Jazz Label books with album listings

[jazzcorner]

Sooner or later for a collector the need arises to find more Information about his collection. The liner notes for many labels were not always informative (missing data for playing artists, recording date a.o.)  So beside collecting records I was also interested in Information about the main labels, the cover art by well known artists as David Stone Martin, Jim Flora a.o.

In an old thread here at Organissimo  I found the following Information:

Nice books, Japanese text but they have what I suppose are complete label listings by album, organized by catalog numbers. They contain photographs (mostly black and white, some color) of most album covers (the fronts) with credits. Handy references.

The Blue Note Book  /  The Prestige Book / The Bethlehem Book .

That brought me back memory lane and to look at my jazz book shelf because I remembered that I had these and some more. There is one with the title

- "West Coast Jazz 1950 - 1961" (An Anthology Of California Modern Jazz)

- The Riverside Book (Discography of all series)

- Jazz Hero's  Data Bank (complete issued recordings) for selected artists

- Blue Note Book (a definitive edition)

- Blue Note Book (edition 1998)

They all are witten in japanese language which I cannot read.  But in the content of every LP is listed by Cat #, a thumpnail cover scan in b&w, recording date, artists and tracks in latin characters so the important data are availabel for the collector.

Here are the scans of these Items. Would be interesting to learn if among the members there is more  material of such kind available.

[Big Beat Steve]

I have the Blue Note, Prestige and Eurojazz ("Catalogue of Jazz Disc in Europe") volumes - from the Jazz Critique issues - of this series (bought them new by mail order when "Jazz is Beck" in Munich stocked them in the mid-90s). I would have bought the West Coast Jazz book too but they did not have that one and I did not even know about it at that time. (I see that you bought at least one of them from Beck too but IIRC my copies did not cost 60 DM each)

I bought them mainly as discographical reference books (cannot read Japanese either, of course) with some added direct reference to the covers (the minuscule size of the artwork gives you only a rough idea anyway). Even without the main text they do come in handy and I find I pull out the Prestige and Eurojazz books relatively often.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Big Beat Steve

[jlhoots]

I have a bunch (not all) of those.

[Brad]

I have the BN one. 

[felser]

I have the Jazz Heroes Data Bank, bought at Tower Records many years ago.

[jazzcorner]

On 3.3.2020 at 9:58 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

I have the Blue Note, Prestige and Eurojazz ("Catalogue of Jazz Disc in Europe") volumes - from the Jazz Critique issues - of this series (bought them new by mail order when "Jazz is Beck" in Munich stocked them in the mid-90s). I would have bought the West Coast Jazz book too but they did not have that one and I did not even know about it at that time. (I see that you bought at least one of them from Beck too but IIRC my copies did not cost 60 DM each)

I bought them mainly as discographical reference books (cannot read Japanese either, of course) with some added direct reference to the covers (the minuscule size of the artwork gives you only a rough idea anyway). Even without the main text they do come in handy and I find I pull out the Prestige and Eurojazz books relatively often.

 

Yes I have them all from the  former "Jazz is Beck". Admit it was a lot of money but they are really valuable.

[saskimo]

I would prefer the books but jazzdisco.org seems to be an all encompassing database of jazz releases.

[Marzz]

Willie, I have most of those and a few more. Looks like the Blue Note & Prestige have been updated and released by Rittor Music. The Blue Note adds another 50 pages or so.

Here's some photos (there's also a "Jazz Next Standard - Spiritual Jazz" book, but I can't find it now),

And here's a page from the 'Independent Black Jazz of America' book - chosen randomly of course!

Actually the Abdullah is the only 'About Time Records' entry and Nessa has 2 (the other is Roscoe Mitchell N-5). The book concentrates largely on Strata-East, Tribe, Nimbus, India Navigation, Black Jazz (label).

The Hard Bop book is just a selection of, well, hard bop from USA, UK, Europe, Japan and a grand total of 3 from Australia! Obviously, these are not definitive and very subjective, but I still found a few good ones. The Fusion was helpful as I admit I wasn't a big fan to begin with.

And there's also these 2 books, 

The "Rare Grooves" is not essential but enjoyable. A selection of apparently rare Jazz, Funk, Soul and Latin LPs. Looks very much geared towards the 'crate digger' fans. From what I can make out, the "rare" indicates vinyl availability? The cds seem easy enough to find, or at least they were.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Marzz

[Gheorghe]

I have this one.

[jazzcorner]

6 hours ago, Marzz said:

Willie, I have most of those and a few more. Looks like the Blue Note & Prestige have been updated and released by Rittor Music. The Blue Note adds another 50 pages or so.

Thanks for the Info

I should mention that "Jazz Is Beck" from Munich ( editor Manfred Scheffner)  has issued  for JAZZ also yearly catalogs " Bielefelder Katalog" with 3 Indexes

- Track Titles

- Artists (Interpreters)

-Labels.

Dont know whether they ever  were available online. [these were published in Germany only I think] - Have the volumes from 1975/75 up to the late 1990s:

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by jazzcorner

[jazzcorner]

Another interesting source are the DOWN BEAT record review books.

They were issued from 1956 ( Volume I) up to 1963 (Volume VIII)

Content is a replica print of all the reviews from the Down Beat jazz magazine.

Have all volumes except Vol VII but have the  complete single copies of DB 1962.

Vol. I has 230 pages, vol. VIII has 318 pages

 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by jazzcorner
typos

[Big Beat Steve]

50 minutes ago, jazzcorner said:

I should mention that "Jazz Is Beck" from Munich ( editor Manfred Scheffner)  has issued  for JAZZ also yearly catalogs " Bielefelder Katalog" with 3 Indexes

- Tune Titles

- Artists (PERFORMERS )

- Labels.

Dont know whether they ever  were available online. [these were published in Germany only I think] - Have the volumes from 1975/75 up to the late 1990s

Manfred Scheffner was a key figure at the Beck jazz department in Munich but Beck wasn't the publisher of the "Bielefelder Jazz Katalog" (for non-Germans: This was/Is OUR better-sorted "Schwann" or "Jazz'N Pops" ). The publisher changed several times and the catalog has been online for a couple of years now according to a Google search I just did.
These catalogs are an excellent refernce tool, particularly once they introduced the three different indexes you mentioned (this started with the 1974/75 edition - previous editions were strictly by artist A-Z and then some subcategories in the Various Artist section).
The 1975/76 edition was the first one I bought (new, when I started buying and collecting records) and along with the 1960/61 edition (the second one ever published) that my mother passed on to me at the time this was a priceless source of information in my early days of discophile. I bought subsequent editions every couple of years to to 1994, and though the catalog never was 100% complete (some distributors or companies just could not be bothered to supply their release lists each year) these older editions never date and still are very handy even after all these years to check up on reissues from a certain period (half for the fun of it and half for reference reasons I actually bought about two thirds of the 1959/60 to 1973/74 editions later on too). Of course in the time of Discogs etc. they have become less essential but they still serve their purpose.

As for your latest post (my, this topic sure is getting out of hand! ), re- the DB Record Reviews yearbooks, this thread should cover that particular sub-topic with all the essentials:

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Big Beat Steve

[jazzcorner]

On 3/5/2020 at 3:01 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

Manfred Scheffner was a key figure at the Beck jazz department in Munich but Beck wasn't the publisher of the "Bielefelder Jazz Katalog" (for non-Germans: This was/Is OUR better-sorted "Schwann" or "Jazz'N Pops" ). The publisher changed several times and the catalog has been online for a couple of years now according to a Google search I just did.

Correct. Wasnt it "Auto-Motor Verlag" and changed later.

... and also thanks for that DB link from 2011. Really hadnt seen it . So this topic was discusses some years ago.

BTW I have the Down Beat magazine from 1956 (incomplete) / 1956 to 2013 missing 5 or 6 single copies + many years of the german "Podium".

Have also alot duplicates to trade of someone is interested.

Here and then  Down Bear & Jazz Posium  are really useful for a research. Very interesting are the DB  blind fold tests with some famous artists. Those with Miles are really "something" .

Is it allowed then to discuss the DB Yearbooks here?

Edited July 5, 2023 by jazzcorner
more text

[Big Beat Steve]

20 minutes ago, jazzcorner said:

Correct. Wasnt it "Auto-Motor Verlag" and changed later.

... and also thanks for that DB link from 2011. Really hadnt seen it . So this topic was discuddes some years ago.

 

My fault actually. I had meant to link to another (fairly recent) DB Record Reviews topic here on Organissimo (one where you posted too IIRC).
Re- the publisher of the Bielefelder Jazz Katalog, "Motor Presse" were the third publisher (at least). In 1981 it was a publisher in Nuremberg.

[Bluesnik]

On 02/03/2020 at 9:21 PM, jazzcorner said:

The Blue Note Book  /  The Prestige Book / The Bethlehem Book .

I think I've got the three of them. They were published by Jazz Critique, a Japanese jazz magazine or something like that, and carried by Dustygroove at the time. I have them just for the covers, the discographical information, personnel and so on. The text is in Japanese. But not what I just mentioned.

[Stonewall15]

James Harrod's new book titled "Stars Of Jazz- Television Series 1956-1958" has a complete discography of the Calliope Label 36 LPs. It is available on Amazon.

[mikeweil]

The Bielefelder Katalog had one great disadvantage: Like the Schwann it depended on whatever listings the labels or distributors had sent. So, regularly several labels were not represented although available in Germany. That's why I disposed of them many years ago. 

There is a big difference between album listing and real accurate, thoroughly researched discographies. Most stuff available on the web belongs to the former category and is of little use.

[jazzcorner]

 

 

[Bluesnik]

1 hour ago, jazzcorner said:

That could really be of interest to me. Apart from that Graham Marsh is a name to be reckoned with.

[Big Beat Steve]

12 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

That could really be of interest to me. Apart from that Graham Marsh is a name to be reckoned with.

I bought it at the time it came out. And honestly, I was a bit underwhelmed. On the one hand, the cover artwork selected is a bit latter-day-ish - very little from before the early 60s (blues LPs may have been comparatively rare then but not THAT rare) - and the selection of the labels and styles of artwork is a bit lopsided too to my tastes. The lack of any "theme" layout fo the contents does not help either. But above all, the selection of the major part of the artists is rather old hat and overly tradtion-minded to those who appreciate the ENTIRE spectrum of "da blooz" . It's as if the authors in most cases had decided "if the artist would not have been invited to The American Folk Blues Festival tour he ain't no bluesman". Not that I would have wanted 60s/70s "white blues" albums in it but there would have been a fair bit of R&B-ish albums and their cover art to feast your eyes on. (Nothing at all from King or Savoy, for example, was included, and as the authors did go into the reissue years there would have been plenty more labels to consider).

[Bluesnik]

Thanks for the helpful views.

And, apart from that, Graham Marsh is the compiler, together with Glyn Callingham, of an excellent BN cover book I have. And also of California Cool, again with Callingham. So you could say he's specialized in cover books, which are generally very good.

[jazzcorner]

18 minutes ago, Bluesnik said:

Thanks for the helpful views.

And, apart from that, Graham Marsh is the compiler, together with Glyn Callingham, of an excellent BN cover book I have. And also of California Cool, again with Callingham. So you could say he's specialized in cover books, which are generally very good.

Full agreemernt from here and have all the books you did mention + 2 more (sountracks + East Coast labels)

[Big Beat Steve]

3 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

And, apart from that, Graham Marsh is the compiler, together with Glyn Callingham, of an excellent BN cover book I have. And also of California Cool, again with Callingham. So you could say he's specialized in cover books, which are generally very good.

No doubt, considering his other books such as California Cool and East Coasting that follow relatively clear-cut lines. So it is all the more unfortunate IMO that his Blues cover art book is rather unfocused (except for the disproportionate accent on Prestige blues subsidiaries) and has so many blind spots. As if somebody had thrown together his (no doubt substantial but very personally colored) blues record collection and took pics of the covers and then lined them up at random. The field he set out to cover in the Blues covers book just is too wide NOT to have any structure - or maybe even one along the lines of the Jazzical Moods book - not the same categories, of course, but a set of categories that do telll a story across the wide field of the blues).

[jazzcorner]

Found this one recently on my shelves