Selection: Mambo Ricci (Amalbert/ Ricci)
Artists
Eric Dolphy (as, bclar, fl) Carlie Simons (vib) Gene Casey (p) Bill Ellington (b) Manny Ramos (d, timb) Juan Amalbert (congas) recorded Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, August 19, 1960
Music:
LJQ brought to you by LJC. Concord Music say:
The combination of a Latin quintet featuring vibes and timbales and explosive multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy might seem an oil-and-water mix. It actually worked extremely well, so well that Dolphy and the LJQ joined forces again on United Artists. The key is the material, which is heavily tinted with blue, and the extraordinary versatility of the immortal Dolphy.
The bringing-together of unlikely combinations of flavours is commonplace today, staving off consumer fatigue, quenching the endless thirst for novelty with ever more unlikely pairings. But it’s hard to imagine what the 1960 listener made of this release: Did the goatee-stroking beatniks breathe “yeah…cha cha cha“? Dolphy rips ballroom dancing, ay caramba! Shock of a different sort, perhaps. To todays ear, the Latin sound is almost kitsch, so it works, but in a different way.
Vinyl: NJLP 8251; OJCCD 819-2 ; Prestige MPP 2503
Vinyl doesn’t come much more cheap-skate than this – green Prestige label 1980 pressing, 110 gm vinyl.
Have you no self-respect LJC? Do you realise this blog may be read by impressionable young collectors who may now think its OK to buy lightweight Eighties reissues? Not even any old reissue, but these black cover repackaged alternative Prestige covers? Real collectors Don’t Buy Re-issues, wasn’t that your maxim? Ummm yes, sort of.
Collectors Corner
Poundland! Cheapskate Alert!! Vinyl collector ratings off the bottom of the scale.
. .
Repeatedly failed to secure a New Jazz purple label copy, twice alone in the last week, second-placed in the UK Scottnichol auction, pipped by a dealer with a score over 4,000, all of their history being LPs, Yes, it was “snatched” by the dreaded TokyoJazzCollector raiding British Ebay auctions with XXL bids – Ahoudori1947 – the pseudonym for the Disc Union Japanese record shops. That is doubly annoying. No, make that triply so. I don’t have a problem with losing to another collector – all’s fair in love and war – it’s a fair fight. I simply dislike arbitrageurs who buy in one market to sell in another.
So I have given up for now. I shall sit and enjoy my Prestige reissue, which doesn’t actually sound that bad, though the less said of the cover, the better. At least I haven’t stooped as low as the evil silver disc, so there’s hope yet.
On the upside: price in single figures, vinyl in mint condition, quite nice stereo, no risk of recycled vinyl hiss, (and you can hide the cover) so may be just nudge a 1 Smug Rating.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
LJC Motoring Supplement
Seen elsewhere, for the Dolphy fan who has everything, the ultimate driving machine, the Dolphy-mobile. Highly economical and environmentally friendly, the Dolphy-mobile runs entirely on spiritual energy.
Increase your goatee-stroking quotient instantly. Impress your friends. Test-drive one today.
I guess that shows how small this market is, and how efficient the internet has made even tiny specialist niche markets. Someone at Universal told me that the annual turnover of Blue Note today is only about $4mm. Ludicrously small given the catalogue.
World population seven billion, I guess to call the vintage jazz market even “small” would be an exaggeration, but the smaller the better, from our point of view. Must say I am surprised Blue Note Records turnover is as much as $4m. Income from Spotify and iTunes, plus sales of the ” R&B-hip-hop-jazz” of Robert Glasper Experiment, no doubt. Sad end to a great legacy.
I have a blue label prestige pressing of this, issued in a New Jazz sleeve. Might be a better and yet more affordable alternative to the fantasy issue.
I was bidding on the one from sonpaul too! Went for more than I thought it would. Didn’t even notice that ToykoJazzCollector won the auction. I’m also seeing n***b on a few of these as well. Hmmmmm. Last, but not least, I think anything with Dolphy should at least get a cool factor of one, no?
Well, I was a bidder on both the sonpau67 (US) and the scottnichol (UK) auctions, and yes I agree the US auction finished a tad high in my view. My snipe fell well short. Interestingly the 2nd place price-setter who jumped the price from $88 to $162 was a collector with a history of bidding on mostly antiques and war-time German memorabilia (It takes all sorts!) The winner looked a “normal record collector” (19 bids a month, all records) It was the UK auction our friends from Tokyo walked off with.
You are right. On reflection I have upped the cool factor to two stars. Anything less would be an insult to Eric.
By the way I agree with you on reissues when it doesn’t have the original art work. Reissues I can handle, but it’s tough to buy something that doesn’t have the original cover. I assume sometimes one must “bite the bullet.”
With the recent post about Mal Waldron, Hampton Hawes and Eric Dolphy can a poll about the coolest looking cat around be far behind?
Now that is a great idea: the coolest cat in jazz. The tough part is going to be compiling the candidate list. There are so many seriously cool cats.
There are…my favourite is the classic tabby cat also the big Bengal cats are very lovely too..
It would have been Miles if it weren’t for those trousers and that ridiculous haircut he had in the 80s
I was fortunate and saw Miles Davis at the RFH in the late 80’s- he was the only man I’ve ever seen who could get away with wearing gold trousers.
It seems like after you write about an album the interest and price of that album goes up (http://www.ebay.com/itm/290974229162?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649). Could this be know as the LJC bump (a la the Colbert Bump)?
Works against me. Esquires seem to be edging up in price since I started writing about them, now I can’t get them easily. But what’s the answer, keep quiet about everything? That’s no fun.
This album has always had a big 3 figure price tag. I have a Blue Trident pressing with the original cover art which is good enough for me.