Cal Collins

**gratay** · 01-25-2021, 02:51 AM

I love it when you stumble onto a real treasure. On a whim I bought this at a market & was completely blown away.
Never heard Cal Collins before. There's some really burning tracks on this "Softly, as in a morning sunrise" is one & the ballads are gorgeous.
I believe he plays a Gretsch... Which is great to hear in this context as the notes have a real snap & punchy attack which is great to hear in Jazz.

**gratay** · 01-25-2021, 02:53 AM

A few months later I stumbled onto another one in a bargain bin?? Absolute bargain I reckon.

**sgcim** · 01-25-2021, 04:33 AM

Great player. I caught him live at Bechet's, a club in NYC.

**Franklin52** · 01-25-2021, 09:03 AM

I still have the LP Cross Country.

**David B** · 01-25-2021, 12:30 PM

Here's a nice extended interview with Cal:

**BickertRules** · 01-25-2021, 01:01 PM

Love that album and love Cal. He should be more widely known within the tiny jazz guitar community.

Originally Posted by gratay

I love it when you stumble onto a real treasure. On a whim I bought this at a market & was completely blown away.
Never heard Cal Collins before. There's some really burning tracks on this "Softly, as in a morning sunrise" is one & the ballads are gorgeous.
I believe he plays a Gretsch... Which is great to hear in this context as the notes have a real snap & punchy attack which is great to hear in Jazz.

**D'Aquisto Fan** · 01-25-2021, 02:04 PM

I took a lesson with Cal many years ago. Great player and a really nice person.

**wintermoon** · 01-25-2021, 03:23 PM

**Flat** · 01-25-2021, 03:32 PM

I bought that same album--"Blues on My Mind"--about 40 years ago and it has long been a favorite. Found it in a used record store in Berkeley. Still have it!

I was stunned too! Why is Cal not better known?

**jameslovestal** · 01-25-2021, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Flat

I bought that same album--"Blues on My Mind"--about 40 years ago and it has long been a favorite. Found it in a used record store in Berkeley. Still have it!

I was stunned too! Why is Cal not better known?

Anyone that was familiar with the recording coming from Concord should be aware of Cal Collins. I bought all of his Concord albums, just like I did the ones from Howard Alden.

Younger people may not be aware of Collins since there was a dispute with Concord and those albums were not released as CDs. I.e. sadly some of Cal's best recording are hard to come by. I had a friend convert all of my albums to a digital format, pops and all.

**BFrench** · 01-25-2021, 04:26 PM

My playlist may be nice to have for anyone that wants to listen. I get on Cal spells where he’s all I listen to for weeks on end...bout 43 tunes and some with Cal and Poole

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?l...IWsiL3U-A83wtP

**grahambop** · 01-25-2021, 05:56 PM

This one is great, I don’t know if it ever made it to CD but someone has put the LP on youtube:

Track list:

00:00 By Myself
02:34 Where Are You
05:30 What Is This Thing Called Love
09:10 Stairway To The Stars
13:33 No Moon At All
16:30 PS I Love You
19:14 Sunrise, Sunset
23:27 The Gypsy
26:08 All The Things You Are
30:11 The Nearness of you
33:33 Route 66
36:18 Jackson County Blues

**gratay** · 01-25-2021, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by sgcim

Great player. I caught him live at Bechet's, a club in NYC.

What a treat! That would have been something

**gratay** · 01-25-2021, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan

I took a lesson with Cal many years ago. Great player and a really nice person.

What an honour,... I'd imagine.

**gratay** · 01-25-2021, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by BickertRules

Love that album and love Cal. He should be more widely known within the tiny jazz guitar community.

Ain't that the truth!

Surprising when some slip through the net unnoticed... Ed Bickert is another one who should have been more widely known

**Flat** · 01-25-2021, 06:59 PM

Just checked my LP closet...I guess I liked it so much I bought it twice!! Wore the first one out!

**Cunamara** · 01-25-2021, 11:26 PM

Cal and Jimmy:

**sgcim** · 01-26-2021, 12:37 AM

A piano player I used to play with who knew him, said he was known as a string player. He could play any instrument with strings-banjo, mandolin, violin etc... bluegrass.

**BFrench** · 01-26-2021, 01:00 AM

Wish I could find this whole album...

**gratay** · 01-26-2021, 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by BFrench

Wish I could find this whole album...

I'm going to hunt me down a copy of Milestones. Loving the sound of that!

**skykomishone** · 09-04-2024, 11:07 AM

Cal was an amazing player and a kind and thoughtful person. He had a trio with Kenny Poole playing bass at Whitey's Lounge on Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati around 1970. Tuesday nights. Cheap beer and some of the best jazz guitar playing that I've ever experienced as a young guitar player. I'd sit there wondering how in the hell anyone ever play like that. Fortunately for me, I got to know Cal and took guitar lessons from him in Hamilton, OH., and I'd ask him about tunes that I heard him play and he'd take out a blank manuscript sheet and write out the full notation, rests, etc. I still have the sheets, in his hand notation. They're one of my most prized musical artifacts and early jazz guitar memories. Watching him play was quite the experience.

**jameslovestal** · 09-04-2024, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by skykomishone

Cal was an amazing player and a kind and thoughtful person. He had a trio with Kenny Poole playing bass at Whitey's Lounge on Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati around 1970. Tuesday nights. Cheap beer and some of the best jazz guitar playing that I've ever experienced as a young guitar player. I'd sit there wondering how in the hell anyone ever play like that. Fortunately for me, I got to know Cal and took guitar lessons from him in Hamilton, OH., and I'd ask him about tunes that I heard him play and he'd take out a blank manuscript sheet and write out the full notation, rests, etc. I still have the sheets, in his hand notation. They're one of my most prized musical artifacts and early jazz guitar memories. Watching him play was quite the experience.

Great story about Cal Collins, one of my favorites. I really like the sound he gets from his gear; there is a slight bit that adds grit.

I have all of his Concord recordings (digital now from the LPs since Concord never released them as CDs), and other Concord CDs that, featured him (e.g. one with Scott Hamilton and another backing Rosemary Clooney sings the Lyrics of Gershwin), and a few of the other recordings he did for other lesser-known labels.

One interesting and funny video to watch is one with Jimmy Raney. Jimmy takes chorus after chorus and one can see Cal look over thinking "you're done, now right", and then Jimmy takes another one! (but what great playing and different approaches to the art of jazz guitar).

**Doug B** · 09-04-2024, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by gratay

I love it when you stumble onto a real treasure. On a whim I bought this at a market & was completely blown away.

I found the following 3 Cal Collins recordings on 7Digital downloads:
1. Ohio Boss Guitar

2. Famous Door: Ace Guitarists
The Howard Alden All Star Quintet, Lloyd Ellis Quintet & The Cal Collins Quintet,

3. S'us Four: Jazz Guitar Cincinnati Style

Results of your search for "Cal ... | High-quality Music Downloads | 7digital Canada

Also, two pages of Cal Collins recordings on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=Cal+Collin...ref=nb_sb_noss

Doug