he cut for Riverside in 1962 and an original deep groove-pressing of Gil Melle's "Primitive modern", cut for Prestige Records. The latter one was way to expensive for me, because I found it in almost the first store. Running out of money at the beginning did not sound like a great idea. Later on I got my hands on some later OJC pressings of Harold Land's "The Fox", Gigi Gryce's "The rat race blues" and a record that featured an all-star-band under the leadership of Teo Macero on the Prestige label. All three records were really cheap and feature good, even if not essential music.
At last, already on my way back to the car, I came across a really small spot, that had records as well. There was a small collection of mostly worn records, nothing really of interest. One of the last records was "Blue Hour", the LP Stanley Turrentine has cut for Blue Note with the help of The Three Sounds - Blue Notes own Soul Jazz-trio. The jacket looked marvelous and when I turned it around, I came to see the "43 West 61st" adress, one indicator, that it could be an original first pressing. I asked the owner, if I could see that particular record and when he gave it to me, I was a bit disappointed, because it was a second pressing with the "New York"-labels. I started a pro & contra-list in my head: I already had this record, but only as a japanese Toshiba-issue. I really like the music pretty much and this record was one of my first BN-records, when I started collecting. The record itself was in flawless shape, still had the original innersleve and it was a monaural deep groove-pressing at a very reasonable price. After thinking 5 seconds, I stepped out of the store...with that record.
2 months later, I came back to that store and he still had all the other records, so I bought the obviously best one.

Now, for the record itself: as I have said, the jacket was the original one with light corner dinges on only one side. The seams and the spine are intact, as well as the front is clean and shiny and the back shows no signs of yellowing. The original inner sleeve is clean as well. The record is one of these thick and heavy pressings I really love. The labels are clean, have the "New York"-adress on both sides, as well as the deep groove-circle. The run out groove features the ear and the "RVG"-stamp. Only the adress makes this record a second pressing, because otherwise it's an original one. Both sides are near mint, no scratches or scuffs.

The music shows Mr. T in his best days, rooted in the blues, mostly playing with a deep and warm tone. Here you can hear his mastery of the tenor, his heartfelt mixture of serious and aching playing, combined with deep earthened soul in his tone. On his later, more commercially compiled records, this tone got more absent, but here he plays at his peak. The Three Sounds, mainly Gene Harris (p) offer a great sensitive support. I know, that many jazz-lovers dislike the Sounds, because they often played on an almost commercial basis and their music sounds especially "light" sometimes, comparing this trio to others. But these four musicians fit very well, because Gene Harris offers gentle support, whilst staying in the background most of the time. Andy Simpkins (b) is a very decent, but elegant bassist and he has a warm but always swinging tone, that reminds me of Ray Brown and even of Sam Jones sometimes. Bill Dowdy (d) uses brushes throughout the recording and shows a very comfortable feeling, being situated in the background, doing nothing more than an ample support. The tunes they play are mostly blues and ballads and the name of the record "Blue hour" is the programme on this one here. Although "Kind of Blue", the famous Miles Davis record is on another level, this LP works equally. Get at home in the night - drink some Cognac, wake up in the morning - drink some coffee, sit down and relax in the evening, this soulful and relaxed recording is a perfect partner for you. I still think, that this LP is the most relaxed one, throughout the whole BN-catalogue. If I may say some critique, the playing sometimes really sounds similar or well known, but that's, beause the whole LP shows this soulful and blue mood.
And it's no imagination, these deep groove-issues do sound fantastic...