Spanish Blue Note Series

[Claude]

info@jazzmessengers.com

Tel. (+34) 93 440 71 05 (international customers)

Tel. (+34) 93 440 65 20 (spanish customers)

Fax (+34) 93 448 47 23

No website configured at jazzmessengers.com

No street address indicated (!), only a post box:

Jazz Messengers

P.O Box 23477

E-08080 Barcelona

Good luck. I know a spanish friend who had made on online order just before Planetmusic went bankrupt. He did not receive his order by post, but managed to get his CDs directly from their store in Barcelona before it closed.

[EKE BBB]

Thanks for the info, Claude

[Gary]

yes - my copy of ' the congregation' by Johnny Griffin says if i buy 10 of the first 12 Conns i can claim a free Blue Note watch !!

All i have to do is make sure i claim before 31 July 1995 .

[Claude]

I just received a new "Jazzmessengers" flyer. They have opened a shop in Barcelona:

Rambla de Catalunya 99

08008 Barcelona

Tel. 93 215 88 46

[brownie]

The Rambla de Catalunya is Barcelona's main artery and is crowded 24-hour - or almost -

a day by locals and tourists.

Plan to travel to Catalunya next September and will stop by the shop when I get

to Barcelona.

Been curious about those Spanish Blue Notes that have been mentioned in this thread.

I can still remember when Spanish BN issued LPs years ago. I did not try any.

Have yet to see one of those CDs. They're not in Paris stores and I did not catch

any of them when I dropped by the CD stores when I was in Spain (avoided the main

cities) last month.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Just a heads up on these Spanish CDs: I did get a chance to talk with Michael Cuscuna about these CDs and they were only licensed for sale in a very specific way for Time/Life in Spain and only Spain. That is why BN is upset that they are showing up at Planet Records. The deal they got was a very good one, better than Michael could have gotten for Mosaic/True Blue. That's also why they are so cheap. Apparently, Time/Life is "big enough" to get a deal. Since they are in violation of their contract, I imagine it won't be long before these things dry up. Time/Life is probably just as full of lawyers as Blue Note. Betcha two phone calls, tops, and these things will disappear.

BTW, I asked Michael why he can't get a deal like this one going for True Blue and he said he could never make the sales needed to get this done. That sucks. Why the heck can't BN do this right? They license these hard-to-find titles to a company that doesn't even meet their sales expectations so they sell their stock off? That's just plain stupid. If they would get a deal like this together for True Blue, it would be handled in a win-win fashion.... Actually, a win-win-win (BN-True Blue--and US )

Later,

Kevin

[Jazzdog]

Well, the entire site seems to be well done for the moment. I was all ready to place one more LARGE order and now the site isn't working...anyone know of other avenues to pick some of these up?

I was ready to order The Cooker, Cliff Jordan, Detroit/New York Junction, Might As Well Be Spring, Poppin and Curtis Fuller Vol. 3.

[Ed S]

Yeah, I was headed over there to pick up a batch yesterday and could not get on the site.

[riverrat]

I checked the site a few times before ordering a couple of weeks ago, and noticed that it was down sporadically during that time. I would say to keep checking back.

[Brad]

I'm not so sure that they could stop these from being sold so quickly. The licensee is not actively exporting them to the US. They happen to be available from a third party on a web site in the country that they are licensed for sale in. Unless the licensee knew that when he sold them to companies in Spain who intended to sell them overseas, there may not be much to be done.

[Claude]

I´ve bought some in Munich, Germany too.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I'm not so sure that they could stop these from being sold so quickly. The licensee is not actively exporting them to the US. They happen to be available from a third party on a web site in the country that they are licensed for sale in. Unless the licensee knew that when he sold them to companies in Spain who intended to sell them overseas, there may not be much to be done.

Brad, according to what I was told by Michael, the contract was pretty explicit: these CDs could only be sold by Time Life from some special kind of kiosk and only in Spain. Time Life cannot sell these CDs in any other way.

Also, the only reason BN is "going after them" now is because they have started showing up in the US. In fact, their whole investigation into the thing started when they got a call from a large US distributor asking them if they were legit. I bet if this had stayed on the Planet Records web site, nobody would have ever noticed. It took a large batch showing up over here to get their attention.

Later,

Kevin

[Claude]

I hope that Blue Note spends more time in preparing reissues than in going after CD's that left their destined distribution channels

[Brad]

Kevin,

Your post would seem to answer the question if they were only to be sold by Time Life and nobody else. If that's the case, they appear to be in breach.

However, getting back to music here, if BN will cut a deal overseas to sell cds like Dizzy's Village Vanguard, why can't those be put out here. Why couldn't Leo Parker's cds put out here instead of having to pay $20 and up for these. Why can't they be repressed like the Japanese are doing. I fully agree with Claude on this.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

However, getting back to music here, if BN will cut a deal overseas to sell cds like Dizzy's Village Vanguard, why can't those be put out here.  Why couldn't Leo Parker's cds put out here instead of having to pay $20 and up for these.  Why can't they be repressed like the Japanese are doing.  I fully agree with Claude on this.

I agree 100%. I think it sucks that these titles are not available here in the US. I remember many years back when True Blue was considering carrying re-packaged Japanese BN CDs and they decided it wasn't financially viable. As much as I hate to admit it, the music-buying public doesn't seem to be buying Jazz. The numbers just aren't there. In a way, Time/Life's "failure" here is as disappointing as Blue Note's efforts to stop the illegal sales. Who knows... if these things had sold the way Time/Life thought they would, maybe they would have extended this program to the US? Now that their Spanish program flopped, they are probably writing off this program and the losers are us Jazz fans.

Later,

Kevin

Edited June 16, 2003 by Kevin Bresnahan

[connoisseur series500]

I hope that Blue Note spends more time in preparing reissues than in going after CD's that left their destined distribution channels

Right on, brother!

[shrugs]

I heard that Cuscuna called a distributor and bitched him out. Was this a case of one distributor "ratting out" another distributor?

Also, what would prevent someone from buying as many as they could(at least of the in demand titles) and then selling them on e-bay? Or through more discreet channels? But I don't think e-bay would pull these anyway.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I heard that Cuscuna called a distributor and bitched him out. Was this a case of one distributor "ratting out" another distributor?

I don't know about the "bitch(ing) out" part, but Cuscuna did say that he "got a call" from a distributor saying he had been offered these titles. I don't know if the call was from the one who eventually got them or if it was from a competitor.

I told Michael they should just leave them alone. I didn't see what the harm was. In fact, I told him that I thought he should see if True Blue could get them in since their core customers would love a shot at these titles. He said True Blue couldn't touch these. Only Time/Life was supposed to have them and that it was wrong for them to sell them off in violation of their license. Not knowing the ins & outs of this industry, I can't say why Michael was so upset about it. Maybe Chuck Nessa can enlighten us? Although with Mosaic being partially owned by EMI, we may have an answer right there.

BTW, I also told him I picked up the Freddie Roach title and that I was loving it. He was not happy but he didn't hold it against me for taking advantage of the situation. I wonder if Tomatbluenote would have reacted the same?

As for the ebay thing, since these titles as configured are totally legit, and only their means of sale are in question, I don't see how Blue Note could stop someone from reselling them wherever they wanted. Are you gonna start an ebay business, shrugs? If you do, let me know if you got an extra copy of the Chick Corea's "Early Circle". Intergrity ran out and he says he can't get any more.

Later,

Kevin

Edited June 16, 2003 by Kevin Bresnahan

[Soul Stream]

These are being stocked at my local record store. I was surprised to see "Fuschia" with a blue cover for $9.99.

[Claude]

As for the ebay thing, since these titles as configured are totally legit, and only their means of sale are in question, I don't see how Blue Note could stop someone from reselling them wherever they wanted.

In fact, CDs that are sold in violation of a licensing contract can be considered pirate CDs. They could even be seized and destroyed.

But this only concerns commercial sellers and not private persons.

[shrugs]

I heard that Cuscuna called a distributor and bitched him out. Was this a case of one distributor "ratting out" another distributor?

I don't know about the "bitch(ing) out" part, but Cuscuna did say that he "got a call" from a distributor saying he had been offered these titles. I don't know if the call was from the one who eventually got them or if it was from a competitor.

I told Michael they should just leave them alone. I didn't see what the harm was. In fact, I told him that I thought he should see if True Blue could get them in since their core customers would love a shot at these titles. He said True Blue couldn't touch these. Only Time/Life was supposed to have them and that it was wrong for them to sell them off in violation of their license. Not knowing the ins & outs of this industry, I can't say why Michael was so upset about it. Maybe Chuck Nessa can enlighten us? Although with Mosaic being partially owned by EMI, we may have an answer right there.

BTW, I also told him I picked up the Freddie Roach title and that I was loving it. He was not happy but he didn't hold it against me for taking advantage of the situation. I wonder if Tomatbluenote would have reacted the same?

As for the ebay thing, since these titles as configured are totally legit, and only their means of sale are in question, I don't see how Blue Note could stop someone from reselling them wherever they wanted. Are you gonna start an ebay business, shrugs? If you do, let me know if you got an extra copy of the Chick Corea's "Early Circle". Intergrity ran out and he says he can't get any more.

Later,

Kevin

I guess it could have easily happened that way. The distributer could have wanted to check at the source.

And there is a nice copy of a Circle cd up for sale right now!!

[Soul Stream]

Blue Note doesn't think there's enough demand for these things. Apparently, there's enough for some Spainish company to export them to the states to be sold for under $10 to those same "not enough" people like us.

[shrugs]

True dat Soul Stream and I believe a few of these titles will cut into future sales.

Rivers' Fuchsia Swing Song comes to mind........

[Claude]

But there can't be that many spanish Blue Note's left. Or did they expect every Time-Life subscriber to be a jazz freak and produce large quantities?

I first saw this series in a Munich store, in the form of a 30CD-box (could be more), interestingly priced, but much too big for Time-Life customers. This would explain why it didn't sell, and why the CDs were thrown individually on the grey market.

[Out2Lunch]

I've been out sick for the past week or so and I have bought a couple of dozen of these from freshsoundrecords.com. I tried to see what they had available on their site, only to find that it was out of commission. Funny, no?