Death of the album?

[Shawn]

I don't know what the lingo is in Britain, but I think that in the US...

An album is an album. It could be the collection of 78s (thus the original use of the word "album," because it was much like a photo album); it could be a cassette tape; it could be a vinyl 33 1/3 long-playing (thus, LP) record or it could be a compact disk.

It appears to me that the author uses the term "LP" to mean an album, when in the US it is used to refer to vinyl.

I think that some posters here are confused, and that the interest of millenials in vinyl is not relevant to the article.

Exactly, an "album" is just a collection of items (photos, songs) and is not tied to any particular format.

LP (in the states) is only used to describe a long-playing vinyl record.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Shawn

[Scott Dolan]

Yes, yes. Just rub it in...

[Peter Friedman]

What I find interesting is that we hear the word that jazz is dying or dead, and the CD is passé.

Yet what I keep seeing is a very large number of new and reissue jazz CDs coming at me from all sides.

The number of new small jazz labels putting out CDs strikes me as rather amazing. Within the past couple

of year or so I have bought numerous jazz CDs on labels I had never heard of before. Once again I am

speaking of both new releases and reissues.

I understand that the economics of putting out a modest number of CDs has declined as technology

has changed. But nonetheless, the death of jazz and of CDs seems very premature.

[Shawn]

What I find interesting is that we hear the word that jazz is dying or dead, and the CD is passé.

Yet what I keep seeing is a very large number of new and reissue jazz CDs coming at me from all sides.

The number of new small jazz labels putting out CDs strikes me as rather amazing. Within the past couple

of year or so I have bought numerous jazz CDs on labels I had never heard of before. Once again I am

speaking of both new releases and reissues.

I understand that the economics of putting out a modest number of CDs has declined as technology

has changed. But nonetheless, the death of jazz and of CDs seems very premature.

The primary target audience for jazz is the same age group that still buys CDs.

[Scott Dolan]

What I find interesting is that we hear the word that jazz is dying or dead, and the CD is passé.

Yet what I keep seeing is a very large number of new and reissue jazz CDs coming at me from all sides.

The number of new small jazz labels putting out CDs strikes me as rather amazing. Within the past couple

of year or so I have bought numerous jazz CDs on labels I had never heard of before. Once again I am

speaking of both new releases and reissues.

I understand that the economics of putting out a modest number of CDs has declined as technology

has changed. But nonetheless, the death of jazz and of CDs seems very premature.

"Death" isn't an accurate way of describing either, Peter.

They've relaxed into their own niche. They'll always exist, but they both experienced their heyday in the past.

The primary target audience for jazz is the same age group that still buys CDs.

That's actually pretty accurate.

How weird is THAT?!

[Peter Friedman]

What I find interesting is that we hear the word that jazz is dying or dead, and the CD is passé.

Yet what I keep seeing is a very large number of new and reissue jazz CDs coming at me from all sides.

The number of new small jazz labels putting out CDs strikes me as rather amazing. Within the past couple

of year or so I have bought numerous jazz CDs on labels I had never heard of before. Once again I am

speaking of both new releases and reissues.

I understand that the economics of putting out a modest number of CDs has declined as technology

has changed. But nonetheless, the death of jazz and of CDs seems very premature.

"Death" isn't an accurate way of describing either, Peter.

They've relaxed into their own niche. They'll always exist, but they both experienced their heyday in the past.

The primary target audience for jazz is the same age group that still buys CDs.

That's actually pretty accurate.

How weird is THAT?!

While that may well be true, it does not explain why the barrage of new jazz CD labels and releases keeps coming at such a rapid rate.

[Scott Dolan]

What I mostly see is re-releases. "Newly mastered".

You have to also understand that we are part of the Jazz community, so of course we're tuned into every "new" release that comes out.

At the end of the day, there is no dam bursting.

Just my opinion, mind you.

[psu_13]

Relatively small markets supporting a seemingly large number of releases is nothing new.

Classical CDs are if anything an even smaller market than Jazz (maybe, maybe not), but there are thousands of releases every year. To prove it you can subscribe to (say) American Record Guide and read 300 pages of reviews every two months. I've never quite understood it.

At least these days it's pretty easy to *find* the stuff reviewed in the magazine though. Back in the day you had to drive to Tower Records in a major city (or equivalent) to have any chance at all.

[.:.impossible]

If you follow the running modern jazz thread, you will notice that about a half dozen small international labels are constantly releasing new recordings by what seem to be the same fifty or sixty musicians. Maybe more, but it is rare to see new names, or folks listening to musicians that are not already an established part of this list. Niche market, yes, and seemingly difficult to break into.

[Steve Reynolds]

If you follow the running modern jazz thread, you will notice that about a half dozen small international labels are constantly releasing new recordings by what seem to be the same fifty or sixty musicians. Maybe more, but it is rare to see new names, or folks listening to musicians that are not already an established part of this list. Niche market, yes, and seemingly difficult to break into.

Not sure who the fifty or sixty musicians are but I think some of the independent labels give a recorded voice to some musicians that would otherwise not be heard on record. Some labels introduce newer names of more geographically faraway (from me) names. I think clean feed and Not Two records do a good job as here are a few of the names that I've come across over the past few years that were new to me:

Rodrigo Amado

Lisa Mezzacappa

Francois Carrier

Michael Lambert

And quite a few others