Ace Records

[jazzbo]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the extraordinary B.B. King reissue series Ace put out. Truly essential.

Actually the whole darn label is essential. They do a great job of transferrring and annotating so many great and in some cases nearly forgotten labels (and artists).

Actually John mentioned the King Kent series above. I agree with you both. Great music, well mastered and presented.

[paul secor]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the extraordinary B.B. King reissue series Ace put out. Truly essential.

Actually the whole darn label is essential. They do a great job of transferrring and annotating so many great and in some cases nearly forgotten labels (and artists).

The one complaint I have about Ace is that they tend to leave off discographical information on their reissues. This is a real problem with a lot of their RPM/Modern/United/Kent (U.S. Kent, that is) reissues, since they bought the masters for those companies' recordings and have access to discographical information that others don't. Sometimes it seems as if they want to keep that information a secret.

[Big Beat Steve]

The one complaint I have about Ace is that they tend to leave off discographical information on their reissues. This is a real problem with a lot of their RPM/Modern/United/Kent (U.S. Kent, that is) reissues, since they bought the masters for those companies' recordings and have access to discographical information that others don't. Sometimes it seems as if they want to keep that information a secret.

I agree with you and have regretted this on a number of occasions too but please remember that discographical information beyond the release year and original label and release number (which usually ARE given) is much less important to the typical collector in the R&B, rock'n'roll (r'n'r in the TRUE 50s sense, not in the diluted US sense of the term ) and country (honky tonk/hillbilly boogie) field than it is to the jazz collector.

The way I've observed it, collectors in those fields usually want to know when the record was released and which label it originally was on (to check against the originals they may have or are looking for, possibly) but as for the names of all the session musicians, that's not one of their priorities.

[GA Russell]

If I recall correctly, in the 90s I saw in the stores a number of Ace releases of Sun Records material. I don't think that anyone else has released much of it since.

[J.A.W.]

If I recall correctly, in the 90s I saw in the stores a number of Ace releases of Sun Records material. I don't think that anyone else has released much of it since.

As far as I know Ace never released Sun recordings. U.K. label Charly issued lots of Sun material, but had to withdraw their releases because they turned out not to be legit. Rhino in the United States and Bear Family in Germany released CDs and boxed sets with Sun material that were legit.

[Neal Pomea]

The way I've observed it, collectors in those fields usually want to know when the record was released and which label it originally was on (to check against the originals they may have or are looking for, possibly) but as for the names of all the session musicians, that's not one of their priorities.

It comes from the recorders in response to their market at large imo. This goes almost double for Cajun French music. Some musicians I know of have even asked to hide their identities out of a sense of cultural shame. I don't think the regional recorders of the music had much pride in preserving this information. Probably not an uncommon phenomenon around the world.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Neal Pomea

[GA Russell]

If I recall correctly, in the 90s I saw in the stores a number of Ace releases of Sun Records material. I don't think that anyone else has released much of it since.

As far as I know Ace never released Sun recordings. U.K. label Charly issued lots of Sun material, but had to withdraw their releases because they turned out not to be legit. Rhino in the United States and Bear Family in Germany released CDs and boxed sets with Sun material that were legit.

Hans, I believe that you are correct - it was Charly, not Ace. My apologies.

[Steve Gray]

If I recall correctly, in the 90s I saw in the stores a number of Ace releases of Sun Records material. I don't think that anyone else has released much of it since.

As far as I know Ace never released Sun recordings. U.K. label Charly issued lots of Sun material, but had to withdraw their releases because they turned out not to be legit. Rhino in the United States and Bear Family in Germany released CDs and boxed sets with Sun material that were legit.

Looking at their website, Charly are still issuing Sun material. I have no idea whether they are legit or not.

On the other hand, Charly used to issue Chess material but had to stop because of legal issues.

[J.A.W.]

If I recall correctly, in the 90s I saw in the stores a number of Ace releases of Sun Records material. I don't think that anyone else has released much of it since.

As far as I know Ace never released Sun recordings. U.K. label Charly issued lots of Sun material, but had to withdraw their releases because they turned out not to be legit. Rhino in the United States and Bear Family in Germany released CDs and boxed sets with Sun material that were legit.

Looking at their website, Charly are still issuing Sun material. I have no idea whether they are legit or not.

On the other hand, Charly used to issue Chess material but had to stop because of legal issues.

You're absolutely right, I meant Charly's Chess releases. My bad. I wasn't aware that they are still releasing Sun material; I don't know either whether those releases are legit or not. Fact is that Ace never released Sun material.

Edited May 30, 2012 by J.A.W.