Record Collecting

Yesterday I posted on composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg's 1962 album Trisection, a superb but almost unknown 12-piece jazz recording. I also provided a bit of background on Sweden's 100-year love affair with jazz. Today, a conversation with Nils on Sax Appeal (1960) and Trisection (1962)—two of his early jazz albums recorded in Stockholm: JazzWax: What was your major influence when writing and arranging Sax Appeal?Nils Lindberg: The songs I wrote for Sax Appeal were inspired by the feeling in Swedish folk tunes. For example, the tune Curbits was built on the chords of just such a song. My arrangements, however, were inspired by Woody Herman´s recording of Four Brothers. I liked the records made by Herman´s Third Herd very much. JW: Did you listen to jazz radio in Sweden when you were young?NL: Oh, yes. I first heard American jazz after 1945 when the American Forces Radio started broadcasting from Germany. Many Swedish jazz musicians also listened to the network. During World War  II, no U.S. jazz records had reached Sweden, so when the war was over we were very grateful and excited to listen on the radio and buy and listen to American jazz records.  JW: Which American records and arrangers most influenced you leading up to Trisection?NL: Gil Evans and his [Birth of the Cool] recordings with Miles Davis. JW: Where did you write the music for Trisection?NL: After working very hard as a pianist in dance bands in Stockholm, I went up north in 1961 to Dalarna, Sweden, where my parents’ home is located and where I was brought up. Dalarna has a beautiful landscape and a strong folklore tradition. I composed the music there during the summer of that year. JW: Did you have a strong sense of what you wanted to write?NL: I had no vision whatsoever of what Trisection should be or sound like. I just wrote this suite as I felt it. Of course, the traditional fiddlers in Dalarna and my interest in jazz were strong inspirations. [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden] JW: Given your exceptional command of the jazz orchestra, why did you not travel to the U.S. to work, the way musicians like Lalo Schifrin and Michel Legrand did, in the movies and TV?NL: I had a family and three sons, so I had to work here in Sweden. I also had no opportunity to go to the U.S. No one asked. Through vocalist Alice Babs, Duke Ellington had listened to my music and asked me to write for his band. He also recorded my Far Away Star with Alice Babs.  [Pictured above: Dalarna, Sweden] JW: Duke Ellington toured Scandinavia quite a bit.NL: During Duke´s Scandinavian tour in 1973, I played piano on all concerts with his band. After the tour he asked me to work with him in U.S., but he diedsome months after his offer, so who knows what might have happened. Since then, I have played many concerts in the U.S., mainly at colleges and universities. JazzWax tracks: As mentioned yesterday, you'll find three Nils Lindberg albums—Sax Appeal, Trisection and Symphony #1 and Jazz From Studio A—on a single download called Nils Lindberg: Essential Swedish Jazz Masters. You'll just have to rearrange the tracks a bit, as outlined in yesterday's post. JazzWax clip: Here's Curbits from Nils Lindberg's Sax Appeal...   Curbits

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NIRVANA Pennyroyal Tea Rare 100% genuine original 1994 WITHDRAWN German 3-track CD single featuring Remix Version, I Hate Myself And I Want To Die & Where Did You Sleep Last Night MTV Unplugged Version, unique 'cup of tea' picture sleeve GED21907 - this highly sought after rarity was recalled before release after the tragedy of Kurt's death and only a handful are thought to have survived! See 'more info' for further details on this item.   THE BEATLES Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Original 1967 UK first pressing 13-track MONO LP on the black & yellow Parlophone label, complete with sheet of cutouts & flame inner, in WIDE SPINED internal flipback picture sleeve variant with inverted title on the spine. Both sleeve & vinyl are in excellent condition.   BLACK SABBATH The Best Of Black Sabbath Mega rare 1971 Japanese-only 8-track stereo LP on the Vertigo 'swirl' label, comes in a unique textured gatefold picture sleeve with integral 4-page booklet featuring a colour portrait of the band, Japanese text biography and lyrics, complete with the almost impossible to find Vertigo logo/'Do It Rock' series obi-strip. The sleeve shows only some light foxing on the inside and only light signs of shelfwear. The obi has faded alittle at the top otherwise intact with no rips, tears or creases. The vinyl has only a couple of very light hairline marks but is otherwise in an amazing condition with no spindle marks on the labels. An oustanding copy of this very sought after 40 year old pressing.

“Marilina” con Los Personalities   “Me Tienes a Mi”   Falcon Records

Today I'm going to tell you about one of the finest jazz albums recorded in the early '60s—an album that is likely unfamiliar to you but will surely become one of your favorites. The album is Trisection by Swedish composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg. (Tomorrow I'll have an interview with Nils from Stockholm about the music.) Sweden has a long jazz history and remains one of the oldest and most prolific jazz centers outside of the U.S. The country's relationship with jazz dates back to 1913, when its first jazz recordings were made in Stockholm, four years before our own in 1917. The song recorded was Alexander's Ragtime Band, by the Pinets Orchestra. Over the years, American jazz musicians have traveled there. The first to record in Stockholm was Louis Armstrong, with his Hot Harlem Band, during a concert in October 1933. Benny Carter was in Stockholm next in 1936, Kenny Clarke in 1938 and Duke Ellington in 1939. Bebop made its way to Sweden in 1947 with Chubby Jackson, and Dizzy Gillespie was there in 1948. James Moody recorded there with his Swedish Crowns in 1949, a session that included I'm in the Mood for Love. Swedish jazz musicians like baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin are revered by American fans who know their work. One of the finest is Nils Lindberg, 79 [pictured], who studied classical composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and is known today as a composer of jazz and classical, including a style that combines jazz, Swedish folk music and classical music. His first jazz album was Sax Appeal (1960), backed by his Swedish Modern Jazz Group. His music and arranging owes a great deal to Woody Herman's reed-centric "Four Brothers" sound. Nils' band featured Rolf Billberg (as) Harry Backlund, Allan Lundstrom (ts) Lars Gullin (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Conny Svensson (d). It's a superb swinging recording with gorgeous sax writing and piano playing by Nils. In December 1962, Nils recorded a magnificent album called Trisection, including American expatriate trumpeter Idrees Sulieman. What makes this 1963 release so special is its Birth of the Cool feel and Gil Evans influences, served up by beautiful, gentle reeds. The band includes Idrees Sulieman, Jan Allan (tp) Sven-Olof Walldoff (b-tp) Eje Thelin (tb) Olle Holmqvist (tu) Rolf Billberg (as) Bertil Lofdahl, Harry Backlund (ts) Erik Nilsson (bar) Nils Lindberg (p) Sture Nordin (b) and Sture Kallin (d). Rather than continue to rave about this music, I should let you hear the first movement. Here's Trisection I (tomorrow I'll post a track from Sax Appeal)...   Trisection 1   JazzWax tracks: You'll find three Nils Lindberg albums—including Trisection Suite—on a single download called Nils Lindberg: Essential Swedish Jazz Masters. You'll just have to rearrange the tracks a bit: Sax Appeal—Curbits, Play for Love, Birdland, Brand New, Blues for Bill and Zodiac. Trisection—Trisection I, Trisection II, Trisection III, Daydreaming, Ars Gratia Artis and Joker. The rest is from Symphony No. 1 & Jazz From Studio A—with Benny Bailey (tp) Ake Persson (tb) Rolf Billberg (as) Bjarne Nerem (ts) Nils Lindberg (p,ldr) Georg Riedel (b) Egil Johansen (d). You'll also find Sax Appeal and Trisection on a Swedish CD here. And a new CD release of Sax Appeal is available at eBay, with four previously unreleased tracks. A special JazzWax thanks to Todd Selbert, who used Trisection in a blindfold test when I was over at his apartment a few weeks ago—and made me guess for over a half hour without success.  Bonus clip: Here's Lars Gullin, Nils Lindberg (interviewed and in concert) and alto saxophonist Rolf Billberg from a documentary on Gullin broadcast on Swedish television...

“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