Is there a COMPREHENSIVE "Jazz West Coast" sampler LP discography?

[Big Beat Steve]

The recent discussions of 10" LPs and 45 rpm EPs on another thread prompted me to raise a question in the same vein:

Is there a truly comprehensive discography somewhere (online) that not only gives an overview of all the five Jazz West Coast sampler LPs on Pacific Jazz but also their foreign releases (UK Vogue and French Swing pressings have different catalog numbers) as well as the 45 rpm EPs culled from them?
Checking my collection a moment ago, I pulled out 45 rpm EPs of Vols. 3 and 4 from those JWC samplers (German pressings by the German license holder), figuring they were excerpts (i.e. single EPs) presenting selected tracks from each LP. But on looking closer at the back of the sleeves I see that both are marked "Vol. 2". So there must have been more covering the contents of each LP.
So it would be interesting to see which EPs actually existed. General discographies (e.g. Bruyninckx) are of not much help because i) EPs aren't always listed, given the multitude of LP and CD releases and reissues that fill the columns in the discographies anyway, and ii) checking all the artists entries from the LP one by one in a discography to see if any artist's tracks from one of these albums are also on a 45 is a long-winding affair. And Discogs is spotty and hit-and-miss too.

In short, I wonder if any discographer has ever gone to the trouble of documenting all these formats including foreign releases with that degree of detail.

(Paging Mr James Harrod now ... )

 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

This has some: https://www.jazzdisco.org/pacific-jazz-records/catalog-jazz-west-coast-series/album-index/

[Big Beat Steve]

Thanks, I had been aware of that site. But this does not show any release info except the original (first) one. And those ads strewn all over the site are a HUGE nuisance!

[JSngry]

Try reaching out to board member James Harrod.

[Daniel A]

I realize that this is not what you're asking for, but it might be interesting for other reasons. (These posts are somewhat buried at James Harrod's site)

https://jazzresearch.com/tag/wp-45-77800-88000-labels/

[Big Beat Steve]

Thanks everyone. I've sent a PM to "JamesAHarrod". And as for the 45 rpm listings on Jazzresearch, these 45s look like they are more recent than what I am looking for, but yes - it's interesting reading anyway.

Edited June 25 by Big Beat Steve

[Big Beat Steve]

Just in case anyone's interested:

It was a pleasure to receive not only a speedy reply by James Harrod (thanks agian, James!) but also a lot of profound information that cleared up a great deal of details for me.
And I was pleased to be able to return the favors by sending a couple of EP details and cover/label scans to James that so far had been missing from his listings.

To summarize the gist of the subject of these EP releases of the contents of the five Jazz West Coast LPs, what is known so far is this:

The EPs released by Pacific Jazz in the USA fizzled out much earlier than European EP releases (the European markets hung on to EPs for quite a bit longer as LPs were really expensive here and not easily affordable for the average jazz fan. So it made sense to market the LP contents in EP form - either for purchase in several instalments or as individual excerpts to give the customers a taster of the LP).

EPs for the European markets essentially came from three license holders:
- Among the numerous EPs relased by Vogue (UK) of Pacific Jazz sessions there was at least one EP (EPV 1195) with excerpts form Jazz West Coast Vol. 1.

- The German license holder "Ton-Treu Schallplatten" ("True Tone" - their name figured only in the small print on the labels and covers, and their pressings were marketed outside Germany as well) released at least two dozen EPs with Pacific Jazz and Good Time Jazz tracks, including several covering the Jazz West Coast samplers:
--There were three EPs (EP4-59, EP4-78 and EP4-79) that covered the contents of JWC LP Vol. 4.
--Vol. 3 may also have been covered by three EPs; however, only two (marked Part 1 and Part 2, EP 4-48 and EP4-76) have been documented. The third one may hide among the handful of catalog numbers in this series of which details are as yet unknown (they do not figure on Discogs either).
--Vol. 2 may also have been given the treatment with 3 EPs. But again, only two (EP4-52 and EP4-75) are documented.
--I am not aware of EPs for the Vol. 1 and Vol. 5 EPs, and none figure in the list established by James Harrod.

I think, BTW, that some of the lengthier tracks on the JWC LPs may have been edited and shortened by Dick Bock for release on the EPs.

- Interdisc, another license holder (operating out of Italy as far as I have been able to find out) operated concurrently with Ton-Treu and released their own EPs with catalog numbers that are "similar" to the Ton-Treu pressings (e.g. Interdisc WP-5475 matches the contents of Ton-Treu EP4-75). Again the contents covered all of Vol. 4 and possibly all of Vol. 3 and Vol. 2 (but not all three EPs for each of the latter two LPs are documented). In total at least 7 Interdisc EPs featuring music from the JWC sampler LPs were released.
But their covers (artwork and info) are a mess: Their artwork used the musician drawing of the Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 LPs (and the "Jazz West Coast" William Claxton folio)  and they did not reference the LP volumes the contents were excerpted from but were numbered consecutively from "Part 1" at least to "Part 6" and possibly beyond. So it is not easy to identify the provenance of thier contents at a glance.

By 1962 Pacific Jazz/World Pacific LPs were handled by a different distriubtor in Germany, but I am not aware of any PJ/WP EPs bearing his imprint.

Edited Monday at 04:06 PM by Big Beat Steve

[mikeweil]

James is da man for all things West Coast.

[Big Beat Steve]

No doubt.

[Big Beat Steve]

One more detail to add/correct: The INTERDISC distribution company was not based in Italy but in Switzerland. It was their pressing plants (and record sleeve printers) that were based in Italy.
Thanks to James Harrod for providing this info.

Edited 12 hours ago by Big Beat Steve