It happened again

It happened again.

I was listening to Volume One of The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson on the drive in to work this morning. I put it into the player last night on the way home from the local poker game (where I won exactly half a hand in two hours of poker), and because I live close to where the game is held, I only listened to one song last night, but I thought, that sounds familiar. But then I thought, hmmm, must be another version of a song I've heard before. I didn't think anything more of it, as I pulled into the garage and turned it off for the night.

So this morning, as I'm driving, I'm listening closely again and noticing that the trumpet player accompanying (trombonist) J.J. Johnson is really kicking it, so much so, I'm thinking, is that Miles Davis? Doc Severinson? Herb Alpert maybe even? I challenge myself to figure it out, and I listen carefully to that song and the next. I conclude that it must be Clifford Brown on trumpet and I decide to make that my "final answer" and I look at the CD cover.

Correct! I've won $32,000 and the chance to continue. It is Clifford Brown. Uh-oh. Clifford Brown. No wonder I thought I'd heard it before. Don't tell me. This CD is a duplicate of one in the complete Clifford Brown Blue Note recordings that I already own. Isn't it? ISN'T IT?!?! I glance at the CD cover again. Sure enough: Blue Note.

Son of a --!

I'm starting to get pissed off about this, I think. But as I'm listening, I'm thinking: you know, this sounds like I've heard it before, but not quite. Not really. Maybe it's not exactly the same as the Clifford Brown pressing. Then I think, maybe I just want to think that because I'm getting upset about having all these duplicate recordings. First thing when I get to work, before the drudge begins, I jump to amazon.com, open two or three windows and pull up J. J. Johnson Volume 1 and Clifford Brown Complete. I'm relieved to see that, while all of volume one does appear on the Clifford Brown set, none of volume two does. So, my ideas about having to finally bite the bullet and resell some CD's because my collection went from two duplicates to four were unfounded, although it did go to three, but I will, for now, be content to hold onto all of the CD's I have, for the collection's sake.

Just the same, I'm again starting to get upset about letting the Penguin Jazz Recordings Guide be my guide in purchasing jazz recordings because, let's face it, as a "guide", it sucks. As a "list", it is essentially one of a kind and indispensible, but it doesn't "guide" you anywhere except into a black hole of debt and duplication. I promise you, there is nothing in the entries about J. J. Johnson that says, "this is also available on the Clifford Brown Complete set", or "parts of this also appear on...". Plus don't forget, two of the four CD's in the Clifford Brown set also happen to be Volumes 1 and 2 of Art Blakey at Birdland, so IF in fact, both J.J. Johnson works were duplicated on the Clifford set, it would have been possible to buy that and dispense with buying both Art and J.J. So instead of buying eight CD's, you could buy four and have exactly the same "amount" of music. Now, if you pay $20 for a "guide", don't you think it should tell you that? At a minimum? I guess it's time to start a "duplicate CD's list". Maybe people will come to me for the information, instead of Penguin.

Look for that list, coming soon.