Before OJCs go away

[Late]

Forgot to add this one, an under-remarked masterwork by Webster Young:

Webster Young: trumpet

Paul Quinichette: tenor saxophone

Mal Waldron: piano

Joe Puma: guitar

Earl May: bass

Ed Thigpen: drums

recorded June 14, 1957 by Rudy Van Gelder

Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

cover design: Reid Miles

For Lady

1. The Lady 7:00

2. God Bless the Child 7:05

3. Moanin' Low 7:42

4. Good Morning Heartache 8:54

5. Don't Explain 7:10

6. Strange Fruit 4:18

[bertrand]

Webster's one and only album as a leader is a beautiful work indeed.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Webster quite a bit here in D.C. My life was enriched for knowing him.

I was just thinking about him while listening to Long Drink of the Blues. The first take (with the argument) is really an eye-opener. It is Webster you can hear trying to calm Jackie down, who was obviously having a bad day.

Bertrand.

[ghost of miles]

Webster's one and only album as a leader is a beautiful work indeed.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Webster quite a bit here in D.C. My life was enriched for knowing him.

I was just thinking about him while listening to Long Drink of the Blues. The first take (with the argument) is really an eye-opener. It is Webster you can hear trying to calm Jackie down, who was obviously having a bad day.

Bertrand.

Ask Frank Kimbrough about Webster the next time he drops in. Frank played with him briefly in either the late 1970s or early 1980s.

[deadcoldfish]

Great idea for a thread 

So what about all that label sale affair? Any indicators confirming the rumours? Any news?

My antennae are picking up movement on that front. A massive Fantasy catalogue restock has just (well, actually one or two weeks ago) hit my favorite jazz shop with loads and loads of titles I hadn't seen in years and many more I'd never seen before, like all that soulful late 60s sides (Houston Person et al) or many early 7000s Prestiges (Two Trumpets ...). Trouble is they're all ZYX. But anyway, many of them are hard enough to find in this incarnation.

So I think I'll go down tomorrow to get me some, even though I wanted to wait a week or two before revisiting the store and even though I have lots of other items higher up in my wants list. But I guess I won't get another chance to grab many of them.

I only have a couple of questions: is Fantasy really on the brink of extinction? And how are US OJCs compared to ZYXs. From what I have seen I'd say they're mostly earlier remasters. But how is sound? And is there some evidence of aonther label buying up that catalogue?

The idea of someone starting a proper reissue program with it is really appealing. But it might as well go the other way round: bought up and locked away in the archives.

Oh my, more spending

Yes, the news was that the sale was now final, as Norman Lear's holding company secured the funding to go through (Concord Records current owner). The distribution will change over to Universal Music, and in my opinion would be the factor in active catalog reduction, once Uni starts to "manage" costs and Concord starts to see this.

That said, there was a quote in the article about Fantasy's wonderful deep catalog, so there could be hope for some sort of reissue campaign, but depending on their partners, they may be looking for more big bang titles, like the recent Ray Charles album did for Concord.

Paul

[Guest ariceffron]

BUT SINCE THERES SUCH A BACKLOG OF CDS ALREADY MADE, WOULDNT YOU SAY WE HAVE AT LEAST HALF A YEAR BEFORE THEY START DISSAPEARING???

[Chuck Nessa]

BUT SINCE THERES SUCH A BACKLOG OF CDS ALREADY MADE, WOULDNT YOU SAY WE HAVE AT LEAST HALF A YEAR BEFORE THEY START DISSAPEARING???

That is not enough time for me to catch up.

[catesta]

BUT SINCE THERES SUCH A BACKLOG OF CDS ALREADY MADE, WOULDNT YOU SAY WE HAVE AT LEAST HALF A YEAR BEFORE THEY START DISSAPEARING???

That is not enough time for me to catch up.

Same here.

[DrJ]

Boy I have DEFINITELY taken OJCs for granted, given that so many other reissue series have gone in/out of print they have tended to be lowest priority. That will now be changing!

A recommendation from me: REFLECTIONS, Steve Lacy. Some of the finest Monk interpretations and best soprano sax playing you're liable to hear.

Edited December 5, 2004 by DrJ

[deadcoldfish]

BUT SINCE THERES SUCH A BACKLOG OF CDS ALREADY MADE, WOULDNT YOU SAY WE HAVE AT LEAST HALF A YEAR BEFORE THEY START DISSAPEARING???

Well, sure whatever's in the old distribution chain will still be there, but for some of the more obscure titles, how many copies will that mean?

Paul

[Guy Berger]

I just placed an order for 10 Fantasy CDs. I will be buying 10-20 more next week. Uggh.

[Stefan Wood]

Another thing is this: What will happen to current Fantasy artists (assuming they are contracted to the label) -- like Eric Alexander, etc.? It just gets worse and worse..........

Edited December 3, 2004 by Stefan Wood

[AfricaBrass]

I just placed an order for 10 Fantasy CDs. I will be buying 10-20 more next week. Uggh.

I'm with you. I ordered 15 OJC's yesterday.

I got my first four today in the mail. Tonight I'll be listening to (in no particular order), Harold Land, Benny Golson, Arnette Cobb, and Yusef Lateef.

Fortunately, I hadn't taken the OJC's for granted during much of the time I was on my jazz buying sprees in the past.

I only started taking them for granted when I had unlimited downloads at emusic. I think I downloaded close to everything they had.

but...

The sound quality of the emusic mp3s was pretty bad and it kind of soured me on OJC's. That's when I started taking them for granted.

If Universal will be in charge of distribution, my guess is that most OJC's will be true limited editions. The only caveat I can see is that between all of us here on the forum, we probably have every OJC. So... when they're out of print, let the trading begin.

[paul secor]

Two good ones to grab before they disappear:

Lonnie Johnson with Elmer Snowden: Blues and Ballads Vols. 1&2

[AfricaBrass]

Two good ones to grab before they disappear:

Lonnie Johnson with Elmer Snowden: Blues and Ballads Vols. 1&2

I'll second that recommendation.

I forgot about all the great blues and other types of music that Fantasy has. Man, this could turn into a really big bummer. There's a lot of great stuff that could go out of print.

Here is one of their blues titles that I've liked for a long time, plus it has T-Bone Walker on it.

Jimmy Witherspoon - Evenin' Blues

Edited December 4, 2004 by AfricaBrass

[John B]

Have those of you who have been placing orders been able to use the Fantasy website? It just frapped out on me as I tried to place an order.

[AfricaBrass]

No help here, John.

I ordered from Amazon.

I think I was the guy that got the last copy of a few titles (sorry!).

[John B]

I'm going to keep plugging away with Fantasy directly, as they have some good deals. Buy 5 or more and get free shipping, buy 10 or more and get free shipping plus 10% off. The OJCs are $11.98 and the limited edition titles are $14.98. With the savings it's the best deal I've found so far.

[AfricaBrass]

I'm going to keep plugging away with Fantasy directly, as they have some good deals. Buy 5 or more and get free shipping, buy 10 or more and get free shipping plus 10% off. The OJCs are $11.98 and the limited edition titles are $14.98. With the savings it's the best deal I've found so far.

That's cool.

I ended up using the "used and new" feature at Amazon for some of my titles. They were pretty reasonable.

Truthfully, I snuck my cd order in with the Christmas gift order. I know I'm living DANGEROUSLY.

I'm just hoping it will be easier to ask for forgiveness than it would have been to ask my wife in the first place.

[John B]

I'm just hoping it will be easier to ask for forgiveness than it would have been to ask my wife in the first place.

I'll have to plead the fifth on this, myself.

[Guy Berger]

Any comment on Don Friedman's OJCs? Are any of them particularly essential? I don't know anything about this guy but am intrigued by reviews in Penguin and OJC.

Guy

[Larry Kart]

"Harlem Piano," with Luckey Roberts and Willie The Lion Smith. Good Lion, fantastic Roberts. And a great album cover photo too -- Lee Freidlander, I think.

[Larry Kart]

If you really like Friedman, you'll need both the ethereal "Circle Waltz" (perhaps the most "modal" jazz album, figuratively if not literally, ever made) and the somewhat less wistful "Flashback" -- they're more or less where Friedman started from, at least as a recording artist -- but the Friedman OJC to seek out if you're only getting one is the significantly tougher/knottier "Metamorphosis," with Attila Zoller, Richard Davis, and Joe Chambers. Davis and Chambers are full partners here and in superb form.

[Alfred]

I have to mention two of my favorites. Surprisingly nobody else have these on the "most wanted" list ?!

[vibes]

"Sunshine of My Soul" was mentioned as the first Jaki Byard to get. Can anyone comment on the other Byard titles in the Fantasy catalog? I've enjoyed what I've heard of Jaki Byard as a sideman, but have never heard any of his work as a leader, and would appreciate some comments.

Comments about any of the Yusef Lateef titles would also be appreciated.

[brownie]

Speaking of Jaki Byard, don't overlook 'The Jaki Byard Experience' with Rahsaan Roland Kirk while it's still available. One to enjoy!