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 July 1 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 July 3 by Big Beat Steve

[jazzcorner]

Have the complete series as reissues &  japanese reissues so the singles and EP's are not of greater Interest for me. 

The series has 15 volumes.

Sampler (JWC)      The Hard Swing JWC-508        1955-57       World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      The sound of Bigband Jazz in Hi-Fi JWC-514          1955-57       World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      Jazz Coast Jazz , Vol. 2 JWC-501      1955/56          Jazz West Coast(jap)

Sampler (JWC)      Rogers and Hart Gems (Baker/Kitty White) JWC-504          1956  Jazz West Coast(jap)

Sampler (JWC)      Have Blues, Will Travel The Blues Vol 2 JWC-509          1956-58       World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      Jazz West Coast Jazz Vol. III JWC-507     1956/57          Jazz West Coast(jap)

Sampler (JWC)      Jazz Pianists Galore JWC-506  1957  Jazz West Coast(jap)

Sampler (JWC)      Solo Flight - Jazz West Coast 505     1957  Pacific Jazz

Sampler (JWC)      Jazz West Coast (Anthology) JWC 500       1957          World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      The Blues JWC-502        1957  World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      The Blues in Stereo JWC-513   1957-59       World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      Jazz West Coast Vol 4 JWC-510        1958  World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      Blowin`The Blues JWC-512       1959  World Pacific Rec.

Sampler (JWC)      West Coast Jazz Vol. 5 JWC-511        1959  World Pacific Rec.

 

Edited August 10 by jazzcorner
text

[Big Beat Steve]

4 hours ago, jazzcorner said:

Have the complete series as reissues &  japanese reissues so the singles and EP's are not of greater Interest for me. 

 

That's all very well, but to me they ARE (of interest).
Tastes and interests differ, you know ...

LPs are a different topic and have been covered in extenso in numerous publications (and FWIW were not the target or subject of this thread anyway).

But EPs are part of the way the music was marketed at the time as well. And they were overlooked for no good reason.  Thankfully James Harrod set the record(s - literally ) straight.

[romualdo]

14 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

That's all very well, but to me they ARE (of interest).

IIRC some of the EP tracks were different takes of the LP versions

[jazzcorner]

20 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

That's all very well, but to me they ARE (of interest).
Tastes and interests differ, you know ...

LPs are a different topic and have been covered in extenso in numerous publications (and FWIW were not the target or subject of this thread anyway). 

But EPs are part of the way the music was marketed at the time as well. And they were overlooked for no good reason.  Thankfully James Harrod set the record(s - literally ) straight.

Well I know that   ;-} .... and thanks for your initial contribution with that mass of Information.

BTW the 'LP version' is also found in the threat title thats why I jumped on it.

 Different Interests is quite 'normal' among human beeings. But we may have the same or similar taste for West Coast Jazz so no difference at least there.

I'm subscribed to Jim Harrods works too.

If you are most interested in the history of these West Coast Jazz EP's its fine with me. But to get them all together seems rather a big problem for me even looking at Discogs or Jims listings. In the end the music is what counts [for me.]  😁 

WB

 

Edited August 11 by jazzcorner
more text

[Big Beat Steve]

@Romualdo:
I do not have the details on hand but this indeed seems to be so (if I remember correctly what James Harrod explained on his site). And in some cases the tracks were edited (truncated) on the EPs to fit them onto these 45s.

@Jazzcorner:
Of course in the end it is just the music that it's all about. My point was just that these EPs pressed in Europe back then are an intriguing side aspect of these JWC sampler releases (and their marketing history) that merits some exploration (in my opinion). I referred to the JWC LPs in the title of my thread simply because the FIVE SAMPLER LPs titled specifically "Jazz West Coast" and their contents were the starting point for my question about which of their contents were also released on EPs culled from THESE LPs. (The "other"  Pacific Jazz EPs were an afterthought)
So IMO dwelling on what LPs there were overall (this was discussed before in another thread) and stating what LPs one owns seems a bit beside the point to me in THIS thread.

[romualdo]

On 6/25/2024 at 1:51 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

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 ...

 

I've had an Australian pressing (similar to the UK ie through Vogue) of the first JWC (500) LP for quite a few years - I've never seen aussie pressings of any of the other LPs in the series though they may actually exist

[Big Beat Steve]

Just did a quick check on Discogs:

Indeed - Discogs does list the Australian pressing for Vol. 1 (LAEA 12038), but no Australian ones for Vols. 2 and 3. (Haven't looked for Vols 4 and 5 yet)