The 70s Twofer Jazz Reissue LP

[Teasing the Korean]

How many of us who are young or old enough to have started buying jazz in the 1970s still have a soft spot for 70s jazz twofer LPs?

When I started buying jazz in the late 70s, my choices seemed to be either Columbia artists like Miles, Monk, Mingus, and Brubeck, who never went out of the catalog; Blue Note and Impulse! LPs in the cutout bin (those were the days!); CTI albums that I hated then (and love now, at least until 1975 and if Bob James isn't involved); and twofers on Verve, Milestone, Prestige, Fantasy, most of which later became OJC.

Some of the first ones I had were "The Genius of Bud Powell" on Verve (terrible pressing);" The Bill Evans Village Vanguard Sessions," Wes Montgomery's ""Movin," and "The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever."

The pressings were generally good (except for Verve), the liner notes were helpful at the time, if a little dated now (charmingly so); and most of the music was otherwise not available.

I love seeing the covers of those twofers sitting on top of my Pioneer turntable while the record plays while drinking a glass of wine, it's like time travel (even though I was too young to drink back then!).

Some of you may have read in other threads how important the original cover art is to me, but for many of these albums, the twofer version WAS my original experience with the cover art.

By the late 80s, if not earlier, OJC was issuing original albums in the original covers.

These twofers have remained pretty inexpensive, even in pristine condition, in all of the cities I've lived in and also on eBay. They are an affordable way to get lots of great jazz in analog and on vinyl. God knows how many I bought from Stereo Jack's. I still pick these up on occasion.

What are your thoughts and memories?

[Stefan Wood]

I'm big on twofers myself. The Fantasy stuff in particular, but also the Columbias, Impulses, MCAs, etc. Almost all in great sound, but you won't hear audiophiles trumpeting these, 'cause they were done in the 70's. Whatever.

[RDK]

Perhaps the single most important jazz album I ever bought - the one that really got me hooked - was the 70's Blue Note Thelonious Monk 2-fer LP "The Genius of Modern Music." I can still remember when (1980) and where (a little used book/record store in Solana Beach that's no longer there) I bought it. I don't play those and other 70's 2fer LPs often, and most of the music has since been re-bought on CD, but they still hold a dear spot in my heart.

[GA Russell]

I remember my first two two-fers, circa 1969 or '70. Dave Brubeck - Adventures in Time (which was a compilation on Columbia) and An Hour with Thelonious Monk (an ABC Riverside issue of his two last Riversides, the Paris and Italy concerts).

[mikeweil]

I still have a few of them. At the time, before the OJCs and other reissue series were created, Japanese LPs or those twofers were the only way to get some of the music. But I hated it when they compiled music from several LPs but no complete sessions.

Some of the most interesting were the Blue Note Reissue series twofers, because in many cases they contained unreleased material.

I still have the Prestige and Savoy Yusef Lateef twofers, although the former created another scattered release pattern.

Some of the strangest were Orrin Keepnews' attempts at reissuing some Wes Montgomery Riverside sessions without the rejected takes that had been released after he had lost control of the label.

But I heard so much music on them for the first time - like the King Pleasure twofer on Prestige. Yes, I have fond memories about them.

[Hot Ptah]

In the mid-1970s, to my knowledge it was the only way to hear the great albums on Riverside and/or Prestige of Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and many more. I remember that the liner notes would say that five of six songs of one album,three of six songs of another album, and two other songs, made up the two-fer. I always wondered what the rest of the albums sounded like. Still, a whole world of music was opened up to me by the two-fers.

The covers were cool, too. They were not the original covers. They had the artist's name in big letters. They were a trendy thing for college students to own and carry around, at the universities I was at.

[BillF]

Quick look through my collection reveals the following (all bought in the70s):

On Verve:

The Individualism of Gil Evans

The Genius of Bud Powell

Diz and Roy

On Milestone:

Monk, April in Paris/Live

Bill Evans, Peace Piece and Other Pieces

Bill Evans, The Village Vanguard Sessions

On Prestige:

Miles Davis (Cookin' and Relaxin')

On CBS:

Art Blakey with the Jazz Messengers (1956 sessions)

On Blue Note:

Thad Jones/Mel Lewis

[Free For All]

I remember the early BN twofers had the polkadots (Thad & Mel, and also a Gil Evans/Gary McFarland come to mind), and then came the manila-colored twofers. I still have a bunch of 'em. And of course the Prestige twofers.

[hard bop head]

Hi,

I routinely pick-up Prestige & Milestone two-fers at my local vinyl shop, usually in the $8-10 range.

Recently I picked up Miles Davis "Workin' and Steamin'" Prestige P-24034, the cover was a mess all over, the vinyl very dirty. But for 3 bucks, I gambled.

Took it home, cleaned and cleaned again, turns out "Steamin' is in VG++ shape, "Workin'" could not be saved.

If only it was RVG, I'd be a very happy camper.

I don't care much for the two-fer cover photos, they're very dated now. The music is as always, timeless.

Take care.

[Eric]

Armed with the Len Lyons book, "101 Best Jazz Albums", this is how I was introduced to jazz. Still remember the first two I bought "Small Group Recordings" by Wes Montgomery on Verve and "The Procrastinator" - yep, that was my introduction to Lee Morgan. I remember looking for one of the Freddie Hubbard lps recommended by the book and the record store clerk hipped me to Lee instead. Another early favorite was the Cannonball 2-fer that was recorded live in SF that contained "This Here".

I still pull out my 2-fers to read the notes. Very fond memories indeed!

Edited August 4, 2011 by Eric

[Free For All]

I recently pulled out an ancient LP twofer and found some....um....seeds inside. I remember in college they were very useful for that purpose. :eye:

[JSngry]

I recently pulled out an ancient LP twofer and found some....um....seeds inside. I remember in college they were very useful for that purpose. :eye:

Yours is by no means a unique experience.

[brownie]

Among the first twofers I purchased back in the 70s were the French CBS Complete Duke Ellington series, the BNs (with unreleased material by Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Nichols...), the Savoys (Don Byas, Brew Moore, Curtis Fuller, Dexter Gordon, etc.).

I still have many of those!

[JohnS]

Had lots of these, sold a few as cds became available but still have many. I thought the Savoy series was among the best, a lot of excellent and hard to find music, intelligent notes and good packaging. Exciting times back then.

[Big Beat Steve]

Another twofer follower here ...

After I had started buying (and soon collecting) jazz records from the age of 15 in 1975 I jumped straight into the twofer buying business and have not regretting those buying decisions to this day.

My main points of attraction were those Prestige/Milestone twofers that were allover the place in the mid- to late 70s as well as the Savoy reissue 2-LP sets (mainly focusing on 40s/50s modern jazz as well as R&B) but I did get into those greyish Blue note twofers as well as some Columbia/CBS sets (for earlier swing reissues) too.

I've always found them to be excellent value for money (particularly the Savoy and Prestige/Milestone/Fantasy sets), good fidelity, consistently interesting liner notes, thoughtful compilation strategies that really catered to the collector by combining sessions and/or 10in LP reissues in a sensible manner.

There are some I still pull out very frequently, e.g. the George Wallington and Wardell Gray twofers on Prestige or the Brothers and Other Mothers (as well as some earlier swing reissues from the same series) on Savoy. In some cases I've even bought mint spare copies when they came my way cheaply in secondhand bins.

My first modern jazz LP bought ever actually was one of those Prestige twofers - the "In The Begining" set featuring the 1945/46 Dizzy/Bird sessions. An ear-opener to that kid of 16 and, as it turned out, the right place to start to work my way into bebop (right from the start it did sound much more logical to me than all of what had been written on the subject would have implied).

As for the cover artwork, as has been said above, most of it is VERY dated (particularly on the Miles Davis twofers) but oh well ... So were many single-LP reissue covers from the 70s that clumsily tried to "update" the visual aspects of the 50s music contained within.

Being the vinyl nut that I am, occasionally I still pick up a set from these series today, the most recent find being that Quinichette-led Basie Jam twofer on Prestige.

[Moko]

I found an unusual Art Pepper two for in Japan recently called "Early Art" on Blue Note. What surprised me was as far as I know Art was never on Blue Note, and these tracks are early tracks.

I love my Bill Evans Village Vanguard & Miles "Relaxin" & "Walkin" two for's I think some people get to hung up on the originals, these pressings have great sound & are nearly always bargain priced

[Dan Gould]

I had many of the same two-fers people have mentioned however, they were bought used in the late 80s - early 90s when I was also finding used OJCs, and Liberty-issue BNs. So I don't have quite the same fond memories of the 70s two-fers, with probably one exception: the Savoy two-fer was my first exposure to Bird.

[Hot Ptah]

I had many of the same two-fers people have mentioned however, they were bought used in the late 80s - early 90s when I was also finding used OJCs, and Liberty-issue BNs. So I don't have quite the same fond memories of the 70s two-fers, with probably one exception: the Savoy two-fer was my first exposure to Bird.

I remember that the Savoy two-fer for Bird was the lead record review in Rolling Stone magazine, with a full page art collage of Bird. That was when Rolling Stone still meant something. I went out and got it based on that review, and it was a revelation. I had been unable to find much Bird on record before that, it just wasn't easily available.

[Big Beat Steve]

I found an unusual Art Pepper two for in Japan recently called "Early Art" on Blue Note. What surprised me was as far as I know Art was never on Blue Note, and these tracks are early tracks.

Not surprising at all. These tracks were from the Score and Intro labels which were Aladdin subsidiaries. Now Aladdin passed under the Liberty roof later on, and so did Blue Note, so Liberty (part of United Artists - along with BN - at the time of this reissue) is the link where things come full circle.

[jeffcrom]

The 70's is when I started learning about jazz, so I had a bunch of twofers, including many that have been mentioned here. I've replaced most of them with subsequent issues over the years, but the Prestige Thelonious Monk twofer is still my primary Monk Prestige collection.

I'm kind of odd in that I learned jazz more or less chronologically - my first jazz record purchase was the Milestone twofer Bix Beiderbecke and the Chicago Cornets. When I played it for the first time, I remember thinking, "What's all the fuss about?" during the first track, "Fidgety Feet." Then it got to the second track, "Jazz Me Blues," and I thought, "Oh, I get it." I heard Bix's genius right away on "Jazz Me Blues."

[jazzbo]

There were many fascinating discoveries on twofer lps from the 'seventies for me. I remember especially Yusef Lateef releases on ABC/Impulse. Blew my mind!

Edited August 5, 2011 by jazzbo

[colinmce]

I buy these whenever I see them, they're very handy. One of the best IMO is the Prestige Mulligan/Baker which collects many of Gerry's Fantasy sides and some of Chet's Prestige sessions with George Coleman. And the Arista Savoys are beyond essential.

One more nod to the Bluebird chronological sets which issued more or less the complete recordings of Goodman, Shaw and Miller; I have the Goodman and Miller series which set me back less than $20. Still looking for the Shaws all in one place. Bechet, Henderson, Hines and Tatum were also represented in smaller sets; there is also the classic Hampton box set. Any others?

[Hot Ptah]

I remember the early BN twofers had the polkadots (Thad & Mel, and also a Gil Evans/Gary McFarland come to mind), and then came the manila-colored twofers. I still have a bunch of 'em. And of course the Prestige twofers.

The Gil Evans/Gary McFarland vinyl two-fer is an Impulse "Dedications" series two-fer. It the only time that Gary McFarland's Impulse album "Profiles" has ever been reissued, to this day, to my knowledge. "Profiles" has never come out on CD and has had no other vinyl reissue.

[brownie]

I remember the early BN twofers had the polkadots (Thad & Mel, and also a Gil Evans/Gary McFarland come to mind), and then came the manila-colored twofers. I still have a bunch of 'em. And of course the Prestige twofers.

The Gil Evans/Gary McFarland vinyl two-fer is an Impulse "Dedications" series two-fer. It the only time that Gary McFarland's Impulse album "Profiles" has ever been reissued, to this day, to my knowledge. "Profiles" has never come out on CD and has had no other vinyl reissue.

The Gil Evans BN twofer was entitled 'Pacific Standard Time' and reunited the two PacificJazz albums by Evans.

Colinmce wrote:

One more nod to the Bluebird chronological sets which issued more or less the complete recordings of Goodman, Shaw and Miller; I have the Goodman and Miller series which set me back less than $20. Still looking for the Shaws all in one place. Bechet, Henderson, Hines and Tatum were also represented in smaller sets; there is also the classic Hampton box set. Any others?

There was also a Complete Bunny Berigan series of twofers.

[Hot Ptah]

The Gil Evans/Gary McFarland two-fer was titled "The Great Arrangers: Dedication Series Vol. IX", on Impulse. One record was Gil Evans' "Out of the Cool" album, with a bonus cut of a version of Horace Silver's "Sister Sadie". The other record was Gary McFarland's "Profiles", a live big band album.