I love Dizzy Reece. His brilliant tone and whole approach to the trumpet is right up my alley. I’ve managed to collect some of his Blue Note releases, “Blues in Trinity”, “Star Bright” and “Soundin’ Off”. They are all great. All of them were on my want list early on and I focused on securing them as soon as possible. One release though, which I also really wanted is the one on display, “Progress Report” on the elusive Tempo label. But this LP is so rare that I had the feeling it would be very, very hard to acquire. It was one of those albums that seemed out of reach in the foreseeable future, if ever. When you talk about rare jazz records from the 50’s, holy grails if you will, this one is in the top 5 for me. Rarer than the 1568 with NY23 on one side, maybe not 1597 with both sides deep groove, but probably the rest of the Blue Notes, and even rarer than the Jackie McLean on Ad Lib. The music is outstanding. Sultry hard bop, played with passion. There is a nice mix of tunes. The sound of the vinyl is top notch. Just as brilliant as any Blue Note from the same era.
I’m overwhelmed really to have secured this extremely rare, wonderful music on original vinyl. My first Tempo album. Will there be more? Who knows, but if I had to choose only one of them it would be this one. I got this at a quite reasonable price as well. The few copies sold over the years have been very expensive. So compared to those prices I got my copy cheap. A steal as a matter of fact. So I’m a happy boy.
I’ve been focusing on the wonderful albums on the Impulse! label and other great stuff, for example from Ornette Coleman on Atlantic lately. Those albums are much cheaper, it’s superb music, and I’m trying to aim for some quantity as well, cause I need more albums. I need to build up a more sizeable collection, so there’s more to choose from. And luckily there is a lot of absolutely outstanding music that comes with a more reasonable price tag. But I’m of course still on the lookout for the rare Blue Notes, Prestige and Riverside albums as well. It’s just that if you save up and buy 4-5 very expensive top collectibles in great condition a year, it takes too long to get some more variety and quantity to the collection. So I’m mixing it up and looking at a broader selection of albums from different labels and I’m enjoying it. I mean, you can get 20 albums or more for one top Blue Note.
Have you heard this album, and if so, what’s your take on it? Do you have other favorites on the Tempo label?
Christmas is around the corner and I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with my family. Some much needed days off. Hoping to get a few listening sessions in there as well. I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the weekend and please stay tuned for more great albums from the collection… cheers.
