Jazz Heritage Society corner

[GA Russell]

Many of us are members of Your Music and BMG, but I don't think I have ever seen anything written about the Jazz Heritage Society, so I thought I would start a corner to discuss what they have to offer. Perhaps some will join because of it.

I received in the mail a couple of months ago an offer from them. Today I took the plunge. Buy 7 for 99 cents each plus shipping. Shipping amount isn't stated. No further obligation. Cancel membership after 90 days.

Listen to discs for 30 days (10 days for initial 7 discs) and return them if not satisfied.

Negative option plan. (Get sent a disc if you don't tell them you don't want it.) Newsletter with offer comes 18 times a year. Decline by mail, phone or website.

You have to be a member to access their website to see what they have available. Nearly all of the 88 discs offered in the mailing were from the 50s and 60s.

The seven I chose were:

Cal Tjader - Soul Sauce

Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers

Stan Kenton - Cuban Fire

Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley

Erroll Garner - Concert By the Sea

Getz/Gilberto

The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow

I think that the Silver and Getz/Gilberto are the only ones available from BMG/Your Music. I estimate that less than two dozen of the 88 offered are available from BMG/Your Music.

I got the LP of Getz/Gilberto years ago. It's been packed away for a long time, and I can't remember when the last time I heard it was. The others are new to me.

They also sell DVDs and twofers. A friend has a twofer of Stan Getz: Cool Velvet and Voices.

I'll let you know what I think after the initial package arrives.

[Aggie87]

I think their CD's used to have different packaging than "normal". Like maybe only black and white covers?

[GA Russell]

Aggie, my friend's Stan Getz twofer has a different cover. But his 32Jazz Jazz for a Rainy Day series have the original covers.

PS - All but one of the 88 choices in the material I received appear to have the original cover.

Edited January 31, 2007 by GA Russell

[GA Russell]

I just noticed this thread about the JHS:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...amp;hl=Heritage

My package arrived today. It looks like times have changed from what others' experience has been. Of my seven CDs, six appear to be brick and mortar editions, except for the JHS barcode. The Garner appears to be the straight brick and mortar edition.

They appear to have been in their inventory for years. The Silver is the 1987 McMaster. The Getz/Gilberto is the one that was part of Verve's Desert Island Disc promotion of 2000. The Garner is a "Columbia Jazz Masterpiece" with the blue border.

Let's look at the price. The total bill is $23.67. That comes to $3.38 each including shipping. Not bad. The shipping charge is $16.74 for the lot, with no indication of how it was calculated.

I remember receiving my first package from BMG ten years ago. The initial offer was "Buy One, Get Unlimited Half Off". A friend who was a member told me that that was their worst price. I found over time that BMG would offer me lower prices, perhaps depending on how often I bought something.

This package included a New Member catalogue. So I'm suspicious that it too is offering the club's worst prices. The catalogue offers 200 selections, with the majority priced at $8.49. The current offer is free shipping for orders over $29.00.

A few that look interesting at that price are:

The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology - Le Voyage (2 CDs for $17.99)

Charles Brown - These Blues

Milt Jackson & John Coltrane - Bags & Trane

Pete Fountain - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans (2 CDs for $16.99)

Sarah Vaughan - The Roulette Years Vols. 1 & 2

Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - Sing a Song of Basie

Bud Shank and Laurindo Almeida - Brazilliance, Vol. 2

Buddy Rich - Keep the Customer Satisfied

Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago

Sonny Rollins DVD - Saxophone Colossus ($21.98)

As stated above, I can listen to this batch for ten days (30 days for future orders) and then return them. I imagine that there are going to be people who burn a copy and then return everything. So I have to think that they will cut you off if you get in the habit of returning CDs.

No credit (except this initial offering). Payment must be made in advance by check or credit card.

My feeling is that $8.49 isn't a bad price for anything I actually want; but being used to Your Music's price for two years, if I'm going to take a flyer on something I'm not sure about, I won't be using the JHS to do it.

On the other hand, the initial mailing stated that their selection of jazz CDs is larger than that of any other record club. So after I have had the opportunity to scour the website, I will have a better idea of to what extent I want what they have to offer.

By the way, both the initial offer and the New Members catalogue were heavy with 50s Verve.

[Jim R]

I think their CD's used to have different packaging than "normal". Like maybe only black and white covers?

Aggie, my friend's Stan Getz twofer has a different cover. But his 32Jazz Jazz for a Rainy Day series have the original covers.

PS - All but one of the 88 choices in the material I received appear to have the original cover.

I've come across dozens (maybe hundreds) of JHR CD's in used bins over the years, and they always had black & white covers. 99% of the time, I already had the real deal, so I never bought one.

[Noj]

FWIW, I've been a member for a few years and none of the cds I bought from them have black & white covers.

[GA Russell]

I received an email today with a number of CDs listed for $4.98, including:

Chet Baker Quartet Live, vol. 3 (Mosaic material)

Chris Potter - Traveling Mercies

Gerry Mulligan - What is There to Say?

Terence Blanchard - Wandering Moon

Claude Bolling Big Band - Jazz Brunch

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - Everybody's Boppin'

Gene Harris & the Three Sounds - Live at the It Club, vol. 2

Branford Marsalis - I Heard You Twice the First Time

Ken Burns Jazz - Thelonious Monk

[GA Russell]

OK, I have just gone to the website and have seen a number of more for $4.98 that look interesting, including quite a number of Oscar Petersons for those of you who like him; and

Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland vols. 1 & 2; Moanin', all RVG

Paul Desmond - Two of a Mind, Late Lament, Easy Living

Horace Silver - Song for My Father and Cape Verdean Blues, both RVG

Keith Jarrett - Standards, vols. 1 & 2

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz (Didn't I read here the other day that some of you guys wished this were still available?)

[Dave Garrett]

OK, I have just gone to the website and have seen a number of more for $4.98 that look interesting, including quite a number of Oscar Petersons for those of you who like him; and

Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland vols. 1 & 2; Moanin', all RVG

Paul Desmond - Two of a Mind, Late Lament, Easy Living

Horace Silver - Song for My Father and Cape Verdean Blues, both RVG

Keith Jarrett - Standards, vols. 1 & 2

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz (Didn't I read here the other day that some of you guys wished this were still available?)

They frequently offer these kinds of deals via email and on the website. I get at least two emails a week from them, on average. This past weekend, I ordered:

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz

Ramsey Lewis - Sun Goddess

Lou Rawls - Live!

all for $4.98 each. I can't remember their shipping cost breakdown, but it's usually a lot more reasonable than BMG's.

A couple of other comments. Many of their discs used to have the black-and-white insert art, but they seem to have moved away from that for most discs in the past few years - it's been quite a while since I received a disc from them that didn't have the same art as the retail version. And I think the "no credit, payment in advance" thing may be a function of how long you've been a member - I always have a "bill me" option when I place an order on their website.

[GA Russell]

I ordered two CDs today:

Michel Legrand - Legrand Jazz

Cal Tjader & Eddie Palmieri - El Sonido Nuevo

Both were $4.98. The shipping charge is $5.48, making the total $15.44, or $7.72 each.

We'll see how long it takes for them to arrive.

[GA Russell]

I received my Legrand and Tjader order today. I guess ten days isn't too bad. That's three days more than what my Your Music orders usually take.

The Tjader has a b&w cover. Its tray card is also b&w. It appears to have been in their inventory since 1998. I would definitely prefer color, but at the price I can't complain. CD Universe has the album for six dollars more - $10.65 plus shipping.

edit for typo

Edited March 30, 2007 by GA Russell

[GA Russell]

I received this notice today. With the price of postage going up, the Shipping & Handling charge will be going up effective May 14.

First CD: $2.99

Second CD: $2.89

CDs #3-6: $2.69 each

CD 7 and after: $0.99 each

An extra charge of $.99 is added to each additional unit in multi-unit sets.

[Kyo]

I just received the second Jazz Heritage CD in recent years - the first being a copy

of the "Addlerley Brothers - Summer of '55" Savoy two-fer that wasnt too bad. The

new one is a copy of Jimmy Smith's The Master with crappy black & white artwork - WTF?

I find it amazing that a company would even offer something like that. Unlike the other

item (where I read it was a Jazz Heritage release and simply didn't know what that meant),

this time there was no mention of them in the item description.

We Europeans had to deal with those lame ZYX Fantasy digipacks and "special" remastering.

I guess this is the kind of non-regular edition surprise you have to live with in in the US...

Edited February 5, 2008 by Kyo

[Dan Gould]

I just received the second Jazz Heritage CD in recent years - the first being a copy

of the "Addlerley Brothers - Summer of '55" Savoy two-fer that wasnt too bad. The

new one is a copy of Jimmy Smith's The Master with crappy black & white artwork - WTF?

I find it amazing that a company would even offer something like that. Unlike the other

item (where I read it was a Jazz Heritage release and simply didn't know what that meant),

this time there was no mention of them in the item description.

We Europeans had to deal with those lame ZYX Fantasy digipacks and "special" remastering.

I guess this is the kind of non-regular edition surprise you have to live in in the US...

All of their licensed releases had black & white covers - probably part of how they keep costs down. Or maybe how the licensing companies wanted to keep them from competing with their own reissues. You want a beautiful cover? Buy ours. If you want the music, cheap, buy theirs.

[Kyo]

All of their licensed releases had black & white covers

Certainly not, an example would be the Adderley two-fer that I mentioned - only

the plain layout of the discographical info pages of the booklet and the back inlay

looks rather cheap, otherwise it's fine and a real alternative to the real Savoy CDs.

[Dan Gould]

All of their licensed releases had black & white covers

Certainly not, an example would be the Adderley two-fer that I mentioned - only

the plain layout of the discographical info pages of the booklet and the back inlay

looks rather cheap, otherwise it's fine and a real alternative to the real Savoy CDs.

Well everything that I ever received was in black & white.

[Chuck Nessa]

I have some color ones too.

[GA Russell]

Looking at their monthly catalogues, I get the impression that they haven't issued any CDs with black and white covers since 2000, to pick a round number.

Unlike BMG, whose items are routinely discontinued, I get the impression that they continue to carry the CDs made for them until they sell every one; and that they have been selling many of their currently-available CDs for over ten years.

For example, I bought last year a copy of Getz/Gilberto whose cover design was part of a series Verve released about 2000.

I have one black and white CD which bothers me, even though I know it is silly to allow it to do so. It is the Cal Tjader/Eddie Palmieri album El Sonido Nuevo. That album has a beautiful cover with orange and yellow, and the black and white photo puts a damper on the mood. But the CD itself sounds great on my system.

[gmonahan]

Can any JHS subscribers tell me how many of the old Mainstreams they contracted to reissue are still available? I'm thinking particularly of the Sarah Vaughan early 70s Mainstreams. I've been on a Sarah Vaughan kick lately, and, while I have the Tokyo Concert and the Michel Legrand/Vaughan cd (both found in JHS editions), I'm wondering if any of her others were issued and are available. Thanks in advance!

Greg M.

[GA Russell]

I cancelled my membership tonight. I only placed a couple of orders over the time I was a member.

There was always an album or two in each catalogue that appealled to me, but by and large the selection wasn't compelling, and the prices weren't motivating.

[GA Russell]

Today I received an email from JHS saying that I would no longer be required to decline the monthly offer.

So if they want to spend money sending me their newsletter each month, I don't care.

[Dan Gould]

I posted in this or the other Jazz Heritage Society thread about the fact there was a "club-exclusive" Benny Carter issue, More Cookin From Carlos that had another disc worth of music from the same club date.  So I wanted to share what I found very recently, the excellent recording by Jay McShann with a cast of all-stars, Paris All-Star Blues had a club-exclusive two disc issue. Four unissued tracks plus four alternates, all available nowhere else. They must have had some arrangement with MusicMasters I guess.

Of course if you recall the issued disc was pretty short for a CD, they definitely could have included the four bonus tracks on the original but they didn't, so I've got an order in for $6 (other copies seem to be $30 plus online!) I trust this seller still has it I'l be pisse if he comes back and says he can't find it, just didn't update the online listing. But its on two different sites right now so there's hope.