The Jazz Tome

@thejazztome

A jazz fan since hearing Blues & The Abstract Truth in 2004, I search for 60+ year old ephemera so you can read while you listen. Visit for 600+ albums of liner notes & reviews, ad/paywall free. Ran by @grogg.bsky.social in PDX

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The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· 3d

One of my favorite under-the-radar Blue Notes. Some killer Grant Green guitar on this one. #jazzsky #vinylsky

Big John Patton - Got a Good Thing Goin' (1966)

distinctive Blue Note Label, 1st stereo pressing. Track one, The Yodel, allows everyone ample time to stretch out.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· 17d

Tonight's spins. #jazzsky #vinylsky

Shelly Manne & His Men - At the Blackhawk, Volume 1
All four volumes are great and worth tracking down. If I remember right there's a fifth album of outtakes, too

Bill Evans & Jim Hall - Intermodulation
Doesn't get near as much love as Undercurrents, but it should

Mel Brown - Chicken Fat
Recent reissue, sounds great

Donald Byrd - Byrd in Hand
1970 stereo repress. Someday I'll find an OG.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· 25d

Remembering John Coltrane, who died July 17, 1967 at the age of 40. He was more of a giant than any mural can show. thejazztome.info/glossary/hsj... #jazzsky

A photo of a large mural of John Coltrane, taken by me on 05/14/2025. This mural is in Coltrane's birthplace of Hamlet, NC.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· 27d

Spinning some favorites tonight. The title track on the Bartz record is based on the Langston Hughes poem and it is beautiful. #jazzsky #vinylsky

Eddie Harris - Bad Luck is All I Have
On Atlantic from 1975

ATLANTIC
EDDIE HARRIS
BAD LUCK IS ALL I NAVE
SD 1675
STEREO
ONE
1975
ATLANTIC
1. GET ON UP AND DANCE (3:30)
Eddie Harris - Yvonne Harris - Lolita Harris
2. BAD LUCK IS ALL I HAVE (8:40)
Eddie Harris
3. IT FEELS SO GOOD (10:32)
Eddie Harris
(ST-A-753413 PR)

Gary Bartz NTU Troop - I've Known Rivers and Other Bodies
On Prestige from 1973

GARY BARTZ NTU TROOP
I'VE KNOWN RIVERS and Other Bodies
STEREO
SIDE 1
P-66001
1. NOMMO - THE MAJICK SONG 4:16
(Gary Bartz)
G. Bartz Music (BMI)
2. SIFA ZOTE 8:50
(Bartz)
3. JUJUMAN 10:54
(Bartz)
Bartz (BMI)
(P-66001-A)
1973 - Prestige Records

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· 29d

I love this painting by Peggy Tolk-Watkins and therefore I must track down this album for my collection. #jazzsky #vinylsky

From the liner notes of the Desmond album: This album represents the first serious attempt to fuse primitive art with modern jazz. The painting from which the cover was reproduced is a prime example of the art of Peggy Tolk-Watkins, who has long been the leader of the San Francisco Bay Area’s primitive art school. Tolk-Watkins has a permanent exhibition on display at one of the nation’s finest galleries, The Fallen Angel in San Francisco.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jul 11

Finished remodeling and added four new albums to the site this week. If you'd like to read liner notes and reviews about them, plus 672 other albums, come check out The Jazz Tome. thejazztome.info/whats-new/ #jazzsky #vinylsky

Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1959)

A gold cover, with quotes written in big block white text.

"I've sure learned a lot from BIll Evans. He plays the piano the way it should be played. - Miles Davis

Bill Evans is one of the most refreshing pianists I have heard in years. - George Shearing

I think Bill Evans is one of the finest. - Ahmad Jamal

Bill Evans has rare originality and taste and the even rarer ability to make his conception of a number seem the definitive way to play it. - Julian "Cannonball" Adderley

Jack Montrose and All-Stars including Red Norvo - The Horn's Full (1958)

There's a classy lady inside the giant saxophone. Can someone help her out, please?

Philly Joe Jones is dressed up as Dracula. At least, I assume that's him? I guess I don't know that to be a fact. Turns out the guy is a book nut, and I think that's delightful. Also there's a bat hanging off his drumstick. Why would he drum with a bat on his drumstick? Because he's Dracula and he does what he wants.

There's a blue cat, hopped up on cat nip, hanging from a chandelier. Nothing else matters.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jul 10

I'll put together a post this weekend with what I've posted on the site lately, but I'd just like to go on the record now and say that this is a masterclass in minimalist design. #jazzsky #vinylsky

The happiest cat you've ever seen, hanging from a chandelier.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jul 3

A little bit of chaos for the deciding minutes of Australia and Egypt. #vinylsky #jazzsky

Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity
STEREO AS-9219
Impulse!

impulse!
abc
RECORDS
"BLACK UNITY"
PHAROAH SANDERS
AS 9219 - A
Side 1
33⅓ RPM STEREO
1. BLACK UNITY (Part I) - 18:28
(P. Sanders) Pharoah Sanders Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Lee Young
A Product of ABC Records. Inc. ©1971

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jun 29

Mail day. Think I had this preordered since last December. It might take me until this December to get to reading it. #jazzsky

PACIFIC JAZZ RECORDS
A History of the Label and Its Artists, 1952-1965
JAMES A. HARROD

Front cover photograph: Stagehands constructed a special flat to display dozens of album covers issued by Dick Bock's Pacific Jazz and World Pacific labels when Bock (right) appeared on the December 1, 1958, episode of the Stars of Jazz television program that examined jazz and poetry. Bobby Troup (holding microphone) interviewed Bock on a range of topics following the performance of Walt Whitman's "Poets to Come" read by John Carradine accompanied by the Jazz Canto Ensemble led by Jack Montrose. At the conclusion of the interview Bock introduced Bob Dorough who performed/recited Langston Hughes' "Daybreak in Alabama" (© Ray Avery/CTSIMAGES)

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jun 24

Getting back in the swing of things from vacation. That means going through my purchases, including two incredible OG records and a handful of CDs. #vinylsky #jazzsky

Two LPs:
1, ALICE COLTRANE
JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA
Featuring
PHAROAH SANDERS (1971)
Shows Alice in a white dress with a red background.
2. Bill Evans - Undercurrent (1962)
Shows a lady in a white dress floating? Drowning? Black and white cover. Lots of shadows and reflections. An incredible piece of photography.

impulse!
abc
RECORDS
JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA
ALICE COLTRANE
Featuring Pharoah Sanders
AS-9203-A
Side A
333 RPM STEREO
1. JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA
(A. Coltrane) Jowcol Music (BMI) 6:33
2. SHIVA-LOKA
(A. Coltrane) Jowcol Music (BMI) 6:33
3. STOPOVER BOMBAY
(A. Coltrane) Jowcol Music (BMI) 2:50
Produced by Alice Coltrane with Ed Michel
A Product of ABC Records.Inc. New York, N.Y. 10019 •Made in USA

UNITED ARTISTS JAZZ
BILL EVANS - JIM HALL
UNDERCURRENT
1. MY FUNNY VALENTINE
2. I HEAR A RHAPSODY
3. DREAM GYPSY
UAJS 15003 A.
SIDE 1

A stack of 13 CDs, most Original Jazz Classics. I have a crazy idea that I'm going to collect all of those... roughly 1,100 albums if I remember right.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Jun 8

A cool thing about building your own site is that you can do it however you want. Always bugged me that the Modern Jazz Quartet was attributed to Milt Jackson only, so I built out my page to give the entire band billing. An MJQ search at TJT takes you here: thejazztome.info/glossary/hsj... #jazzsky

A black and white, Creative Commons licensed photo of the Modern Jazz Quartet standing in front of an airplane.

A list of all jazz musicians associated with the MJQ over its lifetime, along with biographies and links to their individual Jazz Tome pages. This section sits above another section of their page displaying all albums I currently have of theirs on the Jazz Tome website.

---

Members

Milt Jackson
Vibraphone
1952–1974, 1981–1999

John Lewis
Piano
1952–1974, 1981–1997

Percy Heath
Bass
1952–1974, 1981–1997

Kenny Clarke
Drums
1952–1955

Connie Kay
Drums
1955–1974, 1981–1994

Temporary musicians

Mickey Roker
Drums
1992–1993

Albert Heath
Drums
1995–1997

Member biographies from Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia (2005); membership years from the group's recorded personnel.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 31

there's an E in there

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 31

the passing of Sonny Rollins highlighted for me that the default Wordpress search sucks. I've since improved it, so if you search for Sonny Rollins (or a label, author, or specific album) you'll get groups of album covers instead of ugly text. Please try it out and try and break it for me. #jazzsky

search results for Herbie Hancock on my site now show what albums he appears on as a leader, which albums he played on, and which album pages he's mentioned on (either in reviews, or in the liner notes)

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 30

Pickups from Stash Records in Longview, WA today. Only LP I'm familiar with is Soular Energy. Ray Brown is great, but I remember Gene Harris stealing the show. Of particular note is that the Coltrane Japan set is 6 songs spread across four discs including a 57 minute (!) My Favorite Things. #jazzsky

Emmett Kelly in Willie the Clown - Kelly was born about 20 minutes from where I grew up; this book basically jumped off a shelf at me. Great color.
Wynton Kelly - Live at Blues Alley (1988)
Ron Carter Trio - So What (1998)
Ray Brown Trio - Soular Energy (1985)
John Coltrane - The European Tour (recorded October 22, 1963)
Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker - Carnegie Hall Concert (recorded November 24, 1974)
John Coltrane - Live in Japan (recorded July, 1966)

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 30

A little bit of nerdery for the middle of the night. I've absolutely gone down the database rabbit hole lately. Spending a lot more time cataloging reviews than building new Jazz Tome pages. There are so many publications to catalog that it's overwhelming, but it'll pay off in the end. #jazzsky

A snippet of a reviews database. This one says 3,145 reviews at the bottom.

A snippet of a different reviews database. It says 974 reviews at the bottom.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 27

Received roughly 125 issues of Jazz Monthly in the mail today, mostly from the 1960s. A substantial haul. The reviews from these issues will eventually wind up on my website. #jazzsky

Four piles of Jazz Monthly, a UK jazz magazine comparable to Down Beat here in the states. Reviews, stories, long form writing. Things of that nature.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 11

Spinning one of my favs tonight, Gigi Gryce - Saying Somethin' on New Jazz from 1960. Love the striking purple album cover; it's difficult to get a New Jazz LP in this shape. Also Richard Williams blows his ass off on trumpet. A great 60s session man who also played on Broadway. #jazzsky #vinylsky

Gigi in a stylish hat and overcoat with a purple background and white block lettering.

NEW JAZZ
SAYING SOMETHIN' GIGI GRYCE QUINTET
NJLP 8230 A
HIGH FIDELITY
1. BACK BREAKER (Gigi Gryce)
2. LEILAS BLUES (Gigi Gryce)
3. BLUES IN THE JUNGLE (Gigi Gryce)

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 9

New album at The Jazz Tome is a various artist affair entitled Session at Riverside (1957). There's a baker's dozen of folks here, most notably first ballot hall-of-famer Coleman Hawkins. It's marketed matter-of-factly as a rollicking jam session. thejazztome.info/various-arti... #jazzsky #vinylsky

Two jazz musicians show up to Riverside Plaza to have a good time. It looks like 1950s New York City because it actually is 1950s New York City.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· May 6

New album at the Jazz Tome is Dizzy Gillespie's World Statesman, from late 1956. This LP celebrated the triumphant state-sponsored tour of Dizzy's big band in the Middle East, the first of its kind. Turns out our best export 70 years ago was jazz. thejazztome.info/dizzy-gilles... #jazzsky #vinylsky

A man in a suit stands rigidly while playing a 45 degree trumpet. White backgorund with a blue stripe in the middle. And some kind of cross between a medieval helmet and a feather duster in the foregorund.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 23

Was hoping to get this posted on the 77th anniversary of one of the recording dates, 04/22 (1949), but I'm a few minutes late. Here is Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool, a 1957 reissue that didn't get as much fanfare at the time as you might assume. thejazztome.info/miles-davis-... #jazzsky #musicsky

Don't know what to say about this one. This is about as iconic of a cover as was released in the 1950s. Black and white, with Miles taking up the bottom right third of the cover, in sunglasses and a collared shirt. He's deep in the sauce. Text includes a track list off to the side, plus BIRTH OF THE COOL and miles davis in white print against the black background. COOL is in red.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 23

Found an incredible four thousand word piece by Nat Hentoff in the May 1957 issues of Down Beat where he goes in depth with Gil Evans about his work w/r/t the release of Birth of the Cool. Especially notable is this passage which reveals Gil to be a staunch union man. You simply love to see it.

"There are other reasons for my not having done too much jazz writing in the last few years. As I said, I have a kind of direction of my own that seems to cross three things-pop, jazz, and sound. Now I feel ready to do more jazz."

"An additional reason is that I won't write underscale. There's a lot of underscale writing in the business, package deals whereby an arranger does a certain amount of scores for so much money. A lot of a&r men work that way, and there are enough good craftsmen and some creative writers who go along. I'm enough of a union member to refuse. It makes me too mad."

"I feel a lot of victories were won in the union movement by men who had to sacrifice a lot, and it's a shame to have it thrown down the drain by the next generation."

"A friend of mine, a young writer just getting started, was told by an a&r man at a relatively new major label that if he insisted on charging scale, he'd never be used there again."

"You have to decide what kind of a writer you're going to be. You've got to have enough confidence in your own ability to stick up for scale."

Here is a portion of the 1947 Claude Thornhill band for which Gil Evans
wrote. Back row-Mario Rullo, Danny Polo, Lee Konitz, and Bill Bushing; front row-Sandy Siegelstein, Willie Wechsler, Mickey Folus, Joe Shulman (bass), and Billy Exiner (drums)

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 21

Picked up a relatively common Jackie McLean album, Live At Montmartre on SteepleChase. Went to listen to it for the first time and it turns out there was an uncommon aspect inside: a cutout from the 11/11/1995 issue of the New York Daily News. #jazzsky #vinysky

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 18

I'm not out at record store day, instead I'm celebrating by listening to some of the John Coltrane mono remasters released earlier this year on Rhino. Love the alternate French cover art coupled with Kevin Gray's work. Naima, from Giant Steps, is sublime, even on my mid setup. #vinylsky #jazzsky

A selection of four John Coltrane records, three still sealed. I opened the prettiest first, Giant Steps in the bottom right. Or, as the cover art says, LE GÉANT DU TÉNOR JOHN COLTRANE

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 17

Unsure when I preordered, but I was happy to see a copy of Charles Sullivan - Genesis, originally issued on Strata-East & Inner City in the mid-70s, show up today. This is an incredible LP with Dee Dee Bridgewater stealing the show on Now I'll Sleep. #jazzsky #vinylsky mvdshop.com/products/cha...

CHARLES SULLIVAN
Sonny Fortune • L. Sharon Freeman • Stanley Cowell • Billy Hart • Alex Blake • Onaje Allan Gumbs
Dee Dee Bridgewater • Anthony Jackson owrence Killian • Alphonse Mouzon
genesis
INNER CITY 1012

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 11

Posted a big 7,100 word spread on Miles Davis - Milestones (1958) today. Includes one hell of a review on the title composition by Peter Turley. My favorite quote comes from Benny Golson: "Keep one eye on the world and the other on John Coltrane." thejazztome.info/miles-davis-... #jazzsky #vinylsky

Miles, with trumpet in hand, sits up against an orange background. His sleeves are rolled up and he means business.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 4

Somehow I wound up having two copies of Jay McShann's Big Apple Bash and I'm not mad about it. Hype sticker is spot on; the Ain't Misbehavin' on side two might be the definitive version. #jazzsky #vinylsky

Two copies of Jay McShann's Ain't Misbehavin'. Left one has a DJ promo sticker. Right one is in shrink with hype.

JAY MOSHANN THE BIG APPLE BASH
JAY MCHANN WITH HERBIE MANN • GERRY MULLIGAN • EARLE WARREN
DOC CHEATHAM • DICKY WELLS • JOHN SCOFIELD • EDDIE GOMEZ• MILT HINTON
JACK SIX • CONNIE KAY • JOE MORELLO • SAMMY FIGUEROA • JANIS SIEGEL

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Apr 3

Big fan of this recent $5 pickup. Dizzy Gillespie in a live setting from May, 1967 with James Moody on saxophones. The title track is fun, but the 16 minute Kush on side two is the real stunner. #jazzsky #vinylsky

A picture of Dizzy's iconic bent trumpet, with the bell sticking up at a 45 degree angle.

STEREO
Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac Dizzy Gillespie
impulse!
91255

SWING LOW, SWEET CADILLAC DIZZY GILLESPIE
SMAS-91255 (SMAS2-91255)
MFD. BY CAPITOL RECORDS, INC., U.S.A.
33⅓ BPM LP STEREO
1. SOMETHING IN YOUR SMILE (from the 20th Century Fox Motion Picture "Doctor Dolittle")
(Leslie Bricusse)
(Hastings Music
Corp. - BMI)
2. KUSH
(Dizzy Gillespie)
(Iwo Music - ASCAP)
A PRODUCT OF ABC RECORDS INC.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10019
MADE IN U.S.A.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Mar 28

One of my favorite liner note essays was written by Amiri in 1964. thejazztome.info/john-coltran...

John Coltrane blurrily playing soprano sax on the cover of Live at Birdland, a 1964 Impulse! release.

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Mar 20

Sometimes, when you decide you're going to be an amateur jazz archivist, you have to buy a 47 pound box containing 14 years of classical record reviews because at the very back of every issue there's a two page jazz section. #jazzsky #vinylsky

150 or so issues of American Record Guide dating from 1958 to the early 70s. On display are the January February and March issues from 1971.

The jazz section from February 1971, most notably containing a review of Alice Coltrane's masterpiece Ptah, The El Daoud

The Jazz Tome@thejazztome· Mar 5

It's hard to imagine Monk as box office poison, but for a period in the '50s he simply didn't have equals to play with and was seen as an outsider. The summer of '57 saw him record albums w/ Coltrane, Blakey & Mulligan to restore his reputation. thejazztome.info/art-blakey-w... #musicsky #jazzsky