OK, now I'm really confused. The only EU reissues I'm aware of are from what's called the "Warner Jazz Masters Series". I don't know if they're digipacks, but from the advertisements I've seen in Jazz Review (UK magazine), these reissues all have a vertical black spine on the front with 'Atlantic Masters' written on the spine. Are these the same ones ones reissued in Germany?
I'm really interested in picking up Blue Lateef and some others, but the number of reissues of these, including Rhino, Collectables etc. is confusing.
it IS confusing. The ones with the black spine come in both digipac and jewel case. Same with the ones with the red spine and the "interesting" peach/red design in the "Atlantic Original Sound" series. These used to be digipacs, but now also jewel cases have surfaced in my collection. There was at least one batch of Atlantic material on the Rhino/Warner label that came in clear jewel cases and had a black "spine" just like you described, but it is part of the tray card and can be seen through the clear jewel case inlay. The actual spine is very classy, without the usual shouting bold fonts. If you go to the site linked above and click reissues, you can find these under the 27 10 2003 release date. Although these were released under Rhino, they were not available in the US AFAIK. At least I remember US members ordering the Fathead from EU stores. Whether there were any other batches is a mystery to me as I cannot judge from the information given either. I wonder how many different series there are really.