Tony Higgins & Mike Peden J Jazz: Free and Modern Jazz From Japan 1954-1988

[Rabshakeh]

Does anyone have access to a list of the albums featured in Tony Higgins’ & Mike Peden’s coffee table book J Jazz: Free and Modern Jazz From Japan 1954-1988?

[mjazzg]

'Fraid not, I resisted buying it, too much visual content and not enough text and I don't have a coffee table

[Rabshakeh]

4 hours ago, mjazzg said:

'Fraid not, I resisted buying it, too much visual content and not enough text and I don't have a coffee table

I am anti coffee tables and coffee table books too. But I would like to know if there were any LPs featured that I am missing.

[clifford_thornton]

Ha. There is an insane amount of stuff in there and more than a few records I'd never seen or heard of, so I'd imagine you're missing some of it as well.

Beautiful book and a true labor of love.

[mjazzg]

Yes indeed, I'd be looking to see if I had any of them rather than missing them.

I seriously thought about getting it but then thought what purpose would it really serve other than something similar to the old playground "got, not got" with football cards.

I felt the same about the big Brit Jazz book that was published recently. There's enough online resources available to see covers these days

[clifford_thornton]

yes, true, but in the long run print will outlive the internet as we know it. Websites go away but the image on the page will certainly last.

[mjazzg]

I don't disagree, you're talking to an ex librarian. Which also means I have a tight acquisitions policy...rather an art catalogue or monograph in that space than a book of album covers (not that they're not necessarily art too).

And with 30 years at best left on this earth I'm reckoning enough online resources will hang about for me if I do have an obi urge

[clifford_thornton]

aha! Yes, librarian/archivist here too (and looking for new employment! fun!). I would say, too, that the Sun Ra book might have more valid space in compact shelving than the J-Jazz book, even with a university acquisitions budget...

[Niko]

thanks! your conversation reminded me that yesterday I did order a book about record covers (this one, in Dutch) and that the confirmation/payment email probably landed in my spam... which it did (that book was available on archive.org for a while, maybe still is, focus is on cover art of Dutch editions in the 50s and 60s, a lot of it jazz... and what is actually nice is that it's written by someone from he cover design industry who felt like he'd participated in something special... so it's a bit like the book that Tom Hannan, Reid Miles and all those people never wrote afaik)

for the record, I did get the Sun Ra book, and even though it's a wonderful object I don't think I really needed it after all ... it won't make me buy better records... the brit jazz book was a bit tempting but not quite as much as the J Jazz one... will definitely regret not getting the J Jazz book at some point down the road... the question is how much, and so far the risk seemed manageable... Good look on your job search!

[mjazzg]

Yes, good luck on the job hunt

[clifford_thornton]

thanks, consulting for now but it is not my preferred option. I suppose a lot of these reference books are like beautiful boxed sets -- great looking on the shelf and for a few flips, but not regularly out of the racks.

[Niko]

good one, with box sets, I've known for quite a while that they don't work for me, with those fancy books learning is a bit slower

[mjazzg]

Other way round for me. I can resist the large format books but wave a nice box set in front of me and I'm all yours (even though I know I don't listen to them enough).