How Many Prestige 16 2/3 RPM Lps Do You Own?

[JSngry]

I don't own any.

That's MY story. What's yours?

[catesta]

[P.D.]

Ow, that hurts.............

[Jim Alfredson]

Are we padding our post count again, Jim?

[wolff]

How many titles were issued in this format?

BTW, I have zero.

How about reel to reel next?

[BFrank]

0

[Christiern]

UNO

It's the MJQ (LP16-1)

[Jim R]

For my 8th birthday, in 1964, I received a little AM radio/turntable unit with 4 speeds (including 16... or 16 2/3, or whatever). I used to play my Chipmunks LP on that thing, and the16 speed came in mighty handy for controlling the caffeine-induced fits of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

Later on in life, I owned a few Prestige 78's and 10" LP's.

Sorry Jim, that's the best I could do... B)

[Chuck Nessa]

Did you know Chrysler sold "under dashboard" players for these babies?

[robviti]

and here it is!

Edited September 24, 2003 by jazzshrink

[Shrdlu]

I lived through the 50s, and I remember feeling excited (as a little boy) at the news that four speed record changers were coming out. Coincidentally, automatic washers came out, which fascinated me. I actually saw a specimen of a four-speed changer once - a friend's parents bought one (made by an outfit called Collaro). We turned it on at 16 2/3 (without a disc!) and watched it go around. I never saw any 16 2/3 discs though. I wonder how many were ever made.

[JSngry]

Hey - every turntable my family ever owned, including the kiddie record players that we went through like cheap toilet paper had four speeds up to snf including the "real stereo" Sony set that I cajoled my Dad into buying in 1969 (getting the old man to buy a record player that was did not double as a piece of furniture was a REAL struggle, especially since the speakers weren't IN anything other than smallish free standing wooden cabinets).

I played 33 1/3 albums at 16 2/3 all the time - at first to uncover clues in the "Paul is dead" affair, but later to transcribe solos - half-speed just slows it down an octave lower. I didn't need a reel-to-reel player or a two-speed casette deck until well into the 70s! That turntable is still functioning quite nicely, too, thank you!

78s were noi problem either, although other than the occasional nostalgic spin of my childhood Little Golden Records, the speed didn't get much use until I started going to flea markets and picking up jazz 78s for dirt cheap. Let me tell you - hearing Bird's break on "Sepia Bounce" for the first time, on an old 78, nearly made me pee my britches.

Actual 16 2/3 records, though, I only saw once or twice, while rummaging in the darkest corners of my middle school library. The label was Caedmon, I believe, and it was all spoken word stuff. I actually checked one out for the weekend once - somebody reading The Great Gatsby. Let me tell you - one side of that sucker lasted a looooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggg time.

Now, jazz reel-to-reels, I've actually got one. A Capitol RTR of Cannonball's 74 MILES HIGH/WALK TALL Don't remember how I picked it up, but my guess is that it was cheap and I was near-broke.

Hell, that's how I've gotten MOST of my collection....

[Jazzmoose]

Hey, does anyone know who the artist was on that cover? Isn't it by the same artist who did the cover for "Miles Davis and Horns"? I've been wondering about that for years; it reminds me of Don Martin of Mad Magazine fame in a way, but I know it isn't him...

Edited to add this...

Couw, are you saying that this art is Warhol?

Edited September 24, 2003 by Jazzmoose

[Chuck Nessa]

I've been wondering about that for years; it reminds me of Don Martin of Mad Magazine fame in a way, but I know it isn't him...

It was Don Martin. He did a few Prestige covers in the mid '50s.

[David Ayers]

Now you mention it, I always thought that MJQ LP was rather trebly. Man can they PLAY though...

[Joe]

FWIW, another Don Martin Prestige cover (probably my favorite one, actually), for THE ART FARMER SEPTET

Weren't some Prestige sessions originally ONLY released on 16 2/3 RPM? I'm thinking specifically of the Curtis Fuller / Hampton Hawes / french horns date...

[Brad]

Bupkis, I'm afraid.

[BruceH]

For my 8th birthday, in 1964, I received a little AM radio/turntable unit with 4 speeds (including 16... or 16 2/3, or whatever). I used to play my Chipmunks LP on that thing, and the16 speed came in mighty handy for controlling the caffeine-induced fits of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

Later on in life, I owned a few Prestige 78's and 10" LP's.

Sorry Jim, that's the best I could do... B)

I've got no 16 2/3 RPM records, but like you Jim I had a Chipmunks album that I used to play on my kiddie record player at various speeds. I was five and totally loved the record but then finally dropped and broke it. Just like a kid, eh?

[Jazzmoose]

Damn....(just got back to this thread; it's been one of those weeks...)! So, is jazz cooler than I thought, or is Don Martin cooler than I thought? Maybe at some point ALL my favorites are connected...

[Shrdlu]

On the subject of playing records at the wrong speed (and I do remember the chipmunks!), we used to play a 45 of Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock" at 78, which improved it no end!

[JSngry]

Well, I had some friendds over a while back, and the topic of jazz 45s came up somehow and I pulled some out of my closet. The first one up was Grant Green's "Miss Ann's Tempo". My friends were convinced that the 45 was a rare alternate take at a totally different tempo! It wasn't until I put on my 45 of "Una Muy Bonita" that I realized that I had failed to change the speed on the turntable. DOH!

Failing to take a hint, we all had another drink...

[mikeweil]

How many titles  were issued in this format?

Here are the ones I found:

16-1: Milt Jackson Quartet & Modern Jazz Quartet - Concorde

16-2: ???

16-3: Miles Davis All Stars - Bags' Groove & Miles Davis & The Modern Jazz Giants

16-4: J.J. Johnson/Kai Winding/Bennie Green - Trombones & Trombone by Three

16-5: George Wallington Quintet/The New York Scene & ???

16-6: Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns & Prestige All Stars - Dakar (both were Teddy Charles produced sessions)

In a way, a very early ancestor of the two LPs on one CD format, although some of these were first issues of these sessions, 16-6 was a first issue for sure. The first four were reissues of material previously availbale in various formats.

Anybody fill in the gaps?

Edited September 28, 2003 by mikeweil

[Chuck Nessa]

16-2 Billy Taylor: Trio, vol 1 and Trio, vol 2

16-5 was completed with Phil Woods: Sugan

[brownie]

I was getting records from Prestige directly (they were not distributed in France then) when they issued those 16 2/3 RPM albums in the late '50s.

Did not get any because there was no 16 2/3 RPM record player available and my pocket money did not allow me to purchase anything beside the essential albums (Miles, Coltrane, Rollins, Monk, McLean and others).

Never managed to run into any of those albums since but I got the music when it was released on regular LPs.

Wish I had purchased them at the time. The record covers were beautiful.

[mikeweil]

Wish I had purchased them at the time. The record covers were beautiful.

Do you remember if they were different from the later covers, and if there were any Warhol covers among them?

It's very hard to find them pictured anywhere; the first edition of Michel Ruppli's Prestige discography listed them in the session entries, but not in a separate series list, at least I found none of it in the book.