What exactly is "Jazztone" (as in the record label

[Guest ariceffron]

Now these jazz tone lp have that wonderful crown sensibility with the music of like a verve record or something. or was there more too it than that? Also does any one have the discography link? Did they ALWAYS split the lps-- one side for one person, one side for the other--- ie. Tjader/norvo, and Parker/Getz. Who knows about 'jazztone'

[brownie]

Jazztone was basically a mail-order label that specialized in jazz. They operated in the

mid-fifties and issued material from various labels with a mix of reissues from other

labels and original sessions. They came out with albums by people like

Joe Newman, Charlie Parker, Eddie Bert, Ruby Braff, Erroll Garner, Stan Getz. Lionel

Hampton (superb album with Jimmy Cleveland and Lucky Thompson among others),

Sammy Price et al. Some were splits, most were devoted to one artist.

They also had affiliates in Europe (for instance, their LPs came out in France on the

Guilde du Jazz label).

[mikeweil]

... and issued material from various labels with a mix of reissues from other labels and original sessions.

Were these properly licensed? I noticed there are some titles not available on other issues. Who owns the rights to the material they produced right now?

[patricia]

Jazztone was a low-end, mail-order label, in the fifties and, I think, early sixties, which was an off-shoot of a classical music mail-order series.

They first came out with re-releases of existing material, in compilations, on 10" LP's. There were not that many 10" records, before they moved to the just developed 12".

The good thing about them was that they were the original artists and that each record had, at least, extensive liner notes and sometimes even a booklet which was included.

They were very inexpensive, even for the times at around $2.00 or so, when other mainstream labels were running at about $5.00.

They are available on-line, if you just search for "jazztone" records. My source has been used vinyl shops and they will charge anywhere from $10.00-$50.00. Considering that some of them are fifty, or more years old, most are in amazingly good condition. They are mono, but the sound is amazing.

This series was really limited, particularly the 10", but they were of the top names, which we, as jazz aficianados, try like crazy to find.

Now that many of the artists' work has been re-released on CD, I suspect that, like me, the historical aspect of having the Jazztones outweighs the ability to obtain the actual music. However, that doesn't stop me from snappin' them up at garage sales, estate sales and other places where people get rid of older relatives' old stuff.

Edited September 16, 2003 by patricia

[Brownian Motion]

Jazztone lps were the only long-playing records I've run across that had milled edges. If you accidentally dropped the stylus onto that edge it made a bloody racket and filled you with dread that your stylus would not survive the abuse. Although the later Jazztones were high quality vinyl--even with their serrated edges--the early ones were made of some kind of cheap, lightweight plastic and wore out quickly no matter how tenderly you treated them.

[wolff]

I had access to a bunch of these years ago and only kept one: Today's Jazz/Brookmeyer-Zoot Sims Quintet. I get a kick when Sims sings on "I Can't Get Started".

As posted before, I found the vinyl very inferior on most of them.

[Dmitry]

They look VG+/NM- and play like VG. Some of the ones I got.

They're expensive, but I always manage to pick them up cheap.

Because I really like the music.

[Christiern]

Jazztone was part of something called the American Recording Society. The late John Simon had a lot to do with it, I believe. I also seem to recall that the LPs were sold on some kind of a subscription basis.

They once put out an album by "The Jazztone Mystery Band," which was really Harry Arnold's band, but Swedes were not supposed to have the ability to create such a big band sound--hence the "mystery."

Another Jazztone album was The Discovery of Buck Hammer, which also was supposed to stump us. The liner notes were a detailed account of Mr. Hammer's life and death in undeserved obscurity, and, of course, the amazing discovery of the performances within.

It was actually Steve Allen playing a lot of notes courtesy of over-dubbing. As a guest on Allen's show, Cannonball had made a remark about jazz critics being a joke. Steve decided to put them to the test, and only one caught on: Nat Hentoff, who noted that Mr. Hammer had the distinct advantage of having been born with three hands.

[patricia]

Found TWO JazzTones at a second-hand store, a DOLLAR each:

"New Orleans Jamboree"

Paul Barbarin and his New Orleans Jazz Band

Paul Barbarin,drums, Bobby Thomas, trombone, Danny Barker, banjo, Willie Humphrey, clarinet, John Brunious, trumpet, Lester Santiago, piano.

and

"Dixieland Free-For-All"

Rex Stewart, trumpet, Albert Nicholas, clarinet, Ferdinand Arbelo, trombone, John Dengler, baritone sax, Herb Nichols, piano, John Fields, bass, Tommy Benford, drums.

Covers are worn, of course, but the records are pristine.

I've found JazzTone at various sources. Some were from vintage record places at around $10-$40.

But, JazzTones are disposable junk to some people, as these latest ones were. I've also found them at garage sales and at second hand stores, for as little as 50 cents.

Just keep your eyes open. There are lots out there, but they are usually owned by people who hang onto them. But, nobody lives forever.

When I re-discovered JazzTone, about four years ago, I had no turntable. However, I found two or three, I think at least one was a ten-inch, with Woody Herman as one of the tracks and sent them to a friend in New York, who collects everything vinyl. Still on the hunt.

Edited September 17, 2003 by patricia

[kh1958]

I was looking for a discography of the label but found only this thread. These are the ones in my collection. The Mary Lou Williams is my favorite of their originals, and I've never read of it being reissued.

J-1201 Coleman Hawkins All Stars (Emmett Berry, Billy Taylor, Milt Hinton, Jo Jones, Eddie Bert)

J-1206 Mary Lou Williams -- A Keyboard History (Wendall Marshal and Osie Johnson)

J-1208 Max Kaminsky and His Windy City Six (Pee Wee Russell, Miff Mole, Joe Sullivan, George Wettling, Jack Lesberg)--Chicago Style

J-1210 Swinging with Ruby Braff (Sam Margolis, Billy Byers, Marty Napoleon, Milt Hinton, Jo Jones) (original session)

J-1211 Jelly Roll Morton

J-1213 Sidney Bechet/Omer Simeon --Jazz A La Creole (Simeon session for Jazztone)

J-1214 Charlie Parker--The Fabulous Bird (reissue of Dial releases)

J-1215 Tony Parenti--Happy Jazz (Red Allen, Tyree Glenn, Hank Duncan, Milt Hinton, George Wettling) (original session)

J-1217 Joe Newman and Billy Byers--New Sounds in Swing (Gene Quill, Lou Stein, Milt Hinton, Osie Johnson)

J-1219 Jazz Concert (Red Norvo, Krupa-Ventura, Teddy Wilson (1945 Town Hall concert)

J-1220 The Count's Men Featuring Joe Newman, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Benny Powell, Sir Charles Thompson, Ed Jones, Shadow Wilson

J-1226 Charles Mingus, John LaPorta, Teo Macero, etc.--Jazz Experiment (reissue of Period release)

J-1229 Maxine Sullivan and members of the John Kirby Band--Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm (Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Russell Procope, Billy Kyle, Dick Hyman, Specs Powell, Osie Johnson, Aaron Bell, Oscar Pettiford) (original sesssion)

J-1236 Sammy Price in Concert (Emmett Berry, George Stevenson, Herbert Hall, George Foster, Freddie Moore) (original)

J-1239 Bob Brookmeyer--Zoot Sims Quintet--Today's Jazz (reissue of Storyville release)

J-1241 Jimmy McPartland's Chicago Rompers/Paul Barbarin's New Orleans Stompers--Dixieland Now and Then

J-1256 Don Elliott Quartet/Sam Most Sextet--Doubles in Jazz (reissue from Vanguard)

J-1258 Comparative Blues (anthology of other Jazztone releases)

J-1259 Slidin' Swing, The Trombones of Vic Dickenson and Urbie Green (reissues of Vanguard releases)

J-1263 Kai Winding/Sonny Stitt--Early Modern (reissue of Roost recordings)

J-1268 Cootie Williams and Rex Stewart in The Big Challenge (Coleman Hawkins, Bud Freeman, Lawrence Brown, J.C. Higginbotham, Hank Jones, Billy Bauer, Milt Hinton, Gus Johnson)

J-1271 Charlie Mingus--Jazz Experiment (same as J-1226)

J-1277 Cal Tjader Quartets/Red Norvo Trios (reissue of Fantasy releases)

J-1279 Elliot Lawrence -- Big Band Modern (reissue of Fantasy releases)

J-1281 Clifford Brown/Art Blakey--Jazz Messages (reissue of Pacific Jazz releases)

Edited December 20, 2010 by kh1958

[Larry Kart]

In Chris Albertson's post above, I think he meant to say George T. Simon, not John Simon.

"Cootie Williams and Rex Stewart in The Big Challenge" is a gem, as is the Jazztone Henderson Band Reunion date, with Stewart, Hawkins, Ben Webster et al. and the "Coleman Hawkins All-Stars." On the Max Kaminsky, Pee Wee Russell and Joe Sullivan are frighteningly intense on "Stuyvesant Blues."

[kh1958]

Sometime after J-1239 they switched to better quality covers. The Big Challenge is the only one I've seen with a photo of the band on the cover, and a really cool photo it is. (For Dallasites, there's a copy last time I checked at the big HPB.)

[Steve Gray]

"Dixieland Free-For-All"

Rex Stewart, trumpet, Albert Nicholas, clarinet, Ferdinand Arbelo, trombone, John Dengler, baritone sax, Herb Nichols, piano, John Fields, bass, Tommy Benford, drums.

Presumably that is Herbie Nichols on piano who is known to have played in Dixieland bands.

Wonder if he solos?

[JamesAHarrod]

The current President of IAJRC, Geoffrey Wheeler, wrote a history of Jazztone, JAZZ BY MAIL, published by the Hillbrook Press. I believe copies are still available directly from Wheeler who can be contacted at:

dialjazz@verizon.net

Paul Bacon designed the cover of the book, and my copy is signed by Bacon.

Jim

[jeffcrom]

"Dixieland Free-For-All"

Rex Stewart, trumpet, Albert Nicholas, clarinet, Ferdinand Arbelo, trombone, John Dengler, baritone sax, Herb Nichols, piano, John Fields, bass, Tommy Benford, drums.

Presumably that is Herbie Nichols on piano who is known to have played in Dixieland bands.

Wonder if he solos?

Nichols solos on half of the ten tunes. Unfortunately, the solos are not distinctive - they're adequate and professional, but you'd never guess that it was Herbie Nichols.

[Chuck Nessa]

yup.

[Teasing the Korean]

I've accumulated a number of LPs on this label, but never knew the back story.

[jazzbo]

Some info and a discography here: https://www.discogs.com/label/41180-Jazztone-2

https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/50s-record-clubs-jazztone/

Edited September 4, 2023 by jazzbo

[Chuck Nessa]

Mister Google presents some INFORMATION.

[Teasing the Korean]

Thanks @jazzbo and @Chuck Nessa for those links.  I've known about this label for years, but never thought to look into it.

I love the cover art on Eddie Bert's Modern Moods.  It looks like they used this cover art for a few titles. 

[Teasing the Korean]

In this era of instantly hearing anything you want on Spotify or Youtube, or buying any record you want on Amazon and getting it delivered the next day by Amazon Prime, there is something poignant about being a member of the Jazztone Society and getting albums mailed to you.  

I remember reading an article about record clubs, back when they existed. A reader who grew up in rural Canada, where they were covered under snow for at least half of the year, wrote that record and book clubs where their lifeline to art, culture, and the outside world.

[Big Beat Steve]

Amazing that Jazztone still holds such mysteries to even seasoned collectors today. Maybe the perspective and awareness were rather different over here because the label was advertised and promoted EXTENSIVELY throughout the printed press over here (even in magazines not even remotely dealing with music) as a mail-order source in the 50s and probably was a fairly affordable godsend to many interested in this music.
These Jazztones usually are not overly expensive over here whenever one comes up, and even in case I already have the music elsewhere I pick them up just for the period fun of it.
The most common one (relatively speaking) is the "Jazztone Sampler" (catalog no. J-SPEC 100) that figured in those ads in the 50s and apparently was the one 10" LP sent out to interested parties as an introductory offer, even if they did not take out a subscription. I have the U.S., German, French and Swiss releases of this one  just to document the little differences.
As for the labels that were part of Jazztone, at the start of this thread about 20 years ago Brownie mentioned "Guilde du Jazz" for the French releases (which also had the piano player logo and label but all-French texts on the labels and sleeves and - contrary to Wikipedia - does not look like a simple distribution deal but rather like the actual French version of Jazztone). Sometimes a French variation of the "Guilde du Jazz" releases existed on the "Club National du Disque" label as well.
And then there also was the "Concert Hall Society" label that was not limited to classical music (cf. Wikipedia) but also encroached in the Jazztone field of operations. Sometimes you get both Jazztone and CHS pressings with the same release number but different letter prefixes, and sometimes you see Jazztone vinyl inside a CHS sleeve.

Basically Jazztone reissued recordings from various labels ranging from Dial to then-contemporary Vanguard releases. And there were a fair share of sessions made specifically for that label (so the originals were on Jazztone). Contrary to what others said in this thread years ago, I cannot really find the pressing quality that bad for a budget label. At least several notches above Crown and even later reissue labels such as Ajax, Ajazz etc. (Maybe they did not stand up that well to user abuse, but I guess most were bought by non-discophiles so this may explain that).

BTW, there were numerous Jazztone EPs as well. A miniature vignette of the generic Jazztone EP sleeve (some of their EPs had specific sleeves) can be seen in Optatio's avatar.

As for the record club thing (as an extension of book clubs), AFAIK this continued for quite a while AFTER the Jazztone heyday. Both the USA and the UK must have been rather strong on this. I remember seeing ads for some of these clubs in magazines even throughout the 70s (but their - limited and MOR - selections advertised really would have turned me off). So no big surprise about the existence of these clubs here at all.

@TTK: The "Modern Moods" cover art (on the 10 and 12" versions of this LP) was indeed the generic cover art (in different colors) Jazztone used for a long time right from the start (with the J-SPEC100 Jazztone Sampler).

Edited September 5, 2023 by Big Beat Steve

[optatio]

... on my shelf!

[Big Beat Steve]

That's two of the four I was talking about ...

[optatio]

Generic cover art for various 10" LPs