Guide to Pacific, Contemporary and Fantasy Records (Jazz Label Guide No. 3; Episode 327)

[@andresardao1800]

I am watching the whole series, to my ears it is much better than anything on Netflix has ever put out...

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks! Glad you enjoy them. A new one about to drop in the next few days.

[@psychesoap]

Other than the unbelievably low volume on the vocal mic, this video is essential to everyone, from the novice and the remedial to the academic and the intellectual, that are interested in this subgenre in jazz. Learning one view at a time. Excellent.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thank you! Yes I was struggling with EQ issues at this point. Have had some pro bono help from an expert since… and a technology upgrade is in the works! I’m glad you enjoyed the video and appreciate the kind words.

[@dlove2830]

You could charge tuition for these invaluable lectures...truly a treasure for the jazz aficionado looking for context within the zeitgeist of post WWII jazz.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Just saw this comment which I missed somehow at the time. Thanks very much!

[@thejunglistmeow]

Your label series is awesome. Would love for you to do a video on ECM. Recently picked up Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert for a buck at a garage sale alongside another free jazz album released through ECM. Haven't had the time to do hefty research on them but I hope to do so soon!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thank you. At some point I will. Still some heavyweights to go...

[@kcydm9725]

Great third episode !! Your jazz label series is fantastic, please keep up the great work.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks very much. They're fun to do, if a little time-consuming :-).

[@mortofon]

Another formidable label overview that will get saved into my 'resource' playlist. Thanks, Allan.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks. Now have Riverside, Prestige and Blue Note in my sights, though each of those is a separate venture.

[@donaldingram9327]

Absolutely fabulous. I'm working my way through your label series. As I am approaching 90, I'm aware of how many of those early records I bought and still have. No children or grandkids who appreciate jazz. Hearing starting to go, so it's time for me to think of valuation and disposition of my collection. Parker on original 10" Dial,, for example. How do I go about it? Too bad I can't monetize some 😊of my personal experiences with some of the musicians of the late 50s. Thanks for the education. An interesting fact is that all of my college roommates were collecting, My closest friend from that period has at least 10 times the amount of early vinyl as me. All three of us are still healthy and competent. The benefits of listening to and thinking about jazz. Thanks again for your presentations.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks. I’m really glad to hear you enjoy these. I’d be happy to offer you some pro bono advice on the jazz resale market if you wish, as some of what you have I expect is quite valuable (but you’d need a strategy of sorts). Send me an email if you’d like to chat (you can find the email link in the channel description, may have to click about a bit to find it).

[@djjoeykmusic]

Great video! I had to watch it again. So much information. Well done. Thank you so much

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sonhouse9636]

Wondeful channel, essential. Thanks!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thank you 🙏. I’m glad you enjoy it.

[@dreaboi]

These are so good. Love watching your stuff.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thank you David. These ones are fun to do but take time. I appreciate the feedback.

[@dreaboi]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews they’re especially good as 201 level courses, of which there really isn’t much out there. Did you ever listen to the late Phil Schaap? He was like a post-grad level, but his WKCR broadcasts served as an introduction to me in the 90s. I uploaded a show, but many of his shows are posted on his website.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

@@dreaboi No I haven't, but will investigate. My videos are limited to a certain depth due to me not having much formal musical training, just being a fan. That's also why I tend not to spend too much time on the "review" part of my regular reviews. Sometimes I will dig into the specifics of the music but only where I have thought about it for a while - as you suggest, there are others out there who are grad-school level lol and I am quite happy to stay in my lane.

[@dreaboi]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews ok, I’m gonna upload another Phil Schaap broadcast; you’re gonna get a kick out of it. He doesn’t get into theory-but his obsessiveness on detail is so over the top, it’s alternatively educational, funny and maddening. 4 hour broadcast covering a single Bird recording session? Of course. Lol.

[@7and12inchvinyl]

As usual impeccable commentary this is definitely in my top five KZbin watchable channels

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks very much Paul, and I'm glad you are enjoying them.

[@jeffreysobczynski7113]

Great episode - thanks for your diligent work and glad to have you back after your well-deserved break. I love the Curtis Amy records on Pacific Jazz.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks very much - yes they seemed to get the best out of him before he disappeared into session land.

[@echinopsritro]

I really enjoyed this overview of three West Coast labels. I learned quite a bit, added a few titles to my wish list. Great work, as always! In addition to Ted Gioia's great book, West Coast Jazz, that you mention, I wanted to recommend to you---if you haven't read them already---and others the following books: Central Avenue Sounds, which is a superb collection of essays and oral histories focused on Los Angeles in the 1940s/50s; Jazz on the Barbary Coast, a fascinating record of pre-World War II era jazz in San Francisco; and two of my favorite jazz memoirs, Hampton Hawes's Rise Up Off Me and Art Pepper's Straight Life. I also want to bring your attention a really well done dissertation on Vince Guaraldi---you can find the presentation with performance here on KZbin, "The Guaraldi Sound - A Lecture-Recital about Vince Guaraldi" and the dissertation is linked for download with superb musical analysis of a figure who is unfortunately dismissed as lightweight by the jazz intelligentsia. As a New York City native, I used to dismiss West Coast jazz for many of the reasons you touch on in the beginning of your presentation, but over the years I've become rather entranced by the range of diversity and experimentation happening in the '50s and '60s. New York at that time, by contrast, seems a little less inspired and Blue Note offerings, in particular, begin to sound redundant. As a pianist, I love the work of Hampton Hawes, Carl Perkins, and Pete Jolly. Three absolute powerhouses! And I have to nominate Harold Land's "Harold in the Land of Jazz" with the Watts Towers in the background as my favorite West Coast cover art.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Wow, that's tremendous. Thanks for all of this. I've not come across those two histories. I've read bits of Straight Life but not the whole thing. And that dissertation (with musical demonstrations! amazing) looks like a great watch. Saw a few minutes just now and will dip in on the weekend. I've had the same trajectory re WCJ. Wrote it off as a young fella when all I knew was "Brubeck and other white guys" but that was ignorance pure and simple. Increasingly fascinated by the whole scene. And spending too much on Contemporary first pressings these days!

[@carrion_man3700]

Great label series. Definitely learning. I'm using your videos to supplement my own reading. Finished The House that Coltrane Built. Looking at a Blue Note book now... Thanks!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thank you - I'm glad you're finding them useful.

[@djjoeykmusic]

Awesome Video! Thank you so much!! Happy New Year!!!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Same to you Joey and thank you.

[@chesnut72]

Another awesome video! Thanks!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Glad you enjoyed this one.

[@cgwilliamsjazzpiano3000]

Appreciate you taking the time to put these together. Very well done, as are your reviews. As much as I love classic East Coast jazz, in the proverbial desert island situation, having to choose either the stack of Bluenotes, Prestige or the stack of Pacific, Contemporary- I'd be happier spending the rest of my days with the West Coast offerings.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Yes that's a tough one. Who's your favourite keyboardist of the west coast crowd?

[@cgwilliamsjazzpiano3000]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews I think on most days I'd answer Hampton Hawes, though Russ Freeman was no slouch. On some level it was probably Vince Guaraldi that started my jazz love affair way back in childhood and I still enjoy his stuff quite a bit. Now that I think about it though there were relatively fewer great keyboardists out west compared to NYC, DET, CHI.

[@djjoeykmusic]

You need to do a video on RCA and Columbia records. Awesome job! Thank you

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks Joey. Will definitely get to those, but likely not until next year.

[@djjoeykmusic]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews Sounds good. Have a wonderful one

[@djjoeykmusic]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews Great job!!!

[@berduss7149]

very educational and interesting !!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@edwardevans652]

FANTASTIC video and thank you very much for the deep dive West Coast Jazz history lesson. I’m a huge fan of Curtis Amy and thanks to my Dad, I still have his copy of Amy’s “Tippin' on Through” and I grabbed that Tone Poet grail record, “Katanga.” Hopefully the label will give us “Way Down” in the near future. I assume as tolerance grew, it was more financially sound for Amy to join an integrated musician’s union in L.A. and do more session work. LOVE his solo in The Doors “Touch Me” single. The band were Jazz fans and reverentially, lifted music from popular Jazz and Blues artists. “Touch Me” is the Wall Of Sound record that turns into a Soul Jazz jam.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks very much Edward. Interesting re Amy and The Doors - I didn't realize that was him. Have to re-listen to that track with him in mind!

[@edwardevans652]

Amy really cooks on the outro solo and Densmore who is a huge fan of Elvin Jones, does a nice job switching to a Jazzy groove to compliment Curtis’ playing. Amy is also on Carole King’s “Tapestry.”

[@davidmathias6879]

Read about Buddy Collette and his role in integrating the musicians' unions.

[@jazzbumsmike]

Wow thats what good time jazz is. I search for Roy Dunann credited records on Discogs and those titles come up a lot and I had no clue about the origins. Good to know!

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

And I didn't know that he also did work on GTJ as well! Interesting, thanks.

[@geoffnelson4777]

Respecrfully, I think the pronounciations are TUFF not TOUFF and BESHAY not BECHETTE. Very well done presentation; well researched.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

I have heard both versions of Bechet, but I suspect you are right on both counts. Cheers!

[@mortofon]

It's nice to see both Pacific and Contemporary get some much-deserved audiophile series attention by the likes of Blue Note Tone Poet, Analogue Productions, Craft and others, but if I've got a clean Roy DuNann original (or even an early OJC), I'm not fussed about the re-issues.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Couldn't agree more. 80s OJCs seem incredible value for money, in particular. Though the collector / snob / obsessive in me is only truly happy with an original pressing.

[@djjoeykmusic]

I am on the hunt for Sonny Rollins- out west and Vince Guaraldi black orpheus. Great job! I like your ring. What is it? Class ring? Thank you and have a wonderful one

[@edwardevans652]

@ Joey Kaleniecki “Way Out West” will be released in a new 3-LP, 3-CD by Craft Recordings called “Go West!” in June. Included in the set will be “Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders” and a disc with alt tracks.

[@djjoeykmusic]

@@edwardevans652 Hello Edward, Thank you so much. I will look in to that. Wonderful news. Thank you and have a wonderful one

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

There's a VG+ '65 pressing on Discogs for $15 at the moment. Carpe diem :) www.discogs.com/sell/list?year1=1962&year2=1965&master_id=157843&ev=mb&format=Vinyl&sort=price%2Casc&condition=Very+Good+Plus+%28VG%2B%29

[@djjoeykmusic]

@@TenMinuteRecordReviews Thank you so much! Have a wonderful Alan! Blessings

[@50l12]

I'm a lot more inclined towards west coast jazz and I'm not entirely sure why, great informative video

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Thanks. West coast stuff can definitely be its own thing. I used not to give it the time of day. Lately it’s what I collect most frequently. It’s also easier on your balance!

[@mymixture965]

I agree totally to your comments on Contemporary, to me these Contemporary records Roy Dunan did, are as good or even better than Blue Note. I try to buy as much as I can now, because when more and more collectors get to know them, they will go up. I have about 3/4 of the 3500 series and half of the 3600 series, great records and still available to a good price.

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Agreed. Great music, stellar sound, still mostly affordable other than a few titles.

[@AndreasSchmidtHappens]

yes. i also as much as possible buy CONTEMPORARY LP´s. actually i try FIRST PRESS only. stereo if stereo. mono, if only mono. did you have a final thought on the STAMPERS ?! some LP´s never had D1 D1 ? can that be ? and why not ? or ALL had also D1 D1 ? which i can not believe. do you have the three HAMPTON HAWES trio LP´s ? are they all three D1 D1 ? not mine. yes, i have SOME D1 D1 which nowhere is mentioned as D1 D1. sure i have a lot of D1 D1, but even discogs has tham in D1 D1. sure the COVER gives anyway indication if it is first press. on the back, the adress. you have the SONNY ROLLINS with hampton hawes in D1 D1 ? or the ORNETTE COLEMAN with walter norris in D1 D1 ? both exist in D1 D1, but i still not have a D1 D1 version. ..... all the best from berlin, germany. andreas schmidt. jazz pianist.

[@mymixture965]

@@AndreasSchmidtHappens Sorry, I have no answer. To me Contemporary is one of the few labels where you can buy early stereos. Normally I stick to mono because I have a dedicated mono system. Wolfgang Pointner - Jazz guitarist. Vielleicht geign wir mal zusammen Herr Kollege 🙂

[@AndreasSchmidtHappens]

@@mymixture965 DANKE fürs schnelles feedback ! and yes sure a mono system makes mono record needed. the thing with that FIRST PRESS nerdy thing is, that for example the three HAMPTON HAWES trio LP´s i have are first press mono. but not sure. as non has the D1 D1 stampers, which "should" be there, if first press. well well well ...... hab grad INNER URGE duo mit "bruder" gehört. yeah ! super lines + groovy. wenn du mal in berlin bist. ich spiele jeden montag im jazz club a.trane. just sit in !

[@mymixture965]

@@AndreasSchmidtHappens Ich werde es mir notieren, kann schon sein dass ich da mal auftauche. Ein paar meiner Ex Studenten leben dort, kennst zufällig Paul Santner?

[@rorysuire6177]

Credence Clearwater Revival had the best jazz albums that were released on Fantasy in my opinion

[@TenMinuteRecordReviews]

Hmmm!