Art Blakey At The Jazz Corner of the World Vol 2 (1959) no ear

 

Track Selection 1:  M & M (Mobley) from Jazz Corner Vol2  no ear, mono:

Pressing quality comparison:

Track Selection 2 :Hipsippy Blues from Jazz Corner Vol1  original Blue Note DG and ear, pressing stereo (shown below)

Mono or Stereo? Liberty reissue or Blue Note second pressing? It’s all too much. You decide

Artists

Lee Morgan (tp) Hank Mobley (ts) Bobby Timmons (p) Jymie Merritt (b) Art Blakey (d) Pee Wee Marquette (ann) “Birdland”, NYC, April 15, 1959

Music

Great Art Blakey line up – Mobley and Morgan – published in two volumes.

Live performance, great atmosphere, great playing. Great! Introductions by Pee Wee Marquette, the voice of Birdland. “Art Blay-keeeey, everybody, Mister Art Blay-keeeey!”  Great too!

Vinyl: Vol2 BN 4016 mono, RVG, 47 West 63rd labels, no DG, no ear

Weight 135gm vinyl instead of the regular 180gm of an original  Blue Note. A reissue pressing for Liberty circa 1966 using up old stock original Blue Note labels and original laminated cover. Same great music, slightly different EQ compared to an original  Blue Note.

The Matrix:

RVG stamp but no ear. It’s a right Liberty missus, but the cover is an  original.

Back Cover:

There is something about that large font catalogue number at the top right on the back of Blue Note originals. It always cheers me up when I see it, even if, as in this case, the record inside is a 1966 reissue for Liberty Records. It is a proud statement. This is our Catalogue, I am 4016. I am proud to be that number. What’s more, I don’t start with an “8” – I am not that kind of record. Proud to be Mono.

Collectors Corner

Source: West London Record Store Vinyl Adoption Agency

The curious case of the record that wasn’t

I keep a computerised database ( in Excel) of my record collection with all the definitive markings recorded – ear, label, run-out etchings, cover address, catalogue number, year recorded, year of pressing, country of pressing, and of course price paid and date.. Its a chore, and I sometimes put off adding the latest acquisitions in a timely way, but I know it is the right thing to do. It stops me accidentally buying the same record twice (go on, tell me you have never done it), acts as a filing index, and serves as a timely reminder that I have too many records and proof I have spent too much on them. Exactly how much too much.

When I saw the Jazz Corner Volume 2 up for adoption on the wall, there was something strangely unfamiliar about the cover. I recognised the distinctive blurred black and white urban night scene but the catalog number “experimental label design” was… yellow. I distinctly remembered it being red. Consulting the database “book” I carry, it seems  there were two volumes, and  I already had them both. Or so the line entry said, how much I paid, original status, everything there in black and white says I own an original pressing. Except I had no recollection of that yellow. I shrugged off the doubts, the book never lies.

Back at Chateau LJC, I thumbed through the record shelf under B for Blakey. Volume one was there, but no original Volume 2, contradicting the database. Then flicked  through the online Flickr set of my Blue Notes – no volume 2 pictured. Then all the records out of order waiting refiling after playing, photo-ing, cleaning, no Volume 2. Database says I have got it, every detail, you couldn’t make up. Check archive copies of the database, going back two, three years, damn, it is in there in the dataset. I own this record. Except I don’t.

A check of other Blakey’ records, of which I have many –  eventually yielded up the true identity of the non-existent BN 4016  At the Jazz Corner of the World Vol 2 , which fitted the description of my copy of BN 4055 Meet You At The Jazz Corner of the World Vol 2. Who would expect there to be two different records by the same artist with virtually identical titles?

If there is a moral to all this, I am damned if I know what it is. On the whole, I  still put my trust in computers – it’s people that make mistakes.Three years ago I filled the details against a very similarly titled but different record. But instinct was right. The reaction to the “yellow flag” proved more accurate than the database with all its convincing but inaccurate detail.

Glad to have sorted that out, I went up town and adopted the earless mutt. How many more mistakes are there hiding in the database?  There are bound to be more. Stands to reason. I always liked the line of Peter Lorre in an old movie. “We all make mistakes. That’s why they put the rubber on the end of pencils”