monkboughtlunch Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 There is so much great music which is left to be reissued on Verve. What gives? Has Verve discontinued their Verve Master Editions, Elites and By Requests etc? Are they still issuing back catalog material besides John Coltrane? As Van Gelder recorded many of their sessions in the mid-60s, they could even market a Verve RVG series. I can't understand why the Johnny Hodges dates, like Wings and Things and Joes Blues remain unissued on CD--even in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesman Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 Not to mention most of the Impulse catalogue is still in limbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 (edited) I can only talk about their approach to Cal Tjader reissues - the author of an upcoming Tjader bio informed me that he and Tjader's daughter were in contact with the Verve executives, and they have no interest at all. Money seems to be all they know, the big figures, that is. They don't give a damn about caring for that catalogue. Compilations without end .... Edited October 9, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted October 8, 2006 Report Share Posted October 8, 2006 I guess I can give up all hope that Verve will reissue Gary McFarland and Kenyon Hopkins... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Money seems to be all they know, the bif figures, that is. They don't give a damn about caring for that catalogue. Compilations without end .... Then may be a chance for botique reissue labels to license material from them? Hello Collectables, Wounded Bird, Water, etc. Mosaic could have a field day. And as the material reaches 50 years old, the European labels can go wild. Waiting for that Archie Shepp Proper box! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 thats nutz about cal-- no money in cal, wasnty he like their most successful artist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 thats nutz about cal-- no money in cal, wasnt he like their most successful artist. That's the point, exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 (edited) Money seems to be all they know, the big figures, that is. They don't give a damn about caring for that catalogue. Compilations without end .... Then may be a chance for botique reissue labels to license material from them? Hello Collectables, Wounded Bird, Water, etc. Mosaic could have a field day. And as the material reaches 50 years old, the European labels can go wild. Waiting for that Archie Shepp Proper box! Verve themselves seem to go the download way, considering the number of titles made available in that form in recent years, and the fact that the young folks would rather download than buy a CD and this is less costly for the label, of course. Edited October 9, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Money seems to be all they know, the big figures, that is. They don't give a damn about caring for that catalogue. Compilations without end .... Then may be a chance for botique reissue labels to license material from them? Hello Collectables, Wounded Bird, Water, etc. Mosaic could have a field day. And as the material reaches 50 years old, the European labels can go wild. Waiting for that Archie Shepp Proper box! Verve themselves seem to go the download way, considering the number of titles made available in that form in recent years, and the fact that the young folks would rather download than buy a CD and this is less costly for the label, of course. Then they don't know their audience. Young people aren't the ones who are going to buy Anita O'Day or Archie Shepp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 With regards to the recent Impulse compilations, I was surprised that there weren't "Impulse Stories" of Chico Hamilton, Johnny Hartman, Gabor Szbao, Leon Thomas, or Sam Rivers. At the very least Leon Thomas and Chico Hamilton -- each put out a number of lps for the label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 But then - are they known to the people responsible for that series - do they know their place in jazz history? No - they pre-determine a number of volumes in such a series, and the "lesser known" figures are left out. And yes - they don't know their audience - because any audience making for less than 5% of their sales doesn't count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montg Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 The reissue policy seems to be 'Coltrane for lovers' types of comps, downloads, and Mosaic. Recently, Mosaic has reissued the Jazztet, Eldridge, Gillespie, Mulligan, Buddy Rich, Basie... While this window of opportunity is available, I hope Mosaic keeps plowing forward: DeFranco, Tjader etc. all stand in need. Japanese reissues seem to be spotty and more expensive than the Blue Note TOCJs. As pathetic as Verve's reissue program is, their new release program for jazz is even worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 With regards to the recent Impulse compilations, I was surprised that there weren't "Impulse Stories" of Chico Hamilton, Johnny Hartman, Gabor Szbao, Leon Thomas, or Sam Rivers. At the very least Leon Thomas and Chico Hamilton -- each put out a number of lps for the label. And there being one for Mingus was quite a stretch, no? Three albums done within a few months, only one of them really important... granted, the piano solo album is terrific, but it's rather an oddity in the Mingus oeuvre. His most imporant recordings have been spread among so many labels, it's ridiculous for any of them to claim to be able to present the any story kind of overview of his work - Atlantic would be the most likely candidate, I assume, but then there's Columbia, Candid, Bethlehem, United Artists, Verve, his own Jazz Workshop label, Debut... I am getting so fed-up with all these new compilations. Even the Blue Note policy of reissuing recent reissues starts to get on my nerves. Seems they are not willing to invest any of their $$ from Norah, Madelein Peyroux & Diana Krall into some serious jazz releases, new ones or reissues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 BTW - Leon Thomas didn't record as a leader for Impulse, just as a sideman with Pharoah Sanders. His own LPs were on Flying Dutchman which now belongs to SONY/BMG, and are a mixed bag, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 I think that Universal/Vivendi who own Verve are intent on going the internet route for their entire catalogue. Maybe they'll offer Mosaic the hard copy rights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 And to answer the original question: the Elite Edition has been discontinued many years ago, the last batch was the one including Billy Bauer and Paul Quinichette (and George Russell, I think, plus one more, four only). The By Requests seem to have been stopped, too, and for some years also, now. In Europe, the Master Editions have turned into another series in slightly different (less flimsy but not as good-looking) digipacks, same prize, probably same deal, just a new name.... Also in Europe, the LPRs have turned into Verve/Impulse/ABC/whatever Originals, and been released in jewel cases for some time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 (edited) I think that Universal/Vivendi who own Verve are intent on going the internet route for their entire catalogue. But so far, Verve has only put on iTunes some albums which have been reissued on CD at some point, i.e. for which the transfer and mastering has already been done. If the legal and financial terms are set, it takes less than a day to make such an album available on iTunes. I don't think they will release previously unreissued stuff on iTunes only, because the preparation work involved makes it necessary to sell the albums on CD as well, because the download market is still small. Edited October 10, 2006 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Yeah, why wasn't the Alan Shorter kept in print...? If their leasing of the Giuffre's to ECM (or did they sell them outright?) is any indication, I agree that the only hope for interesting Verve/Impulse sides to see the light of day again is through leasing them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 the fucking alan shorter isn't even on itunes. it is in the realplayer store, which means people with macs can't buy it. same with some of the john klemmer stuff. how is this decided-what store gets what? this whole itunes store sucks anyway. how hard is it to give some artwork along with the CD to make it a little nicer? put up like 2 fucking jpegs. jesus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Larsen Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Verve used to have their own download site for a small selection of OOP albums - did they take it off line? I can't find it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 (edited) Do you mean this page? I think the download links for the individual albums have always linked to iTunes http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/series.aspx...f&src=vault BTW, is there any album on this list which has not been available on CD at some time (including in Japan)? That would be an interesting development. Edited October 10, 2006 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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