Record Collecting

“Ritmo y Juventud en la Contina de la Guardia Nueva”  Odeon “Pops” Record  (Argentina)  A various artist dance music compilation from a TV show in 1962   Illustration by Aldo Rivero

FREDDIE MERCURY Danbury Mint Commemorative Plates Quantity of Ten UK Danbury Mint special edition 8" diameter commemorative fine porcelain plates with a 22 carat Gold rim, each featuring a different well known colour portrait image of Freddie, with facsimile signature and silhouette motif on the reverse. The first ten consecutive plates in the set of twelve from the Freddie Mercury Collection, these were limited subscription issues only andare now only available via the collectors market - each comes with the original individually numbered circular certificate of authenticity.   GENESIS 1970-1986 Studio Albums Great set of Twelve UK LPs comprising the studio albums from Trespass up to Invisible Touch, a mixture of small Mad Hatter & blue Charisma label issues, with each part in its respective picture sleeve withrelevant inners. All sleeves remain in at least very good condition & all vinyl has been carefully inspected & are excellent. Perfect for the casual Genesis fan to get the lot in one swoop!   ENIGMA The Screen Behind The Mirror Official 1999 UK Virgin 11-track promotional CD-R of the album, includes The Gate, Push The Limits & Endless Quest. Custom printed disc & tracklisting inlay.

Are you going to be in Toronto on Thursday, May 30? I'll be giving a two-hour multimedia talk at Long & McQuade Performance Hall. My talk will be accompanied by jazz images projected on a large screen along with music to illustrate jazz's evolution between 1942 and 1972 and the unlikely reasons why jazz styles changed so often during that 30-year period. I'll be there in support of the good works of JAZZ.FM91 —Canada's largest and most influential not-for-profit jazz radio station. I'll also be signing copies of my book, Why Jazz Happened. By the way, I hear there are only a handful of seats remaining, so hurry. For information and tickets, go here. Best thing I heard last week: Chick Corea playing solo piano on Strange Meadowlark at the Dave Brubeck memorial last Sunday at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Easily the most moving version I've ever heard since Dave's. Best thing I did last week: Creed Taylor invited me to hear Ryan Truesdell [above] conduct the Gil Evans Project Orchestra at New York's Jazz Standard. Watching Creed's face in the dark as he listened to selections from Evans' Out of the Cool—an album Creed produced in 1960—was a treat. Ryan is, of course, tireless and amazing. David Brent Johnson and me. Jazz radio host and historian David Brent Johnson [pictured] and I go back to the earliest days of this blog—2007. David hosts Night Lights, a superb weekly jazz show on WFIU in Indiana. He also has one of the smoothest and kindest on-air voices in the business. Recently, David graciously invited me onto his show to talk about my book (Why Jazz Happened) and to play some music. To hear a podcast of our conversation (and to dig David's voice!), go here. The Jazz Man. U.K. director Abi Lewis will soon be screening The Jazz Man—a documentary on Keith Crombie, a jazz club owner in England's Newcastle upon Tyne in the the heart of the North East region's jazz community. Crombie ran The Jazz Cafe there for 23 years—a club that hosted local jazz musicians and American artists. Crombie died in December 2012, and the club closed soon after. The documentary will be released in October and it's now being submitted to international film festivals. Here's the trailer...   (U)nity on video. As JazzWax readers know, I'm big on the new jazz style emerging that makes creative use of digital texturing, acoustic instruments and original material that taps into music of the '70s. Last week I wrote about (U)nity, a band that extends this emerging form to Latin motifs. Here's their new video...   Uncle Miltie and Donna Loren. Couldn't resist sharing this one with you from 1966—featuring variety-show singer, beach-party movie fixture and episodic TV-show actress Donna Loren...   Herb Jeffries. Reader John Cooper sent along a link to this cliche-ridden B-film called Wicked Woman (1953). But John wasn't plugging the film. He wanted me to dig and share the theme—sung by one-time Duke Ellington vocalist Herb Jeffries. Go here.   Script error issues: To those readers who are experiencing trouble opening posts that contain audio tracks, the problem is your Internet Explorer. There's a compatibility issue between JazzWax and Internet Explorer, and my team is working to resolve it. For now, my suggestion is to open JazzWax with another browser—like Safari, Chrome or Firefox. I hope my team will have the compatibility issue resolved in a few weeks. Apologies for any inconvenience. CD discovery of the week. Vocalist Carol Duboc's new album Smile (Gold Note) is exceptional. The arrangements may have a smooth-jazz, \DeBarge-y veneer but Duboc's voice is highly soulful and penetrating. She has no problem adding power at will and soaring effortlessly into the upper register while retaining a warm, golden sound. What's more, she's a terrific songwriter—all 10 tracks are originals, co-written with keyboardist Jeff Lorber. The lyrics are meaningful and poetic, and the melodies grab you. He

THE BEATLES Past Masters - Volumes One & Two 1988 UK 33-track double vinyl LP, compiling all the non-LP Beatle tunes, gatefold title sleeve. The sleeve shows only the lightest signs of shelf wear & the vinyl looks barely played. A great addition to any Beatles collection.   QUEEN Made In Heaven Rare 1995 UK limited edition 11-track LP, pressed on heavyweight CREAM VINYL with picture labels, featuring a slightly different version to the CD release. Housed in a stickered glossy gatefold picture sleeve with original glossy lyric inner and bonus set of three fold-out posters. Apart from a small sticker mark and some light shelfwear the sleeve is superb, the vinyl is in 'near as new' condition.   STING The Dream Of The Blue Turtles Scarce US Mobile Fidelity label limited edition half-speed mastered 'Original Master Recording' 10-track audiophile LP, pressed on High Definition Super Vinyl by the Victor Company of Japan. Housed in a numberstickered gatefold picture sleeve complete with wraparound card series inner and 4-page lyric insert. This copy remains factory sealed in its original perforated bag and is therefore in MINT condition!  

Artists + Creative Commons + Free Music Archive + Nonprofits = Better World Creative Commons licensing has opened a new world for collaboration. Most artists with works in the Free Music Archive share their copyrighted work with some rights reserved. Depending on the chosen license for the work, this often allows others to incorporate the work into something new without the use of lawyers and other middle men.An avenue of collaboration that the Free Music Archive has actively promoted is the reuse of recordings in film and video. The FMA Tracks To Sync and Music for Video selections offer filmmakers a sampling of the variety of music available for reuse. The FMA also has a partnership with Vimeo, the video host, helping filmmakers find just the right music to fit the setting of the film.The collaborative music+video results have been remarkable around the world. In fact, in some cases this collaboration even benefits the world. Nonprofit organizations, not typically known for having large promotional budgets, can benefit greatly by re-purposing Creative Commons recordings licensed for reuse.One FMA success story is the union of a recording by American artist Aaron Ximm with a public service message for sustainability organization Redress. Ximm's track is used in a promo video for the EcoChic Design Award.Redress is a Hong Kong based NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in Asia's fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. We achieve this via educational sustainable fashion shows, exhibitions, competitions, seminars, research and media outreach. Our unique profile allows us to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders. We work with multiple fashion designers, textile and garment manufacturers, retailers, schools and universities, multilateral organizations, governments, NGOs, financial institutions and media organizations.The EcoChic Design Award is a sustainable fashion design competition inspiring emerging fashion designers and students to create mainstream clothing with minimal textile waste. Apply now.Redress Website | YouTube | Facebook | EcoChic Design Award photo: Forever Better with Miele fashion show organized by Redress

In today's Wall Street Journal (go here), I interview Buzz Aldrin—the second astronaut to walk on the moon after Neil Armstrong set up cameras on the lunar surface. In my conversation with Buzz, we talked about what it was like to live in the lunar craft for 21 1/2 hours, the stress of being so far from home and his dread that the Eagle might not lift off, leaving him and Armstrong there to perish. Long story story, some improvisation and quick thinking were required—especially when a circuit breaker came undone. I've always wanted to interview one of the moon astronauts. I suppose it's the little boy in me who, like everyone else on July 20, 1969, watched CBS' Walter Cronkite report that the Eagle had landed. The moon trip seemed inconceivable then and still does today. Not the technology part—since we know now that anything is possible if you put the right minds together and give them a deadline. Impossible, in the sense that most of us would flip out if we stood on the moon and looked back at Earth. The moonwalkers had the right stuff, physically and emotionally. I asked Buzz about that moment and other down-to-earth questions regarding that historic mission nearly 44 years ago. His answers are all in today's paper. What isn't in the piece is this: Apparently, every time Buzz flies commercial, the pilots know it from the manifest and go nuts—urging him to see the cockpit and taking pictures before the plane takes off. Makes perfect sense to me. Oh, his mother's maiden name? Moon. Here's Frank Sinatra singing all about it...

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QUEEN Ultimate Queen Official 1995 UK Parlophone limited edition box set with 20 litho picture printed Gold CD albums which are exclusive to this box set. Housed a within deluxe glazed and numbered box with moving Freddie hologram on thefront. Also included is a beautiful glossy gold 16-page booklet. Complete with the original outer brown cardboard box which is individually numbered and features the Queen 'crest' logo.   PET SHOP BOYS Very Rare 1993 UK 12-track LP, the fifth studio album by English electronic duo including Go West, vibrant picture sleeve complete with illustrated credits inner. The sleeve has only a few light signs of shelfwear and the vinyl isin 'near as new' condition.   ALAN SKIDMORE QUINTET Once Upon A Time on A Time Very special 1970 UK 6-track MONO LP in the Deram Nova series, a crown jewel of modern British jazz, starring Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Harry Miller & pioneering free form percussionist Tony Oxley, including some jawdropping compositions such

PET SHOP BOYS Disco Four - Album Sampler Rare 2007 UK 5-track promotional-only CD-R album sampler. Like its vinyl equivalent this includes the Dave Spoon Remix of Integral which was not on the final album release. It also contains the Dave SpoonDub Mix of Integral, which remains exclusive to this sampler! Also includes Pet Shop Boys remixes for The Killers 'Read My Mind' and Madonna's 'Sorry'. Housed inside a clear PVC wallet with title inlay sleeve.   PET SHOP BOYS Minimal - The Remixes Official 2006 UK Parlophone label 10-track promotional-only CD-R acetate featuring mixes by Tocadisco, M-Factor, Tiga & Jesper Dahlback, Tom Stephan [Superchumbo] and Telex, plus the Tomcraft 7" Mix of 'In Private'. Custom printed disc + title / tracklisting insert.   PET SHOP BOYS Fundamentalism Part 2 Official 2006 UK Parlophone 4-track promotional CD-R acetate featuring tracks taken from the bonus remix disc issued with the limited edition of the 'Fundamental' album, inclu

The future of jazz for the jazz listener is foreign jazz. As good as American players were and are, there's a world of jazz past, present and future out there that will likely be a revelation to you. For those readers who tire of buying the same historic recordings over and over again in different packages, start exploring jazz albums from different countries that were recorded in the 1950s. You'll find thousands of great recordings by musicians whose names you've never heard before. One of these musicians is U.K. saxophonist Buddy Featherstonhaugh (pronounced "FAN-shaw"). His first professional gig was in 1927, and throughout the '30s he was with a range of British bands, that is when he wasn't racing cars. In World War II, he led an RAF band that included Vic Lewis and Jack Parnell. After the war he toured with his band. And just like that, he left the scene to sell cars. Just as mysteriously, Buddy returned to the studio in '56 to record two albums playing baritone and clarinet—backed by a quintet.