Why It Matters

This is a treasure I picked up at Uncle Murray’s record sale purely for the cover art.  I mean, come on!  Who doesn’t want to know what that’s all about?  But man, what a score this turned out to be.

Kid Sheik was the nickname of New Orleans trumpeter George Colar.  He played Dixieland jazz up until his death in 1965, but listen:  this is a very rare treat.  Kid Sheik was profiled in an eleven minute documentary made during the Kennedy era.  Only two prints exist, but fortunately Folkstreams put it out on the intergooglewebtubes for us.  I’ll shut up and let Sheik tell his own story.  You don’t want to blow past this — it’s pure magic:

As for the album that led me down this bunny hole, Sheik’s Swingsters, you can pick up a CD copy for around sixteen bucks on Amazon.  I can’t get a good read on vinyl prices, but $15-$50 looks like the range.  Happy hunting.