The Simmons Family: Wandering Through The Rackensack (1968?)

Dancing Doll – V-3053

It's been a while. I picked this up in an overpriced local record shop (e.g., Barry Manilow's Even Now, in okay shape, was $10). This record, miraculously, was $2. Thank God for philistines. It was still in the original shrink (!), which I removed to reveal the minty cover. 

The Simmons Family remind me a bit of The Carter Family. The playing and singing is "authentic" and evocative of a time and place. A great record. It hasn't been digitized, but their album "Stone County Dulcimer" has been posted in youtube:

Dave McKenna: The Key Man (1985)

Concord Jazz CJ-261

This was another dollar bin find, in excellent shape, one of a number of latter-day Dave McKenna records that are not on CD (or available digitally).

Buddy Collette, Abbey Lincoln And Les Thompson: Sessions, Live (1976)

Calliope CAL 3009

This was a dollar bin find in terrific shape. A friend pulled it out and asked if I'd heard Abbey Lincoln. I said I hadn't. I listened to it on their listening center, and after hearing her sing for ten seconds, I was sold. Someone has posted an instrumental track on YouTube (they say: "Recordings from 56-58 TV show called 'Stars Of Jazz'").

Noël Lee: John Field Nocturnes

Nonesuch – H-71195

This was in the dollar bin of a local store, in minty shape. Yet another well-regarded classical recording that hasn't been made available digitally. It's, by the way, a terrific sounding recording. Someone has digitized two tracks and posted them to YouTube. 

 

Art Hodes: South Side Memories (1984)

Sackville Recordings 3032

I picked this up used on discogs for $1.70, along with eight other similarly-priced Hodes titles, mostly solo piano albums from the 1970s and 80s. I was turned on to Hodes' work through his wonderful 1987 Christmas album, Joy to the Jazz World (also not on CD). You should pick up his records whenever you see them. 

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hodes "is regarded by many critics as the greatest white blues pianist, and he was also a noted jazz writer, historian, and teacher."

The LP has been posted in youtube:

Explorer (1967)

Explorer Records ‎– EXP-100

This was a gift from a friend, from her recently-deceased grandmother's collection. There were actually three copies (!), two of them still in shrink wrap, one of those looking minty. It is not on CD. 

Tom Hazleton plays the synthesizer and organ at the same time, and Gene Ciszek backs him up on drums. They run through some classic tunes like "Yesterday," "Take Five," and "Caravan." A couple of tracks appear on youtube. 

Gyorgy Cziffra: Franz Liszt Annees De Pelerinage, 2nd Year "Italy" (1977)

Connoisseur Society ‎– CSQ 2142

This was a thrift shop find, 80¢ (there was a 20%-off sale). 

From contemporary reviews: 

"Gyorgy Cziffra seems unexcelled as a Liszt interpreter. His complete Hungarian Rhapsodies are the best of the lot, while his new Années de Pélerinage (Connoisseur Society CSQ 2141, 2142, 2143) probe these fascinating pieces even deeper than Jerome Rose's excellent version for Vox." – Music Journal, 1977

"Cziffra's accounts of the complete Années de pèlerinage show the same prodigious virtuosity and keyboard command that make his set of Hungarian rhapsodies unforgettable. His account of the Dante sonata is enormously dramatic and produces the same fabulous digital dexterity that makes the Tarantella from the Italian Supplement, Venezia e Napoli, so breathtaking." – The Penguin Guide to Bargain Compact Discs, 1998

It has been digitized and posted on YouTube:

Audio-Technica AT-LP120X > Audicity > MacBook Pro

Warren Bernhardt - Solo Piano (1978)

                                                Arista Novus AN 3001

[Note: tracks were deleted from YouTube] This record was "stooped" (left out on the stoop for anyone to take, IOW, free) along with some Easy Listening & Classical records. It's in very good shape, still in the shrink wrap. The artist's name didn't jump out at me, but the song titles and the photo of the innards of his piano on the rear cover hinted at a musicality that wasn't New Age or Easy Listening, so I grabbed it. It turns out Bernhardt plays on three albums in my collection, including Art Farmer with Joe Henderson, Yama. 

The internet reveals that Bernhardt was mentored by Bill Evans, one of my (and everyone's) favorite pianists. This record is on the Novus label, which didn't ring a bell. Wikipedia (ugh!) says it "was an American jazz record label run by Steve Backer [who] worked at Impulse Records until 1974, when Clive Davis...asked him to oversee the jazz division at Arista." I searched my collection and saw that I'd picked up a copy of Hugh Masekela Uptownship (1989) on Novus in a dollar bin, but I gave it to a friend (you're welcome, M!).

According to discogs, this is Bernhardt's first solo record. It is Not on CD. Discogs listing here. 

Pretty Baby The Original Soundtrack (1978)

ABC Records ‎– AA 1076

This was in the dollar bin at a local thrift shop, in minty shape. It looked so clean, I put it on the turntable before running it through the Spin-Clean record washer (I just gave it a once-over with a carbon fiber brush). It sounds great.

According to wikipedia, this album "used many local New Orleans musicians" and "was nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score." It is Not on CD. Clip from youtube:

Art Hodes: Someone To Watch Over Me "Live At Hanratty's" (1981)

Muse Records MR 5252 

I picked this up used on discogs for $2.25 after hearing Hodes' wonderful 1987 Christmas album, Joy to the Jazz World (also not on CD). It's a winner, too.

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hodes "is regarded by many critics as the greatest white blues pianist, and he was also a noted jazz writer, historian, and teacher."

The LP has been posted in youtube:

Alexis Weissenberg: Schumann Album for the Young, Kinderscenen

Connoisseur Society CS2-2110

This was part of a small haul of classical LPs at a Salvation Army for 99¢ each. This is the second time I've been to this store, and both times I've walked away with about ten titles, around a third of them Connoisseur Society records.

I am always surprised when I see classical music unavailable digitally – it seems anyone with an interest in classical music has to have a turntable to hear many classical recordings. Or hope someone has put the LP on YouTube.

This is a 2-LP American release of Pathe Marconi recordings. The sample on Youtube doesn't contain the wonderful Opus 15 "Kinderszenen" from Side 4.

Concert  5-71-004

This was a charity shop find ($1), in near mint condition. I hadn't heard of Charles Albertine when I saw this; I initially bought this for the McDonnell Douglas advertising on the back. Also, the cover had a Windham Hill vibe that made me curious (see cover photo below).

Albertine, I discovered, was an important composer/arranger in something the wikipedians call "space-age pop," and he worked with many notable musicians. This was his last and only solo album. It's a quite nice New-Agey set with a Classical flavor, a very pleasant listen. It has been digitized and posted on youtube:

Art Hodes: Joy to the Jazz World (1987)

Parkwood Records - PW108

Here's Not on CD's first Christmas music post of 2018. This was a gift from a friend who knows I like Christmas music. It's in great shape. 

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hodes "is regarded by many critics as the greatest white blues pianist, and he was also a noted jazz writer, historian, and teacher."

Though this is a Christmas record, I think I could listen to it anytime because of what Hodes does with these tunes. Some reviews:

"The best album of its sort I've ever heard...one of the Top Ten LPs of the year! --Coda Magazine (1989)

“The Christmas tunes are beautifully executed and jazzed up. Hodes manages to turn 'Silent Night' into a softly swinging quasi-blues, and even “Jingle Bells” works. -- The Penguin Guide to Jazz (1989)

"From the delicate and introspective balladry of "Silent Night" and the bluesy fills of "White Christmas" to the lively, stride-filled accents of "Jingle Bells" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." (Washington Post, 1987)

Greensleeves

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Hagerman Cornet3> harman/kardon CDR2

Rosana Maria Martins: Mozart Sonata In A Major K.331, Sonata In F Major K.332

Connoisseur Society CS-2018 

This was a thrift shop find (99¢), in excellent condition inside and out (and still in the shrink wrap). I always pick up records on the Connoisseur Society label, as the recordings are uniformly excellent. 

A google book search reveals that this was a Stereo Review "RECORDING OF SPECIAL MERIT"; they gave the performance a "superb" rating. The New York Times wrote "there is a youthful dash and brio to her performance...Miss Martins's fingerwork is pristine, her style is properly galant, and her melodic sense lets the music flow like brook water. The record marks the pianist's debut on disks, and it is a promising one." 

Martins never recorded again (yet!). Update: Ms. Martins passed away in 2020. 

Bill Crofut, Kenneth Cooper: Folk And Baroque (1975)

WC 1001

This was a thrift shop find ($2), in good but not great shape, signed by Crofut and Cooper on the back. 

The baroque tracks may be of more interest than the folk tracks (recorded live) on side 2. 

Bill Crofut passed away in 1999. 

Béla Bartók: Evening In Transylvania

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Project Phono Box S > harman/kardon CDR2

Additional track by request:

Wachet Auf!

Grado ZF2/Paratrace > Technics SL-7 > Hagerman Cornet3 > Audacity > MacBook Pro

Mel Tillis: I Believe in You (1978)

MCA-2364

Just returned from a trip to Toronto, where I picked up ten records at the Kop's Records sale, during which the records in the dollar bin were 15 cents (!). All the records were in good to excellent shape, and this one was sealed.

The title track from this album appears on the CD Country Love Songs. The two songs below (and probably the rest of the album) are not on CD.

The Robert Rheims Choraliers: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Sunset Records ST 7708

This is a thrift shop find, a reissue of the original LP, in great shape. This recording doesn't appear to ever have been issued digitally, although unscrupulous LP digitizing sites will sell you a CD of it for $20. 

It has been posted on youtube.

Sam Hinton: 'Tis the Season (1991)

SH Enterprises Tape No. G-2

Continuing with the Christmas theme...

The great Sam Hinton recorded his last album for Folkways in 1972 and didn't record for a label again until Master of the Solo Diatonic Harmonica in 2005. But during the 1980s and 1990s, he recorded three albums of music and sold them through his website – From an East Texas Childhood (1986), Of Frogs and Dogs and Such (1991), and 'Tis the Season (1991). They are still available at his website. So they are available on CD, you just have to know where to look.

All three are excellent albums, and musts for Sam Hinton fans. Below is an excerpt from 'Tis the Season, which I purchased on cassette from Hinton in the 1990s. It arrived in an envelope which Mr. Hinton had addressed in his lovely calligraphy.

Cherry Tree Carol

Yamaha KX-400U, Macbook Pro, Audacity

Christmas Eve With Walt Harper (1974)

Open Pantry ‎– OP-LP 100

I'm a big fan of Christmas music, and I recently got away with a small haul of Xmas LPs from the thrift shop – it looked like someone had donated a collection. This LP was in (dare I say it?) mint condition, opened but still in the shrink wrap. $1.99.

Despite being Open Pantry Food Marts' only known LP release, the recording and pressing quality are both very good. Pittsburgh jazz pianist Walt Harper plays and sometimes sings some of his own arrangements of classic Xmas tunes. It's a great record.

Harper's daughter Sharynn has created a website where you can purchase a CD transfer of this LP, so I won't be posting samples, however, I will link you to the samples at the website.

Purchase a CD transfer here

Samples:
Jingle Bells
The Christmas Song

The Music Of India (1965)

Nonesuch ‎– HS-72003

[Update: tracks were deleted from Youtube] This was a thrift shop find (99¢), in excellent shape. It was originally released as part of the Nonesuch International Series, which was a series of recordings of traditional music from around the world. It later morphed into the Nonesuch Explorer Series. Some albums from the series are on CD, but this one is not.